Senior Associate, Nutritious Foods Financing – The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the United Nations in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Due to COVID19, conflict in Ukraine and climate change, malnutrition and hunger have worsened significantly since 2019, reversing a decade of progress. There is growing recognition that our food systems need to change if we are to reverse these trends.

GAIN’s Strategy aims to transform food systems to make healthier diets from sustainable food systems accessible to all people and especially those whose are most vulnerable to shocks. By 2027, we aim to improve the access of 1.5 billion people to nutritionally enhanced staple foods, improve the access of 25 million people to healthier diets, and support positive food system change in 10 countries. This is bold and complex, and the only way to achieve this is to work together with partners including governments, businesses, and civil society at the country and global level. These goals, and the ways of achieving them, build on our twenty-year legacy of transforming people’s lives with improved nutrition through concerted action and effective policy change.

Innovative Financing for Nutrition

The Global Nutrition Report 2021 estimates an additional USD 39 to 50 billion is needed every year to close the finance gap and reach the nutrition targets of Sustainable Development Goal 2 ‘Zero Hunger’.
Innovative methods of resource mobilization are needed to increase overall funds dedicated to nutrition and to consciously target them towards the high priority needs of the most vulnerable.

Under the Nourishing Food Pathways (NFP) programme, GAIN is exploring opportunities in innovative financing solutions to scale nutrition impact.

The Nutritious Foods Financing Facility (N3F): Pioneering Nutrition Financing  Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are a critical engine of transformation: in Africa, for example, they produce over half of calories and over 80% of animal-source foods, fruits, and vegetables, while processing or handling about 65% of food in later stages of the value chain. For low-income consumers in particular, SMEs are essential for ensuring access to nutritious, safe foods.

Even though SMEs play such an essential role in food systems, they struggle to access the financing necessary to scale up their offerings to increase the availability and accessibility of nutritious, safe foods.

The N3F aims to address these problems through a blended finance approach that focuses on improving nutrition by supporting SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa. The N3F will provide targeted funding to SMEs based on their financial needs and their ability to absorb and use the funds. With consumer nutrition at its core, N3F will have an integrated approach to impact and assess how SMEs support gender equity, environmental sustainability, engagement of consumers and suppliers, and employment.

To ensure the power of SMEs to deliver nutritious, safe foods is fully unleashed, N3F will also provide support beyond financing, through a technical assistance and impact monitoring component. These components are both led by GAIN, drawing on several years’ prior experience of providing technical assistance to SMEs.

Classification: GRADE 4 – Senior Associate Direct reports: 0

Travel required: Up to 30%

DESCRIPTION

Overall purpose

The Senior Associate, Nutritious Foods Financing, will work on two GAIN projects:

1) lead on provision of technical assistance to SMEs across the food value chain in Sub-Saharan Africa for
the Nutritious Foods Financing Facility (N3F); and

2) co-lead and contribute to GAIN’s work on innovative financing and coordinate activities under the NFP work
package focused on innovative finance for nutrition.

The Senior Associate will report to and work closely with the Senior Lead and other members of the N3F team,
supporting the day-to-day activities of the Programme. The Senior Associate may also be asked to contribute to other activities of GAIN’s Nutrition Enterprise Unit as required.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Identify technical assessment needs of SMEs operating in the food value chain that are potential pipeline for the N3F Fund, working together with the investment officers at our partner asset manager Incofin Investment

Management

• Develop technical assistance support packages tailored to individual SMEs and group training according to
  common needs in the portfolio.
• Perform matchmaking between TA requirements and service providers, manage engagements between GAIN, service providers, and our beneficiaries.
• Oversee the implementation of project workplans and ensure that all assignments deliver maximum value for money.
• Review and refine procedures, monitoring mechanisms, and feedback forms for the provision of TA to SMEs.
• Manage the roster of GAIN’s internal Technical Assistance(TA) capabilities and service providers.
• Work closely with GAIN’s Knowledge Leadership and our partner’ MEL groups to ensure monitoring, evaluation and learning take place.
• Project manage the NFP activities focused on innovative finance and nutrition investing, including consultancy
  collaborations, exploring the nexus between nutrition and gender, and mapping of the nutrition investment
  landscape.
• Support in the preparation of documents and presentations for donors as well as fundraising and investor
  outreach.
• Represent GAIN at national and regional technical meetings and workshops and assist in coordinating the
  organization of national and international events, technical meetings, and workshops.
• Maintain up-to-date market knowledge/intelligence, geographic and sector mappings on the food and agriculture financing and (social) (impact) investing landscape and share the same within the GAIN team and more broadly, including identifying key partners to influence and support in communication pieces (blogs, reports, articles).

Key organisational relationships
The Senior Associate will report directly to the Senior Lead of Innovative Finance, working closely with other
members of the N3F team, other NFP project colleagues, and NEU Cluster implementing partners as required
for the agreed upon activities.

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Competencies / Skills / Attributes

• Demonstrated expertise in the provision of technical assistance (TA) to SMEs
• A deep understanding of what makes an SME scale their operations, grow, and succeed.
• Proven ability to use initiative, prioritise, multi-task, and work well under pressure to meet deadlines.
• Clear and systematic thinking demonstrates good judgment, problem solving, and creativity.
• Excellent project coordination, management, negotiation, and advocacy skills.
• Effective communication skills in multi-cultural, multi-lingual environments (written and verbal).
• IT literate with excellent MS Office skills. Advanced excel skills.
• Ability to operate within the private and public sectors to effectively liaise with food enterprises and development agencies at senior level.
• Report writing, proficient business communication and presentation skills.
• Understanding and passion for impact investment and / or development finance
• A strong commitment to GAIN’s mission and to catalysing change through public-private collaboration.

Experience

• Professional experience directly or indirectly related to food supply chains, SMEs, technical assistance.
• Desired experience related to impact investment, development finance.
• Experience in a technical assistance facility / accelerator / incubator.
• Demonstrated excellence in written/verbal communications, research, writing, and analytical ability.

Education

• University level degree (Master’s) in a relevant field such as finance, business, food value chain, economics, or other relevant field.

Other requirements

• Professional proficiency in English is required.
• Professional proficiency in French or Portuguese is desirable but not essential.
• Flexible, with a willingness and ability to travel in challenging environments.

WHAT GAIN OFFERS

• A competitive renumeration package
• Flexible working hours through hybrid working opportunities
• Friendly working environment
• Professional development opportunities
• The chance to make a lasting contribution to reducing global malnutrition