Senior Social Finance Associate at Plan International

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian non-profit organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood, and enable children to prepare for - and respond to - crises and adversity. We believe in the power and potential of every child, but know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior Social Finance Associate

Location: Flexible
Functional Area: Collaboration – Strategic Enablers; Strategy & Social Finance
Grade: GH4 or equivalent.
Reports to: TBD
Travel Required: Moderate (25%)
Effecitve Date: May 2023

Role Purpose

• As a leader in the global movement for girls’ rights, our ambition is to take collective action so that 100 million girls learn, lead, decide and thrive.
• These ambitions require that we work in new ways and unleash our full creative potential.
• To this end, Plan International has established an Impact Lab to develop and grow the organisation’s social finance approach through the pursuit of innovative financing and impact investing opportunities, and incubating and accelerating gender transformative enterprises in line with the principles of Gender Lens Investing.

The Impact Lab’s work is Comprised of Two core Workstreams:

• Social Finance Advisory: Advisory support for all Plan International entities to implement social finance strategies.
• Gender Lens Investing: Sourcing of and technical assistance provision for internally developed social enterprise models and/or existing businesses in line with gender lens principles, and provision of gender lens impact measurement.
• The Senior Social Finance Associate will lead the Impact Lab’s Social Finance Advisory workstream, which provides advisory support for all Plan International entities to implement social finance strategies and expand social finance expertise. In addition, this role will provide holistic support, creating and driving forward cross-cutting strategic initiatives across the Impact Lab’s Gender Lens Ventures work.
• The Senior Social Finance Associate will support the leadership of the Impact Lab’s international team. This role will work closely with the organisation’s leadership (GH Leadership Team, National Directors, Regional Directors, and Country Directors) to develop Plan International’s gender lens investment initiative and to build our network within the social financing community.
• In this multidimensional role the Senior Social Finance Associate shall ensure that all internal and external stakeholders have a comprehensive understanding of the scope, capacity and achievements of the initiative.
• The role also requires leadership and facilitation of social finance activities alongside Country Offices and National Organisations, thereby effectively capitalising on collaborative opportunities to deliver impact at scale.

Dimensions of the Role

• The Senior Social Finance Associate will support the leadership of the Impact Lab’s international team.
• This role will work closely with the organisation’s leadership (GH Leadership Team, National Directors, Regional Directors, and Country Directors) to develop Plan International’s gender lens investment initiative and to build our network within the social financing community.
• In this multidimensional role the Senior Social Finance Associate shall ensure that all internal and external stakeholders have a comprehensive understanding of the scope, capacity and achievements of the initiative.
• The role also requires leadership and facilitation of social finance activities alongside Country Offices and National Organisations, thereby effectively capitalizing on collaborative opportunities to deliver impact at scale.

Accountabilities

• The Senior Social Finance Associate will have the opportunity to shape the focus of Impact Lab’s Social Finance Advisory work and continually iterate this based on the organization’s needs and market opportunities.
• In addition, this position will provide critical insight and support to the Gender Lens Investing workstream.

Social Finance Advisory Management:

• Provide social finance technical advice and project support across the organization, such as proposal writing, social finance strategy development and relationship brokering.
• Deliver social finance-focused capacity building and educational activities across Plan International.
• Support the facilitation of the Social Finance Taskforce, an internal network of engaged senior experts with representation from Plan International’s National Organisations, Global Hub, Country Offices and Regional Offices. 
  • Design and manage content for Social Finance Taskforce meetings.
• Continue to lead and manage the internal Practitioner Group and Community of Practice, a network of social finance experts from across the organisation.
  • Identify and assess existing expertise and needs in social finance across the organisation.
  • Identify key activities for the Community of Practice, such as project facilitation, knowledge sharing, information and education.
  • Lead ongoing management of the Community of Practice, such as webinars, expert groups, calls, global buddy system, research etc.
• Facilitate the Impact Lab’s Social Finance Advisory external partner network, including consultants and sector experts.
  • Track and manage ongoing relationships.
  • Vet and manage potential consultants to support with social finance work across the organization’s key social finance themes (e.g. development impact bonds, gender lens investing).
• Actively engage in the Impact Lab’s networks and memberships, such as GIIN and ANDE.
  • Utilize the Impact Lab’s memberships to support other responsibilities (as listed above) and to further personal development in social finance and impact investing.
• Conduct research to identify relevant partners, global alliances, coalitions and multi-sectoral initiatives.

Social Finance Project Support:

• Provide support to Plan International Offices (Global Hub, National Organisations, Country Offices, and Regional Offices) with social finance projects, such as proposal development for Development Impact Bonds, either directly or indirectly by connecting them to experts in the Impact Lab’s external network.
• Develop a project intake process and the creation of support materials for both the Impact Lab’s team to use as evaluation matrices and that facilitate organizational learning.
• Create a workshop and resource bank for the Impact Lab team to use with internal and external enterprise design support efforts.

Capacity Building:

• Support in designing and implementing educational opportunities to grow Plan International’s capacity in social finance (including results-based financing, impact investing, etc.), such as webinar series, informational guides and documents, internal calls and presentations, and peer-to-peer mentoring.
• Identify and design capacity-building opportunities in social finance for the organization, either directly or through partners.
• Keep up to date with external events, webinars and conferences and advertise these with relevant stakeholders across the organization.

Knowledge Management:

• Oversee knowledge management for all internal social finance activities and manage Impact Lab’s internal communications channels.
• Act as the knowledge management hub for all internal social finance activities, keeping abreast with social finance activity across Plan International.
• Develop and maintain knowledge management tools and platforms for social finance projects.
• Keep abreast with external trends and research and provide market intelligence on social finance opportunities to the organization.

Gender Lens Ventures:

• Develop support materials for external market players that help to cultivate the gender lens investing ecosystem.
  • Inclusive but not limited to entrepreneurship educational content and professional development for capital suppliers.
• Together with the Gender lens Ventures team, Design solutions for Plan International to tackle key challenges in the gender lens investing market in Kenya.
• Work with Plan Kenya’s business development team and National Organisations to mobilise resources and fundraising for the projects. 
• Additional roles and responsibilities will be assessed and added as the pilot continues to progress.

Key Relationships:
The role will include close coordination with the following internal teams:

• Global Hub Leadership Team.
• Select Plan International National Organisations.
• Select Plan International Country Offices, in particular Plan Kenya for the pilot.

The role will include close coordination and relationship building with:

• Impact Investors and Finance Institutions.
• Private sector partners.
• Peer organizations.
• Academia.

The Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Economics or Development Studies.
• Master’s Degree in Economics or Development Studies.
• Significant experience in a leading consulting, investment banking or private equity firm.
• Experience in social finance, impact investing, venture capital or private equity.
• Strong working knowledge of social finance trends, impact investing and investment vehicles in international development context.
• In-depth understanding of the international development funding sector, including bilaterals, multilaterals, foundations, and the private sector.

Application Closing Date
Sunday, 4th June, 2023.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Click here for more information (DOC)

Note

• Please note that Plan International will never send unsolicited emails requesting payment from candidates.
• The location of this role can be flexible where Plan International has an office* that can employ on behalf of the Global Hub and you have the pre-existing right to work and live.