UNDP Jobs - 74698- International Digital Financial Services (DFS) Exp

International Digital Financial Services (DFS) Expert

Location :

Yangon, MYANMAR

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

03-Oct-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

9 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP 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. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries (LDCs). 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 that will improve poor peoples’ lives.

UNCDF works to enlarge peoples’ choices: it believes that poor people and communities should take decisions about their own development. Its programmes help to empower women – over 50% of the clients of UNCDF-supported microfinance institutions are women – and its expertise in microfinance and local development is shaping new responses to food insecurity, climate change and other challenges.? UNCDF works in challenging environments – remote rural areas, countries emerging from conflict – and paves the way for others to follow. Its programmes are designed to catalyse larger investment flows from the private sector, development partners and national governments, for significant impact on the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty, Goal 17: Means of Implementation.

Established by the General Assembly in 1966 and with headquarters in New York, UNCDF is an autonomous UN organization affiliated with UNDP. Information on UNCDF may be found at www.uncdf.org

Despite the rapid growth of the microfinance industry in the past ten years, it is estimated that between two and three billion people still lack access to a broad range of financial products and services on a sustainable basis. The situation is particularly dire in the LDCs, where often more than 90 per cent of the population is denied access to financial services from the formal financial system. UNCDF focuses its strategy on financial inclusion, which is universal access, at a reasonable cost, to a wide range of financial services, provided by a variety of sound and sustainable institutions. The range of financial services includes savings, short and long-term credit, leasing and factoring, mortgages, insurance, pensions, payments, local money transfers and international remittances.

UNCDF Myanmar manages a number of initiatives that include and promote digital financial services (DFS). Initiatives in Myanmar include, MFI support including lending and guarantees, work with Government on regulations and the Financial Inclusion Roadmap, clean energy financing, Big Data, Gender, Financial literacy and DFS.

According to the 2013 Finscope survey, access to formal financial services in Myanmar stands at a moderate 30% of the adult population, however a majority are thinly served having access to only one product that often only partially meets household needs. Myanmar eco-system is fast developing with many institutions engaging on digital finance and investing in setting up rails. In addition, there has been a lot of movement around technology based start-ups who are filling the gap by addressing the use case at customer level.

UNCDF in discussion with other stakeholders viz USAID and CGAP, is proposing a common engagement to further support the development of DFS eco-system in country. UNCDF did the initial scoping of digital finance was undertaken in October 2015 to act as a baseline for the DFS country strategy. This strategy document identified the areas of interventions that would be crucial to the development of the market, namely capacity building of policy maker (especially Central Bank Myanmar) and development of projects with identified partners that can drive high value linkages. Meanwhile CGAP has been working with CBM on capacity building around DFS and with a few providers on catalytic investments.

UNCDF wishes to hire a full-time, on-site DFS consultant to support for the coordination and implementation of the in-country activities in Myanmar on DFS. The consultant will have the overall responsibility for in-country activities on digital finance.?The on-site DFS consultant will be based in the UNCDF office in Myanmar and would work in close collaboration with other actors/stakeholders.

The DFS expert will be overseen and managed by the UNCDF Country Coordinator with support from the Regional Technical Specialist (Digital Finance). The DFS Expert will report to the Country Coordinator for all matters and the Regional Technical Specialist (Digital Finance) will guide on the work-plan implementation and setting the priorities areas of work on digital finance. For the work related to policy the consultant will work closely in consultation with the Ecosystem Specialist based in Brussels. The team including UNCDF Asia regional players will coordinate with a call on a regular basis. Additionally, we will use the online project management tool to discuss key decisions, manage progress against milestones, and facilitate coordination and technical input.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant will specifically work with regulators and actors on the ground to foster Digital Financial Services (DFS) eco-system in the country and work with the actors in the development of innovative ideas, plans and projects to enter or expand DFS (ecosystem, regulatory, customer, high volume, agent work streams) in the country. The key objectives of this engagement are noted below:

Identify opportunities to invest in DFS projects that can quickly demonstrate effectiveness and potential for scale;
Take responsibility for identifying and driving in-country activities as identified in the strategy and workplan;
Develop deeper relationships with market players and assist in forming partnerships based on UNCDF’s ability to meet stakeholder needs;
Identify opportunities and agenda for a working group for DFS based on priority issues raised by the market players;
Identify opportunities for DFS integration with other UNCDF Myanmar initiatives;
Strengthen relationship with Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) and Financial Regulatory Department to enable better public private dialogue;
Update the DFS country strategy based on the market opportunities and demand for UNCDF support;
Develop a concept note for UNCDF engagement;
Based on the concept note, lead in drafting a proposal to scale up activities based on initial pipeline of projects.

