A.Project Title

Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana – (GrEEn)

Thematic Area: R3 - Access to Finance. (Technical assistance to policy makers for securities crowdfunding guidelines in Ghana.)

B.Project Description 

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 46 least developed countries. The UNCDF strategy of ‘Leaving no one behind in the digital era’ is based on over a decade of experience in digital finance in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. UNCDF recognizes that reaching the full potential of digital financial inclusion in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aligns with the vision of promoting digital economies that leave no one behind.

UNCDF is bringing its expertise in digital and financial inclusion in Ghana under the “Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana – (GrEEn)”,  a four-year action from the European Union (EU) funded by the EU Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF). The GrEEn Project aims at creating greater economic and employment opportunities for youth, women, and returning migrants by promoting and supporting sustainable, green businesses in selected regions (Ashanti and Western). More info can be found on www.uncdf.org/green.

Under the GrEEn Project, UNCDF manages a portfolio of partners (Financial Service Providers) to test, develop and roll out innovative financial services for the targeted groups in the targeted regions. Through its technical and funding Facility under the GrEEn Project, UNCDF engages with innovative financial services providers (banks, fintech, Savings and Loans, Microfinance institutions, remittance providers, MNOs, MTOs, etc.) and support them to pilot and/or scale up innovative financial services for the excluded segments and bring them to the last mile where targeted groups struggle with  accessing and using formal financial services.  

One key area of work is crowdfunding, where UNCDF is pioneering crowdfunding in Ghana under the GrEEn Project by supporting the ecosystem in developing new business models that could help channel investments for segments excluded from traditional finance. To this end, advocating and supporting a conducive regulatory environment becomes crucial for the private sector to build on these models while protecting investors and fund recipients. Participatory approaches are key to ensuring all parties are involved in defining new policies to better reflect the interests and risks of the business environment, strengthen best practices, enforce implementation and broaden ownership of the process by all key stakeholders. In Ghana, crowdfunding sector is regulated by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC): while BoG has published guidelines for donation-based crowdfunding, SEC is currently in the design phase of upcoming guidelines that will regulate investment-based crowdfunding. While an initial draft is already available, SEC is planning to continue some exchanges with stakeholders to fully inform the policy making process.

Considering the relevance of policy guidelines for the UNCDF work in the digital finance space, UNCDF has been working with SEC to facilitate engagements with private sector and inform the policy drafting. To this end, UNCDF is looking for an Expert with  expertise in Securities Industry Crowdfunding to support the Securities and Exchange Commission and provide specific technical assistance to complete the crowdfunding guidelines for Ghana following participatory approaches and best practices.  

C.Scope of Work

The overall objective of this assignment is to assist SEC in drafting the crowdfunding guidelines balancing innovation and investor protection to finally develop the market at the benefit of the most vulnerable groups that are excluded from formal financing. The main tasks foreseen to achieve such an objective are: 

1. Inception: To review the existing policy draft as well as existing initiatives within the sector (e.g. regulatory sandbox) and identify gaps, make recommendations and identify a TA plan to bridge those gaps.
2. Technical Assistance: To provide the identified TA to SEC and other key stakeholders to incorporate recommendations into guidelines and accompany a smooth transition to the release of the guidelines, including stakeholder engagement to ensure best practices are incorporated and policymakers have the technical knowledge to complete the guidelines.
3. Post-launch assistance: To identify a deployment and TA plan to support a successful implementation, education, and dissemination of guidelines within the sector and for key stakeholders.
4. Knowledge sharing: To collect the learnings and insights from the assignment and produce a knowledge product for public dissemination (e.g. policy brief, case study, etc.) and co-design the dissemination plan (e.g. webinar, etc.).

D Expected Outputs and Deliverables

Under the supervision of the Financial Inclusion Specialist based in Accra, Ghana, the Expert will be responsible for the following activities and deliverables:  

Institutional Arrangement

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the GrEEn Technical Lead based in Accra. The consultant will work daily in close collaboration with UNCDF’s technical expert.

