1. Background and rationale
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is part of a Partnership on Inclusive Jobs and Education for Host Communities, Refugees and other Forcibly Displaced Persons, known as PROSPECTS. The Partnership is a multi-year programme, funded by the Government of the Netherlands, that brings together five agencies (ILO, World Bank, IFC, UNICEF, UNHCR) to devise collaborative and innovative approaches for inclusive job creation and education in contexts characterized by forced displacement. The programme encompasses three pillars, namely Education, Jobs, and Protection and operates in eight countries across East Africa, Horn of Africa and the Middle East employing an area-based approach, in which the partner agencies jointly focus their activities on selected regions in each country. For Ethiopia, the partner agencies have selected Jigjiga and Shire refugee operations to focus their interventions. Under the partnership, the ILO, together with IFC and World Bank, lead interventions to improve livelihoods of host communities and refugees, including through enterprise development and financial education. Please find more information on prospects here: www.ilo.org/prospects
ILO through PROSPECTS commissioned research to assess the financial services provision and inclusion of hosts and refugees in Somali region. The assessment revealed that MFI and commercial banks largely limit themselves to serving host community market particularly in the provision of savings and credit products due to different reasons including negative perceptions regarding the bankability of refugees and ‘regulatory’ restrictions that are their biggest hindrances to reaching out to the refugees.
Based on the assessment findings, the ILO developed and provided capacity building training of financial service providers through its course called Making Finance Work for Refugees and Host Communities (25 – 29th January 2021, in Addis Ababa) for an audience of financial service providers and stakeholders dealing with financial inclusion of refugees in Ethiopia. At the end of the training, participants developed their own action plans to improve the services for Forcibly Displaced Persons (FDPs) and their host communities.
Somali Microfinance (SMFI) is major financial service provider in Somali region. They expressed their interest to develop financial products targeting FDPs and their hosts. ILO is seeking the services of an international consultant to provide technical assistance to Somali Microfinance (SMFI) to develop an inclusive outreach strategy and financial products that will meet the needs of refugees and host communities in Somali region.
2. Objective of the assignment and scope of work
The International consultant will supervise and support the national consultant in the development of the survey tools, design of an inclusive outreach strategy, the development and roll out of financial products together with technical assistance to the MFI including providing quality assurance to consultancy reports. The areas of support will aim at achieving the following objectives:
a) Conduct a market assessment in terms of analysing the current status of population, economic activities and access to finance including opportunities, unmet needs and barriers in the following areas of Awbare, Shedder, Kebrebiyah covering both refugees and host communities. The assessment will includes major financial institutions in these areas (covering both formal and informal ones); major products/services they offer and which demographic/gender/social/business segments each product/service targets; market penetration (estimation) i.e. number of customers or volume of products disbursed; and gaps in terms of which demographic, gender, social and business segments that are being left out. The market assessment will be conducted in close collaboration and engagement of SMFI research and marketing departments.
b) Conduct an institutional assessment including review the business model of Somali MFI in the areas of strategy, governance, policies, procedures, processes, staff skills including HR capacity and HR management, recruitment practices and talent management), products, delivery channels, major revenue streams, costs and analyse the major risks (both internal and external). Both consultants will prioritize identified institutional gaps which once addressed can improve the MFI service delivery to the refugees and host communities.
c) Design of an efficient, effective and inclusive outreach strategy matching the MFI resource capability combined with partner support to deliver the financial products that meet the assessed needs of host communities and refugees. This inclusive outreach strategy may include addressing strategy, governance, products, policies, processes, upgrading internal staff capability and delivery channels. The outreach strategy should include a marketing plan to increase outreach, an operational plan and provide clear milestones on how to achieve the strategy in terms of clients reached with gender segregation, financial product volume delivered with specific quarterly targets.
d) Proposition[1] of specific financial products or services that will meet the needs of the refugees and host communities and value chain actors in a profitable and sustainable way. The financial products or services developed should be in compliance with National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) financial inclusion strategy and Sharia guidelines taking into account good practices in similar communities in Ethiopia or beyond.
e) Provide an operational plan to roll out the proposed outreach strategy covering the infrastructure, human resource needs, financial products, processes, policies and procedures. The operational plan should serve as a tool to implement the proposed financial product and serve as robust monitoring and evaluation tool to monitor the progress through time. The operational plan should address institutional capacity building, product rollout and marketing. It should have clear deliverables in terms of clients recruited, volumes of products rolled out, capacity building provided to the institution and other technical assistance support to be provided for six months and beyond.
f) Preparation of the inception, progress and final report of the assignment delivery. Documentation of the lessons learnt.
3. Methodology and Scope
The international consultant will supervise and support the national consultant to devise an appropriate methodology for meeting the above objectives together with developing the tools and quality checking of the reports produced by the consultant. The tasks will include among others:
a) Desk research for background information such as NBE financial inclusion strategy and guidelines, overview of the market, etc.
b) Designing tools for use in the field research, analysis of data, designing of appropriate financial products
c) Advice on how to conduct sample surveys and/ or focus group discussions with target communities that are essential for identifying real gaps and test product ideas
d) Interviews with senior executives of the MFI to understand current organization structure, products, systems, processes, procedures in order to design and roll out relevant financial products to make sure recommendations build on existing resources and capabilities
e) Studying and improving on the outreach strategy
f) Designing and modifying the financial products of the MFI
g) The roll out of the MFI outreach strategy in terms of capacity building of the staff, revision of the policy, procedures, new product delivery and systems
h) Advice on inception, progress and final report on the consultancy and documentation of lessons learnt from the assignment.