In addition to the above key responsibilities of the DFS expert, the section below outlines the areas of work that require focus during this period of contract and provide details on the larger in-country responsibility, of which some activities require attention during the contract period.

Eco-System Activities:

Through a consultative process get the CBM and other stakeholders to develop an engagement platform/working group for industry. Once the contours of the working group have been agreed to be done on a regular basis, animate two DFS industry working group meeting during the period of the contract.

Policy and Regulations:

Support the OHOA implementation with CBM and FRD, working with them to mainstream the definition of the OHOA;
Identify opportunities to pilot the OHOA policy using DFS accounts;
Monitor OHOA pilot and draft a business plan outlining conditions necessary to scale the program nationally;
Understand the oversight mechanism at CBM for DFS and if agreed work on helping them identify the data indicators that could feed into effective oversight.

Provider and Distribution Work-streams:

Engage market participants through interviews and short workshops to identify potential use cases around DFS to identify a pipeline for UNCDF support.
Explore with market participants DFS linkages within the following indicative areas
???????? Digital Linkages in Microfinance;
?????????Agriculture Value Chain Interplay with Digital Financial Services (with product level examples);
???????? Driving payments top-down (esp. government & donors) opportunities, challenges and key success factors;
???????? Developing quality agent networks;

High Volume Work-Stream:

Identify potential projects (project descriptions) to support stakeholders to?switch payments from cash to digital under OHOA /MFI/VC.? (at least 2 technical assistance projects signed and supported)

General In-Country Support Activities During the Period:

Update and manage the work-plan on DFS on the online project management tool and hold monthly calls with designated UNCDF team to discuss the progress, risks and new updates;
Minutes of all the meetings in-country documented and available;
List of in-country contacts available and updated;
Update ranking of existing Financial Service Providers (FSP) to identify potential partners;
Foster partnerships between stakeholders to support development of emerging business models and innovative ideas;
For most promising stakeholders, provide technical inputs to project descriptions and support the Technical Specialists in assessing and appraising the projects;
Develop the project descriptions, support in finalizing the agreement, develop ToR and Oversee implementation as required, based on the activities highlighted previously.
Collect necessary documents for UNCDF project endorsements and appraisals;
Support dissemination of relevant publications and toolkits to stakeholders;
Plan, organize and manage the monthly progress call. Prepare agenda for the call and write meeting minutes, and develop monthly action plans.
Set and implement a regular call schedule with UNCDF partners, (such as SHIFT, Better Than Cash Alliance);
Report on DFS activities and developments in country during monthly calls.
Develop and support a proposal document for the expansion of the UNCDF DFS activities;
Draft ToRs for technical assistance, workshops, and other relevant activities to be approved by UNCDF (viz agenda, technical delivery material like presentation, exercises, case studies, etc, invitee list, budget and so on).

Deliverables (Minimum List of deliverables and more will be added as the work engagement onsite starts)

Quarter 4 2017 (Oct-Dec):

Conduct stock taking of DFS market to define landscape and opportunities for UNCDF investment.
Initiate and run industry working group including all the relevant stakeholders - banks, MFIs, regulators, mobile financial services providers, donors and development organizations and then animate this on an ongoing basis.
Finalization of project description leading to establishing TA Agreements for further perusal and project support.
Support partnerships between providers by helping them to develop partnership models (minimum for one service provider).
Support MFIs to develop and implement the digital strategy (minimum one MFIs).
Conduct workshops on building and managing up the agent networks for DFS providers.
Finalise FRD and CBM endorsement of definition of OHOA.
Identify potential pilot partner for OHOA pilot.

