Policy Lead

About Us

Guided by Karandaaz vision, we believe that every Pakistani deserves to be Financially Included and Economically Empowered. Our Mission at Karandaaz is to Foster economic growth and create jobs through financial inclusion of unbanked individuals and unserved enterprises.

Karandaaz Pakistan is a Non-profit organization, based out of Islamabad, registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan under Section 42 of the Companies Act 2017. We are supported by Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). Karandaaz is governed by an eminent board who set the strategy of the organization and steer it towards achievement of its objectives. 

Position Summary

The Policy Lead will be engaged in policy discussions with market actors, Government ministries and relevant departments to contribute to the development of proposals for enhancements in policies to enable financial inclusion of underserved market in Pakistan. The Policy lead will also work closely with regulators to ensure that their needs are met in respect of developing their skills, knowledge and competencies as regulators.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

The Policy Lead will work with other teams in engaging in issue based non-partisan research and advocacy to inform deliberations around the regulatory and policy barriers, provide technical advice or assistance in response to written invitation/request committee from a relevant government agency and focus on facilitating policy development through public-private dialogue and consensus building. Specifically the Policy Lead will:

• Conduct regulatory and policy analysis to inform deliberations around the remaining policy and regulatory barriers to digital financial inclusion;
• Identify challenges specific to women gaining access to financial services at the household, retail, and broad market levels;
• Support market actors and other relevant organizations to identify market constraints that are connected to, or affected by policy and regulation;
• Work with other teams to design and conduct research into the policy and regulatory barriers to financial inclusion, and a critical review of successful policy and regulatory interventions in other regions that can be replicated or adopted in Pakistan;
• Develop an advocacy strategy to persuade key stakeholders (government departments, regulators and others) to undertake necessary policy change;
• Support regulators through the localization of global learning outputs produced by global learning partners;
• Support the development of regulatory decision making tools such as geo-spatial tracking systems;
• Align the agenda of policy and regulatory support work stream with the priorities of the Government;
• Organize meetings, discussions, presentations, and workshops to inform policy and regulatory deliberations;
• Contribute to the development of policy briefs and blog posts on policy and regulatory interventions that lead to uptake and usage of digital financial services (especially amongst poor customers), policy and regulatory barriers to digital financial inclusion, and/or relevant developments from other countries;
• Leverage the Innovation & Incubation work stream to pilot proposed policy changes; and
• Support stakeholder associations, and participate in the development of key policies in partnership with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Securities and Exchange Commission (SECP), PTA, Ministry of IT & Telecom and Ministry of Commerce, among others

Candidate Profile

The qualified candidate should have the following skills and experience:

• At least 8 years’ experience in a public policy role either by working in a government or regulatory role, or a public policy role in another professional body or in the private sector.
• Master’s degree in policy, technology, business or related field from a renowned and accredited institute locally or internationally;
• Senior leadership and project management experience in implementing policy related interventions;
• Expertise in financial services policy, regulation and supervision, with a strong engagement at country level;
• Ability to establish priorities and manage a complex workload in order to meet tight deadlines;
• Ability to build relationships with staff, government officers and key external influencers;
• Ability to communicate large and complex ideas and recommendations to a diverse set of stakeholders including highly technical and non-technical;
• Ability to work independently and with considerable discretion but to seek advice as required
• Excellent national and international networking skills;
• Excellent writing and presentation skills; and
• Strong command of oral and written English, and strong working knowledge of Urdu

Culture and Values at Karandaaz

Karandaaz Culture is guided by our values of Innovation, Collaboration, Accountability, Respect and Equity (ICARE). These values shape our choices on what we do and how we do it, both with colleagues internally and partners externally. We also believe that we are all responsible for creating a great place to work and are constantly looking to hire individuals who bring the same level of passion and commitment to the purpose of the organization.

If you believe in Karandaaz vision and values and feel excited about the work we are offering, please send us your application for this position to careers@karandaaz.com.pk clearly mentioning the position title in the subject line. We will be accepting submissions till 18th February, 2021.

Karandaaz is an equal opportunity employer.  Women and people with disabilities and encouraged to apply.