Historique

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs). UNCDF uses its capital mandate to help LDCs pursue inclusive growth.  UNCDF uses ‘smart’ Official Development Assistance (ODA) to unlock and leverage public and private domestic resources; it promotes financial inclusion, including through digital finance, as a key enabler of poverty reduction and inclusive growth; and it demonstrates how localizing finance outside the capital cities can accelerate growth in local economies, promote sustainable and climate resilient infrastructure development, and empower local communities.  Using capital grants, loans, and credit enhancements, UNCDF tests financial models in inclusive finance and local development finance; ‘de-risks’ the local investment space; and proves concept, paving the way for larger and more risk-averse investors to come in and scale up.

By the end of 2015 the international community is expected to endorse a new and, probably, single and universal sustainable development agenda that will replace the existing Millennium Development Goals. This will likely be accompanied by a new financing framework to be adopted at the next UN Financing for Development summit.  This new framework faces a rapidly changing development finance landscape that is characterized by an increased diversity of: providers and sources such as DAC and non-DAC donors (e.g. India, China and Brazil), philanthropic foundations, high net-worth individuals, crowd-sourced donations, remittances and other private sector providers – such as the emerging impact investing industry; and, types of funding including traditional ODA, loans, risk mitigation, equity and blending instruments, as well as innovative financing mechanisms and the increasing use of ODA to leverage private finance including from domestic sources.

Against this backdrop, UNCDF/FIPA (Financial Inclusion Practice Area) provides seed capital and technical support through Inclusive Finance projects to ensure that more households and small business gain access to financial services that expand opportunities and reduce vulnerabilities. Its ability to provide risk capital directly to the private sector is helping bring new financial products to underserved and hard to reach markets and spurring innovations. Through flexible grant and loan instruments, UNCDF supports a wide range of providers (e.g. FSPs, banks, cooperatives, money transfer companies, and mobile networks operators) and financial products and services (e.g. savings, credit, insurance, payment services, remittances).

Assignment context

The microfinance sector in Myanmar has moved rapidly since the enactment of the Microfinance Law in November 2011. The sector continues to grow but is in need of support at nearly every level. UNCDF has been involved in issues of financial inclusion in Myanmar since shortly after the enactment of the law and builds on UNDPs experience in Myanmar since 1997.

UNCDF in Myanmar is operating under the Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) 2012-2015. The CPAP was signed between UNDP and Government of Myanmar and was by decision of the executive board in 2014 extended to 2017. UNCDF is also supportive to the UN Strategic Framework for Myanmar 2012-2015.

Additionally UNCDF and UNDP financial inclusion initiatives work in close collaboration and provide support each other.

In 2015 UNCDF is starting a new project in Myanmar: Expanding Financial Access (EFA) aiming to push forward the implementation of the Financial Inclusion Roadmap that lays out a plausible vision for the enhancement of financial inclusion in Myanmar. The Roadmap comes out of the diagnostic contained in the Making Access Possible (MAP) Myanmar Financial Inclusion Synthesis Note, and the MAP Myanmar Country Diagnostic Report.

In order to support the implementation of the Roadmap, the EFA project aims to:

• Support key priorities of the Roadmap, seeking to strengthen financial institutions targeting the MSMEs and cooperatives, small-scale farmers, women led enterprises, youth, poor and low income poor, through a market development fund facility, capacity support to launch a wider range of relevant and affordable products, and customer capability initiatives;
• Assist the government in creating a suitable environment for fostering financial inclusion, through capacity building initiatives targeted at the public sector in particular the Financial Regulatory Department, relevant Ministries, the Myanmar Agriculture Development Bank, MSME and the cooperatives sector;
• Further support the Roadmap process by serving as secretariat to the Government to support Roadmap implementation, helping to ensure that the Government of Myanmar is able to coordinate the various efforts and partners as they align their priorities to the Roadmap.