There will be a briefing and debriefing and bi-weekly discussions between the consultant, GrEEn team as well as the stakeholders involved in this exercise. The incumbent, jointly with the GrEEn team, may be involved in technical discussions with other partners engaged in similar support as deemed needed.

F.    Duration of the Work

The assignment is expected to last for 60 days commencing from February 2023 to July 2023. A tentative calendar for the submission of key deliverables is provided in section D.

G.    Duty Station

Home-based. According to the methology proposed, travel can be included to achieve the objectives of the assignment.

Payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Please note that UNCDF cannot guarantee residence permits or visas for consultants. Consultants are responsible for securing their work documentation. In the case of national consultants, applicants that are not nationals of the duty station requested will have to prove their residence status.

Please note that consultants residing in the duty station will not be compensated for living expenses.

H.    Qualifications of the Successful Individual Expert

The minimum requirements are as follows:

• Bachelors degree in any of these: political science, economics, law, business, innovation, finance management or any other related disciplines relevant to the assignment.
• Minimum 6 years of demonstrable working experience in the crowdfunding industry at the international level and preferably in an emerging market, either in the public or private sector or a mix of both;
• Demonstrable knowledge and working experience in supporting African policymakers,  regulators, and other government entities in policy drafting, technical assistance, and release of policy guidelines in the financial innovation space, preferably in the crowdfunding space;
• Proven exposure and knowledge of international standards and best practice on the African early-stage financing and innovation ecosystem, regulation of crowdfunding, and its legal frameworks governing the space in other countries;
• Excellent and proven expertise in designing, developing, and disseminating knowledge-sharing products at a high level (e.g. policy briefs, case studies, etc) to inform the ecosystem;
• Proven project management skills with increasing responsibilities over time, including communication skills, time management, client orientation, and solution orientation at the international level with development partners.

Important Note:

The Consultant is required to have the above-mentioned professional and technical qualifications. Only the applicants who hold these qualifications will be shortlisted and contacted.

1. Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The qualified consultant shall receive his/her all-inclusive lump sum service fees upon completion and approval of the deliverables by UNCDF. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the direct supervisor.

The deliverables stated below will serve as conditions for disbursement: (i) submission of an invoice and Certificate of Payment (COP); (ii) review, approval and written acceptance of each deliverable by the UNCDF; (iii) submission of travel expenses with relevant supporting documentation; and (iv) an authorization of payment disbursement from a direct supervisor.

The final price of this contract is fixed regardless of changes to the cost components. The payment schedule is as follows:

J.     Recommended Presentation of Offer

For purposes of generating quotations whose contents are uniformly presented and to facilitate their comparative review, a prospective Individual Contractor (IC)  must submit  the following documents as proposals to demonstrate their qualifications.

The application must contain the following:

(a) Personal Profile:

• Cover letter

• Methodology and approach to assignment

• A Curriculum Vitae (CV) or completed and signed P11 - Personal History Form (available at http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc), stipulating applicant’s official name the qualifications and professional experiences (with similar projects) relevant to the assignment/TOR and the contact details (email address, telephone numbers) of 3 professional references.

(b) A signed financial proposal for the assignment,

• Completed and duly signed Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability, quoted in US dollars, outlining the all-inclusive fee, supported by a breakdown of reimbursable – direct and indirect – costs (if applicable ) template available here: Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability.

 Submit your proposals not later than 23:59 CET 10th of February 2023 to digital.procurement.bru@uncdf.org  (please do not CC any other email addresses). Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to the email to digital.procurement.bru@uncdf.org. UNCDF will respond in writing or by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants.

K.    Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

Individual Consultants will be evaluated based on the combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max. of 70% and combined with price offer which will be weighted at a maximum of 30% with the following requirements:

• 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. In this regard, the respective weight of the proposals are:
  • Technical Criteria weight is 70%
  • Financial Criteria weight is 30%