Data Analyst at UNDP

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries. It creates new opportunities for poor people and their communities by increasing access to microfinance and investment capital. UNCDF focuses on Africa and the poorest countries of Asia and the Pacific, with a special commitment to countries emerging from conflict or crisis. It provides seed capital – grants and loans – and technical support to help microfinance institutions reach more poor households and small businesses, and local governments finance the capital investments – water systems, feeder roads, schools, irrigation schemes – that will improve poor peoples’ lives.

Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P):

UNCDF manages several initiatives related to digital financial services (DFS), of which the lead programme is Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P). MM4P addresses the opportunities and challenges of implementing Digital Financial Services (DFS) in LDCs in Africa and Asia with the objective to build an inclusive digital financial ecosystem that offers a wide range of DFS provided responsibly, and at reasonable cost, by sustainable institutions in a well-regulated environment. Specifically, MM4P provides a mix of policy, technical financial support to a range of government and private sector actors in each country, as well as investing in research and other public goods that benefit all market actors. By supporting the development of DFS in these countries, MM4P works to increase the financial security of low income and rural households through access to appropriate, affordable and secure means to receive, manage and save money. MM4P is currently active in eight countries (Benin, Laos, Nepal, Malawi, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia). In each of these countries MM4P implements projects that aim to push the needle on financial inclusion through digital financial services.

For more information on the UNCDF MM4P program, see http://mm4p.uncdf.org

MM4P in Zambia:

There has been significant growth in the DFS landscape in Zambia over the life of the programme with the percentage of adults actively using DFS increasing to 18%, up from 4% in 2014. This has been coupled with the increase in the number of providers to 18 including banks, mobile network operators and third-party providers. Despite this growth, dormancy rates among customers are high. This is largely caused by a lack of meaningful awareness and product design processes that do not take into account customer challenges and needs

MM4P’s State of the DFS Market report highlights that many providers reported data for decision making as a key focus area, but also the lack of capacity in the DFS industry.

UNCDF is looking for a Consultant with strong skills in data analytics, reporting, and business reporting to support the efforts of its’ grantees. The consultant will complement UNCDF’s existing investments in technical and financial assistance, improving the grantees capacity in data analysis and in leveraging the insights to improve existing products and practices, and/or create new products with the objective to increase adoption and usage.

Under the direct supervision of the Regional Technical Specialist (RTS), the Data & HCD Consultant will be responsible for improving the grantees capacity in data analysis for the following stakeholders:

• UNCDF Zambia- Annual Provider Survey analysis project.
• UNCDF Zambia-Impact Measurement of Zambia activities.
• UNCDF Zambia – Data design sprint project.
• UNCDF Zambia – Addressing customer dormancy project.
• Bank of Zambia-Data automation project.
• Zambian Aggregators – Aggregator and Application Programming Interface (API) Scoping report.
• Local providers – Data and Human Centric Design Facility.
• The Innovation and Technology Hub Bongohive. Regional innovation platform project for Fintechs.

Duties and Responsibilities

The activities entail the below:

• Conducting data analysis to optimize strategic decision-making, product design and operational processes, using provider data, (secondary) survey data, and other sources of data. The analysis will have a specific focus on:
• Providing technical inputs to the design, implementation, analysis and synthetization of data collection activities and customer focused research.
• Identifying Key Performance Indicators and develop/improve tools (e.g. dashboard) for the provider to monitor performance and identify opportunities of business growth
• Conducting trainings with providers to build internal capacity of provider to ensure sustainability of activities.