The Market Development Fund Facility will function as a catalytic agent able to take risk and leverage outside sources of capital to MFIs initially and then potentially to other Financial Service Providers operating in Myanmar such as commercial banks, Cooperatives, NGO-MFIs, MNOs, and Savings Groups. The purpose of the proposed Market Development Fund Facility is to help ‘’open up’’ what has been essentially a donor driven MFI sector, namely grant funding, to a more market driven sector of FSPs with the inclusion of domestic and international sources of capital. New sources of funds will be able to help diversify not only the institutions but also, more importantly, the services and products available to poor clients, in particular, credit, savings and micro insurance.

Within the EFA Market Development Fund Facility there is an emphasis on women and youth. Twenty five percent of the funds will be reserved for focus on these groups. The emphasis will be on organizations that are women led or have a particular focus on women. Similarly there will be a focus on organizations which focus on youth. This will be along the lines of the UNCDF Youth Start programme.

In addition some grants to entrench innovation and good practices especially as regards to policies, capacity, systems and products in FSPs have been planned. The EFA Market Development Fund Facility will be mainly a lending facility with some grants components. The lending component will all be in local currency. The fund is planned to finish in 2020.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Objectives of the assignment

EFA seeks the assistance of a consultant to:

• Research the Myanmar context and legal environment to design both debt and grant instruments, fund delivery mechanism, structure and appropriate incorporation of the market development fund facility, thereby enabling financial institutions to increase access to and usage of formally regulated pro-poor financial services in Myanmar;
• Design the Market Development Fund Facility as a platform for donors, investors and other stakeholders for investing in financial institutions in Myanmar. Align the institutional and operational mechanism of the Market Development Fund Facility for provision of debt, grant, direct technical assistance, subordinated debt and guarantees to meet Myanmar financial sector and stakeholder needs, and also aligning with other Fund Facilities being implemented by UNCDF in ASEAN.

Furthermore, the design of such facility will be complemented with the development of an operational manual:

• Conduct desk-research of previous financial inclusion debt, grant, direct technical assistance, subordinated debt and guarantees fund facilities implemented within Myanmar or ASEAN, with a particular focus on local currency funds, to identify main successes as well as lessons learnt that Market Development Fund Facility could incorporate into its design;
• Research the context and legal regulations for the development of a market development facility and of the instruments it could possibly use;
• Undertake market research/consultation in Myanmar with managers/stakeholders of similar funding facilities; with donors and technical assistance providers in the financial sector, with range of financial institutions who would be the recipient of funds from the MDF;
• Through stakeholder discussions, Identify potential opportunities in terms of developing new commercial partnerships, service delivery channels, products and services with funding from MDF;
• As a result of points 1, 2, 3 and 4, a brief synthesis report will be produced and submitted to UNCDF for approval, which will steer the development of the market development fund facility. The brief synthesis report would include learning from existing funding facilities, type of debt cum grant funds required by financial institutions, leveraging partnerships with stakeholders on MDF and potential thematic areas/interventions/institutions that can be funded through MDF.

Based on approval of the synthesis document by UNCDF, develop the Fund Facility Design document and Operations Manual building on precedents from other UNCDF projects.

The Market Development Fund Facility Design Document should include (indicative list provided):

Introduction:

• Financial Inclusion needs in Myanmar;
• Rationale and Need for a funding facility to be developed;
• Need for investing in financial institutions;
• Pro-poor market development approach;
• Lessons learned from previous funding facilities (executive summary of brief synthesis report);
• Key features of the funding facility.

  Design:

• Establishment and authority;
• Legal and institutional setup;
• Purpose and thematic areas;
• Geographical, sectoral, business enabling environment and gender focus;
• Language and currency;
• Size (fund amount limits per instrument – debt, grant);
• Project Duration, Windows and rounds;
• Guiding principles for funding.

