Background

INTRODUCING UNCDF

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 47 Least Developed Countries (LDC). UNCDF uses its capital mandate to support LDCs pursue inclusive growth. UNCDF promotes financial inclusion, also through digital financial services (DFS), 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 provides proofs of concept, paving the way for larger and more risk-averse investors.  

UNCDF under its new strategy Digital@UNCDF identifies agriculture as a critical sector to impact lives of low income segment specially women and youth leveraging digital solutions. Agriculture is a critical source of livelihood for more than a billion populations across the globe; it therefore plays an essential part in eradicating poverty and achieving global food security. Small holder farmers who own less than 2 hectares of land produce 50-60% of agri produce in middle and low income country. These farmers face several challenges that curtails their productivity. Digital solutions can enable agri-value chain actors especially smallholders improve productivity, quality and marketability of their outputs with lower risks. As we approach digital solution from human perspective our efforts create impacts that drive sustainability, improve resilience and help reduce hunger.

UNCDF is looking for a Digital Finance Consultant – National (Nepali citizen), who will be part of the existing Digital Finance team in Nepal and work closely with UNCDF partners to achieve the project results by providing regular technical assistance and facilitating partnerships within the eco-system.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Country Technical Specialist and mentorship from the DFS Expert (IC) in Nepal, the consultant will be responsible to carry out following activities with specific deliverables:

Month 1 – Month 4 (October 2019 to January 2019)

Activities;

• To support DFS Expert in partner ranking exercise and documentation  
• Create a pipeline of digital finance projects in country as per country strategy and donor commitments
• Develop at least 2 project description on DFS projects in Nepal
• Conduct inception meeting with partners on 2 projects finalized

Deliverables:

• Ranking exercise completed – Ranking tool and related documentation
• DFS project pipeline documented; meeting minutes with potential partners
• At least 2 project description and project work book documented
• Inception meeting documented; inception meeting presentation

Month 5- Month 8 (February 2020 to June 2020)

Activities;

• Technical assistance to DFS provider/market actors including market research, product development, business requirement documentation and process documentation

Deliverables:

• Market Research report
• Product specification document
• Business requirements specification/technical discussion notes
• Process documentation

Month 9- Month 12 (July 2020 to September 2020)

Activities;

• Document project learning and other reports on project evolutions and reviews
• Ad-hoc technical assistance to new or existing partners or projects as conceptualized and finalized

Deliverables:

• KM products developed for different projects as per the country and project KM plan

Deliverables as discussed and finalized with partners.

Competencies

• Open to work with challenging projects that required in-depth support to partners largely on operations levels
• Experience in managing clients and partners—from early stage companies to mature organizations.
• Solution-focused and medium-agnostic, willing to step out of your core skill set or discipline to find the correct solution to a challenge.
• Fluency in the qualitative research and synthesis to ideation, prototyping, and implementation.
• Open to work in multi-cultural and diverse team of professionals
• Results-driven, problem-solver with structuring and analytic capabilities.  
• Strong ability to think and act strategically, even in situations of ambiguity, to develop both short- and long-term visions.   
• Inspires others, influences and builds trust.
• Strong communicator that can serve multiple functions as needed   

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Bachelors’ Degree in either economics, social or international development, finance, business administration, public policy or related field

Experience:

• 3 years of professional experience in digital finance, social development, banking, microfinance, telecom or agriculture sector;
• Proven experience of independently managing projects/tasks with defined KPIs and timelines;
• Previous experience of managing or implementing digital finance, agri finance or social development projects;
• Experience in developing and managing business relationships with private sector, government agencies/regulators and civil society organizations in Nepal;
• Experience in designing and managing qualitative or quantitative research is a plus;
• Experience in writing case study, research papers or other learning materials;
• Exceptional written and oral communications skills;
• Prior experience working for the United Nations is a plus;
• Applicant should be a citizen of Nepal.

Language:

• Excellent written and oral English is mandatory.
• Fluency in Nepali is a plus but not mandatory.

Timeline, total number of working days, duty station:

• Timeline: October 2019 to September 2020
• Total Number of Working Days for Assignment: up to 230 working days within 12 months
• Duty station: Kathmandu, Nepal

Travel:

• Travel to the field and other relevant locations may be required and will be compensated according to UN policies.  

Progress Controls & Payments:

Payment will be made against each satisfactorily achieved deliverables. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the Regional Technical Specialist – Asia.

Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

Application process:

Interested individuals must submit the documents mentioned below as proposals in order to demonstrate their qualifications (Note: the system does not allow multiple uploads of documents. Applicants must make sure to upload all documents in one PDF file).

All applications must contain the following information:

• Cover letter with a summary statement of competencies in relation to the Terms of Reference (TOR);
• Earliest availability and proposed schedule for consultancy;
• Curriculum Vitae;
• Signed financial proposal for the assignment outlining: All-inclusive fee (including professional fees and other professional expenses, such as insurance, taxes, etc.), Available at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=29916). The consultant’s hosting is provided by UNCDF, therefore no DSA or living allowance is to be quoted in the financial proposal.

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials. 

Evaluation: 

Step I: Screening: 

Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting.

Step II: Shortlisting by Desk Review:

UNCDF will conduct a desk review to produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate the candidates. Only candidates that obtained 80% of the points at this stage shall be invited for the next step.

Step III: Technical Evaluation:

A competency-based Interview shall be conducted for the top three candidates who passed Shortlisting by Desk Review.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% on the total of Steps II + III will be considered as technically qualified and will be reviewed further for financial evaluation.

Step III: Financial Evaluation: Only candidates with scores above 70% of the technical evaluation (70 Points or above) will be considered. 

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal: lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated x 30%.

Award Criteria

The contact shall be awarded to the applicant whose offer have been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and Having received the highest combined weight (technical scores) 70% + financial 30%= 100%.

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 IC must do so in their individual capacity (providing a CV so that their qualifications may be judged accordingly). Women candidates or women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.

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