Background

UNCDF

UNCDF 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 and the Pacific, 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.  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.

 Despite the rapid growth of the microfinance industry in the past ten years, it is estimated that between two and three billion people still lack access to a broad range of financial products and services on a sustainable basis. The situation is particularly dire in the LDCs, where often more than 90 per cent of the population is denied access to financial services from the formal financial system. UNCDF focuses its strategy on Financial inclusion, which is universal access, at a reasonable cost, to a wide range of financial services, provided by a variety of sound and sustainable institutions. The range of financial services includes savings, short and long-term credit, leasing and factoring, mortgages, insurance, pensions, payments, local money transfers and international remittances.

 UNCDF manages a number of initiatives related to digital financial (DF).  It is in discussion to  consolidate the technical assistance and research aspects of these programmes into a single team.  This team will serve UNCDF’s needs in regard to DF, particularly for two programmes:  Mobile Money for the Poor and the Better than Cash Alliance, but DF also requires support in a number of UNCDF country and global programmes. 

Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P)

With support from Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (“DFAT” formerly AusAid) and by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), UNCDF launched Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P) in March 2012, a global thematic initiative to address the opportunities and challenges of implementing branchless banking and mobile money in challenging markets in Africa and Asia.  MM4P’s long-term mission is to help low income and rural households in LDCs increase their financial security through appropriate, affordable and secure means to receive, manage and save money through these “digital financial services” (DFS).  To do so, its intermediate goal is to help build inclusive digital financial sectors such that a wide range of digital financial services are provided responsibly, and at reasonable cost, by sustainable institutions in a well-regulated environment.  UNCDF’s starts by defining the different stages of a market’s development and the range of interventions needed at different levels (i.e. macro, meso, micro, client) to move it across the stages.  This combines a making markets work for the poor approach with UNCDF’s traditional operational model of directly supporting the most crucial level – retail service providers.  UNCDF is currently implementing this in five countries (Laos, Nepal, Liberia, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia). 

In July 2014, MM4P secured a partnership with the MasterCard Foundation (MCF) for the roll out MM4P activities in three additional countries in sub-Saharan Africa for a period of five years (2014 to 2019), including Francophone (Benin, Senegal) and Anglophone (Zambia) Africa. The MCF agreement supposes a significant increase of workload for MM4P.  MM4P is in the process of streamlining and standardizing its procedures and will create a full time Project Management Associate post in Brussels.  This consultancy is to help finalize this process and train incoming staff on policy and procedures.  

Better than Cash Alliance (BTCA)

The Better Than Cash Alliance is an alliance of governments, private sector and development organizations committed to accelerating the shift from cash to electronic payments. 
Billions of dollars in cash payments are made daily in emerging and developing economies, including payment of salaries, social welfare and relief, payments to suppliers, etc. The problems with these cash payments include a lack of transparency, accountability and security, as well as inefficiency. Furthermore, the individuals who receive the cash are excluded from the formal financial sector. There were approximately 2.5 billion people excluded from the formal financial sector in 2012.

Shifting these payments from cash to electronic has the potential to improve the livelihoods of low-income people by advancing financial inclusion and enabling people to save, while giving governments, the development community and the private sector a more efficient, transparent and often safer means of disbursing payments

The Better Than Cash Alliance seeks to leverage the leadership of governments, the networks of development organizations and the expertise of the private sector in payment technologies to replace the use of cash in their programming and payment streams with electronic payments, where appropriate. It also seeks to build the financial capability of low-income clients who will benefit from electronic payments and a wider range of financial services.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the MM4P Programme Manager, the consultant will:

Support MM4P fulfilling its Learning Agenda and Research commitments with research partners:

  • Helps to develop and finalize the TOR and selection criteria for a firm to conduct impact research in regard to DFS.
  • Helps to develop TORs for follow qualitative research in key areas of DFS as prescribed in work plans and/or reviewsw TORs. developed by UNCDF and other parties related to research to ensure that they are adequate.
  • Reviews submissions from current and potential research partners, including business plans, pilot plans, etc.
  • Helps the Operations Analyst  in long-listing, ranking and selecting technical proposals from consultants.
  • Creates project files and checklists for new projects, ensuring that steps are completed for approval.
  • When needed (for projects > $100,000), assists the team in drafting appraisal documents with inputs from the field teams.
  • Sets up project tracking schedule for key benchmarks, milestones and reports and Monitors tracking schedule to ensure timely completion of research projects.
  • Organizes regular calls between MM4P and its research partners.
  • Participates in MM4P’s team gatherings  and develops training sessions on how to manage research (expected March 2015).

