Consultant: Support AFI Project on Financial Inclusion of Forcibly Displaced Persons (FDPs)

1. Background:

The Alliance for Financial Inclusion

The Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) is the world’s leading organization on financial inclusion policy and regulation. Currently, nearly 100 member institutions make up the AFI network including central banks, ministries of finance and other financial policymaking or regulatory institutions from over 85 developing countries and emerging markets. AFI empowers policymakers to increase the access and usage of quality financial services for the underserved through sustainable and inclusive policies and an effective use of digital technologies.

Policies developed and implemented by AFI members contribute to a range of the Sustainable Development Goals. By setting their own agenda, AFI members harness the power of peer learning to develop practical and tested policy reforms that enhance financial inclusion with strategic support from both public and private sector partners.

AFI has 7 Working Groups (WGs): Consumer Empowerment and Market Conduct Working Group (CEMCWG), Digital Financial Services Working Group (DFSWG), Financial Inclusion Data Working Group (FIDWG), Financial Inclusion Strategy Peer Learning Group (FISPLG), Global Standards Proportionality Working Group (GSPWG), Inclusive Green Finance Working Group (IGFWG) and SME Finance Working Group (SMEFWG).

As the key source of policy developments and trends in financial inclusion and as the primary mechanism for generating and incubating technical content in the network, the Working Groups serve as "communities of practice". Providing a platform for knowledge exchange and peer learning among policymakers to share, deliberate and deepen their understanding, the working groups offer leadership and expertise in their respective policy fields and support the network to monitor new developments in emerging fields.

The knowledge generated via the working groups is disseminated for implementation by a range of capacity building activities such as Joint Learning Programs, Member Trainings, Trainings by Private Sector Partners. The practical experience members garner from engaging in peer learning based capacity building is then applied by members as in country implementation projects which are supported by the provision of financial or technical support to AFI member institutions in conducting activities that aim to deliver financial inclusion policies, regulations, supervisory tools or enablers for the development of policies, such as national financial inclusion strategies

The working groups receive strategic guidance and insight from the High-Level Global Standards & Policy Committee, while the Gender Inclusive Finance Committee, supports WGs in integrating gender considerations into all aspects of their work and support members in fulfilling their Denarau Action Plan (2016) commitment to promote women’s financial inclusion.

AFI members have made further commitments in a range of other accords which can be read here.

The AFI’s five regional initiatives support policy implementation in Africa (AfPI), Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC), the Pacific Islands (PIRI), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECAPI) and the Arab Region (FIARI).

AFI Project on Advancing the Financial Inclusion of Forcibly Displaced Persons Phase II: Ensuring Sustainable Development for All

Building on a Phase I, Phase II of this project is similarly focused on driving the in-country implementation of policy recommendations provided by the AFI Special Report on the Financial Inclusion of Forcibly Displaced Persons: Perspective of Financial Regulators, GPFI Policy Paper on Financial Inclusion of Forcibly Displaced Persons – Priorities for G20 Action, and Roadmap to the Sustainable and Responsible Financial Inclusion of FDPs (hereafter referred to as “the Roadmap”). This will be undertaken with three AFI member institutions from three different countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa and Arab regions.

Towards that end, Phase II’s overall project objective is to enhance the capacity of AFI member institutions to develop and implement national policies to advance the financial inclusion of FDPs. The main outcome of the project is improved policy and regulatory environments in AFI member countries to enhance the access, usage and quality of financial services for FDPs. More specifically, the key envisioned intermediate outcomes of Phase II are the following:

1. Increased use of evidence by policymakers and regulators in AFI member countries to advance FDP financial inclusion

Sex- and age- disaggregated financial inclusion data on FDPs is essential for effective policymaking to advance their financial inclusion. In Phase I, AFI learnt that a vast majority of member countries do not have such data which they can leverage to inform their policy decisions, changes and actions. There will therefore be the conduct of diagnostics in the three member countries.

1. Increased in-country implementation of the policy recommendations provided in the Roadmap to the Sustainable and Responsible Financial Inclusion of FDPs

• The project is centered on translating these policy recommendations into action at the country level in collaboration with the implementing AFI members and their national stakeholders.
• 1. Strengthened policy and regulatory guidance on the Financial Inclusion of FDPs for the AFI Network and beyond.

