Documents

Procurement Notice
Terms of Reference

Overview

Many people in Ethiopia, especially those in rural areas do not have adequate access to financial services. In order to translate better access and better services to effective use by clients in rural Ethiopia, the Government with financial support from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation launched Financial Inclusion Project (EFIP) in 2010. The Ethiopian Financial Inclusion Project(EFIP) is aiming at accessing the unbanked rural population to financial services and products; mobilizing saving for productive use; providing diversified financial products that met customers’ demands; enhancing financial literacy; and responding to the right of citizens for financial inclusion. EFIP is a multi-stakeholder project involving: MoFED/FIU owner with oversight and coordination role, UNDP as administrator of the financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, FISU with the role of technical support, ACSI as financial service provider (for the pre-pilot & pilot phases), Kifiya as technology service provider, and customers as ultimate beneficiaries. The one year (January-December 2012) pre-pilot phase has been implemented in Libo-kemkem woreda of the Amhara National Regional State using the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) beneficiaries as an entry point. The main reason for using PSNP beneficiaries as entry point is that, the manual payment system practiced with PSNP beneficiaries has found to be risky and time taking. The delay in the provision of cash assistance to eligible PSNP beneficiaries has also caused delay in the preparation and submission of financial reports to concerned bodies (Government and Development Partners). This in turn has affected the timely release of program funds from donor partners. The pre-pilot has tested the financial inclusion models and innovative approaches/payment technologies (mobiles & point of sales) for the improvement of efficiency and effectiveness of cash transfers to the beneficiaries of the PSNP in Libo-kemkem sample woreda. According to the end-stage evaluation report of the pre-pilot phase encouraging results have been achieved providing the concept and informing the final design of the pilot phase. Based on the successful implementation of the pre-pilot phase and the results achieved, the Government has decided to continue with the pilot phase considering one additional woreda (Angolela-Tera woreda) within the same region. For detailed information, please refer to Annex I- Terms of Reference (ToR)