Business Environment and Technical Assistance Specialist at MCA Lesotho II

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Business Environment and Technical Assistance (BETA)Specialist – Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Lesotho II

 

About MCA

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a U.S. government corporation focused on assisting countries dedicated to good governance, economic freedom, and investing in people. In May 2022, MCC signed a five-year agreement (“Compact”) with the Government of Lesotho (GoL) aimed at poverty reduction through inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the country.

The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) – Lesotho II, is an entity established by the Government to act as the accountable entity to implement the Compact, with the authority to bind the Government with regard to all program activities.

Lesotho Compact

The Lesotho Health and Horticulture Compact aims to benefit 2.5 million people by growing, strengthening, and organizing the private sector in Lesotho and improving the government’s coordination to deliver critical services necessary to support private sector development.

It will achieve this goal through investments in Health System Strengthening (HSS), strengthening of the business environment and Market Driven Irrigated Horticulture (MDIH), providing sustainable income for smallholders and increasing climate resilience by replacing rain-fed subsistence farming with irrigated commercial horticulture in select locations.

The GoL is committed to passing several key reforms that will help make this compact successful, including reforms that address gender equality, working conditions and worker safety, as well as land and water rights. All of the Compact’s projects focus on overcoming barriers to the economic inclusion of women, youth, and the rural poor.

Business Environment and Technical Assistance (BETA) Project

The $62 million BETA Project objective is to support increased profits and formal employment of a pipeline of businesses, including micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME), especially those owned by women and youth, and businesses in rural areas. The project will include public-private dialogue and support policy, regulatory, and legal reforms, strengthening financial institutions that can enable greater access to finance for MSMEs. The project includes grant opportunities for women and youth entrepreneurs. This project is strongly linked to the MDIH Project to provide technical assistance and business development support to MDIH Anchor Farmers and to develop horticulture value chains. The project is organized into three activities:

Pipeline Development Activity – This activity will identify, build, and connect existing and new high-growth potential firms to direct technical assistance and business development services (BDS) to support increased firm-level profits and business maturation. MDIH Anchor Farmers and horticulture value chain firms will be prioritized. This activity will also provide grants to select MSMEs to purchase equipment and goods to facilitate business plan implementation.

Business Ecosystem Strengthening Activity – This activity will strengthen the Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) mechanism to increase private sector participation.Using an inclusive approach to policy decisions, and improve the delivery of responsive critical services such as market development and value chain services to improve the business environment.

Financial Ecosystem Strengthening Activity – This activity will strengthen the financial sector in Lesotho by increasing financing options for MSMEs and large firms by structuring financing vehicles that address access to credit issues for firms across the size spectrum.The activity will build the capacity of financial sector actors to develop and deliver client-oriented and innovative financial products.

Position Objective

The BETA Specialist will work under the supervision of Activity Manager (AM) BETA to ensure successful implementation of the BETA project. The work will entail supporting the AM BETA to provide an oversight role in the implementation of BETA activities by the BETA Manager in line with the development objectives of the Compact, including Gender and Social Inclusion (GSI), Environment and Social Performance (ESP) and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) in a manner that ensures optimum utilization of financial and other resources. The work also includes oversight over consultants/contractors’ deliverables and ensuring they are of high quality. Finally, to support the project in ensuring timely invoicing to consultants and contractors.

