Financial Inclusion Officer – STEP UP to Dignified Project

About the Organization

FIDO (Faya Integrated Development Organization) is implementing the STEP UP to Dignified Project, which supports underserved and marginalized groups—including women, youth, and persons with disabilities—to access financial services and build dignified, sustainable livelihoods.

Position Summary

Under the STEP UP to Dignified Project, the Financial Inclusion Officer will provide strategic leadership for the project’s overall financial inclusion pathway, going beyond basic access-to-finance facilitation. The Officer will support engagement with financial institutions; the establishment and strengthening of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs); financial literacy and loan-readiness interventions; and linkages between enterprise groups and appropriate financial products and services.

Working closely with Business Development Officers, the Financial Inclusion Officer will ensure that financial inclusion interventions align with enterprise development and market systems priorities, while supporting effective financial management, indicator tracking, and compliance.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead implementation of the overall financial inclusion pathway across target project locations.
• Coordinate engagement and partnerships with banks, microfinance institutions (MFIs), SACCOs, Kifiya, digital financial service providers, and other financial service providers.
• Support implementation, operationalization, and monitoring of the Kifiya partnership and other financial inclusion arrangements.
• Work closely with Business Development Officers to align financial inclusion interventions with enterprise development and market systems priorities.
• Facilitate the establishment, capacity building, and institutional strengthening of VSLAs and community savings groups.
• Design and support financial literacy and loan-readiness training tailored to enterprise groups, women, and youth.
• Develop structured access-to-finance pathways for enterprise groups, linking them to appropriate financial products and services.
• Follow up on enterprise financing, loan disbursements, and loan utilization, and establish effective repayment support mechanisms.
• Track and report on financial inclusion monitoring, learning, and key indicators, including the number of women, youth, and persons with disabilities reached.
• Identify and address socioeconomic and structural barriers that limit access to financial services, such as low literacy, collateral requirements, distance, and gender norms.
• Prepare, monitor, and report on activity budgets and financial records, and support compliance with donor guidelines in coordination with project management.
• Visit project sites to mentor community groups, monitor interventions, and ensure quality standards.

Qualifications and Experience

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in finance, Banking, Microfinance, Economics, Cooperative Development, Business Administration, or a related field. A master’s degree or relevant professional certification is an advantage.
• Experience: Three to five years of relevant professional experience in financial inclusion, microfinance, cooperative development, VSLA programming, enterprise development, or youth and women’s economic empowerment initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience working with commercial banks, MFIs, SACCOs, digital platforms such as Kifiya, and community savings groups.
• Proven experience designing and facilitating financial literacy and loan-readiness programs, and market-based enterprise financing mechanisms.
• Experience working with low-income, underserved, or marginalized groups, with a strong focus on gender and social inclusion.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong technical knowledge of inclusive finance, microfinance products, credit risk, VSLA methodology, and market systems approaches.
• Excellent stakeholder coordination and partnership management skills, including the ability to build linkages with financial service providers.
• Understanding of digital financial services, mobile money platforms, and donor financial management and reporting standards.
• Ability to apply a strong gender, youth, and disability inclusion lens to financial inclusion interventions.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and interpersonal skills, including the ability to explain financial concepts in simple language.
• High integrity, accuracy, cultural sensitivity, problem-solving ability, and organizational skills.
• Fluency in English and local language(s); computer literacy, including proficiency in MS Office (Excel, Word, and PowerPoint).