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.

With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” financing models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local development. UNCDF targets low-income and underserved populations and areas in the LDCs where resources for development are the scarcest; where market failures are most pronounced; and where increased national economic prosperity does not reach a large part of the population. UNCDF focusses on local development finance and inclusive finance, using its capital mandate paired with strong technical and policy support to help communities and individuals save, borrow and invest.

UNCDF’s objective is to develop inclusive financial systems in which a range of financial products are available to all segments of society, at a reasonable cost, and on a sustainable basis. UNCDF supports a wide range of providers (e.g. microfinance institutions, banks, cooperatives, money transfer companies) and a variety of financial products and services (e.g. savings, credit, insurance, payments, and remittances).

INTRODUCING DIgital Finance and FINANCIAL HEALTH In UNCDF

UNCDF manages several initiatives in LDCs in Asia and Africa, to develop an inclusive digital finance eco-system that offers a wide range of financial services specially for low income vulnerable communities. Specifically, UNCDF provides a mix of policy, technical and financial support to a range of government and private sector actors in each country, as well as invests in research and other public goods that benefit all market actors. By supporting the development of digital finance eco-system in these countries, UNCDF aims to increase the financial security of low income and rural households through access to appropriate, affordable and secure means to receive, manage and save money.

Financial health is a term used to describe the state of one's personal financial situation and assessed through four financial activities: spend, save, borrow, and plan. With support from MetLife Foundation, UNCDF is working with fintech, micro finance institutions, banks and think tanks to implement digital innovations focused on building financial health of low-income population in Malaysia and China. UNCDF plans to further this intervention in other emerging countries.

Under its strategy for leaving no one behind, UNCDF’s innovation team has been leading interventions designed to enhance financial health and wellbeing of low income and underserved segment both in emerging markets and LDCs. UNCDF has established Innovation Lab in Malaysia that support digital innovations (both financial and non-financial) in different markets and focused on multiple sectors including agriculture, health, financial services, micro small enterprises and others. Innovation Lab’s support includes technical assistance and grant investment.

The objective of this assignment is to work as part of UNCDF team in driving partnerships for scale with existing and new projects in Malaysia. Partnerships which leverages digital finance solutions to improve the financial lives of different key market segments like GIG workers, youth, women, small businesses, etc.

The programme has established few product partnerships with wallet providers, micro-investment services, banks, etc. While these partnerships are focused on delivery of respective product and services, scale is a key constituent to demonstrate success. Scale could be achieved through improvement in product and services itself, or by focused interventions around communications or markets, or by furthering certain customer level partnerships that allows the targeting of captive customer base with large employer groups or platforms, etc. In this role the consultant will work on driving the partnerships specially at customer level and engage with product partners to drive meaningful market development. UNCDF is also working in partnership with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) on furthering e-Barakat platform that aims to bridge the supply side players (solution providers) to the demand side at market level. UNCDF along with MDEC aims to scale the use of the platform and drive meaningful partnerships for scaling the same in terms of customer impact. In addition, the consultant would work closely with other DFS experts working on providing technical support to the product partners in identifying the gap in the product uptake and work with them in improving the same.

The Consultant will be responsible to carry out the following activities with specific deliverables:

• Open to working on challenging projects that require in-depth support to partners largely on operations level
• Experienced 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
• Open to working with 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  
• Strategic thinking for planning country strategy and resource mobilisation plan for same
• Inspires others, influences and builds trust
• Strong communicator that can serve multiple functions as needed   

Education:

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

Experience:

• 5 years of professional experience in digital finance, social development, banking, microfinance, telecom or agriculture sector
• Experienced in space of financial services or digital finance or technology-based interventions would be a plus
• Experience in business development or driving partnerships with large corporates, micro finance institutions (MFIs) and/or government entities in Malaysia with existing relationship
• Proven experience of independently managing projects/tasks with defined KPIs and timelines 
• Experienced in developing and managing business relationships with private sector, government agencies/regulators and civil society organizations
• Exceptional written and oral communications skills

Language:

• Excellent written and oral English

Timeline, total number of working days, duty station:

• Timeline: September 2020 to August 2021
• Total Number of Working Days for Assignment: up to 200 working days within 12 months
• Duty station: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

For unforeseeable travel, 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. UNCDF would cover the cost of stay for the selected person.

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.

Progress Controls & Payments:

Payment will be made against each satisfactorily achieved deliverable. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the Technical Specialist Malaysia and/or 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;
• Complete and signed P11-Personal History Form with names and current contacts of 3 referees (Available at: http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc);
• 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).

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

Evaluation: 

Step I: Longlisting

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

• Bachelor’s or Masters’ Degree in either economics, social or international development, finance, business administration, public policy or related field.
• More than 5 years of professional experience in digital finance, social development, banking, microfinance, telecom or agriculture sector.

Step II: Shortlisting/Desk Review (50 points)

UNCDF will produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate candidates as per experience requirements in this Terms of Reference.

Shortlisting scoring (100 points):

• More than 5 years of professional experience in digital finance, social development, banking, microfinance, telecom or agriculture sector. – 20 points
• At least 5 years of experience in business development or driving partnerships with large corporates, MFIs and/or government entities in Malaysia with existing relationship. – 30 points
• At least 1 year of experience developing and managing business relationships with private sector, government agencies and civil society organizations. – 20 points
• Experience in space of financial services or digital finance or technology-based interventions would be a plus. – 20 points
• Proven experience of independently managing projects/tasks with defined KPIs and timelines is a plus. – 10 points

Step III: Interview (50 points)

Applicants scoring a minimum of 70 points in the desk review shall be invited for an interview. The interview will have a pass/fail mark of 70%.

Step IV: Financial Evaluation

Only applicants obtaining a minimum of 70% on the total of Step II (50 points) + Step III (50 points) shall be considered as technically-qualified and be reviewed further for financial evaluation. 

The following formula will be used to evaluate the 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 score:
  • Technical evaluation weight: 70% x (Desk review 50 points + Interview 50 points)
  • Financial evaluation weight: 30%

Both individual consultants and individuals 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.