Key Responsibilities

  • Support in developing strategic plans, annual work plans and budgets for the BETA department.
  • Facilitate the establishment of partnerships and stakeholder engagement for implementation of the BETA project, including Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL), commercial banks, and microfinance institutions under financial sector strengthening.
  • Support BETA Director to lead the BETA Project in line with the Compact requirements and ensure alignment to the established strategies, frameworks, budgets, and resources defined by the Compact, and verify that cross-cutting requirements (e.g., GSI, ESP, M&E) are implemented.
  • Support Director BETA to align with the strategies, frameworks, budgets, and resources targeted at meeting the project’s objectives with respect to reaching women and youth-owned MSMEs; accountability for BETA project compliance with MCC’s Gender Policy and MCA-Lesotho II’s Social and Gender Integration Plan.
  • Under the guidance of the Director BETA, facilitate and coordinate collaboration with other Project Teams and cross-cutting positions (e.g., GSI, ESP, M&E, etc.) and frameworks, i.e., stakeholder engagement, as appropriate.
  • Support the Director BETA in leading teams that deliver results and innovation, including demonstrating flexibility and adaptability to react to changing systems, predict issues of concern, and recommend remedial measures.
  • Create and optimize approaches, and build consistency in the quality of program outputs, implementation and assessments of the BETA project.
  • In coordination with the Project Team, develop a cohesive management framework, including tools that integrate project technical and cross-cutting areas.
  • Support to coordinate MCA-Lesotho II’s efforts to execute on key Compact reforms in coordination with relevant Government ministries, the private sector, and civil society.
  • Coordinate project activity designs, develop and utilize a work plan to ensure MCA-Lesotho II’s ability to implement the program, managing risks and delays against established program schedules through data-driven monitoring tools.
  • Assess project components and activities, and ensure that implementation of the BETA project is in alignment with the Economic Analysis, and that tools are developed for collection of economic data on a periodic basis in liaison with the M&E Department.
  • Support Director BETA in the oversight and management of the BETA Manager—the implementation contract for the activities under this project— and collaborate with Director BETA and the team in contract management, including mechanisms for communication, monitoring timelines for deliverables, and smoothing stakeholder engagement.
  • Represent the BETA project to project stakeholders (e.g., with national/local government counterparts, development partners, civil society, project beneficiaries, etc.) and identify, develop, and manage partnerships that can advance MCA-Lesotho II’s work.
  • Coordinate external implementing entities and oversee compliance with the Implementing Entity Agreement, MCC technical guidelines, local regulations, and reporting requirements to ensure compliance and transparency.
  • Provide oversight of contract management processes, including: tracking work plans, deliverables, expiration of contracts, and financials; working effectively to resolve risks or issues; responding to contract questions; providing technical feedback where relevant; facilitating coordination with other contractors or MCA staff; and providing reports to senior management as required.
  • Provide support to the Activity Manager and BETA Manager in the following areas:
    • Technical and logistical support towards capacity needs assessment for private sector entities, including business associations and business development services (BDS) providers, incubators and accelerators.
  • Capacity building programs for private sector entities, including business associations, BDS providers, incubators and accelerators.
  • Provide inputs into elaboration of grants programs for MSMEs and smallholder farmers.
  • Developing tools and frameworks for managing the performance of the BETA Manager.

Qualifications and Experience

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, Business Development, International development, policy analysis or Equivalent.

•   Minimum three (3) years of experience in coordinating programs in business development, including but not limited to incubation and acceleration programs, business development services (BDS), and management of small and medium grants.

  • Minimum three (3) years of experience working in the banking and microfinance sector with adequate knowledge of financing models such as SME and business banking, savings and credit groups, financial co-operatives, village savings and ending communities, savings and internal lending groups, etc.
  • Minimum three (3) years of professional experience in program design, budgeting, management and coordination of multi-sectoral programs funded by development partners.

•   Three (3) years of experience promoting development objectives, including support to women and youth business and implementation of Environment and Social Performance (ESP) programs in projects funded by development partners.

•    Three (3) years contract management experiencefor consultants and technical supervision of programs.

•    3 years of experience in stakeholder engagement, including cooperation with business associations in all key sectors of the economy, understanding their capacity needs and interventions required in order to serve their membership.

  • Experience working in Southern Africa (previous work experience in Lesotho is strongly preferred).

Skills and competencies

  • Proficiency in written and spoken English and Sesotho.
  • Must have excellent interpersonal skills (communication, leadership, teamwork) and the ability to develop and maintain strong working relationships with a broad range of development partners and program stakeholders, in the public and private sectors.
  • Must be able to effectively use Google and MS Office applications and have potential to learn any specific applications related to work.
  • Excellent report writing skills per requirements of the audience.
  • Leading multi-disciplinary and multi-organizational teams with specific goals.
  • Must have excellent stakeholder engagement skills that suite a multiplicity of BETA project stakeholders such as Government ministries, State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), and Business Associations.
  • Strategic planning and budgeting skills for projects funded by development partners.
  • Thorough knowledge of the public and private sector landscape and protocols.
  • Adequate knowledge of contract management.

Added Advantages

  • Adequate knowledge of business support programsi.e., BDS services, incubation and acceleration programs, and technical assistance
  • Coordinating multi-disciplinary and multi-organizational teams
  • Strategic planning and budgeting in projects funded by development partners
  • Experience collaborating with the publicand private sector entities on business and financial sector development, including regulations and policies governing the two sectors

How to apply

Complete applications must be submitted online, on or before Friday March 22nd, 2024.

Applications should be accompanied by the following documents:

  1. Curriculum vitae containing detailed work experience;
  2. Cover letter confirming interest and availability;
  3. Soft copies of higher education and professional certificates (if available);
  4. A completed online application form (can be accessed from https://lesotho-jobs.tenderwell.app   – CV Template MCA Lesotho II)

Only applications that are submitted on or before the deadline will be considered.

We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Submit your applicationonline via:https://lesotho-jobs.tenderwell.app – Hard copy applications will not be considered.

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