Housing Finance Officer HFHI - Habitat for Humanity International

Bratislava, Slovakia

Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) is a nonprofit, Christian organization dedicated to the cause of eliminating poverty housing. Since its founding in 1976, Habitat has built and renovated more than 400,000 homes, providing simple, decent and affordable shelter for more than 2 million people worldwide. In Europe and Central Asia, Habitat works in 22 countries with partners, donors and volunteers from the region. Its regional headquarters is based in Bratislava, Slovakia.

We are currently seeking to recruit a:

Housing Finance Officer

Reporting to the Housing Finance Manager of ECA (Europe & Central Asia) this position will contribute to the growth and development of the existing housing finance programs in the region, consistent with HFHI standards and strategic goals towards sustainably serving families. At the same time, the Housing Finance Officer will assist with the development and implementation of a regional expansion strategy with special focus in partnerships.

Detail Responsibilities/Duties:

DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT OF NEW HOUSING FINANCE PROJECTS:

• Assist in developing, piloting and implementing Housing Finance (HF) and Housing Micro Finance (HMF) projects in cooperation with National Organizations (NOs) and area office team.
• Assist in developing, piloting and implementing partnership projects in cooperation with NOs and the area office team.
• Support the development of credit proposals by NOs.
• Monitor and follow-up implementation of new HF and HMF projects.
• Promote alliances with other institutions related to the Credit area, such as Banks and other Micro Finance institutions.

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT FOR HOUSING FINANCE

• Generate learnings and promote scaling of effective models, sharing and knowledge transfer in the area and globally.
• Identify capacity gaps in the field of implementing capacity of HF and HMF projects and cooperate with Finance and Program team in developing capacity, including legal aspects and financial literacy of clients.
• Lead area wide initiatives for financial education.
• Promote adoption and adaptation of successful HF and HMF models among HFH entities within ECA Area.

CENTER FOR INNOVATION IN SHELTER (CISF) and MICROBUILD FUND (MBF)

• Lead learning and knowledge generation strategic initiatives
• Liaise with MFC and lead appropriate product and service development to support housing to become mainstream in the MFI sector in the region
• Support pilot project preparation and implementation to feed the pipeline for MicroBuild activities
• Support appropriate Due Dilligence, both desk and on site and prepare MFI proposals for scale up

Requirements:

• A Bachelor’s degree in a related field: finance, microfinance, housing, economics, business.
• Financing (for housing) analysis abilities. Familiarity with Net Present Value and Future Value calculations would be an asset.
• Credit and micro credit analysis abilities.
• Strong MS office skills, especially Excel.
• Fluency in English; Russian language strongly preferred.
• At least 3 years of experience managing and/or advising in financing and micro-financing for housing.
• Experience in implementing development projects in the field.
• Experience monitoring and evaluating financing and microfinance programs.
• Knowledge and understanding of the ECA region.
• Cross-cultural communication skills.
• Process facilitation and organizational development skills.
• Decision making and problem solving.
• Demonstrated ability to work within a team.
• Willingness to travel up to 20% of time to National Organizations and Affiliates.

If you enjoy working in a global team, are interested in helping to eliminate poverty housing and meet the requirements, please send your motivation letter and CV in English indicating the position you are applying for to Human Resources to hr.europe@habitat.org. Please note that the phone interviews will take place on September 27-28th, and the final interviews will take place in Bratislava on October 11-12th. Closing date for applications: September 23rd, 2011.

To find out more about HFHI visit us at www.habitateurope.org