Access to Finance Specialist – USAID CORE

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Access To Finance Specialist

Cooperative Resilience and Equity Activity (CORE)

Kigali, Rwanda

Background:

Land O’Lakes Venture37 is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit helping communities around the world build economies by strengthening agriculture from farm-to-fork, helping businesses grow, and linking farmers to markets. Since our start in 1981, we have been leveraging nearly 100 years of expertise in crop inputs, agricultural insights, dairy and animal nutrition from our close affiliate, Land O’Lakes, Inc., a farmer-owned agribusiness committed to fulfilling its purpose of feeding human progress.

Project Description:

Venture37 is implementing the USAID–funded 5-year, $11.6M Cooperative Resilience and Equity activity “CORE” in Rwanda and Zambia. Running from October 2023 through September 2028, CORE aims at fostering vibrant, sustainable cooperative ecosystems in Rwanda and Zambia, in which self-managed cooperatives and all their members flourish economically and socially. Through CORE, Venture37 will take a localized and market-responsive approach, engaging market actors, including women and youth in activity design, implementation, and measurement to tailor activities to their unique needs while strengthening their capacity to create sustainable solutions. Across Rwanda and Zambia, CORE will reach over 160 dairy, grains, horticulture, and oilseed cooperatives and 12,000 members in partnership with local market actors; the activity’s objectives will be met through three major components, namely:

1. Inclusively strengthen the capacity of cooperatives by dynamically responding to their unique challenges and market opportunities through but not limited to provision of tailored capacity strengthening, professional management, enhanced strategic market and finance linkages.
2. Improve the cooperative enabling environment by working with private and public service providers to deliver market-responsive and well-coordinated services to cooperatives.
3. Spur innovation, learning and continuous improvement in the local and global development community through embedded applied research.

Position Summary:

The Access to Finance Specialist will lead the access to finance interventions of the CORE project. In this capacity, s/he is responsible for providing administrative and technical guidance to the Chief of Party and the overall design and technical team on the design, implementation, oversight, and reporting on the access to finance interventions and performance of the project. S/he will work with local partners (mainly CORE partner cooperatives and local financial institutions) to improve and expand the ability of cooperatives and their members to access financial services. S/he conducts regular site visits to ensure effective implementation while coordinating closely with the technical team leader to increase impact of program interventions. The position is based in Kigali, Rwanda.

Primary Responsibilities:

Primary responsibilities of the position include but are not limited to the following:

1. Conduct thorough assessments of the local financial landscape for cooperatives in Rwanda, including identifying gaps, challenges, and opportunities.
2. Collaborate with the project team and local stakeholders to design appropriate access to finance interventions that address the identified needs.
3. Ensure the proposed interventions align with the overall objectives of the CORE activity.
4. Establish and maintain strong partnerships with local financial service providers, including banks, microfinance institutions, and other relevant stakeholders.
5. Facilitate regular communication and coordination between the project team, financial service providers, and Government.
6. Serve as the primary point of contact for all access to finance-related activities and inquiries.
7. Coordinate the implementation of access to finance interventions at the local level, working closely with financial service providers and agricultural cooperatives and agribusiness enterprises.
8. Monitor the progress and performance of the interventions and provide regular updates to the project team.
9. Identify and address any challenges or bottlenecks that arise during the implementation process.
10. Design and facilitate the delivery of capacity building support to selected financial institutions and organizations to enhance their ability to serve the target businesses.
11. Develop and deliver training programs and workshops on the access to finance interventions for the target businesses for their preparedness and effective use of loans and other form of financing.
12. Closely work with wide range of financial service providers (MFIs, Banks, VSLA groups) in establishing partnership and managing relationship on regular basis.
13. Coordinate with selected financial institutions/ service providers and maintain the documentation/ database on access to finance interventions and financial performance of targeted businesses.
14. Participate in project planning and regular reporting on access to finance interventions.

Reporting and Supervision:

The Access to Finance Specialist reports directly to the Rwanda Program Manager.

Required Skills & Qualifications:

1. Bachelor’s degree in finance, investment, banking, management, economics, or related field.
2. Minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in the provision of financial services or provision of business development services.
3. At least three (3) years of experience working with cooperatives or and agribusiness enterprises.
4. Experience or qualification in agriculture finance/economics with an understanding of agriculture value chain development and financing.
5. Knowledge of Rwanda’s financing and banking rules and regulations.
6. Highly developed conceptual, analytical, and innovative problem-solving ability.
7. Computer literacy and competency in the use of Microsoft Office software.
8. Strong interpersonal skills, with ability to effectively build and manage networks and relationships for program promotion and issue-resolution.
9. Professional proficiency in English and Kinyarwanda language required.

Desired Skills and Qualifications:

1. Master’s degree in finance, money and banking and other relevant field desired but not required.
2. Experience with cooperative development projects.
3. Experience working in financial institutions in Rwanda.
4. Experience working with USAID-funded projects and other international organizations.

Application Link: Click here

Deadline: September 23rd, 2024

Land O’Lakes Venture37 will never ask you for personable identifiable information, and we will never request money or payment during the recruitment or employment process.

Land O’Lakes Venture37 is an equal opportunity employer and an organization striving to help global communities thrive through agriculture. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status, among other factors. Our culture values a diversity of voices. So, bring us your unique experiences, your workstyle, and your dreams — they’ll only make us stronger.