Financial Inclusion Advisor

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.

In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions

into action, helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future.

The Program / Department / Team (Program / Department Summary)

Pending funding, Mercy Corps Iraq will support partners in implementing a program aimed at the economic empowerment of women in Salahaddin and Dhi-Qar. The intervention will improve women’s livelihoods by increasing their access to financial resources, enabling them to contribute more meaningfully to local economic development. The program’s Theory of Change is grounded in the belief that if women gain adequate access to financial and technical resources, their livelihoods will improve, and they will play a stronger role in their communities’ economic and social development.

The Position (General Position Summary)

Within the mentioned framework, the Financial Inclusion Advisor will serve as a key technical resource to our partners, providing expertise in inclusive and gender-sensitive approaches to project design and implementation. The Advisor will support the development of beneficiary selection criteria, technical guidelines, and policies, ensuring transparent and equitable targeting of women entrepreneurs. They will also engage key community actors in consultations to guide inclusive participation strategies.

The Advisor will contribute to the design and delivery of training modules tailored to women entrepreneurs, including preparing manuals, reviewing business plans, and overseeing training quality. In collaboration with PAO, the Advisor will help identify potential businesses, strengthen women business owners’ capacity to develop growth-oriented plans, and ensure technical excellence across all training and consultation activities.

Furthermore, the Advisor will provide ongoing business development support to women entrepreneurs receiving loans, combining their technical expertise with PAO’s experience in supporting SMEs. As a member of the steering committee, the Financial Inclusion Advisor will play an active role in guiding program direction, ensuring that implementation remains inclusive, gender-sensitive, and aligned with the program’s empowerment objectives.

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY AND PLANNING

• Provide technical leadership on financial inclusion and women’s economic empowerment, ensuring project design and implementation reflect inclusive and gender-sensitive approaches.
• Contribute to the development of selection criteria, technical guidelines, and policies that support transparent and equitable targeting of women entrepreneurs.
• Advise on strategies that strengthen women’s participation in financial markets and their contribution to local economic development.
• Support Mercy Corps and PAO in identifying opportunities to expand programming in women’s financial inclusion and entrepreneurship beyond the project scope.

REGIONAL SYSTEMS AND SUPPORT FUNCTIONS

• Ensure that effective systems are in place in all country offices for the adequate management of human resources, financial and operational field support functions.
• Review and support country team adherence to Mercy Corps and donor policies and procedures.
• Capture and disseminate best practices on operations, finance and HR systems across country teams to ensure highest quality and standards.
• Provide dedicated support to country teams in the event of an emergency or startup of a complex program that requires additional resources.
• Collaborate with country finance leads in producing bi-annual master budgets.

Coordination & Representation

• Act as a key technical partner to PAO, ensuring close collaboration and alignment on project activities.
• Engage with community actors, MFIs, consortium partners, government officials, and other stakeholders to promote inclusive participation and effective coordination.
• Represent the project in technical forums, steering committees, and coordination platforms related to financial inclusion and women’s economic empowerment.
• Provide regular updates to senior management on progress, challenges, and opportunities for adaptive programming.

Program Management

• Provide technical oversight of project interventions, including training, mentorship, and loan distribution to ensure quality, effectiveness, and alignment with donor requirements.
• Review and provide feedback on business plans submitted by beneficiaries, ensuring they are growth-oriented and feasible.
• Monitor the technical quality of capacity-building activities and support PAO in ensuring consistent, high-quality delivery.
• Contribute to the documentation of best practices, lessons learned, and success stories to inform program improvement and scale-up.
• Prepare detailed, high-quality narrative and technical reports for internal and external stakeholders.

Design & Planning

• Support PAO in the design and adaptation of training modules tailored to women entrepreneurs, including development of manuals and training agendas.
• Assist in the development of practical tools and methodologies to identify and support potential businesses for financing.
• Ensure training and mentorship activities address barriers women face in accessing finance and growing their enterprises.

Team Management & Capacity Building

• Build the technical capacity of PAO staff and trainers in inclusive financial practices, gender-sensitive business development, and entrepreneurship support.
• Provide ongoing mentorship and coaching to ensure teams are equipped with tools and resources to deliver quality programming.
• Promote accountability, collaboration, and mutual respect within project teams and with partners.

Finance & Compliance Management

• Provide technical input to ensure the financial components of the project, including loan distribution, are implemented in line with Mercy Corps policies and donor regulations.
• Collaborate with PAO and the engaged MFI to oversee effective management of the €300,000 loan facility, ensuring transparency and accountability.
• Review consultant deliverables and contracts related to financial inclusion activities to ensure technical soundness and cost-effectiveness.
• Update internal project budget on a regular basis, ensuring spending is tracked, donor-compliant, and program-effective.

