Livelihoods & Economic Opportunities Specialist

Dec 5, 2016 | Pact
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At the heart of Pact is the promise of a better tomorrow.  The promise of a healthy life.  Of a decent livelihood. Of sustainable natural resources that benefit communities.  Now more than ever in its 42-year history, Pact is helping millions of people who are poor and marginalized discover and build their own solutions and take ownership over their future.
Pact enables systemic solutions that allow those who are poor and marginalized to earn a dignified living, be healthy, and take part in the benefits that nature provides. Pact accomplishes this by strengthening local capacity, forging effective governance systems, and transforming markets into a force for development.

The position supports the Livelihoods & Economic Opportunities (LEO) team within Integration Program Advancement. The Livelihoods Specialist is responsible for providing support and leadership for Pact’s global Livelihoods & Economic Opportunities portfolio within an integrated development approach. S/he provides key input into existing and proposed Pact LEO related work and supports a global “community of practice” made up of professionals from within and outside Pact to help advance the state of livelihoods and economic opportunities at Pact. S/he provides strategic support to a portfolio of projects, develops tools and materials, and trains and mentors staff globally. The Specialist reports to the global Livelihoods & Economic Opportunities Director.



Department Overview

Pact exists to help create a world where those who are poor and marginalized exercise their voice, build their own solutions, and take ownership of their future. The Integration Program Advancement team contributes to this by:

  • Learning, leveraging, and thought leadership for Pact’s core technical areas 
  • Ensuring quality programming through technical support and monitoring
  • Contributing to innovative program design, monitoring and evaluation 

Key Responsibilities

  • Provide technical and strategic support to Pact’s work in Livelihoods & Economic Opportunities including financial inclusion, savings groups, digital finance, market access, economic strengthening for OVC and youth to ensure quality and program standards in line with globally-recognized best practices.
  • Facilitate access through partner and stakeholder organizations to a full range of economic strengthening options depending on the needs and resources available to households (i.e. market opportunities, group savings, financial literacy and access, income generation, micro-enterprise development training, farming-as-a-business, employability, etc.),
  • Support department-wide initiatives and strategic vision for department;
  • Ensure proposals submitted and programs led by Pact involving livelihoods/economic development work are technically sound, capitalize upon learning from other parts of Pact and the wider world, are gender-sensitive and promote equitable programming;
  • Provide ongoing and project start-up technical support to country offices by helping to develop work plans and technical solicitations; share tools and materials from other similar projects within and outside of Pact; orient and train new program staff, and assist field teams to implement initial project activities;
  • Play a representational role for Pact in relevant fora and working with field offices to increase their representation in global, regional, and local events;
  • Work closely with Senior Livelihoods Director and other PA team members to ensure integration across sectors and core competencies;
  • Other tasks as assigned.


Learning, leveraging and thought leadership

  • Track industry trends, new approaches and general innovations, best practices and provide input and recommendations per current and changing learnings and thinking.
  • Monitor and maintain relevant manuals, training materials and reports;
  • Develop toolkits, edit/review donor reports, create and revise conference and presentation material, and provide other support for projects / countries assigned.
  • Support a dynamic community of practice of staff worldwide that serves to ensure continuous learning across Pact;
  • Collect success stories, tools, and project innovations that can be tested and used in other contexts.
  • Coordinate efforts to identify and document Pact’s best practices;
  • Support the design of Learning Reviews in close collaboration with the Results and Measurement team as well as country office staff.
  • Deliver e-learning, including through webinars, video courses, podcasts, social networking platforms, and infographics.

Ensuring quality programming

  • Ensure continuous adherence to or incorporation of LEO globally recognized best practices in Pact’s work.
  • Support country offices through remote and in-person mentoring, training and knowledge transfer around LEO tools and approaches
  • Collaborate closely with other technical teams (Health, Governance, Capacity Development, or Natural Resource Management) to ensure capacity development and systems strengthening is integrated into project delivery.
  • Provide LEO inputs into project work planning, tool development, research initiatives, learning reviews and stories, and project reports.

 

Innovative program design, monitoring and evaluation

  • Incorporate into Pact’s LEO practices industry trends, new approaches and general innovations, best practices and provide input and recommendations per current and changing learnings and thinking.
  • Support research related to livelihoods and economic opportunities, for example reliability and validity studies of tools, economic research, local market analysis, etc.
  • Draft articles, blogs, and other types of materials for internal and external publications.
  • Support new approaches that contribute to Pact’s transformation to the fourth sector.

Basic Requirements

  • BA + 4 years of experience or MA + 2 years of experience in economics, business, international development or a related field;
  • 2 years of experience working on livelihoods/economic development related projects in a variety of settings;
  • Ability to contribute to livelihoods/economic development proposals and ongoing business development opportunities, capacity building, training, and increased technical depth;
  • Experience in effective design, M&E and implementation of livelihoods/economic development programs;
  • Demonstrated facilitation and program development skills and upholding of Pact’s behavioral competencies;
  • Demonstrated ability to create and maintain effective working relations with country teams, stakeholders, NGO partners, and international donor agencies;
  • Ability to travel frequently, sometimes at short notice;
  • Ability to perform and prioritize multiple tasks;
  • Proficiency in English and word processing, spreadsheets and database skills.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Proficiency in at least one other language.
  • Proven ability to contribute to livelihoods/economic development proposals and ongoing business development opportunities, capacity building, training, and increased technical depth;
  • Experience in leveraging private sector partnerships and resources for creation of business opportunities, business mentorship and skills training, market access, strategies to strengthen household resilience, etc.