Background

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries. 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 financing models work through three channels: inclusive digital economies, connecting individuals, households, and small businesses with financial eco-systems that catalyze participation in the local economy, and provide tools to climb out of poverty and manage financial lives; local development finance, that capacitates localities through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance to drive local economic expansion and sustainable development; and investment finance, that provides catalytic financial structuring, de-risking, and capital deployment to drive SDG impact and domestic resource mobilization. By strengthening how finance works for poor people at the household, small enterprise, and local infrastructure levels, UNCDF contributes to Sustainable Development Goal-SDG 1 on eradicating poverty and SDG 17 on the means of implementation. By identifying those market segments where innovative financing models can have transformational impact in helping to reach the last mile and address exclusion and inequalities of access, UNCDF contributes to a broad diversity of SDGs.

Since 2010, UNCDF actively contributes to the development of an inclusive financial ecosystem for youth. To date (Dec. 2019), UNCDF has provided technical and financial support to 17 financial service providers (MNOs, FSPs, Fintech and others) reaching almost 1 million youth clients with integrated financial services in 12 Sub-Saharan countries and ,mobilized 23M USD in savings and unlocked 76M USD in domestic capital for loans for youth.

UNCDF is currently deepening its youth finance programmatic agenda in 5 West-African countries: Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Niger and Ghana with in-country programmes aimed at increasing youth financial inclusion, mainly funded by the European Union. For more details on each programme, please visit https://www.uncdf.org/youthstart/homepage. While the country teams are responsible for the specific technical assistance to implementing partners, the Regional Office (RO) based in Dakar plays a strategic guidance role, and makes sure country teams have the necessary support to complete tasks, project objectives are met, lessons learned are shared and cross-country initiatives are effectively managed.

UNCDF is looking for a Junior Expert in Financial inclusion and Project Management to support the Youth Finance Team at the Regional Office (RO) to make sure the Phase 2 is adequately implemented. Under the supervision of the Youth Finance and Empowerment Lead based in Dakar, the Junior Expert will be in charge of:

  1. Supporting cross country initiatives
  2. Monitoring system of youth finance portfolio
  3. The Knowledge Management component of the youth finance portfolio
  4. Supporting the RO team and general project management

The Junior Expert will be based in Dakar, Senegal and will work in collaboration with the youth finance team as well as the Regional Team and the UNCDF support services team.

Duties and Responsibilities

Activities and deliverables expected by the Junior Expert are as follow:

  1. Support of cross country initiatives (50%): to leverage the expertise and synergies of projects at country level, the youth portfolio team has put in place initiatives that are common to different programmes. Examples of such initiatives are: Financial Education, Psychometric Testing, Chatbot messaging and others. In collaboration with country teams, the Junior Expert will be the focal point with the providers of such solutions to make sure efforts are maximized and lessons learned are shared among countries.
  2. Monitoring system of youth finance portfolio (20%): the youth finance team is in charge of the consolidation of results in the countries of operations. The Junior Expert will be in charge of making sure country teams report on time and will take care of the consolidation of data at portfolio level to inform senior teams and donor reporting.
  3. Knowledge Management (KM) component of the youth finance portfolio (20%): as the new portfolio is approaching the end of the pilot phase in almost all countries, the Junior Expert will be in charge of implementing the KM plan to make sure lessons learned and best practices are adequately documented and shared among practitioners and stakeholders and the teams comply with obligations vis à vis of donors in terms of communication and visibility. This includes but is not limited to: organization of workshops, webinar and other sharing events; blog articles, case studies and other publications; social media management.
  4. Support to RO team and general project management (10%): under the new Digital@UNCDF strategy, the Regional Office plays a key role for the corporate strategy for West and Central Africa. Under this framework, the Junior Expert will be in charge of supporting the youth finance team in collaborating with the RO team when it comes to corporate efforts (e.g. contribution to regional events and activities) and general project management (e.g. participation to technical teams, support in technical processes, etc).

Activity/output

Deliverables

Number of days

Support of cross country initiatives (50%)

·       Meeting notes and action plans for each partner

·       Evaluation of each implementation phase for each cross-country initiative

·       Assistance plan to country teams to make sure activities are streamlined

·       Mission reports for in-country visits

·       Technical Assistance plans to make sure partners have adequate support to deliver and complete cross-country initiatives

 

 100 days

Monitoring system of youth finance portfolio (20%)

·       Quarterly reports from each implementing partners

·       Quarterly Briefs on performance assessment of the UNCDF youth finance portfolio

·       Technical Assistance plans in collaboration with country teams for each implementing partners (if relevant)

·       Quarterly consolidation of youth portfolio results with action items

40 days

Knowledge Management (KM) component of the youth finance portfolio (20%)

·       Operational plan to make sure the KM strategy is put in place

·       Follow up and meeting notes with country teams on KM production

·       Production of KM products (e.g. business case, case study or best practices) for each cross-country initiative

·       Production of KM products (e.g. business case, case study or best practices) for each country programmes

·       Organization of knowledge sharing events (webinar, workshop) on relevant components for the youth finance portfolio

·       Follow ups of visibility and communication plans of each donor to make sure the youth teams comply with donors’ requirements

60 days

Support to RO team and general project management (10%)

·       Technical inputs for RO documents

·       Reports on support given to RO for the youth finance component

20 days

TIMELINE, DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT, DUTY STATION AND EXPECTED PLACES OF TRAVEL

Duration : 220 working days from June 2020 to May 2021.

