Back Consultant- Data collection for the Annual Provider Survey 2020 in Sierra Leone

Background

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.

In 2019 UNCDF formulated its strategy ‘Leaving no one behind in the digital era’. The strategy is based on 10+ years of experience in digital finance in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. UNCDF recognizes that reaching the full potential of digital financial inclusion in support of the Sustainable Development Goals aligns with the vision of promoting inclusive digital economies. UNCDF aims to empower people through improved access and use of services that leverage innovation and technology and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.

In partnership with USAID, UNCDF started in Sierra Leone in 2017, with a focus on unlocking and demonstrating the potential of DFS to improve the lives of the unbanked, focusing on rural communities and the agriculture sector.

UNCDF seeks a consultant to conduct its Annual Provider Survey in Sierra Leone. The Annual Provider Survey is conducted among all DFS providers and allows to measure the development of the digital financial services (DFS) market on country level, assess the effectiveness of UNCDF program, and identify needs for future support. The survey includes quantitative questions on number of clients, transaction value and volume, and agents and merchants, and qualitative questions on provider performance and challenges, and UNCDF engagement and contribution.

The objective of the assignment is to complete the survey for all DFS providers in Sierra Leone.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant in close collaboration with UNCDF country lead will

Collect data from DFS Providers in Sierra Leone:

• Mobile Network Operators: 2
• Banks: 10
• FinTech’s: 4

The data collection requires the following activities:

• Conduct initial meetings with DFS Providers to explain the objective of the survey and ensure that the respondents understand all questions and concepts (with support from Technical Specialist and RM Analyst)
• Data quality check (with support from RM Analyst)
• Follow-up meetings with DFS providers to finalize data collection
• Interviews with providers to capture qualitative insights on provided answers, particularly on challenges and UNCDF contribution to change (with support from Technical Specialist and RM Analyst)

The deliverables schedule is listed below:

Deliverables

Date

Completed surveys for all DFS Providers

Week 6

Minutes of all meetings with DFS Providers

Week 6

Summary report of additional qualitative insights from provider interviews

Week 10

Report summarizing process, challenges and lessons learnt (max. 5 pages)

Week 12

Competencies

• Excellent organizational and analytical skills
• Ability to act independently and exercise sound judgment
• Proficient in MS Office Software applications, data analysis and technical presentations.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

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

Experience: 

• Minimum 3 years of work experience in the field of inclusive development is mandatory.
• Experience in conducting surveys with private sector providers and/or end beneficiaries is mandatory
• Working experience in Sierra Leone is mandatory.
• Good working knowledge of digital financial services is preferable.

Language requirements:

• Proficiency in English is mandatory.

Timeline, total number of working days, duty station:

• The expected time to complete the assignment is 20 working days, spread over a period of twelve weeks.
• Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone

Standard travel costs and living expenses:

NA.

Progress Controls & Payments:

Payment will be made against satisfactorily completion of each deliverable. All payments shall be disbursed only upon written confirmation of acceptance of the outputs which and authorization for payment by the UNCDF Country lead.

Application process:

Interested individuals must submit the documents mentioned below as proposals in order to demonstrate their qualifications. 

All applications must contain the following information:

• Cover letter with a summary statement of competencies and motivation rationalizing how the applicant meets the qualifications and can deliver the requirements of the Terms of Reference (TOR);
• Earliest availability and proposed schedule for consultancy;
• Signed financial proposal for the assignment outlining: all-inclusive fee (including professional fees and other professional expenses, such as insurance, taxes, etc.). Template for this is available at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=29916).

Evaluation: 

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

• Step I: Screening
• Step II: Desk review
• Step III: Interview
• Step IV: Financial Evaluation

Step I: Screening

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

Step II: Desk review – 40 points

UNCDF will conduct a desk review to select the candidates who will progress to the technical evaluation step. Only candidates that obtained 80% of the points at this stage shall be invited for the next step.

Shortlisting scoring:

20%- Education/Qualification;

50%- Mandatory Experience.

30%- Preferred Experience.

Step III: Interview – 60 points

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

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% on the total of Steps II (40 points) + III (60 points) 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 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.