UNCDFistheUN’scapitalinvestmentagencyfortheworld’s47LeastDevelopedCountries(LDCs).UNCDFuses its capital mandate to support LDCs pursue inclusive growth. UNCDF promotes financial inclusion,also through digital financial services (DFS), as a key enabler of poverty reduction and inclusive growth;and it demonstrates how localizing finance outside the capital cities can accelerate growth in localeconomies, promote sustainable and climate-resilient infrastructure development, and empower localcommunities. Using capital grants, loans and credit enhancements, UNCDF tests financial models ininclusivefinanceandlocaldevelopmentfinance;‘de-risks’thelocalinvestmentspace;andprovidesproofsofconcept, pavingthewayforlargerandmore risk-averseinvestors.

 

Hosted by UNCDF, the Centre for Financial Health is set-up as an umbrella platform towards convening aglobal coalition and thought leadership. The Centre for Financial Health acts as a convener, providing aplatform to bring together global, regional and local actors committed to using financial and digitalsolutions to improve the financial lives of low-income families—helping them climb - and stay - out ofpoverty.TheCentrecreatesspaceforthoughtleadershipwherebestfinancialhealthpracticesandmodelsareexchanged andleadtoconcreteactionwithgovernmentsandtheprivatesector.

 

The Centre is implementing programmes in different countries called Living Labs which support playerswith a combination of high quality financial, advisory and networking support to design, test and scalefinancial health solutions. The aim of the programmes is to improve the financial health of five millionpeopleoverthenext fouryears.

 

Data and research are two key aspects of the engagements in financial health (FH) to achieve the goal ofcustomer impact. The Centre is shaping partnerships with public and private sector institutions andworking with them to address various customer level issues where financial services can play a key role.The aim of these interventions is to contribute towards improving end-customer outcomes. To facilitatethisintheLivingLabinChina,ateamcomposedoftechnicalexperts(programmeteam)areworking withpartners to execute the goals of different projects and supporting their work in a core team of researchanddatathatengagesonaregularbasistoensurethattheprojectpartnersaresupportedwiththeright

learning and best practices. This role will be based in China and will work closely with the programmeteam in-country supporting project execution and will be technically working with the core research andinsightsteamonFH.

 

Office/ Unit/ Project:

UNCDF/FIPA/Centre for Financial Health/ China

Duty Station:

Shenzhen,China Home-based

 

Summary of key functions:

Provide support to strategy implementation and learning& insights agenda:

  • As part of the Research and Insights Team and under the administrative supervision of the in- country Technical Specialist in China (programme team), contribute to strategizing the Financial Health research agenda and positioning on key issues, effectively reaching target audiences, and work closely with colleagues at global, regional and country levels;
  • Keep abreast of in-country partners’ research priorities and help ensure that these inform the research pipeline, monitoring the key sources of research and identifying research gaps;
  • Ensure that state of the art research on determinants lined to financial health informs the policy messages of the Centre and advisory work with government, corporates, international development organizations;
  • Stay informed on the latest developments in financial and digital innovation (i.e. distributed ledger technologies, alternative credit scoring, artificial intelligence) to inform the Centre’s innovation activities;
  • Support the training and learning activities including dissemination of research findings through online and physical channels and workshops;
  • Support the continuous improvement of quality assurance and learning processes that help ensure that all initiatives are run smoothly and are technically robust;
  • Help produce evaluation reports for improvement and learning, and for donor reporting purposes.

Project management of research products and activities:

  • Assist in developing Terms of References (TORs), Requests for Applications (RFAs), Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and other documents as needed to support the implementation of the research and dissemination agenda and pipeline;
  • Coordinate with the Communications Specialist and consultants on the review process, production and dissemination of diverse publications (e.g. toolkits, case studies, donor reports);
  • Support the implementation of the learning agenda, including the organization of training workshops, peer exchanges, and other events with the participation of partners in the FH programme;
  • Work with the Living Lab Technical Specialist in China on the day-to-day work with external and in- country consultants to ensure the timely and effective implementation of the research pipeline;
  • Coordinate with the Community and Communications Teams on the organization of events, from large advocacy conferences to roundtables, workshops and webinars, ensuring high quality of content;
  • Administer the resources of the knowledge and research programme in order to catalyze effectiveaction by the Centre.

