Antecedentes

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 two channels: financial inclusion that expands the opportunities for individuals, households, and small businesses to participate in the local economy, providing them with the tools they need to climb out of poverty and manage their financial lives; and by showing how localized investments — through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance — can drive public and private funding that underpins local economic expansion and sustainable development. By strengthening how finance works for poor people at the household, small enterprise, and local infrastructure levels, UNCDF contributes to 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 number of different SDGs.

Since 2008, UNCDF has been supporting digital finance with significant success which has led UNCDF to make digital finance the largest part of its inclusive finance portfolio. UNCDF is also host to the Secretariat of the Better than Cash Alliance (BTCA), 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. UNCDF also serves as the secretariat for the UN Secretary- General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the SDGs, which will consider the next wave of digitalization of finance and how the systemic changes to the financial ecosystem due to digital technologies will impact financing for the SDGs. For several years UNCDF’s work in digital finance has led it to support new digital solutions linked to finance, to further drive financial inclusion and to achieve the SDGs. This includes projects linked to on an off-grid energy, agriculture, employment, health and transport.

UNCDF is in the process of consolidating its financial and technical resources to create a comprehensive team of experts in various domains to drive the new strategy “Leaving no one behind in the digital era”.

Based on over a decade of experience applying a market development approach in digital finance in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, UNCDF started in 2017 to expand the scope of its programmatic agenda to go beyond digital finance. Through the “Leaving no-one behind in the digital era” strategy, UNCDF shifts from focusing only on digital finance to the development of inclusive digital economies. The strategy recognizes that reaching the full potential of digital financial inclusion in support of the SDGs aligns with the vision of promoting digital economies for the following reasons:

• The value of Digital Financial Services (DFS) becomes more obvious, especially to poor and vulnerable populations, when it is closely linked to their ability to respond to the specific constraints and needs they face to participate in agriculture, access education, health, energy and other basic services key to overcome poverty.
• New innovative services should be developed to address these unmet needs. Innovation will come from traditional providers but mainly from a range of new players (entrepreneurs, start-ups in various sectors, and platforms like Facebook, Grab, WeChat, etc.).

The UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015. The 2030 Agenda recognizes migration as a core-development consideration, marking the first time that migration is explicitly integrated into the global development agenda. It also recognizes a major relevance of international migration as a multidimensional reality of and for the development of countries of origin, as well as transit and destination, which requires coherent and comprehensive responses.

Migration is also considered key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The adoption of the SDGs and explicit references to migration in 76 of its 17 goals, mainstreamed migration into global development policy. Migration can reduce poverty (SDG 1), improve health and education outcomes (SDGs 3 and 4), gender equality outcomes (SDG 5), foster growth and innovation (SDGs 8 and 9) and reduce inequality (SDG 10).

Remittances, on the other hand, can also contribute to reaching the SDGs in a variety of ways:1) Household level: by recognizing the positive socioeconomic impact of remittances on families and communities; 2) Community level: Benefits associated at sub-national or municipal levels including reduced rural poverty, lower income inequality, increased micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) activity, and strengthen resilience to adverse effects of climate change or disaster risks; 3) Government level: Benefits for public sector institutions including greater transparency, better communication with citizens, and increased private sector development and entrepreneurship as a result of access to capital and domestic credit; 4) Macro level: At macro-economic level, remittances can foster much needed foreign currency exchange, stabilize BOP, reduce dependency on government aid, and re- allocate capital resources into more productive investments and other financial services – moving money from international to domestic, consumption to investment, and from urban to rural.

Guided by the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and informed by the Declaration of the High-level dialogue on International Migration and Development adopted in October 2013, the Heads of State and Government and High Representatives adopted the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration in 2018 that expresses a collective commitment to improving cooperation on international migration, leading to the focused objectives on remittances:

1. Empowering migrants to catalyze their development contribution, and to harness the benefits of migration as a source of sustainable development
2. Promoting faster, safer, and cheaper transfer of remittances by enabling competition, regulation, and innovation in the remittance market
3. Initiatives to implement these objectives will also lead to developing financial safety net and wealth stock for migrants and their families in the home countries and have the potential to facilitate dignified and sustainable return of the migrants.

