Senior Evaluation Specialist- Istanbul, Turkey

Job #:	122596
Title:	Senior Evaluation Specialist
Job Stream:	Technical Assistance & Advisory Services
Location:	Istanbul, Turkey
Closing Date:	11/21/2012
Background / General description:
IFC’s Access to Finance (A2F) Advisory Services The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, promotes sustainable private sector investment in developing countries as a way to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. Combining investment capital, strong governance and Advisory Services, IFC focuses on creating and supporting commercially viable financial institutions that can attract the private capital needed to scale up and respond to unmet demand. IFC’s A2F advisory and investment services play a critical role in scaling up global financial inclusion. Financial inclusion encompasses the range, quality and availability of financial services to the underserved and the financially excluded. Some 3 billion adults – almost 70 percent of the population in developing countries – have little or no access to formal financial services. Formal financial services such as savings, loans, money transfers and insurance enable poor families to invest in enterprises and improve their nutrition, living conditions, and the health and education of their children. A2F’s Global Microfinance & Retail (CAIMR) group supports regional operational teams to develop, design and implement projects that address the financial needs of the poor, micro and retail segments globally. A2F’s Performance Based Grant Initiative (PBGI) and Learning Program Over the recent years, IFC’s Performance Based Grants Initiative (PBGI) was mainstreamed in the A2F Business Line. PBGI provides incentive-based approaches with financial institutions to develop new products and/or venture into new underserved markets. This approach has been established as an important mechanism for increasing client outreach, while embedding a strategy and implementation plan for responsible financial inclusion. PBGI projects are active in over 45 projects/programs globally valued at about $40 million, covering microfinance, insurance, housing finance, retail payments/e-banking and other programs; over 80% are in IDA countries; about 90% are joint with potential and existing investment services. PBGI has also facilitated cross-learning and the sharing of good practices; supporting innovation of new products in collaboration with other product areas, SME Financing and Agribusiness Finance, Sustainable Energy Finance, Credit Reporting, among others. The Performance Based Grant Initiative is now entering its fourth year of operations and has launched a multi-year Learning Program, which has a focused approach on monitoring and analyzing performance results achieved to-date. This requires assessing the effectiveness of grants relative to PBGI objectives. The Program will also assess overall progress, gaps and immediate opportunities in implementing responsible financial inclusion strategies within institutions’ operations, and will review the effectiveness of ongoing initiatives, as relevant to A2F’s PBGI and broader strategic priorities in scaling up responsible financial inclusion globally.
Duties and Accountabilities:
IFC is seeking to recruit a highly-motivated Senior Evaluation Specialist, with results measurement experience in access to finance—namely micro/SME finance, housing finance, insurance, payments/m-banking, credit reporting, risk management. The Senior Specialist must have experience analyzing financial and social performance, current and emerging responsible financial inclusion metrics and approaches. The Senior Specialist will be responsible for implementing regular, in-depth strategic analyses/assessments of the PBGI portfolio across products/regions/thematic areas; conduct evaluations of projects/programs; provide technical inputs and guidance on relevant assessment methods, evaluation design surveys, data sampling and use critical analyses such as cost-benefit, benchmarking and evolving financial and social rating methodologies. The Senior Specialist will use results from operations to help shape a more dynamic A2F strategy for responsible financial inclusion and the use of performance based grant approches across global products/regional operations, and particularly with relevant client financial institutions. The Senior Specialist will be responsible for the successful execution of core activities under the PBGI Learning Program. The Senior Specialist will work within IFC’s A2F Global Micro & Retail (CAIMR) Group and will be accountable for delivering on tasks and responsibilities to the A2F Global Head of CAIMR. Specific tasks/responsibilities include:  Implement in-depth operational/portfolio assessments and/or evaluations of selected projects, including those recommended by the PBGI Committee, such as bi-annual assessments, mid-term review(s) and post completion evaluations  Provide technical inputs and guidance into methodology, survey design, sampling and strategic analyses; evaluate existing rating assessments of financial and social performance  Collaborate effectively with IFC’s A2F regional operational teams and global product specialists, as well as A2F firms/clients in conducting portfolio assessments/reviews/evaluations to support their respective A2F strategies  Distil, prepare and disseminate bi-annual reports of PBGI portfolio results; further refine, analyze, adapt qualitative and quantitative results as relevant to responsible financial inclusion  Prepare Board/management and PBGI Committee presentations on findings/lessons; raise awareness and help build capacity related to PBGI objectives, financial and social performance results for IFC’s global/regional A2F teams, stakeholders (both public and private institutions) and clients  Contribute to PBGI and IFC’s A2F global knowledge management initiatives, providing dynamic feedback into strategy for responsible financial inclusion by harnessing key lessons and initial findings; support cross-learning and sharing of emerging good practices across global products and regions, for both internal IFC/A2F and external clients’ operational needs
Selection Criteria:
 Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA), International Development, Economics, Statistics and/or related degree(s) required. PhD preferred but not required  Demonstrated operational and/or project management experience (8-10 years) in one and/or a combination of the following areas in access to finance: Microfinance, SME banking, agrifinance, insurance/microinsurance, housing, payments/m-banking, credit reporting, risk management  Demonstrated experience with global financial inclusion metrics (i.e. MSME data published by WBG/IFC/CGAP/IMF statistics; MIX/SPM, etc.), financial and social rating assessments and tools, poverty indicators and assessment tools (PPI, PAT); generally a strong command of financial, risk management data; business/international economics statistics  Strong expertise and experience working with client financial institutions; experience in participatory and qualitative methodologies such as process evaluations, before-after designs, and other approaches that make use of interviews and focus-groups; etc.  Strong project management and organizational skills, ability to prioritize multiple tasks and deliver high quality work; keen ability to discern appropriate assessment/eval methods  Strong working knowledge and/or experience with econometric methods of project evaluation, including matching, differences-in-differences, RCTs and quasi-experimental designs  Must be a self-starter, willing to take initiative and be resourceful and imaginative in providing practical, workable & practical operational solutions given challenges with financial inclusion data, client and local market contexts in emerging economies  Excellent oral/verbal communication and client relationship skills, including inter-personal maturity, and intra-organizational communication skills  Excellent writing, data analysis and presentation skills for Board and management and operational levels  Proven working experience in developing countries highly preferred; readiness to travel for extended period whilst visiting projects usually in remote locations and across the regions  Strong fluency in English; fluency in French, Arabic or Spanish desired  Cover letter is required; record of publications/research is strongly preferred Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. APPLY