Data and analysis support:

  • Maintain micro- and macro-economic data sets and research such as World Development Indicators (WDI), mix market, Global Financial Inclusion Index (Findex), Intermedia, etc.
  • Maintain and utilize dashboard, conduct country and thematic deep-dive analysis (e.g. ageing population, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises [MSME], etc.)
  • Undertake data analysis to identify various issues that the project partners are facing and assist with analysis that could help improve the business outcomes and serve the customers better, specific trends and market segment requirements, disaggregated along gender and age, and other household variables and disseminate data and research to ensure they feed into generation of problem statements for programme focus;
  • Conduct and contribute to thematic research, policy studies and longitudinal research on financial behavior;
  • Use demand, supply and policy level data for China, collected through surveys and other data sets, to support development and identification of financial inclusion and digital financial services priorities, that would allow the generation of new problem statements for further engagement;
  • Support trainings with partners to identify critical key performance indicators (KPIs) and drive analysis and understanding around customer behaviour;
  • Analyze country trends and market segments at local, provincial, sector and national levels.

Desk research, drafting and content development:

  • Work on desk research, identifying relevant insights and help draft evidence-based articles, memos, blogs, presentations, social media posts, talking points, speeches and others as required;
  • Work very closely with the Results and Insights Specialist and provide ongoing support on relevant research work, particularly but not limited to the Technical Assistance Agreements (TAAs) / Performance-Based Agreements (PBAs).
  • Coordinate with the Communications Specialist and consultants on the review process, production and dissemination of diverse publications (e.g. toolkits, case studies, media and social media products, donor reports);
  • Conduct deep-dive research and thematic analysis on issues centered around financial health and inclusive digital economy, as required and agreed upon.

Monitoring and evaluation support:

  • Support the China team to review and streamline its data management and reporting tools in line with the process set-out at the global level;
  • Support the tracking and updation of data and info logs for the partners of UNCDF based on their performance indicators and the input of data into the partner workbook sheet and analyzing this for trends. This includes developing visual tools to convey any findings and insights;
  • Support the development of communications material including blogs about identified trends and insights;
  • Provide support in other activities as requested.

 

Required skills and competencies

  • Experience with the following software is required: MS Office package, data processing tools (such as Excel, STATA or Tableau)
  • Effective presentation and report-writing skills
  • Strong analytical skills as well as good written and oral communication skills

Desired additional skills and competencies

  • Subject matter knowledge in financial inclusion with project implementation, multi-stakeholder engagements experience
  • Solid experience on financial services, fintech, banking, etc.
  • Has knowledge about innovative trends in digital and finance sector
  • Demonstrated experience in writing, editing and proofreading compelling research products
  • Effective research project management experience including the use of communication tools and coordination with external consultants/designers/thinktanks/ translators
  • Demonstrated experience in supporting the organization of high- level events, workshops and webinars, with senior government and private sector representatives
  • Work experience at an international level or with other inter- agency organization is highly desirable

 

Min. Academic Education

A Master’s degree in development, economic, data and research, business administration or a related field. A Bachelor’s degree + 2 years of experience would be equivalent.

Min. years of relevant work experience

Working experience on research and data would be an advantage.

Required Language(s) (at working level)

English and Mandarin

 

Institutional Arrangement

The Financial Health Research and Data Analyst shall work within the Research and Insights Team with technical reporting to the Results and Insights Specialist and administrative reporting to the Financial Health Technical Specialist in China.

Travel

 

Scam warning

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

 

This position is National Personnel Service Agreement (NPSA) contract.

 

Contract Duration: 1 year

This vacancy is archived.

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