Procurement Notices

1) General Background.

United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 46 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.

UNCDF’s new “Leaving no one behind (LNOB) in the digital era” Strategy (2021-2025) leverages the work we have done in Nepal since 2016 and expands the use of digital solutions to further tackle the main development challenges of the country. UNCDF-IDE Practice Area is currently providing the following support to the development of inclusive digital economies in Nepal:

Innovation workstream: UNCDF’s work in Nepal is based on a decade of experience in improving access to financial services and building the digital rails essential for the development of new business models to support inclusive growth. In Nepal, during the past 5 years, UNCDF has supported 600,000 people (47% women) to register for digital payments and 120,000 people (54% women) to access digital financial services that go beyond payments. It has also built the financial capabilities of 15,000 people.  In total, we have supported the pilot and scale up 20 different business models with private sector partners. We supported Prabhu Management to digitize 20 cooperatives of dairy and to pilot a digital credit product. We supported Khalti to start onboarding almost 2,000 MSMEs (focused on women) onto their e-commerce platform.

Policy workstream: UNCDF continues to work with government and regulators. It has supported the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to develop the Nepal Payment System Strategy and the Nepal Financial Inclusion Portal that improved the oversight of the market reducing data reporting and analyzing time from 10 to 2 days.  With a focus on  key building blocks of a digital economy (Policy, infrastructure, innovation, and skills), progress is tracked through our Inclusive Digital Economy Scorecard (IDES) which in Nepal was implemented for the first time in 2020.  The tool measures the development and the evolution of the digital economy and because of its consultative nature, it supports UNCDF and its partners to set priorities in the dynamic context of the digital era.

In addition, as part of an initiative that will start in 2022, UNCDF will support SMEs that are developing/scaling up digital solutions that accelerate the economic recovery after COVID-19. It will provide continuum support by offering a full suite of services (technical assistance, grants, reimbursable grants) so that technology providers can offer tools for MSMEs to participate in the digital economy.  It will also support the systematic digitization of MSMEs by supporting related federations and associations to modernize their capacity, strategy, services, and or digital capabilities of MSME members. 

2) Objectives of the Assignment.

The objective of this consultancy is to identify and meet with top federations and associations serving MSMEs such as FNCCI, FNCSI, FWEAN or SABAH to first learn of their activities supporting digitization of members. The consultant will conduct a needs assessment of digital expertise lacking among MSME federations/associations to develop a curriculum designed to build capacity of staff through trainings provided.

In addition, the consultant will support the associations to build digital and financial capabilities of MSMEs. The goal of the training is to make sure MSMEs have the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to access and use the most beneficial digital tools for their businesses. The consultant will support FNCCI and FNCSI in developing Digital Capabilities modules composed by a Trainer’s Guide to train MSMEs and a Training of Trainers Guide that could be used to disseminate the training either within the associations or to other stakeholders in Nepal. The training modules should be developed using a human centric design, starting with a thorough market research to identify the gap in knowledge, skills and attitudes that MSMEs face in accessing digital tools. Following the market research, the consultant will design the modules using adult learning principles and practices, identify the best delivery channels for the modules (i.e. digital, classroom base etc), pilot test the modules, refine the modules based on the pilot test results, develop monitoring tools to measure the quantity and the quality of the education and scale up the modules to the MSMEs.

In addition to this support, the consultant will build the capacity of the associations so pthey will be in the position to continue providing technical assistance to e-commerce platforms. For this, the consultant will provide technical assistance for FNCCI and FNCSI to review their mission as it relates to supporting members to digitize or if they want to strengthen that mandate to keep up with the digital economy.

3) Scope of Work.

Working under the direct supervision of the UNCDF Regional Manager for the Digital Hub for Asia, in close collaboration with UNCDF country lead in Nepal and technical specialist, the consultant will:

• Conduct needs assessment of MSME federations/associations, develop curriculum and conduct trainings to staff on expertise needed to help digitize MSME members
• Develop and disseminate digital capability training for MSMEs
• Build the capacity of associations to continue to provide technical assistance services on digital transformation beyond the program duration

More detail on these tasks is provided below.

4) Expected Outputs and Deliverables.

5) Payment Milestones

Payment shall be made only upon satisfactory completion and UNCDF’s written acceptance of each deliverable duly approved by the Regional Manager for the Digital Hub for Asia

6) Duration of Assignment.

Contract Duration: up to 50 days

Contract period: 21 February – 30 June 2022

7) Duty Station.

Duty station and expected places of travel: Home based, with one travel to Kathmandu Nepal.

The schedule of travel will be negotiated with the consultant according to the requirements of the programme. Mission travels shall be arranged by UNCDF Office in accordance with UNCDF travel rules and regulations.

UNCDF does not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the Individual Consultant wish to travel in a higher class, he/she should do so using his or her own resources.

Furthermore, the Individual Consultant who is at the duty station at the time of hire is ineligible for travel to join, and who remains at the duty station after contract completion is ineligible for repatriation travel.

For unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

The travel arrangement will be based on UN travel policy during Covid-19 pandemic.

8) Provision of Monitoring and Progress Controls.

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the UNCDF Regional Manager for the Digital Hub for Asia in Bangkok and in close collaboration with the Nepal lead and technical specialist.

The consultant will have daily communication during the contract period with UNCDF Nepal Office via email and skype, for coordination and guidance purposes, ensuring consultants’ output quality and targets.

The Consultant is responsible for providing his/her own laptop during his/her engagement with UNCDF.

The following supporting documents will serve as conditions for payments to an Individual Contractor(s): (i) submission of Certificate of Payment (COP); (ii) submission of all deliverables / workplan / progress report with the relevant supporting documentation; and (iii) review, approval and written acceptance of each deliverable by the UNCDF Regional Manager for Digital Hub for Asia and any other Project/Programme Manager designated by UNCDF Regional Manager.

9) Minimum Qualifications.

Education:

• A Master’s degree in Management, Finance, Rural Development, Economics or other related fields. Two years of relevant professional experience in lieu of Master’s will also be considered

Professional Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of professional experience in designing trainings is mandatory.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in training others and providing technical assistance and building digital or financial capabilities is mandatory
• Minimum 5 years of experience in digital financial inclusion, including mobile money and other technologies is mandatory.
• Experience working with the United Nations system is preferred but not mandatory.

Language Requirements:

• Fluent command of written and spoken English language is mandatory.

10) Application Process and Evaluation.

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 document. Applicants must make sure to upload all documents in one PDF file.)

All applications must contain the following information and should be submitted by 10 February 2022:

• 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);
• Sample of 1 training session previously developed. The document must be in English;
• Complete and signed 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: The financial proposal shall specify a lump sum amount that is inclusive of professional fees and other incidentals that the consultant expects to incur during the performance of the work. For this purpose, please complete and submit the Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability (Please click here for document), please send it separately to the email address  financial.proposal@uncdf.org with the subject line: Digital and Financial Capabilities Specialist, Nepal

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

Evaluation:

Step I: Screening: Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the mandatory criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting.

Step II: Desk review (70 points).

A desk review will be conducted to produce a shortlist of applicants according to the criteria below . Only applicants obtain 70% of the points shall be considered for financial evaluation.

Desk review scoring:

Step III: Financial Evaluation (30 points).

Only applicants who obtain a minimum of 70% at the desk review will be considered as technically qualified and will be reviewed further for 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 has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/ acceptable;
• 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.