Volunteer – Social Impact (Microfinance) Research Assistant At CARE Australia

About the Role

The Social Impact Research Assistant Volunteer is responsible for research that supports CA’s projects in the field of microfinance. The Social Impact Research Assistant volunteer will also be responsible to create a knowledge base around SME financing, support the development of microfinance processes and toolkits.

The role is expected to contribute to the achievement of CA’s theory of change and strategic intent. CA’s Theory of Change embeds gender justice and locally led approaches within a resilience framework, including in economic justice and climate justice programs. The theory of change aims to build CARE’s Gender Equality Framework into all programs with a locally led approach, and focuses on 5 key programming areas.

All CARE volunteers demonstrate a commitment to the prevention of sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse and the protection of children in their work.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct research / literature reviews to support microfinance partnership and program delivery.
• Build SME financing Knowledge Bank
• Support ongoing CA microfinance program delivery
• Ad-hoc tasks as required that will contribute to efficient and successful running of the program

Selection Criteria

• Be working towards a related international development, banking & finance, commerce or a related discipline
• Have strong written and verbal communication skills
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite or the equivalent (word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software)
• Preferably experience in using a design platform (e.g. CANVA)
• Ability to work independently and as a member of a team
• Must be able to work with limited direction/independently
• Must be able to critically evaluate information to make an assessment of whether the information is important and pertinent for that financial inclusion programming
• Passion in poverty alleviation in the Asia Pacific region
• Have a laptop
• Available to volunteer for min. 10 hours per week. (One-hour weekly meeting with Senior Manager – Microfinance Program Delivery)