It will also glean and analyze learnings from policy implementation, towards developing further policy and regulatory guidance on the financial inclusion of FDPs for AFI members, as well as for other policymakers and stakeholders working on this policy area.

A key component of this project will be to improve in-country collaboration among key stakeholders and sectors e.g. line ministries, UNHCR, and the private sector. During Phase I, it was found that multi-stakeholder collaboration at the national level is critical in order to sustain efforts to implement policy change for FDP financial inclusion including beyond the Project. Additionally, AFI learnt that there must be continuous awareness raising and facilitation of coordination among key stakeholders in-country. This is critical for a policy area that can be considered highly political and heavily influenced by geopolitical developments, which can have an implication on national stakeholder uptake and policy implementation.

2. Overall objective:

The overarching objective of this consultancy is to provide support to the project management and monitoring of the AFI Project, Advancing the Financial Inclusion of Forcibly Displaced Persons (FDPs) Phase II: Ensuring Sustainable Development for All and specifically its In-Country Implementation (ICI) sub-projects. This is towards ensuring the effective design and implementation of ICI projects that are focused on policy and regulation to advance the financial inclusion of FDPs, while responding to both AFI member institution policymaking requirements and donor commitments. These will be undertaken in close collaboration with AFI member institutions in the project countries.

3. Scope of Work:

The consultant is expected to work closely with the Policy Analysis and Guidance Unit and the In-Country Implementation Unit of AFI on a day-to-day basis, and on the regular activities of the Units. Time commitment is expected to be 20 days per month, with at least eight hours per day, until 31 December 2023. Tasks include the following:

• Conduct the policy research and analysis required for the effective design of ICI sub-projects by conducting desk-based research to devise stakeholder maps, project activities and results frameworks.
• Prepare and develop ICI sub-project documents' drafts, work plans, budgets and proposals.
• Drive the administration of ICI sub-projects in close collaboration with the AFI Regional Offices, In-Country Implementation Unit, Finance Department, and Procurement Unit to ensure the effective implementation of administrative processes and sound compliance with AFI’s relevant policies.
• Follow-up on tasks related to procurement for the ICI sub-projects such as preparing procurement documents, ensuring timely submission of all necessary documents to facilitate procurement, and monitoring payments related to the ICI sub-projects.
• Support coordination with the AFI member institutions which are co-implementing the ICI sub-projects including participating in weekly coordination meetings.
• Provide technical advice and inputs to support the implementation of the ICI sub-projects such as country information, forced displacement contexts and updates on stakeholder initiatives.

4. Timeline:

The consultant is expected to commence the assignment as soon as the contract is awarded, which is expected to be in early October 2022. The retainer contract will be until December 2023.

5. Location and Travel:

Home-based remote position, must be in the Sub-Saharan Africa, Arab or Western Europe time-zones. Travel may be required to country projects.

Air Travel Policy: Air travels are to be arranged by the Consultant, if needed. All air travel expenses shall be approved by AFI’s Travel & Sponsorship Administrator (sponsorship@afi-global.org) before booking, for the expense to qualify for reimbursement. AFI shall reimburse travel expenses for economy class only by the most direct and economical routing. The Consultant is free to reroute or upgrade, where possible, at his or her own expense.

6. Consultant Experience:

The consultant on the assignment should possess the following:

Qualifications

University degree in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, International Development.

Experience

• Minimum 3 years’ work experience in international programme support within forced displacement contexts, with significant exposure to working in emerging economies and some experience in the use of digital financial services for promoting financial inclusion such as for Cash-Based Interventions (CBIs).
• Skills in producing technical publications, report writing and other documentation work.
• Progressively responsible for project management and administration including supporting work plans and budgets at the international level.
• Work experience with institutions that have a focus on financial inclusion policy and regulations will be of significant advantage.
• First hand experience in supporting consultative workshops with multi-stakeholders from different sectors preferably in international setting will be an added advantage.

Skills and Competencies

Technical:

• Skills in supporting project design and implementation.
• Excellent communication skills – verbal and written in English. Knowledge of additional languages especially French and Arabic will be an advantage.
• Knowledge of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams and Applications that can be used on virtual medium.

