Technical Specialist (Access to Finance) – SB-4
- Career Category: Business Administration, Agriculture, Rural development, Banking / Finance
- Schedule:Full-time
- Salary: Negotiable
Type of requisition: NPP
Organizational Unit: FAO Representation in Cambodia
Duration: 9 months
The position will require frequent travel to project provinces (Kampong Thom, Siem Reap, Preah Vihear, and Oddar Meanchey) to meet stakeholders, assess capacity, and support field implementation. All travel must be approved in advance and will be reimbursed according to FAO rules and procedures.
Reporting Lines
The Technical Specialist (Access to Finance) reports directly to the Component 2 Lead (Technical Advisor on Agribusiness and Value Chains) and works under the technical oversight of Lead Technical Officer (LTO) in the FAO regional office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) and relevant technical units at FAO headquarters and under the overall supervision of Senior Project Manager (SPO) and FAO Representative (FAOR) in Cambodia.
Technical Focus
The position is aimed to strengthen climate-resilient agricultural finance within the PEARL project by improving access to inclusive financial services for smallholder farmers and farmer organizations. The role emphasizes designing and implementing innovative financial products, assessing investment readiness, and supporting bankable business plans under the FARM mechanism. It involves facilitating partnerships with financial service providers, promoting co-financing models, and building capacity for financial literacy and management. The Technical Specialist (Access to Finance) will ensure that financial solutions are gender-responsive, climate-aligned, and scalable, contributing to sustainable rural finance systems and enhancing resilience in priority value chains across the Northern Tonle Sap Basin.
- Technical Support for Rural Financial Inclusion
- Support the design and implementation of inclusive financial access approaches that enable smallholder farmers, FOs, and agribusinesses to adopt climate-resilient technologies and practices.
- Assess financial capacity and investment readiness of target farmer organizations under the FARM mechanism.
- Review and strengthen the financial structure and co-financing proposals in the business plans submitted by farmer organizations.
- Contribute to the support to agro-insurance development provided by the project.
- Identify existing value chain finance models in target commodities and propose options to scale them within the project.
- Design climate-aligned loan products with FSPs (seasonal working capital, input credit, equipment finance, warehouse-receipt, invoice/PO finance, leasing), with draft term sheets, pricing bands, grace/tenor options, collateral substitutes, and gender-responsive eligibility.
- FARM Mechanism and Business Plan Support
- Provide technical inputs to the FARM financial procedures, including financial eligibility criteria, disbursement governance, and FO contribution model.
- Conduct financial reviews of business plans submitted under the FARM mechanism from a banking perspective, ensuring feasibility, investment logic and cost-efficiency.
- Collaborate with service providers and provincial teams to improve financial documentation of FOs, improving financial projections, budgeting and loan-readiness documentation in FO plans.
- Contribute to FARM –related knowledge products and internal guidance notes on financial performance, leverage and lessons learned.
- Review FO plans from a lender’s point of view and convert to bankable packages: financial statements (basic), cash-flow, break-even, sensitivity to yield/price/shock, insurance uptake, and repayment calendars aligned to harvest.
- Define minimum documentation sets for each product type and a checklist aligned with ARDB/MFI requirements.
- Stakeholder Engagement and Institutional Coordination
- Map and assess bank/MFI/ARDB/insurer products and underwriting rules; publish a product catalogue with eligibility, KYC, fees, APR/EIR, collateral, and approval timelines.
- Facilitate dialogue between selected FOs and financial institutions for business plan financing and co-investment.
- Identify key barriers to agricultural finance for the partner FOs in the project and propose strategies to support the FOs to successfully connect to finance providers.
- Support the implementation of tailored financial products (e.g., seasonal loans, equipment finance, leasing, insurance) and delivery models with selected financial service providers.
- Run lender roundtables per province; curate FO–bank matchmaking sessions; maintain a live pipeline of applications with stage gates (submitted, appraised, approved, disbursed).
- Negotiate portfolio-level arrangements: indicative caps, simplified documentation for FOs, seasonal grace periods, and partial risk-sharing options where available.
- Capacity Building and Policy Engagement
- Contribute to the design and review of financial literacy and financial management training materials prepared by service providers, ensuring consistency with FARM guidelines and FAO standards.
- Deliver financial literacy and basic financial management training to stakeholders, with attention to gender inclusion and adaptation of relevance.
- Build the capacity of subnational agencies, extension service providers and project partners to provide basic advisory services on rural finance access and co-financing processes.
- Provide technical inputs to multi-stakeholder platforms, unions and technical working groups on incentives for agricultural finance, including links to certifications, agro-insurance, and climate-aligned lending.
- Liaise with MAFF, ARDB, MoE, MoC, and other partners to promote climate-sensitive financial products to be integrated into broader institutional and policy frameworks.
- Train PDAFF/CAO/service-provider coaches on lender documentation and pipeline tracking.
- Provide inputs to MAFF/ARDB on climate-aligned lending parameters and certification-linked incentives.
- Other Tasks
- Perform any other relevant tasks as assigned.
- Bachelor's Degree in finance, agricultural economics, business administration, rural development, or a related field.
- At least of professional experience in rural finance, agricultural credit, value-chain financing, or financial inclusion for 5 years
- Work experience in more than one location or area of work, preferably in rural development or agricultural finance projects.
- Experience in designing and implementing inclusive financial products for smallholder farmers and agribusinesses.
- Experience in assessing business plans, investment readiness, and facilitating partnerships with financial service providers.
- Experience working with farmer organizations (FOs), agricultural cooperatives (ACs), and producer groups in Cambodia, particularly in the context of enterprise development or market access.
- Familiarity with value chains of high-value crops such as cashew, mango, rice, and vegetables, and knowledge of premium market standards.
- Strong coordination and communication skills, with demonstrated ability to liaise between financial institutions, government agencies, and rural stakeholders.
- Willingness to travel frequently to project sites in Kampong Thom, Siem Reap, Oddar Meanchey, and Preah Vihear provinces.
- Working knowledge of English (C1) and fluency in Khmer
- National of Cambodia
- Results Focus
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Building Effective Relationships
- Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement
