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- Advocating for the transition from cash to responsible digital payments in a way that advances financial inclusion and promotes responsible digital finance.
- Catalyzing the development of inclusive digital payments ecosystems in member countries to reduce costs, increase transparency, advance financial inclusion-- particularly for women-- and drive inclusive growth; and
- Conducting action research and sharing the knowledge and experiences of our members to inform strategies for making the transition.
Billions of dollars in cash payments and transfers are made daily in emerging and developing economies, including payment of salaries, social welfare and relief, payments to suppliers, remittances, etc. The problems with these cash payments include a lack of transparency, accountability and security, as well as inefficiency. Individuals who receive cash payments are often part of the 1.7 billion excluded from the formal financial sector. This means they are excluded from access to a range of appropriate and affordable financial services to help them save safely take advantage of economic opportunities and reduce their vulnerability to risk.
Shifting these payments from cash to digital has the potential to improve the lives of low-income people, particularly women, while giving governments, the development community and the private sector a more transparent, time and cost efficient, and often-safer means of disbursing payments.
The Better Than Cash Alliance Team’s Core Values are the following:
- Achieving together
- Striving for excellence
Service oriented
- Results oriented
The Government of Ethiopia is advancing an ambitious national agenda to digitalize economic systems, public services, and public financial management, with digital government payments recognized as a critical enabler of this transformation. The National Digital Payment Strategy (NDPS 2.0), the Digital Ethiopia 2030 Strategy, and the Ten-Year Development Plan all emphasize the digitalization of government payments as a foundational pillar for building an inclusive, efficient, and transparent digital economy. Effective implementation of interoperable digital government payments is therefore central to Ethiopia’s broader public sector reform and digital economy objectives.
Significant progress has been achieved to date. Approximately 99 percent of federal Government-to-Person (G2P) payments are now executed digitally through the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) online platform, with funds credited directly to beneficiary accounts. The Ministry of Finance is leading the Unified Government Payments Initiative, aimed at digitising the whole of government payments (G2P, B2G, P2G) leveraging the foundational infrastructure built over the last 5 years. The new National Digital Payments Strategy II recently launched, prioritises leveraging the foundation laid in the first strategy, to advance and deepen usage of digital channels in mainly cash heavy sectors. Ensuring full Interoperability is at the centre of the new strategy, with EthSwitch identified as a critical player in facilitating seamless transactions across channels.
Building on the lessons learned from Ethiopia in implementing a whole of government digital payments initiative, leveraging the national switch, the Alliance will scale the model/approach to its members in Africa. One of the key scale areas is expanding digital health payments in collaboration with the Africa CDC, to all its members on the continent.
To further strengthen the digitization initiative across the continent, while supporting the implementation of the NDPS 2.0, the Better Than Cash Alliance is collaborating with the Government of Ethiopia through the Ministry of Finance and National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) to implement the Unified Government Payments Initiative, leveraging the national switch (EthSwitch). This will include unlocking complex high-volume government use-cases that require cross-sector alignment through a systems thinking and portfolio approach. These include health, transport and fuel, non-tax revenues and other use cases. To effectively support the Government of Ethiopia, the Alliance is looking to hire a Government Digital Payments Analyst with hands-on experience working with government payments in Ethiopia to support different ministries to scale from lessons learned from digitizing health sector payments. The Analyst must also have hands on experience working on the digital health payments space in Ethiopia and an understanding of the Africa CDC digital health strategic focus. The assignment includes effectively coordinating different government entities, under the leadership of the Ministry of Finance, while working closely with EthSwitch, (National Switch) to enable interoperable payments. The consultant is expected to focus on advocacy and advisory support to the government working closely with the Ministries of Finance, and Health, and EthSwitch with guidance from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE). The consultant will also work in scaling the Africa CDC partnership across the continent, while translating lessons learned from government payments to other Alliance members.
