Financial Inclusion Officer Full Time NEW

Mercy Corps utilizes Markets Systems Development Approach (MSD) approach to contribute to sustainable poverty reduction and social stability.

Position: Financial Inclusion Officer

Location: Woldiya

Position Status: Full-time, Regular

Risk Level: ☐ Level 3 ☐Level 2 ☐Level 1

(Level 3: Frequent contact with participants, direct contact with children, access to sensitive data, and/or high level of accountability.

Level 2: Some contact with participants; unplanned non-direct contact with children.

Level 1: Likely to have no contact with participants or sensitive data)

The Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps is implementing a three-year (36 months) program, ‘Resilience and Incomes for Smallholders in Ethiopia through Digital Financial Services II’ (RAISE-DFS II) , funded by Jersey Overseas Aid (JOA). Building on the success of RAISE-DFS I, which reached over 350,000 users with inclusive digital and Islamic financial services, this second phase moves from piloting to institutionalization and system-wide scale-up.

RAISE-DFS II will catalyze a transformation in Sharia-compliant and digital financial services across the lowlands and highlands of Ethiopia. The program will achieve its overall objective to increase incomes and enhance resilience for rural households, particularly women and youth, across Tigray, Afar, Amhara, Somali, and Oromia regions, targeting 100,000 individuals.

The program has three outcomes:

Outcome 1: Financial institutions provide climate-responsive products and services that enable rural women and youth to adapt and build resilience to climate change.

Outcome 2: Women and youth benefit from using DFS through strengthened consumer protection and improved trust and understanding of the services.

Outcome 3: Financial institutions expand outreach into new areas and to underserved populations through improved and expanded agent networks and services.

General Position Summary

The Financial Inclusion Officer will support the implementation of high-quality financial inclusion programming through capacity-building for teams, conducting market assessments, designing interventions, and building relationships with key market actors from the private sector and government. The Officer will also be involved in designing Intervention Concept Notes (ICNs) that integrate financial inclusion, climate responsiveness, and gender-transformative approaches, and will work closely with the MEL team to ensure robust monitoring and learning. S/he will also play a role in representing Mercy Corps’ financial inclusion work externally, through building relationships with key partners and participating in relevant coordination and learning events.

Essential Responsibilities

Coordination and Collaboration

• Enhance strategic partnerships with financial institutions, fintechs, regulators, and other stakeholders to advocate, promote, and advance organizational issues, priorities, interests, and competencies for successful program delivery.
• Collaborate with clients, partners, and stakeholders to link and harmonize approaches and to promote common interests and achievement of results.
• Leverage synergies with complementary Mercy Corps programs (ESP+, ER-CAP, RLP) to accelerate last-mile distribution, strengthen value-chain finance, and deepen digital ecosystems.

Program Management

• Support the development of work plans, activities, targets, budgets, and standards for measuring progress and results, and determine the processes, tools, and methodologies to be used to ensure effective and efficient program implementation and operations.
• Conduct high-quality market system assessments in financial services, with a specific focus on climate-responsive products, Sharia-compliant finance, gender-inclusive design, and consumer protection systems, providing the foundation for program design.
• Design Intervention Concept Notes (ICNs) for MSD programs using tools such as Results Chains and ‘Who Does, Who Pays?’ matrices, ensuring integration of gender equality, climate resilience, and conflict sensitivity.
• Lead the establishment, expansion, and digitization of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) to facilitate formal credit and savings access for predominantly women members. This requires frequent travel to East and West Hararghe zones in Oromia region to directly oversee VSLA formation, training, digitization, and linkage to formal financial services.
• Support partner FIs to develop and scale climate-responsive financial products, including input-linked loans, solar and irrigation financing, drought-resilient livestock packages, and energy-efficient technologies, in line with Output 1.1.
• Support the expansion and strengthening of agent networks, including recruitment, training, and retention of women agents, improved liquidity management, and enhanced supervision systems, in line with Output 3.1.
• Support the strengthening of consumer protection systems within partner FIs, including complaint-handling mechanisms, transparency practices, and integration of Fayda National ID into onboarding and KYC procedures, in line with Output 2.1.
• Ensure gender integration and mainstreaming are incorporated into all financial inclusion interventions, with a minimum target of 50% women participants and specific attention to women’s economic empowerment, agency, and access.
• Monitor progress and identify risks for timely action and early resolution, with particular attention to data protection, safeguarding, and consumer risks.
• Responsible for full compliance with Mercy Corps rules, regulations, and policies on financial activities, financial recording/reporting systems, and follow-up on audit recommendations.
• Actively support knowledge building, sharing, and application within the program.
• Submission of high-quality reports for financial inclusion programming to the Program Manager and other relevant Mercy Corps Ethiopia team members.
• Closely work with a wide range of financial service providers (MFIs, Banks, VSLA groups, Fintechs) in establishing partnerships and managing relationships on a regular basis, ensuring alignment with the program’s co-investment and cost-share model.

