Proximity Advisors

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

 Pro-Femmes /Twese Hamwe (PFTH) is an Umbrella of Rwandan Civil Society Organizations aiming at advancement of women status, peace, and development. It was established in October 1992, and currently represents 53 member organizations within the country.  The mission of Pro-Femmes/Twese Hamwe is to eradicate all forms of discrimination towards women, to promote their socio-economic-political, and legal status, and to enhance the institutional and organizational capacities of its member organizations through the promotion of a sustainable human development approach based on gender equality and a culture of peace, justice, and human rights.

To achieve her mission promoting the social-economic status of women in partnership with Initiatives for Peace and Human Rights (iPeace) and The Network University (TNU) with the financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is implementing the project on “Empowering Women in Informal Cross-Border Trade in The Great Lakes Region (EWICBT)”.

The project activities will be implemented in Rubavu and Rusizi borders with the aim to contribute to the social-economic empowerment of women in cross border trade between DRC and Rwanda. This will be achieved through improving their business environment and increasing their income and their social-economic welfare. To accomplish this, the project is builton improving the legal and policy framework for WICBT, providing access to legal aid services to WICBT, strengthening their entrepreneurial and financial capacity, and increasing WICBT’s access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).

It is in this regard that PRO-FEMMES/TWESE HAMWE is looking for 5 suitable candidates to fill positions of Proximity advisors who will be based in Rubavu and Rusizi borders.  

The Proximity advisors will be in charge of coaching and mentoring in financial literacy and entrepreneurship to WICBT and conduct other field related activities.  

1.    Key duties and responsibilities 

Under supervision of the project coordinator, the proximity advisors will undertake the following specific tasks:

• Work closely with local authorities and border officials to identify, engage and facilitate WICBT to form WICBT cooperatives;
• Work with Financial and entrepreneurship specialist to assess the actual capacity needs of WICBT at an individual level and within their cooperatives to inform capacity-building support;
• Monitor and evaluate the implementation of WICBT project activities specifically related financial and entrepreneurship activities on the informal cross-border program at either the above-mentioned border posts to promote safe and sustainable cross-border trade business of WICBT between Rwanda and DRC;
• Coordinate capacity building activities (either in cooperatives or individually) of women doing informal cross-border trade across the above-mentioned border posts;
• Engage, coordinate and organize training of WICBT cooperatives in areas of financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and cooperative management;
• Engage and closely work with local Business development partners and financial institutions to bridge gaps in areas of financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and cooperative management;
• Collaborate with local financial institutions to raise sound awareness and understanding about financial literacy among WICBT, and the importance of working with FIs to promote WCBT;
• Collaborate with national and local institutions (District, RCA, Immigration office and RRA) to educate and raise awareness about laws and regulations on cross-border trade WICBT;
• Work shoulder-by-shoulder with WICBT (on your) border posts to promote the culture and their capabilities of financial management, savings as well as working with FIs in their business throughout the course of the project;
• Organize peer-to-peer awareness training and other planned training for WICBT at the above-mentioned border posts;
• Link and facilitate WICBT to access finance by providing proximity financial and entrepreneurial advisory services prior to and after access to finance;
• Participate in the entrepreneurship and access to finance meetings and forums organized by different stakeholders and follow-up the implementation of the decision taken regarding access to finance and entrepreneurship development;
• Continuous assess the growing capacity needs of the WICBT cooperatives and facilitate to design targeted interventions with Pro-Femmes;
• Continuously conduct an inventory of existing financial products and grants meant for women and available from local financial institutions thereafter, encourage and facilitate WICBT to exploit these schemes;
• Work with WICBT cooperatives, local authorities and local financial institutions to introduce saving schemes of WICBT cooperatives;
• Plan, implement, monitor and report on the implementation of project activities to the headquarter;
• Constantly up-date the database and provide timely data and list of WICBT cooperatives and their progress on the financial inclusion;     
• Perform other tasks as shall be advised by the supervisors at Pro-Femmes / Twese Hamwe.

2.    Desired competencies and qualifications for proximity advisors

• At least hold a bachelor’s degree in economics, finance and accounting, and business management;
• Experience of working with local financial institutions and business development institutions;
• At least 2 years of progressive experience in financial management , specifically related to trade, business, and cooperatives;
• Broad knowledge of gender equality, women empowerment, business plan, and development;
• Strong experience and knowledge of civil society in Rwanda;
• Fluent in English, French, and Kinyarwanda, knowledge of Swahili  is an added advantage;
• Excellent communicator orally and in writing;
• Innovative self-driven and team player;
• Interpersonal skills with experience of working in multicultural contexts;
• Computer literate.

3.    Expression of interest and application

Interested candidates should address their application enclosed with a cover letter, Curriculum vitae, academic documents, and other certificates to the Chairperson of PRO-FEMMES/TWESE HAMWE and delivered in a single PDF document to PRO-FEMMES/TWESE HAMWE’s  e-mail recruitment@profemmes.org   with a copy to info@profemmes.org  not later than 14^th September 2020 at 4:00 pm. PFTH is an equal opportunity employer and Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for this position.

 PRO-FEMMES/TWESE HAMWE head office is located next to Gahanga Sector Offices, Kicukiro district, City of Kigali.

N.B:

• The subject of the e-mail should be mentioned “Application for the position

of  PROXIMITY ADVISOR”

• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for a written test.

KIGALI, 3^rd September 2020.

KIGALI, September 3^rd 2020

KANAKUZE Jeanne d’Arc

Chairperson

Pro-Femmes/ Twese Hamwe