Security

• Ensure compliance with Mercy Corps’ security policies and procedures in all project activities.
• Promote awareness among team members and partners to operate safely in the target governorates.

Accountability to Beneficiaries

• Support all efforts toward accountability to beneficiaries, ensuring women entrepreneurs and their communities are meaningfully engaged in project design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
• Uphold Mercy Corps’ values and international standards in delivering responsive, inclusive, and gender-sensitive programming.

HUMAN RESOURCES

• Support Mercy Corps global and regional initiatives for human resources, including safeguarding and talent development.
• Collaborate with the people team to promote staff access to high quality learning opportunities, with a special emphasis on national team member development.
• Assist with the on-boarding of senior team members, ensuring they are set up for success and familiar with agency systems, procedures, and protocols.

RISK MANAGEMENT

• Engage and support countries across the region to ensure that adequate risk management systems are in place.
• Collaborate with country leadership to support preparedness and response to major disruptive events.
• Engage with country teams on the internal audit process to track findings and ensure country team compliance with IA findings and recommendations.
• Engage with country level Ethics and Assurance managers as well as the global Ethics and Assurance department to track and analyze trends and needs across countries.

SAFEGUARDING RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work.
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members.
• Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options.

Supervisory Responsibility N/A

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Head of Office / Consortium Manager

Works Directly With: Partner Focal Points, MEL Team, Head of Office

Coordinates with: Regional Advisors and HQ Regional Program Team

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will have in-depth knowledge of economic development, banking, and formal and informal financial services. They will bring innovative thinking to the design and delivery of both financial and non-financial services, particularly in contexts with limited access to finance. The Financial Inclusion Advisor will demonstrate strong management and leadership skills, coupled with excellent interpersonal and cross-cultural communication abilities.

The individual must be highly organized, able to multi-task, set priorities, and meet tight deadlines while working within a complex team environment. They will take initiative, contribute to collective goals, and demonstrate sound judgment and decision-making under pressure. A strong commitment to the mission, values, and principles of Mercy Corps—including gender equality, inclusion, and accountability—is essential.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This position will be based in Erbil, Iraq, with frequent travel to Salah al-Din and Dhi Qar governorates. Travel across Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, Central, and Southern Iraq, will be required to support Mercy Corps’ offices and program implementation.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or while visiting a field location. Team members are expected to maintain professional conduct at all times and respect local laws, cultural norms, and Mercy Corps’ policies, procedures, and values in all in-country settings.

Fostering a diverse, inclusive, and respectful workplace is central to Mercy Corps’ vision. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to creating an environment where all individuals are treated fairly and have equal access to opportunities regardless of background.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Team Engagement and Effectiveness 

Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work.

We recognize that building a strong and effective team is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to learning, improving, and growing together.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline (integrityhotline@mercycorps.org)

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in development, economics, finance, banking, or a related field required; Master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of professional experience with a financial service provider, working with diverse market actors, particularly MSMEs or actors in the agriculture sector.
• Demonstrated experience structuring guarantee facilities with formal banks.
• Proven track record in capacity building with financial institutions, such as microfinance institutions or banks.
• Experience in MSME and agriculture-sector lending activities, including the design and delivery of bank or SACCO product development and diversification programs.
• Strong familiarity with savings-led microfinance models, savings group approaches, and SACCOs.
• Previous experience in team management and/or coordination roles.
• Excellent writing, presentation, and communication skills.
• Fluency in spoken and written English required; proficiency in Arabic strongly preferred.
• Strong computer literacy, including advanced proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) with the ability to develop customized spreadsheets, financial analyses, and management reports.

ALL APPLICATIONS/ CVs SHOULD BE RECEIVED BY October 21, 2025

Potential candidates for the post will be contacted for an interview and processed according to Mercy Corps Human Resources policies and procedures. Please note that only shortlisted applicants will be contacted for a potential interview. Any documents submitted will remain with Mercy Corps and will not be returned to candidates.

Female Candidates are encouraged to apply for This Position. 

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have a sustained global Impact.

Mercy Corps Iraq ensures a safe and inclusive working environment for women and men through field security training and measures to provide secure working arrangements on-site and in the office.

Interested candidates can apply through this link: https://recruiting2.ultipro.com/MER1024MERCY/JobBoard/db030764-5109-4181-a1fc-389159518949/Opportun…