Duties and Responsibilities
Key Responsibilities:
Overview
VisionFund is World Vision’s microfinance provider serving vulnerable clients through loans, savings, and insurance. We enable families to grow their livelihoods in hard to reach, rural locations by operating financial institutions in 28 countries so that caregivers can create secure futures for their children.
We believe in brighter futures for children; empowering families to create incomes and jobs; unlocking economic potential for communities to thrive.
Join VisionFund as we seek to end intergenerational poverty through microfinance.
Job Summary
This position, leads the development of an organisational culture centred on social impact goals. Policies, procedures and systems must be refined or created, and then embedded to support and perpetuate that culture. The result is that all staff and stakeholders – including World Vision, other partners, funders, and donors – understand and are motivated by VF’s vision for client transformation. The ultimate goal of this role is to create a culture of continuous improvement and innovation that results in lasting reduction to clients’ poverty, and improved well-being of children. All this needs to be underscored by the team providing reliable data and strong analysis.
Major Responsibilities
1.Lead VisionFund as part of Senior Executive Team
Lead organizational decision-making driven by social impact goals and by an understanding of how clients are transformed.
Maintain and build a strong, dynamic, focus on social impact in the SET. Bring the voice of the client into the SET’s decision making.
As a recognized expert in social impact, promote the work of VF within WV and externally.
Establish and lead the implementation of systems that promote a relentless focus on clients and social impact. Make the organization client-centric at all levels.
Provide leadership for specific initiatives related to women’s empowerment, for staff and clients.
Ensure the application and implementation of standards related to achieving social impact for clients around the globe.
Lead and motivate senior leaders to advance employee engagement around social impact and service to clients.
Lead engagement with VF Board and Board SP Committee on matters relating to social impact.
Demonstrate VF’s Christian mission by encouraging spiritual development of staff, and by working to recognize and reduce the spiritual poverty of clients.
2.Lead organizational focus on social impact that helps to deliver high quality, sustainable funding
Lead the development and implementation of VisionFund’s social impact strategy to translate VF mission into practice.
Create persistent impact-first culture throughout VF network.
Lead the development of strategies and plans to achieve a VF culture that considers every decision through the lens of the clients’ needs and social impact.
Create inspirational vision and provide strategic leadership to create a unified language and tone for all internal and external communications about clients.
Develop high-quality business strategies and plans to create long-term value for clients and all stakeholders.
Create innovative strategies to work with partners to achieve greater social impact.
Provide leadership to encourage innovation for clients within a risk-controlled framework.
Maintain strong relationships with WV donor reps and where appropriate with donors directly, to foster understanding of VF’s social impact.
Foster and maintain active relationships with sector counterparts, evaluation specialists, and social impact experts to identify areas of collaboration for VF’s greater impact.
Oversee the creation of processes to monitor and review social impact alongside financial performance for all MFIs, at HO level and branch level.
Oversee the creation of social impact reports for all internal and external audiences.
Chair the Steering Group for the Women’s Empowerment Fund with a goal of raising $25m over five years.
3.Lead the monitoring and evaluation of VFI’s social impact to clients and outcomes for children
Provide leadership for the development and implementation of PPI, aligned with WV Livelihoods
Provide oversight for MFIs’ implementation of social impact monitoring processes, especially related to child well-being outcomes.
Define protocols and business processes to ensure MFIs analyze and understand their impact and use data to invest resources for the greatest social impact.
Develop and implement strategies to ensure constant improvements to and learning from social impact data. Responsible for capturing, organizing and disseminating learnings related to social impact, so that colleagues throughout the MFI network and Global Centre can use the learnings for enhanced decision making.
Ensure that data and evidence from MFI operations and feedback from clients are used to develop a culture of continuous improvement of products, services, and client service standards.
Engage external experts to conduct evaluations of VF’s social impact.
Oversee analysis of evidence to demonstrate the social impact of VF’s client-centric strategies, policies, and processes.
Key point of WV liaison for social impact (e.g. WV Evidence and Learning department) - Ensure effective and intentional linkages with WV in such areas child well-being measurement and reporting, client education, Christian witness, child protection, and the rollout of the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) poverty measurement tool.
Provide leadership to the social impact team.
Knowledge, Skills and Competencies
Required Professional Experience
10+ years’ work experience in global, matrix-managed organisation with a social impact
Extensive experience of influencing executive decision makers in multiple disciplines
Extensive experience of managing multiple budgets and plans at one time
5+ years’ experience leading different functional teams at one time, combined with matrix-management responsibilities for different teams
Experience of managing long-term client and donor relationships
Extensive experience of public speaking and engaging stakeholders
Must be able to simultaneously manage multiple priorities and projects with flexibility on hours to contact people within wide time-zone differences.
Proven ability to be cross-culturally sensitive to work with associates from every area of the world
Extensive experience of microfinance or other livelihoods work - or similar financial experience in the private sector
Must be excellent communicator (oral and written) with strong influencing skills at all levels
Must have wide international, cross-cultural and field experience (ideally field experience of international development and/or microfinance)
Must be able to demonstrate a Christ-centred life and ability to contribute to the spiritual nurture of staff
Preferred knowledge/qualifications for the role
Broad and deep understanding of social impact in the context of economic development
Considerable understanding and experience of directing and overseeing the monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of interventions related to reducing poverty
Good knowledge of world affairs, e.g. humanitarian crises, conflict zones, political and cultural awareness in context.
Travel and/or Work Environment
The position requires ability and willingness to travel internationally, potentially 25% of the time.
Willing to work short term in challenging environments.
High level of English written and verbal.
French or Spanish fluency desired.
