Plan International was founded over 75 years ago with a mission to promote and protect the rights of children. The organisation was set up by British journalist John Langdon-Davies and refugee worker Eric Muggeridge in 1937, with the original aim to provide food, accommodation and education to children whose lives had been disrupted by the Spanish Civil War. Langdon-Davies conceived the idea of a personal relationship between a child and a sponsor – a model that puts the child at the centre, and remains the core of what we do. Today, Plan International is a global organisation that is active in over 70 countries to advance children’s rights and equality for girls. Who We Are We work with communities around the world to end the cycle of poverty for children. We work with communities around the world to end the cycle of poverty for children. Founded over 70 years ago, Plan is a nearly $800 million organization often ranked among the top 10 international development agencies by reputation, size and scope. We work side-by-side with communities in 50 developing countries to end the cycle of poverty for children, developing solutions to ensure long-term sustainability. Our level of community engagement, long-term outlook and constant focus on the needs and priorities of children is unique among international development organizations. Our solutions are designed up-front to be owned by communities for generations to come and range from clean water and health care programs, to education projects and child protection initiatives. Community by community, Plan works to promise futures that are worthy of all children’s potential. Our Vision Our vision is of a world in which all children realize their full potential in societies that respect people’s rights and dignity. Our Mission Plan strives to achieve lasting improvements in the quality of life of vulnerable children in developing countries by: Enabling children, their families and their communities to meet basic needs and to increase their ability to participate in and benefit from their societies; Fostering relationships to increase understanding and unity among peoples of different cultures and countries; and Promoting the rights and interests of the world’s children.
- Job Type: Full Time
- Qualification: BA/BSc/HND , MBA/MSc/MA
- Location: Not specified
- Job Field: Finance / Accounting / Audit
The Opportunity
As a leader in the global movement for girls’ rights, our ambition is to take collective action so that 100 million girls learn, lead, decide and thrive. These ambitions require that we work in new ways and unleash our full creative potential. To this end, Plan International has established an Impact Lab to develop and grow the organisation’s social finance approach through the pursuit of innovative financing and impact investing opportunities, and incubating and accelerating gender transformative enterprises in line with the principles of Gender Lens Investing.
The Impact Lab’s work is comprised of two core workstreams:
- Social Finance Advisory: Advisory support for all Plan International entities to implement social finance strategies.
- Gender Lens Investing: Sourcing of and technical assistance provision for internally developed social enterprise models and/or existing businesses in line with gender lens principles, and provision of gender lens impact measurement.
- The Senior Social Finance Associate will lead the Impact Lab’s Social Finance Advisory workstream, which provides advisory support for all Plan International entities to implement social finance strategies and expand social finance expertise. In addition, this role will provide holistic support, creating and driving forward cross-cutting strategic initiatives across the Impact Lab’s Gender Lens Ventures work.
- The Senior Social Finance Associate will support the leadership of the Impact Lab’s international team. This role will work closely with the organisation’s leadership (GH Leadership Team, National Directors, Regional Directors, and Country Directors) to develop Plan International’s gender lens investment initiative and to build our network within the social financing community.
In this multidimensional role the Senior Social Finance Associate shall ensure that all internal and external stakeholders have a comprehensive understanding of the scope, capacity and achievements of the initiative. The role also requires leadership and facilitation of social finance activities alongside Country Offices and National Organisations, thereby effectively capitalising on collaborative opportunities to deliver impact at scale.
The Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in finance, economics or development studies.
- Master’s degree in economics or development studies.
- Significant experience in a leading consulting, investment banking or private equity firm.
- Experience in social finance, impact investing, venture capital or private equity.
- Strong working knowledge of social finance trends, impact investing and investment vehicles in international development context.
- In-depth understanding of the international development funding sector, including bilaterals, multilaterals, foundations, and the private sector.
