Technical Specialist (Financial Inclusion and Access to Finance)
Position Circumstances
- Career Category: Banking / Finance, Agriculture, Business Administration, Community Development
- Schedule:Full-time
- Salary: Negotiable
National of Cambodia
Type of requisition: NPP
Organizational Unit: FAO Representation in Cambodia
Duration: 12 months with the possibility of extension
Reporting Lines
A Technical Specialist (Financial Inclusion and 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 FAO Representative (FAOR) and Senior Project Manager (SPO) in Cambodia.
Technical Focus
The Technical Specialist (Financial Inclusion and Access to Finance) will strengthen climate-resilient agricultural finance within the PEARL project by serving as a practitioner-level link between the FARM mechanism and Cambodia’s rural financial sector. The role emphasises agricultural credit product development, FO loan-readiness, lender engagement, and building bankable business packages. It is not a project financial management or accounting role.
Under the overall supervision of FAO Representative (FAOR) in Cambodia, the direct supervision of the Technical Advisor on Agribusiness and Value Chains, and in close collaboration with FAO Representation team, governmental counterparts, and other technical specialists, the incumbent will carry out the following tasks:
Duties & Responsibilities:
- Agricultural Finance Market Analysis and Product Facilitation
- Support the international advisor in conducting analysis of agricultural finance across priority value chains (cashew, mango, organic rice, and vegetables), including data collection, stakeholder consultations, and validation of findings.
- Contribute to mapping financial institutions (banks, MFIs, Agricultural and Rural Development Bank - ARDB, insurers, investors, and financing platforms), including their products, terms, requirements, and coverage.
- Support identification of key barriers, risks, and enabling factors affecting access to agricultural finance.
- Assist in assessing existing financial products and identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement.
- Maintain and update a financial product catalogue (quarterly) to support project implementation.
- Support and facilitate financial service providers in the design or adaptation of agricultural financial products (e.g., seasonal loans, input credit, leasing, value chain finance), ensuring alignment with value chain needs and climate considerations.
- Provide technical inputs and coordinate discussions on indicative product features (e.g., tenor, grace periods, repayment schedules aligned with harvest cycles), without assuming a direct lending or underwriting role.
- Identify and document existing value chain finance models and support stakeholders in exploring opportunities for scaling or replication.
- Facilitate engagement between financial institutions and project stakeholders to improve accessibility of financial products for FOs.
- Support integration of risk mitigation mechanisms, including agro-insurance and credit guarantee schemes, into financing solutions promoted under the project.
- FARM mechanism and FO business plan support
- Review business plans from 124 FOs submitted under the FARM mechanism from a lender’s perspective, assessing financial feasibility, investment logic, co-financing structure, and cost-efficiency.
- Support assessment of financial needs (CAPEX, OPEX, working capital) of FOs and value chain actors to inform financing facilitation and business plan development.
- Convert FO business plans into bankable investment packages, including preparation or quality assurance of financial statements, cash-flow projections, break-even analysis, and sensitivity analysis (yield, price, and climate risks), and repayment schedules aligned with agricultural cycles.
- Define minimum documentation requirements for each financing type and develop standardized checklists aligned with requirements of Agricultural and Rural Development Bank and other financial institutions.
- Collaborate with service providers (IDE Cambodia, SNV, CIRD, IRAM Development) and provincial teams to strengthen financial documentation across supported FOs.
- Provide technical inputs to FARM financial procedures, including eligibility criteria, disbursement governance, and co-financing contribution models.
- Financial access facilitation and pipeline development
- Facilitate linkages between FOs and financial institutions for co-financing and investment.
- Support FOs in preparing loan applications and meeting financial institution requirements.
- Maintain and track a financing pipeline, including applications submitted, under review, approved, and disbursed.
- Facilitate dialogue between FOs and financial institutions to address bottlenecks in financing processes.
- Capacity building and financial readiness
- Design and deliver training to 124 FOs on financial literacy and loan readiness tailored to FO needs.
- Develop training materials aligned with financial institution requirements.
- Provide coaching and advisory support to FOs on financial management and credit readiness.
- Train project staff and service providers on financial documentation and pipeline tracking.
- Monitor improvements in financial capacity of FOs.
- Stakeholder engagement and knowledge development
- Organize stakeholder consultations, lender roundtables, and matchmaking events.
- Facilitate coordination between FOs, financial institutions, government agencies, and project partners.
- Provide technical inputs on agricultural finance, financial inclusion, and climate finance.
- Document lessons learned and contribute to knowledge products and case studies.
- Other tasks
- Perform any other relevant tasks as assigned by the supervisor.
Expected Profile of Candidates
Languages:
- English - Good
- Khmer - Fluent
Qualifications:
- Bachelor's Degree in Agricultural economics, rural finance, microfinance, development economics, or a related field
- Bachelor's Degree in banking or economics combined with at least 5 years of demonstrated agricultural lending experience is also acceptable.
Work History:
- Agricultural credit, rural lending, or value chain finance for 5 years as a minimum
Skills & Knowledge:
General & Technical Skills
- Experience must include direct work within or alongside a bank, MFI, development finance institution, or rural credit programme — in a role involving loan assessment, credit product development, or agricultural portfolio management.
- Working knowledge of English and fluency in Khmer
- Knowledge of ARDB and MFI lending criteria, KYC requirements, APR/EIR pricing structures, collateral substitutes, and loan approval processes in Cambodia. Candidates who cannot demonstrate familiarity with these concepts will not be shortlisted.
- Demonstrated ability to prepare or quality-check agricultural credit files: cash-flow projections, break-even analysis, sensitivity to yield/price/climate shock, repayment calendars aligned to harvest calendars.
- Experience working with agricultural cooperatives, FOs, or smallholder producer groups on credit readiness or enterprise development.
- Knowledge of cashew, mango, rice, or vegetable value chains in Cambodia, including input cost structures, harvest cycles, and market risk.
- Experience in gender-responsive financial product design is an advantage.
- Prior experience in GCF, IFAD, or similar climate/agriculture programme environments is an advantage.
- Willingness to travel frequently to project sites in Kampong Thom, Siem Reap, Oddar Meanchey, and Preah Vihear provinces.
Soft Skills
- Results Focus
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Building Effective Relationships
- Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement
- Strong coordination and communication skills; demonstrated ability to facilitate dialogue between lenders, government agencies, and rural stakeholders.