4. Key Deliverables and timeline
The international consultant will start by 1 September 2021 and end on 31st January 2022. The assignment will take a total of 12 days. The selected international consultant will be expected to deliver high quality work within the stipulated timelines. COVID-19 limitations to carrying out consultancy will be observed.
Key Deliverables of the Consultant, Timeline for National consultant and Timeline for International consultant
- An inception report after signing of the contract detailing how they will conduct the assignment along with work plan, data collection tools and other technical documents,
- Timeline for National consultant: 3 days
- Timeline for International consultant: 1 day
- A Market assessment report on refugees hosting communities of Awbare, Sheder, Keberbeyah, demographics, economic activities, access to finance and financial needs of the target group. An Institutional analysis report on Somali microfinance governance, strategy, operations, current products, delivery mechanisms, systems processes, policies and procedures together with identified gaps in financial service delivery,
- Timeline for National consultant: 12 days
- Timeline for International consultant: 2 days
- High level specifications of financial products / services developed for the MFI that will best meet the gaps identified in the market assessment and ensure financially viable for the MFI,
- Timeline for National consultant: 5 days
- Timeline for International consultant: 2 days
- An outreach strategy including institutional assessment, proposed financial product or service, operational plan to practically address the institutional infrastructure, human resource development, product roll out, revisions to processes, policies and procedures together with robust M&E plans including the envisioned outcome, activities, indicators and means of verification where the milestones and targets can be measured, in terms of volumes of new products, clients reached,
- Timeline for National consultant: 10 days
- Timeline for International consultant: 4 days
- Report on the roll out of the operational plan for the outreach strategy including institutional capacity building activities completed. Documentation of the progress and lessons learnt from the assignment,
- Timeline for National consultant: 10 days
- Timeline for International consultant: 2 days
- Final report on the assignment,
- Timeline for National consultant: 3 Days
- Timeline for International consultant: 1 days
5. Payments
The national consultant will receive 5 payments based on the following deliverables
20% payment for the assignment will be paid on delivery of an acceptable inception report incorporating ILO’s comments.
20% payment for the contract will be made on delivery of the market assessment report and institutional gap analysis for financial services
25% payment will be made on delivery of inclusive outreach strategy including final financial products design and specifications
20% payment will be made on delivery on the operational roll out plan after the provision of institutional capacity building in the areas of staff skills development, revisions to processes, procedures, product roll out and documentation of lessons learnt.
15% on final report integrating all feedback from ILO and partner institution
6. Eligibility requirements
- University degree in Business Administration, Commerce, Economics, Finance and Accounting
- A Masters in Business administration with specialisation in banking or financial services is an added advantage
- 20 years’ experience of working in or capacity building of a bank, MFI or similar financial institutions, preferably focused on product development, innovation, staff training, customer care, portfolio management, marketing revision of processes, policies and procedures for financial institutions.
- Strong familiarity with NBE guidelines on MFI product design and any applicable laws
- Knowledge of Islamic finance and delivery systems is an added advantage
- Working experience on a similar assignment in Africa will be an advantage
- Women are encouraged to apply
7. Staffing, Roles, and Reporting
The international consultant will report to the PROSPECTS Ethiopia Chief Technical Advisor (CTA). S/he will receive technical guidance from the ILO PROSPECTS Regional Specialist Enterprise and Market Systems Development based in Nairobi, Financial Inclusion Technical Specialists based in ILO Geneva and receive technical support from ILO PROSPECTS National Program Officer based in Addis.
Throughout the course of this assignment, the international consultant will report on a monthly basis to the ILO for coordination and follow–up. If necessary request to modify the tasks or timeline of work or exceed the time allocated, the international consultant will discuss the circumstances with the ILO and obtain prior written approval. The ILO may disclose the draft or final report to any person and for any purpose ILO may deem appropriate.
8. Confidentiality and contracting conditions
All data and information received from the ILO for the purpose of this assignment are to be treated confidentially and are only to be used in connection with the execution of these Terms of Reference. All intellectual property rights arising from the execution of these Terms of Reference are assigned to the ILO. The contents of written materials obtained and used in this assignment may not be disclosed to any third parties without the expressed advance written authorization of the ILO.
The present assignment is a consultancy under the standard terms and condition of external collaborator contract of the ILO.
How to apply:
Interested consultants should submit their letter of expression of interest to the ILO country office via email along with supporting documents such as, technical and financial proposals, curriculum vitae; and contact details (email, telephone number etc.).
Kindly title your email subject as, “Call for proposal – International consultant – To Support Somali Microfinance (SMFI) to Provide Financial Services to Refugees and Host Communities in Somali Region”
Email: ADDIS_PROCUREMENT@ilo.org
ILO Country Office for Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan
UNECA Compound- Addis Ababa
Only shortlisted candidates will be notified. Deadline for submitting applications: 27 August 2021- 2:00PM.