Instruments:

• Minimum eligibility criteria, project assessment criteria and financing process;
• Process from  expression of interest to repayments (Step by step including levels of due diligence and risk assessment) to the execution of the investment decision and its monitoring;
• Procurement, Management, Appraisal and Governance mechanisms;
• Performance based monitoring and Reporting mechanisms;
• Financial Management;
• Audit and performance assessment;
• Closure of the fund and what will happen with remaining funds;
• Resourcing the fund;
• Changes to Manual.

The operational manual shall be accompanied by all necessary templates and instructions for the implementation of the Market Development Fund Facility. These templates (indicative) below will be presented in a separate document: Instruments policies; Call for EOI; EOI, EOI assessment criteria, EOI decision minutes of meeting; Application RFP and Forms; Pre-application technical assistance; Due diligence assessment formats and reports (detailed separately for grant, debt and debt cum grant instruments); Investment Committee and other governance guidelines; Appraisal format; Approval format; Monitoring and Reporting formats; Financial Management formats; No-conflict, confidentiality and other related forms.

Develop M&E tools:

• M&E should be done in accordance with the Microfinance and Central bank regulations;
• systems to assess systemic changes in the financial market as a whole as result of the Fund interventions;
• Evaluation (efficiency, effectiveness, results and impact) of Market Development Fund Facility’s performance and submission to EFA Programme Manager, partners and donors;
• Ensure the M&E system incorporates gender considerations and sex disaggregated data, including specific reporting on gender challenges and achievements;
• Ensure that M&E includes social performance indicators such as over-indeptedness, client satisfaction and client protection.
• Periodic review of market development fund facility financial and operational risks.

Based on the understanding gained from stakeholders and market research on thematic areas on which the fund should focus on, prepare all necessary documents for and launch the first expression of interest for the Market Development Fund Facility.

Final products:

• Market Development Fund Facility Design document;
• Market Development Fund Facility Operations Manual;
• EOI document for first window of Market Development Fund Facility.

Number of working days:

• Up to 15 days of work in Myanmar to meet with relevant stakeholders and undertake market research;
• Up to 10 days of home based work to provide the documents described in the Scope of Work;
• Up to 5 days to finalize the documents after receiving feedback from UNCDF and stakeholders.

Payment:

Consultancy fees for the service described in the scope of work will be paid as follows:

• 30% upon approval of brief synthesis report outlining results from activities 1, 2 and 3 described in the scope of work;
• 40% upon approval of Design document and Operational Manual of the Market Development Fund Facility;
• 30% upon issuance of Expression of interest for the Market Development Fund Facility launched.

Compétences

Functional Competencies:

• Strong analytical and writing skills and track record in producing relevant reports and other material;
• High level of communication and interpersonal skills and experience in working effectively in a multi- cultural environment.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

• Postgraduate qualification finance, business, economics, accounting and other related fields.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of professional experience working on inclusive finance programmes, related to specific field detailed in the scope of work;
• Working experience in designing, establishing or managing debt and grant fund facilities/projects;
• Experience in Myanmar assignments is a plus.

Languages:

• Fluency in English.

Application and Evaluation:

Evaluation will be done in two rounds:

Evaluation method: Desk review of CV and previous work samples (40% for CV and 30% for previous work samples of funds designed, established, run).
Shortlisted candidates will be sent documents who will in turn return a 4-5 page note on their approach to the project.

Scoring method: 70% technical proposal and 30% financial proposal.

Evaluation criteria:

• Experience working on financial inclusion Programmes – 15 points;
• Experience in designing, establishing or managing debt and grant fund facilities/projects – 20 points;
• Work sample and approach to project – 30 points;
• Experience of Myanmar Financial Inclusion sector -5 points.

Award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable;
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria;
• Technical Criteria; [70 points];
• Financial Criteria; [30 points].

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of the total rating will be considered for the financial evaluation and will be requested for financial proposal.

Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed UNDP Personal History form (P11) to be downloaded from the below link and previous work samples;
Kindly note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).
UNDP Personal History form (P11) required of all  applicants:http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.