UNCDF Jobs - 58985- Technical Assistance for the Development of Agricu

Technical Assistance for the Development of Agricultural Value-Chain Financing product

Advertised on behalf of

UNCDF

Location :

Kigali, RWANDA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

31-Aug-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

50 working days, intermittent

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

up to 11 months

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

UN Capital Development Fund is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries. It creates new opportunities for poor people and their communities by increasing access to microfinance and investment capital. UNCDF focuses on Africa and the poorest countries of Asia, with a special commitment to countries emerging from conflict or crisis. It provides seed capital – grants and loans – and technical support to help microfinance institutions reach more poor households and small businesses, and local governments finance the capital investments – water systems, feeder roads, schools, irrigation schemes – that will improve poor peoples’ lives.

UNCDF works to enlarge peoples’ choices: It believes that poor people and communities should take decisions about their own development. Its programmes help to empower women – over 50% of the clients of UNCDF-supported microfinance institutions are women – and its expertise in microfinance and local development is shaping new responses to food insecurity, climate change and other challenges. All UNCDF support is provided via national systems, in accordance with the Paris principles. UNCDF works in challenging environments – remote rural areas, countries emerging from conflict – and paves the way for others to follow.

Its programmes are designed to catalyze larger investment flows from the private sector, development partners and national governments, for significant impact on the Millennium Development Goals, especially Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger, Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women, and Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability. Established by the General Assembly in 1966 and with headquarters in New York, UNCDF is an autonomous UN organization affiliated with UNDP and has got an office in Rwanda at UNDP.
Reference made to both the Rwanda Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy 2 (2013-2017) and the UN Development Assistance Plan (2013-2018), agriculture transformation is among the development agenda priorities. However, financing of agricultural value chains has remained to be key challenge.

Many financial institutions in Rwanda still do not have appropriate agriculture financing products, borrowers do not have sufficient capacities to develop appropriate proposals and also the market still does not offer a wider range of options addressing challenges like lack of collateral, etc.
As such, ONE UN in Rwanda development a joint programme called Development and Implementation of Value Chains in Rwanda whereby UNCDF was tasked to undertake the financial inclusion component of the programme. Under this program, UNCDF obtained funds to support FSPs to developing market tailored agriculture-financing products.

Objectives of assignment

The objectives of this assignment are to undertake a synthesis analysis of the agricultural value chain financing in Rwanda, identify the key areas of intervention for financial inclusion with regard to the developing the capacity of FSPs to deliver products related to agriculture financing.

Duties and Responsibilities

The specific scope of work is outlined below.

Conducting a needs assessment and gap analysis related to the provision of agri-financing products in Rwanda

A significant amount of work has already been done for Rwanda in the agricultural sector. The consultant will be required to go through the existing studies and research that has been conducted in agricultural finance for Rwanda. Develop a UN country concept paper on agri-financing that will indicate opportunities, challenges and recommendations at sector level.

The consultant will also be required to the consultant will be required to undertake a short audit on the key global initiatives on agricultural financing activities being undertaking in order to link more specifically into Rwanda and it’s relevance for the country and at a broader level to locate this within the UNCDF agriculture-financing approach.

The consultant will also be required to visit a range of pre-selected banks/MFI’s/cooperatives to determine/‘assess’ their present activities and strategy related to the agri sector, their rural network and their willingness and capability to participate in a pilot project to develop a set of products for the implementation of agricultural financing value-chain products for two FSP’s.

Technical Assistance to develop and implement agricultural financing value products 2 FSPs (MFI/SACCO)

The consultant will be required to develop a set of products as well as a business and implementation model for the implementation of agricultural financing value-chain products for 2 FSPs MFI/SACCO. It is envisaged that the initial development work and product set will be developed in this phase of the project and will be followed through in subsequent phases. Identification of the FSPs that will receive the funding support will be a key component of the project as well as the funding that will be required to implement the products.

Conducting a needs and gaps analysis at a commercial bank/MFI/SACCO level

Key Deliverables:

Prepare an initial inception plan for the proposed assignment that will include the initial scope of the environment, draft table of contents for the document, institutions to be interviewed and timelines;
Full report including the national and global environmental scan on current initiatives, status of initiatives and an assessment of at least two selected institutions, including suitability and scalability to implement the product, and funding requirements (Recommended by both AMIR and AFR;
Presentation of findings and proposed way forward at stakeholder committee composed of MIECOFIN, UNDP, UNCDF, AFR, and BNR. Integrate inputs provided by the stakeholders;
Based on the institution assessment, the consultant will develop a TA plan that indicates activities, timeline and budget. The consultant will support the FSP to develop an agric-value chain financing product with its specifications, delivery channels, product procedures manuals, loan review approval forms, loan application and repayment forms, loan monitoring forms and reporting templates.

The consultant will report to the Country Technical Advisor for Rwanda and the Global MAP Programme Advisor. UNCDF will be responsible for sharing any outputs among stakeholders.

Contract duration

Phase 1: Maximum of 25 working days for a period of August -November 2015;
Phase 2: Maximum of 25 working days for a period of February -June 2016.

Duty Station

Kigali-Rwanda and travel to other districts as required

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNCDF;
Demonstrate integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

The consultant should demonstrate skills and experience workingin large private sector, investment and financial inclusion projects/ assignments in Rwanda;
Demonstrated technical knowledge of financial and/or banking, agricultural sector;
Demonstrated econometric experience in analysing various research and data preferable;
Proven knowledge and experience of the Rwanda agriculture and financial services sector
Experiences with similar assignments in Rwanda and/or other developing countries will be an added advantage;
Strong report writing and analytical skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

At least a Master’s degree in economics, finance, international development, business or public administration or related field such as social sciences like project management, marketing, communications, etc.

Experience:

A minimum of 7 years relevant, practical working experience in agriculture, financial sector and/ or banking sector, preferably in least developed countries (LDCs);
Sound technical knowledge and experience with financial and/or banking, agricultural sector experience;
Strong demonstrated experience in econometric analysis desirable;
Prior experience working in large private sector, investment and financial inclusion projects in Rwanda.

Language:

Fluency in English required;
Knowledge of French is desirable.

Documents to be included in the proposal

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Proposal:

Explaining why they are the most suitable for the assignment;
Detailed technical proposal that includes background, rationale, understanding of the TOR, objective, detailed methodology and work plan;
Updated CV.

Travel

There are several anticipated travel for this assignment. In the case of travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNCDF and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel.
The fare will always be “most direct, most economical” and any difference in price with the preferred route will be paid for by the expert.

Evaluation process

Method

Cumulative analysis method will be used to evaluate proposals.

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points on technical part will be considered as technically qualified and will be requested to submit their financial proposal for further evaluation, which shall contain full pricing, including number of anticipated days of travel for training and for field visits outside of Rwanda, and associated costs.

Criteria for technical evaluation (70 points maximum):

Experience and technical skills - 15;
Understanding the TOR - 20;
Methodology and work plan - 35.

Criteria for financial evaluation (30 points maximum)

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

p = y (µ/z), where;
p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated;
y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal;
µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;
z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

Please note that: Financial offers would be requested from the technically qualified applicants.

For information

Completed PH 11 Form will be required at the time a consultant signs an Individual Contract (IC) or his/her employer, if employed, signs a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) for work associated with this assignment. UN Personal History form (UN PH11) can be downloaded from: here(http://sas.undp.org/documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc
General Terms and Conditions for ICs is provided here: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.
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