Antecedentes

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries. It creates new opportunities for poor people and their communities by increasing access to microfinance and investment capital.  UNCDF focuses on Africa and the poorest countries of Asia and the Pacific, with a special commitment to countries emerging from conflict or crisis.  It provides seed capital – grants and loans – and technical support to help microfinance institutions reach more poor households and small businesses, and local governments finance the capital investments – water systems, feeder roads, schools, irrigation schemes – that will improve poor peoples’ lives.

Starting in 2009, UNCDF began to support for digital finance because we are concerned that the countries that need it the most are succeeding the least. As an early supporter, UNCDF saw its potential and challenges. UNCDF first supported digital finance through the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP) out of which it developed UNCDF MM4P to focus on Africa and Asia. Digital now features prominently in most of UNCDF’s financial inclusion work and UNCDF increasingly focuses on digital solutions for specific uses such as clean energy and population segments, particularly women and youth.

UNCDF also hosts the secretariat of the Better than Cash Alliance. The Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) is a partnership of governments, companies and international organizations that accelerates the transition from cash to digital payments in order to reduce poverty and drive inclusive growth.
 

Deberes y responsabilidades

The Digital Financial Services Expert  will act as a technical advisor to UNCDF’s Programme in Ethiopia providing technical inputs as needed (i.e. TORs, input to technical documents). S/he will work liaise mainly with government, central banks and external partners, i.e. UNCDF Grantees (government and private sector) as per UNCDF instructions, focusing on moving forward the agenda of UNCDF’s digital strategy within the context of UNCDF’s contribution to the goals of the Ethiopia Financial Inclusion strategy. As part of the Financial Inclusion strategy, the DFS expert will also work with National Bank of Ethiopia help implement the remittance agenda, which includes following activities – review and support draft risk-based remittance policies and regulations to facilitate the inbound flow of remittances through digital remittance channels. The DFS expert will engage with private sector financial service providers, including money transfer operators, mobile money providers, mobile network operators, and microfinance institutions to develop digital remittance channels and remittance-linked financial products.

Deliverables

The scope of engagement under this ToR is divided across five key deliverables that complement each other in defining the overall approach for UNCDF to work on digital innovation in Ethiopia:

1.    Define UNCDF strategy and approach around digital financial solutions and digital tools that can target unbanked and underserved;
2.    Support National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) in designing and drafting remittance policies and regulations that can facilitate accessible and affordable digital remittance channels
3.    Provide technical assistance to financial institutions, including mobile money providers and money transfer operators to introduce remittance-linked financial products focused on the needs of migrants and beneficiaries
4.    Facilitate public and private sector partnerships in digital financial services to strengthen the digital financial services ecosystem
5.    Facilitates the exchange of insights, experiences and technical expertise through hosted workshops, peer-to-peer exchanges, conferences and meetings within the country.

The main deliverables for this consultancy are listed below. The table indicates the activity prioritization, the respective outputs and corresponding payment schedule. The consultancy will also involve policy and regulatory support, project management, product design and development, pilot and scale up, supporting marketing efforts for the product and noting lessons learnt for future implementation in other markets.

Competencias

Professional competencies

• Takes on innovation and new approaches and fosters innovation in others;
• Creates an environment that fosters innovation;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing skills;
• Keen attention to detail and execution in craft;
• Experience managing multiple and competing deliverables.

Client Orientation

• Anticipates constraints in the delivery of services and identifies solutions or alternatives;
• Ability to interact and adapt communication with various management level at our partners;
• Proactively identifies, develops and discusses solutions for internal and external clients, and persuades management to undertake new projects or services;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities, and resolve problems;
• Focus on impact and results for clients and stakeholders;
• Builds trust in interactions with others, facilitates partnerships; excellent networking capabilities to link people/businesses from diverse horizons;
• Approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude and responds positively to feedback;
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;
• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards and acts in accordance with the Standards of Conduct for international civil servants;
• Advocates and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNCDF;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education

• A Master’s degree in technology, economics, public/business administration, social sciences, or related discipline or the equivalent experience is mandatory.

Experience

• A minimum of five (5) years of dedicated experience working for Central Bank, Financial services regulator, remittance service provider or mobile financial services is mandatory;
• A minimum of three (3) years of experienceleading implementation of cross-border remittances policy and regulations;
• A minimum of three (3) years of experience designing, conceiving, and prototyping cross-border payment products, desired but not mandatory;
• Experience in project management,and a high level of throughness in executing multiple time-sensitive projects;
• Experience working on quantitative and qualitative data for reporting and analysis of gender-disaggregated data;
• Excellent communication and administrative skills, and strong computer capibilities (Word, Excel, Power Point);
• Experience working in East Africa is a desirable but not mandatory.

Languages

• Fluency in English is required.

Timeline, duration of assignment, duty station and expected places of travel

• Timeline: 12 months, extendable to another 12 months based on the performance and programming requirements
• Total number of working days: 220
• Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Travel

Payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses shall be provided by UNCDF following the UNCDF travel policies of using only the most direct and most economical flight.  Anything in excess must be borne by the consultant. 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.

Provision of Monitoring, Progress Controls & Payments

• The primary contact for reporting for this TOR shall be the UNCDF Country Coordinator in Ethiopia;
• Periodic guidance, tracking of progress and monitoring of ongoing work to ensure timely completion of deliverables shall be undertaken on a regular basis by the UNCDF Remittance Expert;
• Payment will be made only upon review and written acceptance of the deliverables. All payments are subject to the final approval and authorization by the UNCDF Country Coordinator;
• Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

Application

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), specifically focusing on the extent of compliance with the qualification requirements;
• 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)
• Signed financial proposal for the assignment outlining: All-inclusive fee (including professional fees and other professional expenses, such as insurance, taxes, etc.), and relocation travel costs (e.g. daily subsistence allowance (DSA) and the cost of one return ticket to Lusaka, Zambia from place of origin) (if applicable). 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.

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.

Selection Process

Step 1: Screening/Longlisting Criteria Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the following minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting.

• Master’s degree in technology, economics, public/business administration, social sciences, or related discipline or the equivalent experience is mandatory.
• A minimum of five (5) years of dedicated experience working for Central Bank, Financial services regulator or a minimum of three (5) years dedicated experience working for remittance service provider or mobile financial services is mandatory.
• A minimum of three (3) years of experienceleading implementation of cross-border remittances policy and regulations.

Step II: Shortlisting by Desk Review:
Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting.

Step III: Technical Evaluation:
Shortlisting (20 points): UNCDF will produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate candidates as per experience requirements in the Terms of Reference. As applicable, only the first top 3 ranked applicants shall be considered for an interview.

Criteria for shortlisting:
20- Education/Qualification;
20- Functional competencies for assignment (technical, analytical and writing skills);
30- Experience
Interview (80 points): An interview shall be conducted for the top 3 shortlisted candidates.

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.