Teamwork

• Ability to plan own work, manage conflicting priorities, and work under pressure of tight and conflicting deadlines.
• Work closely with team members and partners, to support capacity-building and gender integration into the programs.
• Very good interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations.
• Very strong capacities to guide a multi-cultural team in difficult circumstances.
• Support the identification of program issues, challenges, and risks, appropriate recommendations, and implement them.

SAFEGUARDING RESPONSIBILITIES

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work.
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members.

Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options.

Supervisory Responsibility

None.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: RAISE-DFS Programs Manager

Works Directly With: RAISE-DFS team in Addis Ababa, Oromia, Somali, Tigray, Amhara and Afar; other Mercy Corps program Teams; Operations and Finance Teams.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Security

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.
• Apply conflict-sensitive and do-no-harm principles in all program activities, particularly in post-conflict regions (Tigray, Amhara).

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• A degree in Business, Economics, Development Studies, Program Management, or related Social Science fields.
• At least 4 – 6 years of work experience in program management and coordination, preferably in:
• Financial inclusion and digital financial services (DFS)
• Sharia-compliant/Islamic finance product development (Murabaha, Musharaka, Takaful)
• Climate-responsive financial product design (input-linked loans, solar financing, livestock resilience packages)
• Product and strategy development
• Financial literacy programs and community awareness campaigns
• Strong experience in VSLA operation and management, particularly in Oromia region (especially East and West Hararghe zones) , including group formation, training, record-keeping, and linkage to formal financial services.
• Practical job experience in the financial sector (banks, microfinance institutions, or fintechs) has a competitive advantage.
• Familiar with all aspects of the relevant market systems including key actors, micro-financial institutions (MFIs), banks, fintechs, agent networks, and regulators.
• Understanding of Market Systems Development (MSD) approach is essential.
• Familiarity with Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) methodology and digitization practices is advantageous.
• Knowledge of consumer protection frameworks, responsible finance, and grievance-handling mechanisms in digital financial services is desirable.
• Understanding of gender-responsive and gender-transformative approaches in financial inclusion is required.
• Willingness and ability to travel frequently to Mercy Corps project sites and field locations, including traveling to insecure environments, is required (40%–60% travel) . Frequent travel to East and West Hararghe zones in Oromia region is specifically required to lead VSLA establishment, expansion, and digitization activities.
• Fluency in English & Amharic is required. Knowledge of respective local language: Afar, Afan Oromo, Somali, or Tigrigna is an advantage.

Success Factors

A successful candidate will have a demonstrated ability to lead and communicate effectively with team members of varied work styles, follow procedures, and meet deadlines with flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving. S/he will have a proven ability to learn quickly, take initiative, and be accountable for results, understand the larger picture while remaining focused on the details, work within a complex security and political situation and to follow strict security protocols.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate:

• Strong understanding of systemic change and sustainability, with the ability to track institutional adoption, adaptation, expansion, and response (aligned with the AAER framework).
• Ability to facilitate co-design processes with financial institutions, fintechs, and market actors to develop climate-responsive and gender-inclusive products.
• Experience in agent network strengthening, including recruitment, training, liquidity management, and performance monitoring.
• Commitment to gender equality and social inclusion, with proven ability to design interventions that address structural barriers for women and youth.
• Strong relationship management skills to establish and maintain partnerships with financial institutions, regulators, fintechs, and community structures.
• A willingness to relocate for short-term as necessary within coverage regions, based on programmatic needs, work independently and as part of a team.
• Computer literate especially in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook). Familiarity with digital data tools (Kobo, CommCare, Power BI) is an advantage.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Team Engagement and Effectiveness

Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work.

We recognize that building a strong and effective team is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to learning, improving, and growing together.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline (integrityhotline@mercycorps.org).