JOB DETAILS:
About the Organisation
Established in 2004, the Financial Sector Deepening Tanzania (FSDT) is a donor-funded financial sector market facilitator that aims to achieve poverty reduction through a transformative financial sector that offers inclusive and sustainable financial solutions to improve the livelihood, wellbeing, and empowerment of underserved Tanzanians. FSDT’s work is guided by the Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) approach, which aims to develop market systems that benefit poor people, offering them capacities and opportunities to improve their lives.
Currently, our main target markets are women and youth, who have been identified as the most financially excluded market segments in the country. FSDT is dedicated to supporting the financial sector in delivering inclusive, quality financial solutions that meet the financial needs of women and youth.

Through FSDT facilitation, we hope to achieve the following changes in the market:

• Improved policies, legal and regulatory frameworks that promote gender equality as well as economic and financial opportunities for women and youth;
• Improved availability of relevant financial sector infrastructures that will equip the financial sector players and other stakeholders with the ability to meet the needs and aspirations of women and youth;
• Financial service providers developing and scaling innovative and responsive financial solutions/tools for women and youth to promote equality, empowerment, and wellbeing;
• Improved confidence and capability of women and youth to demand and use financial solutions.

About the Job
The Lead, Research & Market Information will act as FSDT’s leading expert on best practices in research and on how Tanzania’s financial markets may be supported through the provision of accurate and relevant market information. S/he will proactively lead external-facing studies to ecosystem analysis, understanding how supply, demand, and enabling environment interact to support or hamper the livelihoods, wellbeing, resilience and empowerment of Tanzanian women and youth. S/he will constantly monitor the desirability and feasibility of the different routes by which beneficial change can be stimulated, e.g. sector-wide research initiatives, mechanisms for sharing and utilising information etc. Building on this analysis, s/he will a) develop and implement a portfolio of impactful interventions and b) provide expert advice and input to enhance the effectiveness of interventions led by colleagues.
The Lead, Research & Market Information will be expected to initiate and take responsibility for nurturing key business relationships (e.g. with regulators and policymakers, trade associations, private sector entities, technical or funding partners); providing thought leadership, and utilising influencing strategies to support the achievement of FSDT’s strategic goals. Also included is a proactive collaboration with the functions that contribute to FSDT’s position as a thought leader and knowledge hub, including MRM, knowledge management and communication, ensuring that knowledge is curated and communicated in a way that is accessible and relevant to all stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities
1. Research & Thought Leadership
Lead the development of an innovative research agenda; provide insights on how to optimise FSDT’s impact on the sustainable development of Tanzania’s financial sector; and develop our understanding of how to make markets work for the poor.
2. Strategic & Operational Planning
Take an active role in developing FSDT’s strategy and the emerging portfolio of interventions, encouraging the team to incorporate insights gained from research into the design; lead the development of market interventions in the Research and Market Information space.
3. Intervention Design & Delivery
Lead the development and implementation of the Research & Market Information project pipeline to ensure utilisation of funds and achievement of output, outcome, and impact targets; provide a potentially high impact portfolio of interventions are submitted to and approved by the Investment Committee.
4. Advocacy, Communications & Relationship Building

Clarify how achievement of FSDT’s objectives depends upon influencing the mindset or behaviour of others (e.g. Implementing Partners, policymakers, end-users & other stakeholders); lead the development and implementation of an innovative Communications & Influencing plan for the Research Department.
5. Risk & Resource Management
Secure, manage, and safeguard programme resources; ensuring that each intervention achieves optimal financial efficiency, value for money, and impact while ensuring compliance with FSDT and donor policies.
6. Leadership & Empowerment of the Team
Lead the teams of staff and consultants deployed to each intervention to empower them to contribute effectively towards achieving FSDT’s strategy.

