Background

Founded by a General Assembly resolution in 1966, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 Least Developed Countries (LDCs). With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.

UNCDF’s expertise is in three primary areas of work: (1) development and financing of inclusive digital economies through a market development approach, largely driven by digital finance and innovation; (2) local development finance through fiscal decentralization (including local climate adaptation finance), municipal finance and structured project finance, to drive market transformation in local economic development; and (3) investment finance, to drive market transformation in the “missing middle”, including investment sourcing, due diligence, de-risking, deployment of loans and guarantees, and crowding in of investment capital from domestic and international investors. Women’s economic empowerment is specifically articulated across all UNCDF work in terms of objectives, approaches, theory of change, targets, and indicators.

Across these three areas of work, UNCDF’s interventions seek to narrow the gap between real and perceived risks and create opportunities for public and private investors to support poor and vulnerable populations; MSMEs including financial service providers and Fintechs; and underserved local governments on a sustainable basis. The results of this work can help increase finance flows to localities and entrepreneurs who otherwise would not be able to access growth capital; connect women, young people, and smallholder farmers to opportunities and value chains through digital finance solutions; encourage regulators and policy makers to empower municipalities, build essential services and infrastructure, and access finance for local climate adaptation; and show domestic and international investors the value of supporting MSMEs in the “missing middle”.

UNCDF plays a distinct role in the UN Development System (UNDS). UNCDF’s unique capital mandate allows it to work at the cross-section of a development and finance institution, deploying its full range of tools – capital investments, technical assistance, market research, policy and advocacy work –with both private sector and sub-sovereign levels of government to spur transformative development solutions. Unique in the UNDS, UNCDF can provide technical assistance grants, loans, and guarantees directly to the private sector or any level of government. This allows UNCDF to customize a blend of technical assistance and diverse financial instruments to the needs of each situation, without having to meet strict “pricing models” that make this approach impractical for larger financial institutions. It also allows the organization to work on smaller ticket sizes, to experiment with different models, and to entertain a higher “fail rate” that helps all actors to learn and adjust (while our historical fail rate remains quite low). This flexibility makes UNCDF a natural partner for larger financial institutions. UNCDF’s role is to pilot innovative approaches that can be adopted and taken to scale by the private sector, larger development partners and national governments.

UNCDF and the Swedish Agency for Development Assistance (SIDA) are partnering in Zambia to improve the enabling environment for financing of MSMEs and to contribute to the development of an inclusive digital economy. UNCDF will serve as a technical assistance provider, as well as an agent of SIDA for the deployment and management of guarantee facilities to Financial Service Providers (FSPs). The latter entails structuring and underwriting the facilities, ensuring their utilization and monitoring them using SIDA guidelines. UNCDF will represent SIDA and do the footwork by being the interface between SIDA and the FSPs.

On the ground, UNCDF will therefore serve as SIDA’s “investment officer”. It will source and appraise the FSPs that will receive the de-risking guarantee facilities and will then monitor and report on their utilization. UNCDF will also source the pipeline of borrowers that will receive the on-lending from the selected FSPs. Additionally, the UNCDF country team will provide technical assistance to both the FSPs and the end borrowers.

At headquarters (HQ) level, UNCDF’s Investment Platform team (LDCIP) will support the country team in the structuring, underwriting, and management of the guarantee facilities on the back of UNCDF’s risk management and investment policies and guarantees monitoring systems.

The UNCDF-SIDA programme in Zambia will be staged in the following phases (1) Inception (2) Implementation and (3) Scale up

Within the scope of this project, UNCDF is seeking for a consultant with an investment management skillset, more specifically on the guarantee instrument, to work alongside its country teams and its Investment Platform team at HQ. During the inception stage, the consultant will contribute to defining the legal nature of the collaboration between UNCDF and SIDA on guarantees, which includes discussions with SIDA about the legal and financial terms under which UNCDF can use SIDA’s guarantee capacity. Following inception, at implementation and scale-up stage, the consultant will work on the operationalization at country level of such collaboration by identifying potential financial intermediaries and investees at country level.

The Guarantee and Investment consultant will be expected to:

• Contribute to the legal and financial structure of the guarantee collaboration between SIDA and UNCDF;
• Work alongside UNCDF Country teams and LDCIP team on the deployment of guarantee facilities to local Financial Services Providers using SIDA’s guarantee capacity;
• Perform due diligence and underwriting of financial intermediaries (guaranteed parties) identified by the consultant and UNCDF Country teams;
• Provide business advisory and technical support to selected stakeholders (FSPs, borrowers, etc.).

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the UNCDF Zambia Country Lead. The duties and responsibilities of the Guarantee and Investment consultants will include:

1. Structuring of the SIDA-UNCDF collaboration:

• Understand the guarantee frameworks of both organizations, including their underwriting procedures, their financial rules and regulations, and their legal constraints;
• Participate in the discussions with SIDA on the best structure for the collaboration between the organizations;
• Contribute to the definition and implementation of an adequate legal, financial, and operational framework, clearly defining roles and responsibilities of each party.