Behavioural:

• Excellent interpersonal and intercultural skills with a positive attitude and collaborative team spirit. This is core to the role, as it involves a lot of coordination with very diverse stakeholders.
• Respectful of diversity and other cultures.
• Effective organizational skills to be able to handle multiple tasks and priorities in parallel.

7. Reporting:

Throughout the contract period, the consultant will be reporting to the Policy Analysis and Guidance Unit.

8. Administrative Information:

8.1 Disclaimer

The final decision on selection of a firm for this project rests with AFI management team and with the Inquiry. Only shortlisted and successful firms will be contacted.

8.2 Proposal Submission Information:

Proposals will be due with the following requirements for submission:

Submission Deadline:

19 August 2022

Documents to be submitted with Annexure 1 and 2:

Firm

· Company Registration;

· Company Profile;

· List of previous or current clientele on similar work;

· References with email contact;

· Joint-Agreement (if any);

· Conflict of Interest Disclosure form;

· At least one (1) sample work (link or attachments) if any

Individual

· Full CVs with list of previous similar work;

· Disclosure if individual have a full time or part time employment contract with any organization or government official or indirect involvement in this tender;

· Conflict of Interest Disclosure form;

· Reference letter (if any);

· References with email contact;

• At least one (1) sample work (link or attachments) if any

Method of Submission:

By email to AFI’s Procurement & Contracts Office at

RFP2228@afi-global.org

Submission of Technical and Financial:

Kindly submit the followings:

1. Using the template/format given in Annexure 1 (Technical) and Annexure 2 (Financial) and/or additional technical proposal for more information.

2. Technical and Financial proposal must be separated in different pdf.

3. Financial proposals must be USD only. Whereas for Malaysian applicants with Business Registration under Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM), please submit your financial proposals in MYR.

4. Proposal to be submitted to the designated email address.

5. AFI does not tolerate copyright infringement, including but not limited to infringement, in the form of plagiarism. Consultant or Consulting entity awarded a contract by AFI shall take responsibility to ensure that the authored works, produced in parts or as an entirety of the deliverables stated in this RFP does not infringe on copyrights.

6. AFI reserve the right to disqualify incomplete submission, overlapping submission, non-compliance to the above requirements. Notification of results will only be sent to shortlisted candidates upon completion.

8.3 Retention of Proposals

All proposals submitted become the property of AFI. AFI will make all reasonable efforts to maintain proposals in confidence and will release proposals only to personnel involved with the evaluation of the project. Proprietary information should be identified in each proposal.

9. Criteria for Evaluation:

The proposals submitted will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. Profile and Overall Qualification 20%

• Academic Qualification 10%
• Sample work – writing experience with English 10%

2. Technical experience 50%

• Relevant experience in international programme support within forced displacement contexts, with significant exposure to working in emerging economies and some experience in the use of digital financial services for promoting financial inclusion such as for Cash-Based Interventions (CBIs) 30%
• Relevant skills in producing technical publications, report writing and other documentation work. 10%
• Regional and/or global experience 10%

3. Adequacy of the proposed work plan and methodology in responding to the Terms of Reference 30%

• Technical approach and Methodology 20%
• Workplan 10%

Total: 100%

Evaluation of technical and financial proposals

The evaluation and decision on the best proposal will be made based on the combined criterion, where companies are qualified by means of a score that takes into account the combined valuation of the technical and financial proposals, with the following weights:

1. a) Technical Proposal: 70% (Seventy percent)
2. b) Financial Proposal: 30% (Thirty percent)

How to apply

Interested applicants are expected to submit a proposal with an updated CV and using the template given (Download the RFP document here) by email to AFI’s Procurement & Contracts Office at rfp2228 @afi-global.org by the extended dateline, 19th August 2022, Friday.

Note: AFI does not tolerate copyright infringement, including and not limited to infringement, in the form of plagiarism. Consultant or consulting entity awarded a contract by AFI shall take responsibility to ensure that the authored works, produced in parts or as an entirety of the deliverables stated in this RFP does not infringe on copyrights.

The final decision on the selection of a consultant/consulting firm for this project rests with AFI management team and with the Inquiry. Only shortlisted and successful consultants will be contacted.