UNCDF is looking for a Gender Consultant to lead the integration of gender lens into the migrant-centric product development and advocate for evidence-based gender inclusion in remittance policies and regulations.

The Gender Consultant is expected to be engaged through a non-exclusive Long-Term Agreement (LTA) or Framework Agreement formalized through an Individual Contract (IC). A Framework Agreement or is known in UNCDF as an agreement that establishes the terms, conditions and prices that will govern future contract or contracts (known as “call offs”) arising from the said Agreement during a period of 3 years.

Every call-off shall have specific tasks, scope of services and outputs to be delivered within a specific period.   For this work, the call-off shall be formalized through the issuance of a Purchase Order, attaching thereto the TOR, and any other document relevant to the call-off.  Financial commitments will only be established each time a Purchase Order for the specific services/TOR for Individual Contractor is committed.

The LTA shall have a cumulative ceiling amount that may accrue to the individual contractor during the life of the LTA, but said amount shall remain as an upper limit, and must not and cannot be interpreted nor understood as neither a financial commitment nor guarantee of business volume. 

It is important to note that, under an LTA, UNCDF does not guarantee that any specific quantity of services shall be purchased during the term of this agreement.  The LTA does not form a financial obligation nor commitment from UNCDF at the time the LTA contract is signed.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Under the direct supervision of the Lead Specialist for Migration and Remittance portfolio, the Consultant will complete the following activities and deliverables:

Competencias

• Strong communicator;
• Ability to think and act strategically;
• Cultural sensitivity, creativity, and resourcefulness.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Masters (MA, MSc), Research Masters (MPhil) degree in social sciences, gender studies, development economics, international development, finance or related discipline or the equivalent experience is mandatory.

Skills & Experience:

• A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible experience in banking, microfinance, financial service sector across private sector, international organization or academia is mandatory;
• At least five years of experience in policy, legal and regulatory issues related to financial inclusion and including gender-related issues around the access and usage of digital payments and financial services is mandatory;
• At least five years of experience managing or conducting research, particularly related to gender-smart product development or client demand with mass market is preferred;
• Expertise in gender analysis and/or gender mainstreaming is preferred.

Language requirements:

• Fluency in spoken and written English is required.
• Additional UN languages i.e. Spanish, French are highly desirable.

Timeline, total number of working days, duty station:

Total Number of Working Days for Assignment:  517 working days spread over a period of 36 months.

Duty station:  home-based.

Travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses shall be agreed upon as per UNCDF policy, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel. Please note that consultants residing in the duty station of travel will not be compensated for living expenses.

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);
• Personal CV indicating all past experience from similar projects, full name as well as the contact details (email, telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) professional references
• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability with Breakdown of Costs that indicates the all-inclusive Daily Fee price on page 1 of letter of confirmation of interest and availability. All-inclusive daily fee = all costs in the breakdown of costs (Section I, II and III) divided by 517 working days.
  • Section II in the breakdown of costs is not to be filled in as it is a home-based assignment
  • Section III in the breakdown of costs is not to be filled in as travel to the field and other relevant locations may be required but will be compensated on reimbursable basis and 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 consultant, shall be borne by the consultant and the daily living allowance will be paid in amounts not exceeding the UN established rate.

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 (40%)

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:

Education/Qualification (20 points);

• Masters (MA, MSc), Research Masters (MPhil) degree in social sciences, gender studies, development economics, international development, finance or related discipline or the equivalent experience.

Mandatory Experience (50 points).

• A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible experience in banking, microfinance, financial service sector across private sector, international organization or academia (25 points);
• At least five years of experience in policy, legal and regulatory issues related to financial inclusion and including gender-related issues around the access and usage of digital payments and financial services (25 points).

Preferred Experience (30 points).

• At least five years of experience managing or conducting research, particularly related to gender-smart product development or client demand with mass market is preferred (15 points);
• Expertise in gender analysis and/or gender mainstreaming (15 points).

Step III: Interview (60%): An interview shall be conducted to the applicants who scored 80% or more at the desk review.

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 3 best applicants 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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