Quarter 1 2018 (Jan-Mar):

Update the country strategy including the identification of investment priorities that can contribute to scaling up of DFS services and adoption.
Support MoPF and CBM in development of strategic and action plan for “One Household One Account” implementation. Following up on the June training for FRD and CBM.
Define specific scope of pilot for OHOA implementation, securing buy in by key partners.
Support DFS providers with the following technical assistance, based on the demand for UNCDF support and scalability of the investment opportunity:
to develop/review and implement detailed strategy and business plan for digital financial services
development and review of agent network management strategy
develop agent management tools including monitoring and supervision frameworks, agent selection tools, agent and super-agent agreements.
implement innovative and customer centric products and services (at least two new products)

Quarter 2018 (Apr-Jun):

Lead in development of a broad funding proposal to scale up DFS service delivery and adoption
Support CBM to establish DFS data indicators, reporting & monitoring
Oversee and manage implementation of OHOA pilot

Travel:

Occasional travel may be required. ? ?

Provision of Monitoring, Progress Controls & Payments:

The consultant will be supervised by the Country Coordinator Myanmar;
The consultant will receive guidance and support from the Regional Technical Specialist (Digital Finance) for all technical work and execution of the workplan;
The Regional Technical Specialist and Ecosystem Specialist (Brussels) will also provide technical backstopping and quality control.
Payment will be made on periodic basis in accordance with number of days worked and upon satisfactorily achieved deliverables. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the Country Coordinator and DFS Regional Technical Specialist;
Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.?

Application:

Interested individuals must submit the following as documents in order to demonstrate their qualifications: (NOTE: the system does not allow multiple uploads of document. 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 TOR;
Earliest availability and proposed schedule for consultancy;
Curriculum Vitae;
Completed P11 Personal History Form with names and current contacts of 3 referees (available from http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc);
Financial proposal for the full months assignment outlining - Total professional fee (including professional fees, living expenses, Other professional expenses (such as insurance, taxes, etc.), Duty travel (return ticket from country of origin to Yangon).

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

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Preliminary Evaluation - Step I: Pre-Screening;

Technical Evaluation Weight - 70% x (Step II: 20 Points + Step III: 80 Points = 100 Points);

Financial Evaluation Weight - 30% = Step IV.

Step I: Screening:

Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the following minimum criteria (listed under education and experience) will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

Step II: Shortlisting by Desk Review:

UNCDF will conduct a desk review to produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate them.

As applicable, only the first top 4 ranked applicants achieving 70% of the points at this stage shall be invited for an interview.

Step III: Interview:

A competency-based Interview shall be conducted for the top 4 shortlisted candidates.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points on the total of Steps II+III will be considered as technically qualified and will be reviewed further for financial evaluation.

Step IV: Financial Evaluation:

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 proposal & Interview) 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.

Please visit http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=41025 to get P11 and financial submission form.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

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 UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Functional Competencies:

Good knowledge of the natural resource management particularly lake and watershed management, the concept of sustainability and sustainable development in the region and developing countries;
Ability to quickly grasp and synthesize inputs from a range of disciplines related to sustainable financial mechanism for environmental conservation;
Ability to advocate and provide technical advice on the relevant sector/theme;
Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision;
Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office;
Sensitivity to and responsiveness to all partners, respectful and helpful relations with all UN/UNDP staff;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Remains calm, in control and good humoured even under pressure;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master's Degree in technology, economic, Public/business administration,Social sciences, or related discipline or?related discipline or the equivalent experience.?

Experience:

A minimum of five years?experience in progressively more responsible positions in the financial services, payments and/or telecommunications field is mandatory;
A minimum of three years experience working with digital financial services especially agency banking and mobile financial services, particularly in their roll-out is mandatory;
Experience working on DFS projects in rural areas or related to agriculture/ Value Chain finance, or G2P payments, or involving MFIs is a strong advantage ;
Experience in capacity building and advisory services to private and public actors is preferable but not required;
Experience in Mekong Region preferred is preferable but not required.

Language:

Strong English skills (both written and spoken)