Role Requirements
Qualifications and Education
• Minimum of bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
• Post Graduate Degree in Development Economics, Research, or other related fields
• Professional qualification in monitoring and statistical techniques preferred
• Certification in Project Management (e.g. PMP/ PRINCE2) (added advantage)

Essential Experience, Knowledge and Skills
• 10+ years’ post-graduation experience in research related to development economics; ideally involving market information management
• Evidence of having designed & managed significant and relevant research projects; with a track record of insightful publications

• Proven track record of working with a range of different actors to nudge and incentivise institutional change
• Strong understanding of how Research & Information can drive inclusive market development
• Strategic thinker with the ability to design high-quality research strategies that will provide impact
• Excellent knowledge of data and information quality management techniques; including cuttingedge technologies in the field
• Ability to analyse data effectively, draw compelling conclusions, and communicate in a manner that is accessible to audiences
• Good understanding of the issues affecting the financial inclusion and economic empowerment of Tanzanian women and youth; ideally with prior experience of researching relevant issues
• Outstanding presentation and communication skills; including good written and spoken English and
(ideally) Swahili
• Expert use of MS Office (Advanced Excel)

Personal Characteristics
Commitment & Drive for Results:
You have values and personal ambitions that are aligned with FSDT’s goals to support the financial sector to offer inclusive and sustainable financial solutions. We’re looking for someone with a desire to make a personal contribution towards improving livelihoods, wellbeing, resilience and empowerment of Tanzanian women and youth. This passion will be exemplified by a track record of holding both self and others accountable for measurable high-quality, timely and cost-effective results. You can also demonstrate how you have supported others to achieve results by empowering and enabling, rather than micromanagement.

Initiative & Decisiveness
You have a strong sense of ownership: taking personal responsibility for whatever work you have been allocated, the impact we are seeking, and the achievement of critical higher-level goals. You are proactive in seeking out information or resources necessary for success, and you’re able to overcome problems or obstacles with a ‘can-do” attitude. You have a reputation for being action-orientated and dynamic without needing to be pushed or reminded, and you can make appropriate decisions within the scope of your role, even when the way ahead is unclear.
Learning & Innovation
You continually improve your skills and knowledge and role-model a personal commitment to professional development. You are quick to recognise opportunities or new ideas and make use of them in your own work; and you respond to a new situation, or tough feedback, by learning, adapting and improving. You have a track record of driving real-world change, with the skillset required to systematically manage innovation and take new ideas through to implementation. You can demonstrate how you have analysed both successes and failures for clues to improvement and done things differently as a result of what you learned.

Relationship Building
You initiate and maintain positive relationships with others – discerning and appreciating the values, concerns, or feelings of others – and you can draw others in to build an effective team. You have sophisticated interpersonal skills and an ability to observe and listen to others at a deep level, perhaps by reading body language or thinking deeply about the implications of what someone else has said. You have a track record of eliciting the contributions of others, including those with divergent opinions and accommodating the perspectives of others in planning and decision-making. You can demonstrate how you have enhanced teamwork, perhaps by developing strategies for involving others and giving them a voice, or by reaching out to marginalised individuals.
Communication & Influencing
You deliberately adjust your behaviour in order to address the feelings, needs, or concerns of others, communicating clearly, confidently and appropriately to influence others. You can demonstrate understanding of the ways in which success is dependent upon influencing others, and you have a track record of networking strategically and building relationships of influence. You have the motivation and ability to influence others effectively – not by manipulating or dominating them, but by winning their genuine commitment. So, you have a track record of driving change through collaboration and can demonstrate the self-discipline to choose effective strategies when interacting with others.

Thought Leadership
You think clearly and intentionally in order to understand issues, solve problems, and make good choices, with an ability to think conceptually and strategically in order to manage complexity. You are able to understand the market systems that we are seeking to develop, making sense of data by recognising trends, patterns and cause-and-effect relationships. You are able to see the big picture as well as grasping the minutiae of inter-related components; you are able to think strategically to manage complexity. You have a track record of hypothesising and testing innovative theories of change and an excellent ability to conceptualise a framework for implementation and impact.

Resilience & Resourcefulness
You possess the personal resourcefulness to deal with difficult situations effectively and to navigate a path through whatever challenges the team is facing, demonstrating courage to do what must be done. You can manage your emotions well; remaining effective, open, and engaged, despite experiencing an internal emotional reaction. You have a track record of persisting in the face of obstacles or frustration – making repeated attempts to achieve a goal, or overcome a problem. You are also able to assert a well-thoughtthrough professional opinion, remaining consistent in the face of actual or anticipated opposition.

Please submit your application via email to vacancy@fsdt.or.tz 

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.