Duty station : Dakar, Senegal.

Expected places of travel: Guinea, The Gambia, Niger, Ghana.

QUALITY, MONITORING AND PROGRESS CONTROLS

  • The Junior Expert will report to the Youth Finance and Empowerment Lead
  • UNCDF will provide a laptop and desk station at the UNCDF Regional Office in Dakar, Senegal.
  • Payments: Payment will be made on periodical basis in accordance with number of days worked and upon satisfactorily achieved deliverables. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the direct supervisor.

Schedule of payments:

 Output No.

% of total contract price

Time line

Output 1

  • First 6months phase of financial education for Ghana developed
  • Scale up plan of financial education validated for Gambia

Senegal and Guinea

  • Psychometric testing pilot in Guinea and Gambia validate
  • Chatbots integrated in The Gambia
  • Operational plan of KM strategy
  • Monitoring reports of partners validated
  • Lateral learning webinar facilitated

20%

August 2020

Output 2

  • Scale up plan of financial education validated for Niger
  • First 4 months of scale up phase of financial education in Gambia, Senegal
  • and Guinea completed
  • Psychometric testing first 4 months in Guinea an Gambia completed
  • Chatbots testing in Ghana completed
  • Draft of at least 1 knowledge products for the 3 cross-country initiatives
  • Monitoring report of partners validated
  • Lateral learning webinar facilitated

20%

October 2020

Output 3

  • First 4 months of scale up phase of financial education in Niger completed
  • First 6 months of scale up phase of financial education in Gambia, Senegal

and Guinea completed

  • Psychometric testing first 6 months in Guinea an Gambia completed
  • Chatbots first 4 months of scale up in Ghana completed
  • First 4 months of financial education in Niger completed
  • New cross-country initiative validated
  • Draft of at least 1 knowledge product for the 5 countries in the portfolio
  • Monitoring report of partners validates
  • Lateral learning webinar facilitated

20%

December 2020

Output 4

  • First 6 months of scale up phase of financial education in Niger completed
  • First 8 months of scale up phase of financial education in Gambia, Senegal
  • and Guinea completed
  • Psychometric testing first 8 months in Guinea and Gambia completed
  • Chatbots first 6 months of scale up in Ghana completed
  • Pilot test of new cross-country initiative started
  • Final version of knowledge products validated
  • Monitoring report of partners validated
  • Lateral learning webinar facilitated

 

20%

February 2021

Output 5

  • First 8 months of scale up phase of financial education in Niger completed
  • First 10 months of scale up phase of financial education in Gambia, Senegal
  • and Guinea completed
  • Psychometric testing first 10 months in Guinea and Gambia completed
  • Chatbots first 8 months of scale up in Ghana completed
  • Pilot test of new cross-country initiative completed
  • Knowledge products disseminated
  • Monitoring report of partners validated
  • Lateral learning webinar facilitated

20%

May 2021

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

Competencies

  • Ability to work in a team;
  • Ability to work independently with little supervision and ability to work under pressure;
  • Strong results-based management orientation in managing complex and multi-stakeholder projects;
  • Customer orientation, leadership, openness and innovation capabilities;
  • Ability to work in a multicultural environment;
  • Demonstrate integrity by following the standard values and ethics of the United Nations;
  • Excellent computer skills and ability to work with MS Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • A Master’s Degree is required in economics, public/business administration, social sciences, microfinance or related discipline.

Experience:

  • A minimum of 1 year experience in the field of financial inclusion and/or financial innovation;
  • Minimum of 1-year experience in management of multi-stakeholders projects at international level;
  • Good knowledge/Exposure/Experience in knowledge management for financial inclusion;
  • Good knowledge/Exposure/Experience in the financial inclusion dynamics, challenges and best practices in Sub-Saharan Africa.  

Language requirements

Fluency in English and French (written and spoken) is mandatory.

PROPOSAL & APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

All applications must contain the following information:

  • Cover letter with a summary statement of competencies in relation to the TOR;
  • Earliest availability and proposed schedule for consultancy;
  • Curriculum Vitae;
  • Completed and signed P11 - Personal History Form with names and current contacts of 3 referees (available from http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc);

Note: The system allows to upload only 1 document, so make sure you pdf all the above mentioned documents into 1 document for your submission

SELECTION CRITERIA

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Step 1 - Preliminary Screening based on eligibility criteria;

Step 2 - Technical Evaluation (Weight - 70%):

  • Desk review of qualifications (20% UNCDF will produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate candidates as per experience requirements in the Terms of Reference.
  • Written test (30%): shortlisted candidates will be invited to conduct a written test (1h30 hours) to prove their technical competences.
  • Interview (50%) - An interview shall be conducted for the top 3 shortlisted candidates.

Note: Only candidates having a minimum technical score of 70% out of 100 will be asked a financial proposal and will continue to step 3.

Step 3 - Financial Evaluation (Weight – 30%). The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal: lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated x 30%.

Award Criteria: The contract 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%.

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

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