Senior Advocacy Officer, Africa (Inclusive Financial Systems & Digital Public Infrastructure) @Gates Foundation (GF) Ethiopia

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Organization: Gates Foundation

Deadline: May 22, 2025

Job Description

The Foundation

We are the largest nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Founded on a simple premise: people everywhere, regardless of identity or circumstances, should have the chance to live healthy, productive lives. We believe our employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations we aim to serve. We provide an exceptional benefits package to employees and their families which include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with no premiums, generous paid time off, paid family leave, foundation-paid retirement contribution, regional holidays, and opportunities to engage in several employee communities. As a workplace, we’re committed to creating an environment for you to thrive both personally and professionally.

The Team

The Program Advocacy and Communications (PAC) team works in partnership with program teams and other teams in Global Policy and Advocacy (GPA) to achieve their policy and finance goals by:
– Developing and coordinating the execution of advocacy and communications strategies.
– Leveraging leadership and foundation voice to implement advocacy strategies.
– Developing and managing a grant portfolio dedicated to achieving advocacy outcomes.
– Directly advocating with sector leaders, influencers, media and government officials in order to achieve advocacy outcomes.
– Leading issue-specific communications in service of advocacy goals.
– Developing policy recommendations in partnership with programmatic and regional offices.

The Senior Advocacy Officer, Africa will support the PAC strategies of two program teams: Inclusive Financial Systems and Digital Public Infrastructure.

The Inclusive Financial Systems (IFS) team believes that valuable, low-cost financial products offer a pathway out of poverty, and that digital financial systems can enable the private sector’s delivery of such products to the poor sustainably and at scale. IFS supports the buildout of inclusive digital financial services (DFS) systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by 1) enabling policies and regulations which support the expansion of inclusive financial services while also protecting users; 2) supporting the implementation of inclusive instant payments systems (IIPS), 3) driving scale and economic sustainability by promoting pro-poor use cases, including government to person payments, wage payments, digital merchant payments, and productive credit; and 4) closing the gender gap in the usage of formal financial products.

The Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) team supports country efforts to build inclusive and interoperable DPI, including identification, data sharing, and credentialing systems (among other DPI components). While this team’s primary focus is to support LMICs’ DPI efforts, this team will also act as a functional team offering advisory services, grant management, and technical assistance to other foundation strategies (in health, education, agriculture, etc.) which are working to incorporate DPI into their work. The DPI team invests in a range of efforts to help countries build DPI that is secure and inclusive, including open-source digital public goods that countries can use to build their own DPI, technical assistance facilities to help countries implement DPI with the appropriate regulations and safeguards, and research to inform DPI policies and implementation strategies.

Your Role

We are seeking an expert in IFS, DPI, and advocacy. The Senior Advocacy Officer, Africa (IFS & DPI) will develop a strategy to 1) support and encourage African government decision-makers to invest in DPI and adopt policy measures which expand financial inclusion; and 2) ensure those decision-makers have access to the evidence, technologies, technical assistance, and regulatory guidance needed to build safe and inclusive DPI. The postholder will build a partner/grantee ecosystem to help implement this strategy. This will require partnerships with global advocacy and technical assistance partners (e.g., World Bank, UN, AfricaNenda, Co-Develop, Better than Cash Alliance), African regional bodies (e.g., African Union, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, African Continental Free Trade Agreement Secretariat, African Development Bank), African country government decision-makers, civil society organizations, and the private sector. The selected candidate will represent the foundation with African governments and regulators, partner closely with the IFS, DPI, PAC, and Africa Regional Office (ARO) teams to refine and implement this strategy, and determine how to leverage the foundation’s voice to advance our strategic goals.

The postholder will be based in Addis Ababa, and report to the Deputy Director, Global Policy and Advocacy.

What You’ll Do

Partner with the IFS, DPI, PAC, and ARO teams to lead the development, implementation, and refinement of the IFS and DPI advocacy strategies in Africa.
Represent the foundation and its partners with African governments, central banks, and implementing partners to support the design, implementation, and regulation of safe and inclusive DPI, including inclusive instant payment systems (IIPS).
Support African regional bodies to develop regional standards for national and cross-border DPI and supporting regulations.
Negotiate, implement, and manage advocacy portfolio of investments with impact measures.
Build a partner/grantee ecosystem for advancing IFS and DPI goals in Africa.
Partner with the PAC, IFS and DPI program teams and the ARO to use the foundation’s voice and platforms to advance IFS and DPI team goals.
Partner with our team’s Resource Mobilization Lead to unlock donor financing to support country efforts to advance financial inclusion and build DPI more broadly.
Provide clear, concise and insightful written analyses and recommendations for investments.
Represent the foundation to external constituencies. This could include formal and informal presentations, attending conferences, sitting on working groups, and holding board seats as appropriate.
Write and produce briefings, reports, email updates, and other materials on key global IFS and DPI policy and funding and other relevant issues for foundation leadership
Serve as a point of contact on IFS and DPI policy and advocacy issues for internal and external stakeholders, working within the complex matrix-style organization across the foundation.

Your Experience

We are looking for a recognized global professional with deep sector and advocacy expertise in financial inclusion and DPI. Additional knowledge and skills include:

Advanced degree preferred in public policy, business, international relations, development or a related field with 10+ years’ experience in financial inclusion, DPI, or related fields in senior technical advisory roles in Africa (preferably with a mix of service in the public and private sectors).
Deep expertise in financial inclusion, IIPS, and DPI more broadly.
Understanding of the policy and regulatory enablers for financial inclusion, IIPS, and DPI more broadly.
Experience developing and implementing advocacy and communications strategies to influence policymakers, donors, and other external stakeholders, including personal interactions with senior African policy makers, civil society organizations, the private sector, the media and other key external constituencies.
Understanding how investments in financial inclusion and DPI can advance a range of development objectives, including social protection, regional economic integration, and improved public service delivery.
Understanding of how digital infrastructure and policy decisions are established at the country level and the role of international and regional bodies in informing those decisions.
Understanding of the role of donor funding/philanthropy in advancing DPI efforts.
Excellent strategic thinker and strategy development experience.
Demonstrated ability to organize/prioritize work and meet deadlines within a fast-paced environment with multiple and competing demands.
Innovative thinker who is hands-on and willing to go as deep or broad as necessary to achieve outcomes.
Demonstrated ability to question and challenge colleagues in a constructive manner.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, able to effectively synthesize information to reach diverse audiences and create consensus.

Other Attributes

Comfortable in a wide range of cultural, geographic and operational situations, demonstrating culturally sensitive behaviour with a diverse range of people and a deep commitment to development issues and high standards of personal integrity.
Ability to travel up to 25% domestically and internationally.

Application deadline: 22 May 2025

Hiring Requirements

As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment will be contingent upon successful completion of a background check.

Candidate Accommodations

If you require assistance due to a disability in the application or recruitment process, please submit a request here.

Inclusion Statement

We are dedicated to the belief that all lives have equal value. We strive for a global and cultural workplace that supports ever greater diversity, equity, and inclusion — of voices, ideas, and approaches — and we support this diversity through all our employment practices.

All applicants and employees who are drawn to serve our mission will enjoy equality of opportunity and fair treatment without regard to race, color, age, religion, pregnancy, sex, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and prior protected activity.