Financial Inclusion Specialist For The Project Agrowforests For Sustainable Spices In Indonesia

Financial Inclusion Specialist for the Project aGROWforests

for Sustainable Spices in Indonesia

About the project

The objective of the aGROWforests for Sustainable Spices project is to contribute to a Sustainable, Bio-Diverse, Climate Resilient and Responsible Spices Sector in Indonesia. We do this by increasing farm productivity and income of pepper farmers, through climate-smart agriculture and agroforestry, which also removes or reduces greenhouse gas emissions attributed to pepper farming and agriculture in general. The 3-year project targets 2,300 farmers (of which 30% women, 15% youth) in the provinces Bangka Belitung and Lampung in Indonesia.

The Financial Inclusion Specialist will work to evaluate and build the financial literacy of PT Cinquer Agro Nusantara agronomists and farmers, design training, and suggest materials tailored to the needs of the targeted audience. The Financial Inclusion Specialist will provide insights into living income and poverty indicators, as well as insights to financial services and solutions that are suitable for pepper farmers.

The Financial Inclusion Specialist would be responsible for the following activities:

1. Lead the development of financial inclusion strategy and financial services of PT Cinquer Agro Nusantara that focus on smallholder farmers such as agricultural loans, crop insurance, savings groups, and to improve and diversify income of pepper farmers;
2. Conduct research and evaluation of financial inclusion within the company, project partners, and farmers to make decisions on the most accessible and appropriate financial services for farmers;
3. Develop financial literacy training modules, coordinate and deliver financial literacy training to agronomists and farmers. The modules include but not limited to access to finance, financial management, basic business practices and skills, business plan development and more to strengthen the understanding of pepper farmers, groups or pepper cooperatives in agricultural businesses;
4. Build strong relationships with credible or trusted banking institutions to develop financial products or services that are appropriate for pepper farmers or target groups;
5. Link business support and relevant providers to the bank or any other financial institutions to create collaboration and sustain the financial access and ensure all the issues and strategies are included within the training modules;
6. Assess and regularly monitor the overall quality of the target groups and entities’ activities and portfolio-related access to finance that are being linked to financial institutions in order to identify the gaps and develop technical assistance for better access and management;
7. Provide recommendations or inputs for the annual project work plans and other relevant mechanisms in relation to the reporting and collaboration with the field staff;
8. Support in improving or developing the economic modeling for the agroforestry peppers in the project areas.

Qualifications

The minimum qualifications required for the applicant include:

1. Highly experienced in financial education/literacy and access to credits;
2. Knowledge on small or medium enterprises and value chains in the agricultural sectors, business finance, and any other agricultural development;
3. Demonstrated experience in access to finance, microfinance and/or banking. Specifically in the location of Bangka Belitung is highly preferred;
4. Knowledge of and experience in financial product development (formal and informal) in cooperation with microfinance institutions (MFIs), saving groups or any other similar groups, and commercial banks;
5. Highly experience working with saving groups, especially farmers groups and linking them to the financial institutions;
6. Having experience in facilitating or leading financial literacy training, capacity building, advocacy and outreach;
7. Strong written and verbal communication skills, with a proven ability to deliver technical training;
8. Excellent oral and written English and Bahasa communication skills. Demonstrated ability to speak in Local language is a plus;
9. Excellent interpersonal skills and teamwork;
10. A university degree in finance, economics, business management or any other related field;
11. Experience working in the area of Bangka Belitung and/or Lampung province is an asset.

Procedure and timeline

We request the interested individuals to send us a cover letter and curriculum vitae (CV) together with a minimum of two references. All the application documents should be sent by email to [email protected] no longer than August 20^th 2023. Please add "Financial Inclusion Specialist Application" as the subject of the email.

If you have any questions or need clarification on the position, please do contact the HR Manager of PT Cinquer Agro Nusantara via [email protected] .

Phone office at (+6222) 87319273.