Technical Officer – Financial Inclusion, Kenya

We rebuild tropical fisheries with coastal communities

Blue Ventures is a marine conservation organisation that puts people first. We support coastal fishers in remote and rural communities to rebuild fisheries and restore ocean life. Our work began two decades ago in Madagascar’s remote coastal communities and is growing globally.

Across a dozen countries, we’re partnering with traditional fishers and community organisations to design, scale, strengthen and sustain fisheries management and conservation at the community level. We bring partners together in networks to advocate for reform, and share tools and best practices to support fishing communities across the globe.

Summary job description

One of the main challenges facing coastal communities, and especially small-scale fishers (SSFs), is the lack or inadequate access to financial services. The World Bank estimates that more than 1.7 billion people, most of whom in developing countries, do not have access to basic financial services (e.g. savings, bank accounts or credit). They are financially excluded or unbanked. Formal financial services are often located out of their reach, due to multiple factors: the road infrastructure connecting coastal communities to financial services is in most cases not fully functional, fishers lack understanding of what financial services can be available to them, and bank requirements to hold identification cards (ID) for Know Your Customer (KYC) processes cannot be met by majority of fishers who lack IDs. This is especially true for women fishers. On the supply side, SSFs are perceived as high-default risk due to the high-mobility nature of their trade and the high transaction costs, mainly due to poor infrastructure.

Blue Ventures aims to increase access to financial services and eventually increase financial inclusion among the fishermen and fisherwomen along the East Africa coastal region. Though financial inclusion levels vary across the coastal countries, SSFs are still significantly excluded from financial services. Blue Ventures’ model is based on Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) as a means to not only provide access to valuable financial services, but to provide a pathway for formal financial inclusion. VSLAs build the financial skills and assets of participating households by providing access to a safe, convenient place to save as well as small timely loans. VSLAs provide members with practical financial experience which they can leverage to successfully engage with formal financial service providers (FSPs), equipping them with financial literacy to ensure that members understand the way that formal financial markets work. Reporting to the Technical Specialist – Fisheries and working in close collaboration with the Global Head – Financial Inclusion and Partner Network team, this is a full-time role based in Mombasa, with regular travel to the field.

The Technical Officer – Financial Inclusion is responsible and accountable for the technical quality and management of financial inclusion projects, and for ensuring efficient and effective attainment of programme goals and objectives. The role is responsible for the implementation of financial inclusion activities in Kenya , from building the technical capacity of our partners to monitoring progress, and for assisting the Global Head – Financial Inclusion in overseeing the growth of financial inclusion activities. The role will build staff capacity through training, coaching and demonstration.

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