The initiative will focus on:
- Scaling Health Sector Payments beyond Pilot in Ethiopia and on the continent in collaboration with Africa CDC;
- Digitizing Government Payments leveraging countries’ National Switches.
- Provide technical and coordination support to the Ministries of Health and relevant stakeholders in reviewing pilot digital health payment initiatives;
- Synthesize lessons learned and inform the development of scalable approaches for expanding digital payments across health-sector use cases, including services at health facilities, community-based health insurance, health worker payments and pharmaceutical payments.
- Support government-led processes to define priorities, sequencing, and coordination mechanisms for scaling digital health payments;
- Convene and facilitate multi-stakeholder discussions and support alignment across institutions;
- Contributing technical input to rollout planning and decision-making processes.
- Support the operationalization of agreed digital payments scale-up initiatives;
- Advise on onboarding of financial service providers and on awareness and capacity-building efforts;
- Support the monitoring of implementation progress across priority use cases, without assuming responsibility for execution.
- Contribute to regional and continental learning initiatives by supporting partnerships with institutions such as Africa CDC;
- Contribute technical inputs to guidance materials, and supporting advocacy efforts through relevant health and digital transformation forums to promote responsible digital payments within digital health initiatives.
- Provide technical and coordination support to the Ministry of Finance, EthSwitch, and the National Bank of Ethiopia to advance the digitization of priority cash-heavy government payment flows through the national switch;
- Support stakeholder mapping and the coordination mechanisms;
- Support discussions on value propositions and pathways for leveraging interoperable payment infrastructure.
- Support government counterparts in the design and refinement of implementation frameworks, pilot approaches, and monitoring arrangements for switch-based government payments;
- Contribute technical input on operational, policy, and system considerations;
- Contribute to capacity-building initiatives and documentation of lessons learned to inform broader adoption and institutionalization.
- Contribute to ongoing monitoring, learning, and reporting processes;
- Identify emerging issues and good practices across government payment initiatives;
- Contribute to internal and external knowledge products related to government digital payments.
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
The Analyst will be hired by UNDP Better Than Cash Alliance, to be based Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Analyst will be supervised by the Head of Africa Region at the Better Than Cash Alliance.
System Thinking
Results-based Management
Knowledge Facilitation
Relationship Management
Digital Inclusion
Governance
Inclusive Growth
- An advanced university degree (master's degree or equivalent) in economics, finance, public health, information technology, or related fields; or
- A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.
- A minimum of 2 years (with master’s degree) or 4 years (with bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience in supporting the design, implementation , or advising on digital payment systems or solutions in developing countries.
- Demonstrated experience contributing to the design, advisory support, or implementation of government digital payments initiatives, including hands-on engagement with public-sector stakeholders and payment system actors;
- Experience supporting or contributing to national-level payment digitization initiatives in developing countries as evidenced through advocacy & advisory roles, technical assistance, or program support.
At least 2 years experience supporting or advising national government digital payments initiatives, particularly in the context of Government-to-Person (G2P) and People-to-Government (P2G) payment use cases, preferably in Ethiopia;
- Hands-on experience working on or supporting digital health payments, including payments related to health service delivery, community-based health insurance, health worker remuneration, or pharmaceutical supply chains;
- Experience engaging with or supporting work alongside ministries of finance, ministries of health, central banks, or national payment infrastructure entities, including national switches or interoperable payment platforms;
- Exposure to or experience supporting the design, scale-up, or coordination of payment digitization initiatives across multiple government entities or sectors;
- Experience engaging in regional or cross-country initiatives related to digital payments, interoperability, or financial inclusion in Africa;
- Familiarity with payments interoperability, payment system reforms, or national digital payments strategies, particularly in developing country contexts.
- Fluency in English is required;
- Knowledge of Amharic or other local languages e.g. Oromo, Tigrinya, Somali, Afar is an asset.
- Additional training in digital financial services is highly desirable.
As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination.
UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.
UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles.
UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.
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