Review the quality of the research and research results from current and planned MM4P research:

  • Reviews preliminary, drafts and final research documents prepared by MM4P research partners (contractors and grantees), including inception reports, draft questionnaires, initial findings and results.
  • Works with MM4P to help monitor progress of research, providing advice to MM4P and partners on how to work more efficiently.
  • Provides comments and feedback on draft research reports.

Works with the technical team to develop and update country strategies and annual work plans:

  • Consolidates country and global work plans on research into a single research plan.
  • Develops method for teams across countries to increase research collaboration , ensuring that learning agendas are complementary and methods and results are shared across regions.
  • Assists teams in finding ways to influence others research locally to ensure that DFS is represented in planned research.
  • Works with MM4P and UNCDF’s MAP programme to ensure that DFS is better integrated into all MAP research.

Drafts Notes, Blogs, and other research communications material:

  • Based on research findings and experience, works with the KM team to summarize, edit or ghost-write presentations, notes and blogs on UNCDF’s findings experience in DFS research.
  • Assists field teams and research partners to develop more active communications around findings, including social media, blogs, etc.
  • With the support of the Technical Team, provides technical inputs to arrange of project processes such as; Project Descriptions (PD´s),  Terms of Reference (ToRs)   procurement processes (individual and institutional consultancy services, professional services for of training, seminars, etc.) and other inputs with a research component.

Assists in coordination and cooperation on research issues with other UNCDF programmes and organizations

  • Help develop strategies and potentially joint projects between UNCDF and other key stakeholders on DFS research, including CGAP, GSMA, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the MasterCard Foundation.
  • Work across UNCDF teams involved in research, including MAP, BTCA, SHIFT, and others to find ways to work more closely together.

Competencies

Professional:

  • Takes on innovation and new approaches and fosters innovation in others.
  • Creates an environment that fosters innovation and innovative thinking.
  • Conceptualizes more effective approaches to programme development and implementation and to mobilizing and using resources.

Management/Client Orientation:

  • Anticipates constraints in the delivery of services and identifies solutions or alternatives.
  • Proactively identifies, develops and discusses solutions for internal and external clients, and persuades management to undertake new projects or services.
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities, and resolve problems.
  • Focus on impact and results for clients and stakeholders.
  • Builds trust in interactions with others, facilitates partnerships.
  • Approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude and responds positively to feedback.
  • Committed to team work, working with other stakeholders.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • A Masters’ degree in finance, economics, international development, public/business administration, social sciences, or related discipline or the equivalent experience.
  • Preferably an advanced degree that included international development research.

Experience: 

  • A minimum of five years’ experience in projects with financial inclusion as a focus or part.
  • Experience in directly implementing research projects, preferably with a focus on financial inclusion.
  • Published articles, blogs or other materials.
  • Experience in donor projects, developing proposals, corresponding budgets, and monitoring and evaluation plans.
  • Working knowledge of concepts in digital financial inclusion and preferably knowledge and exposure to branchless banking, mobile phone banking, or other efforts using technology to reach rural and poor populations is desirable but not mandatory.
  • Experience working with UNCDF or a similar type organization. 

Language Requirements:

  • Fluency in English and strong writing skills. 
  • Fluency in French is preferred but not a requirement.

Consulting fees, standard travel costs and living expenses:

This is an international position which can largely be performed from the consultants’ home office.  The consultant is expected to travel to Belgium at least twice during the duration of the assignment for a period of two weeks each time and may be asked to travel once or twice to Africa (Benin, Malawi, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia or other).  All travel expenses will be paid directly by UNCDF on a reimbursement basis in accordance with UN policies.

Application:

Please refer to application date above. Applications will be rated on both technical and financial submissions.  The best proposal that will be awarded the contract shall be selected through the following method: 

Highest rated proposal using the combined scoring method, which assigns the weight distribution between the technical and financial proposals as set out in the Request for Proposal. The weight distribution shall be 70% technical and 30% financial. 

All applications must contain the following information in one word or PDF document combining the following:

Other:

Both individual consultants and individual employed by a company or institution are welcome to apply. 

Any individual employed by a company or institution who would like to submit an offer in response to a procurement notice for Individual Contractor must do so in their individual capacity (providing a cv so that their qualifications may be judged accordingly). Please not that in such case the company institution will be asked to issue a Reimbursable Loan Agreement.  

Women candidates or women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.