The VOICE for Women and Girls project is a seven-year initiative (2020 – 2027) aimed at strengthening the performance of developing country partner (DCP) organizations to advance gender equality and economic empowerment of 50,000 women and men from marginalised communities, in particular young women (target: 60% women and girls), in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and Malawi with a focus on action areas of the Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), namely:

• Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls, and
• Growth that Works for Everyone.

The Project responds to the needs identified by women and men of cooperatives and the entire members in the countries of operation and is designed to increase the capacities of individual producers and primary co-operatives to support more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient growth. Supporting institutions, including apex co-operatives, co-operative colleges, and government/regulatory institutions will also be engaged to increase the capacity and prioritization of vulnerable groups.

The Partner you will work with

SEND Ghana has previously implemented the ACCESS and Fostering project and in some initiatives including 4R-NSP in partnership with CDF with funding from GAC. SEND Ghana focuses on research and advocacy to increase good governance practices of accountability, transparency, equity and participation in pro-poor policies and social services as well as empowers resource poor women and men to expand their small enterprises to improve income and farmers to increase food and nutrition security.

What you will do – Activities and deliverables

VOICE for women and girls have selected 4 credit union coops through which the project aims to support women to have access and control over productive resources. These 4 coops operate at various levels of ability, liquidity, infrastructure, managerial and operational capacities. The 4 credit unions are in 5 districts with membership of over 10,366. Three of the credit unions (Salaga, Bimbila and Kpandai community credit unions are in dire situation and need a thorough assessment to understand the situation and support them develop rescue models to save the investment and savings of members. In the northern chapter of the Cooperative Credit Union Associations (CCUA) there are about 22 independent coops within this umbrella body.

Most of the credit unions are struggling due to technical, financial, administrative, and managerial challenges. VOICE for women and girls aims to support these coops to be able to develop innovative products and services to support their various member needs and demands. But the coops will first have to have a solid foundation backed by strong management and BOD.

The VOICE project will benefit from the expertise of a strategist. The coops are looking for ways to get out of their current financial and operational predicament. They are looking for a strategist who understands community-based credit union operations, grant proposal development specialist, credit union financing and management. This role is expected to support a thorough assessment of the operations and identify key challenges and provide an analysis of viable solutions to curbing the situation. The volunteer will also assess their assets and liabilities and determine the recovery path.

Objectives

Your role is to work with the cooperatives to identify the challenges that is stifling growth and developed strategies with the coops to develop and facilitate recovery plans. You will conduct an assessment and analysis to identify the operational challenges of the coops in the board and management and advise on the best way forward. Develop a road map that determines targets and timelines as a growth strategy. Training the cooperatives to have the skills to review the strategy and make changes when it’s necessary. Develop tools and templates for assessing progress towards the attainment of the recovery plan.

Deliverables

As a coop technical support advisor for cooperative credit union, your mandate will include collating, analyzing, screening, and prioritizing various challenges of the credit unions, and modeling strategies and discuss with BOD and management their respective roles.

Co-op support

• Conduct assessment of the business operations and use the information to advise on maximizing their balance sheet returns, reduce losses and delinquency.
• Develop some financial scenarios showing options for the way forward towards recovery
• Support the development of a new strategic and business plans based on the information obtained from the financial and business operations assessment
• Advise on ways to refinance their liabilities and indebtedness with their creditors to reposition the credit union on the path to growth
• Train coop managers on grant/business proposal development
• Assess the human resource capacity and the organizational structure and advise for effective management. Observe daily operations and provide tools to ensure efficiency
• Keep the BOD of the credit union informed of the findings and lead discussion to determine ways to respond to the issues identified
• Provide training and mentoring to the managers of the cooperative to improve their understanding

Project Management

• Document all program related information and share with the country Program officer
• Stay in constant communication with the CPO, partner’s focal person and the co-op managers to obtain the needed information regarding the co-ops
• prepare and submit weekly deliverables to the program officer and discuss what you require to complete those tasks
• complete monthly reports and times sheets and submit to the volunteer coordinator

Training and development of training materials

• Will be required to prepare session plans or use available learning material to provide training for the co-ops in areas they require improvement for effective co-op management
• Develop training assessment tool, use the tool to collect information about the training and use the information to revise the session plans
• Ensure that only the most current session plans are appropriately stored in a format that is easy to retrieve and use

Your qualifications

Education:

• Degree or equivalent experience in business, and strategic plans development programing

Experience:

• Experience and knowledge in developing session plans in business and strategic plans development.
• Excellent background in cooperative financing and cooperative business and operations
• Previous experience or ability to train and transform coop mangers knowledge in coop financing and business proposal development to improve coop growth
• Experience and knowledge of co-operatives, proven experience in supporting crumbling cooperatives through recovery program. Experience working with community-based credit unions African context will be an added advantage
• Excellent analyze, to develop recommendations and document lessons learned and best practices
• Ability to travel to and live in remote locations where services (internet) are minimal
• Ability to work autonomously, be flexible and analytical
• Knowledge in community participation methodologies.
• Experience facilitating group learning/training sessions or focus groups.
• Ability to transform complex concepts and information into plain simple language reports

Support package

This is a voluntary assignment. CDF Canada supports volunteers through the provision of a comprehensive package designed to cover a modest and healthy lifestyle, while allowing for effectiveness in the placement:

• Monthly allowance.
• Return-trip international and/or domestic airfare.
• Visa-related costs (if needed).
• International health insurance.
• Vaccination and health-related costs (if needed).
• Interpreter and/or translator (if needed and depending on the position and duration of the assignment).
• Pre-departure support and orientation.
• Support and orientation during the assignment.
• Debriefing upon completion of the assignment.

E-volunteering

Depending on the nature of the placement, volunteers are encouraged to provide e-volunteering support to our local partners before or after their placement.

Engaging Canadians

CDF Canada provides technical and logistical support to young and experienced professionals through volunteer assignments to apply and acquire new skills and knowledge in international co-operative development. We ask each volunteer, regardless of the duration of their mandate, to share their experience during and/or at the end of their assignment either in the country of assignment or in Canada. The experience can be shared by providing stories of human interest and photographs that can be used for social media outreach; Participate in events/conferences or other public engagement activities to share their experience to motivate others.