2. Investment Operations:

• Conduct a market scoping to assess the appetite, the potential participants (lenders and borrowers) and the optimal structure for a loan and guarantee facility in Zambia, which would be placed under the global umbrella of the SIDA-UNCDF collaboration on guarantees;
• Develop a pipeline of investible projects for digitally enabled MSMEs in finance, energy, water and agriculture for the Loan and Guarantee facility;
• Support the structuring of transactions with a lending and/or guarantee component, while maximizing the potential of commercial co-financing;
• Monitor and conduct post-investment follow-ups of deployed transactions, including utilization of guarantee facilities;
• For the guarantee transactions supported by SIDA, liaise and coordinate with SIDA personnel as needed;
• Liaise with HQ-based LDCIP team through the entire investment process, from the initial assessment of new opportunities, risk analysis, due diligence to contributions to the portfolio management and follow-up activities;
• Train UNCDF in-country staff on the use of new financial instruments, primarily guarantees and loans;
• Support UNCDF’s Country teams in understanding how to use new financial instruments, especially guarantees, and support them in using UNCDF’s loan and guarantee instruments in their operations.

3. Investment Analysis:

• Analyze and underwrite new guarantee and loan proposals, preparing the required documentation, such as screening and assessment memorandums and monitoring papers;
• Assess and analyze financial accounts (balance sheet, income statement and cash flow analysis) of prospective guarantees and/or loans’ recipients;
• Complete discrete on-site due diligence tasks and conduct risk analysis on selected FSPs, MSMES, etc.;
• Follow and comply with UNCDF’s investment policy and procedures for approval, including presenting the transactions to Investment Committees.

4. Business Advisory support:

• Provide technical assistance and training to the FSPs who have agreed to partner in guarantee on improving capacity on lending to digitally enabled MSMEs and Agents networks
• Support several partners to access the guarantee structure
• Provide pre-investment business advisory support to MSMEs that want to access debt financing through FSPS which have received guarantee facilities. This may include building investable projects to access the facility, drafting business plans, building financial models, defining Standard Operating procedures, etc.;
• Provide post-investment business advisory support to MSMEs which received loans through the guarantee facilities to ensure a continued growth of the business and the social impact, including successful management of debt financing received.
• The consultant will also support the East and Southern Africa Digital Lead through advisory and technical inputs to scope and-or scale up investment opportunities in the region

Please refer to the table enclosed for an estimated breakdown of activities deliverables workdays and project calendar:

Competencies

• Knowledge of financing for sustainable development and ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations;
• Strong knowledge of financial markets;
• Full familiarity with a range of debt and guarantee instruments;
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment and being aware of political sensitivities;
• Computer literacy, including proficient use of research and applied software such as Excel.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, or equivalent is mandatory;
• A first university degree in related fields, with two additional years of relevant experience will also be acceptable, in lieu of a master’s degree;
• Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) diploma, or similar, is preferable but not mandatory.

Experience:

• Minimum 6 plus years of work experience in either the financial sector or the private sector or a mix, preferably with investment and/or business management expertise;
• Experience with business planning and financial projections is mandatory;
• Experience in project preparation and/or in development of investment opportunities, especially for projects in developing countries is mandatory.
• At least 3 years of relevant experience of guarantee operations is preferable;
• Experience in working within an international financial environment, preferably with multilateral organizations, development finance institutions, impact investors, and/or investment banks/funds is preferable;

Language Requirements:

• Spoken and written fluency in English required.

Contract Duration: 12 months, with the possibility of extension for one more additional year, based on continued project need, funding availability and satisfactory performance assessment.

Number of working days: Up to 200 person-days per year

Duty station: Lusaka, with potential travels inside the countries, or as may be requested by UNCDF

Travel: Travel costs associated with the assignment will be paid on reimbursable basis following the UNDP/UNCDF rules and regulations which states that consultants shall only be paid the most direct and most economical ticket, as will be quoted by the official UN travel agency.  Any amount in excess of the said quotation, such as class and airline preference of the consultants, shall be borne by the consultants and the daily living allowance will be paid in amounts not exceeding the UN established Rate. Please quote 2 economy class return tickets from your home base to Lusaka in your financial proposal.

Progress controls:

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the UNCDF Zambia Country Lead, who is based in Lusaka, Zambia. The consultant will have regular communication with the Investment Specialists of the LDCIP via email and skype, for coordination and guidance purposes, ensuring consultants’ output quality and targets.

Facilities provided by UNCDF:

UNCDF wuill provide an office space. The consultant will be responsible for providing his/her own laptop during his/her engagement with UNCDF.

Payments:

Payments will be made on periodical basis upon satisfactorily achieved deliverables under each assignment and submission of time sheet in accordance with number of days worked. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the direct supervisor / Head of LDCIP. Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

The payment schedule will be as follows:

Application:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications.

• When applying for this consultancy position, please apply with your official name as shown in the government issued identification document (e.g. passport and/or driver license). Contract award is subject to this verification;
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references; link to P11: http://sas.undp.org/documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc;
• Confirmation of Interest and Financial proposal: https://popp.undp.org/_layouts/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc=/UNDP_POPP_DOCUMENT_LIBRARY/Public/PSU_%20Individual%20Contract_Offerors%20Letter%20to%20UNDP%20Confirming%20Interest%20and%20Availability.docx&action=default
• State the earliest availability.

Proposers who fail to submit the above-mentioned documents may be disqualified and not considered for further evaluation.

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when traveling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org

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. UNCDF is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Please include all documents into one file while submitting your application.

Evaluation: 

Step I: Screening: Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the mandatory criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting.

Step II: Shortlisting (20 points): UNCDF will produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate candidates from 1 to 100% as per experience requirements in the Terms of Reference. As applicable, only applicants scoring 80% or more shall be considered for an interview.

Shortlisting scoring:

• 20%- Education/Qualification;
• 50%- Mandatory Experience.
• 30%- Preferred Experience.

Step III: Interview (80 points): An interview shall be conducted for shortlisted candidates.

Step IV: 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 best 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%.

References

UNDP’s Individual Consultant’s General Terms and Conditions are provided here:
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf