Procurement Notices

Introduction – UNCDF

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 47 Least Developed Countries (LDC). UNCDF uses its capital mandate to support LDCs pursue inclusive growth. UNCDF promotes financial inclusion, also through digital financial services (DFS), as a key enabler of poverty reduction and inclusive growth; and it demonstrates how localizing finance outside the capital cities can accelerate growth in local economies, promote sustainable and climate-resilient infrastructure development, and empower local communities. Using capital grants, loans and credit enhancements, UNCDF tests financial models in inclusive finance and local development finance; ‘de-risks’ the local investment space; and provides proofs of concept, paving the way for larger investors.

UNCDF’s objective is to develop inclusive financial systems in which a range of financial products are available to all segments of society, at a reasonable cost, and on a sustainable basis. UNCDF supports a wide range of providers (e.g. microfinance institutions, banks, cooperatives, money transfer companies) and a variety of financial products and services (e.g. savings, credit, insurance, pension, payments, and remittances).

Introduction:  Digital Finance in UNCDF

UNCDF manages several initiatives in LDCs in Asia, Pacific and Africa, to develop an inclusive digital finance eco-system that offers a wide range of financial services specially for low income vulnerable communities. Specifically, UNCDF provides a mix of policy, technical and financial support to a range of government and private sector actors in each country, as well as invests in research and other public goods that benefit all market actors.

UNCDF has formulated its strategy ‘Leaving no one behind in the digital era’ based on over a decade 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 digital economies that leave no one behind. The vision of UNCDF is to empower millions of people by 2024 to use services daily that leverage innovation and technology and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. UNCDF will apply a market development approach and continuously seek to address underlying market dysfunctions.

UNCDFs digital interventions in Papua New Guinea

UNCDF launched its Digital Finance interventions in Papua New Guinea in 2009 through its Pacific Financial inclusion Program (PFIP) and focused on creating an inclusive environment for inception and scale up of digital financial services. UNCDF has been supporting the digital financial service providers, banks and other stakeholders in the country to develop the eco-system.

UNCDF is part of the EU funded joint UN Support to Rural Enterprise Investment and Trade (STREIT) project in Papua New Guinea and is responsible for the access to finance component under the project. The STREIT project aims to support – vanilla, cocoa and fisheries value chains through a range of inter-related inputs. As part of its inputs to the project UNCDF will continue to engage with private sector, regulators and the government to scale up DFS eco-system in the project areas focused on supporting agri-value chains.

UNCDF in Papua New Guinea with the conclusion of PFIP (phase-II) is looking to develop a country strategy which will leverage the learning from PFIP, the ongoing digital finance initiatives under STREIT and linking it all to design the PNG ‘Inclusive Digital Economy Accelerator’- (IDEA) program embedded in UNCDF’s LNOB in digital Era strategy for promoting digital and financial inclusion in PNG.

Again, one of the workstreams of UNCDF is Open Digital Ecosystem. UNCDF-PNG therefore intends to set up a Digital Economy Task Force in PNG to help promote work within the stream. The task force will comprise of experts and key stakeholders in the Digital space.

UNCDF is in partnership with UNDP to roll out the Rapid Financing Facility (RFF) project in Papua New Guinea and is responsible for overall implementation of the activities such as coordinating with private sector partners (I.e. the financial service providers and training partners selected for implementing different components of the project). The RFF project aims to support women entrepreneurs and customers by working with financial service providers to promote suitable and affordable mobile financial products and services. Scaling up the DFS eco-system coupled with essential capacity building support leverages the opportunities brought by digital financial services and evolving digital economy. A portfolio guarantee scheme will be established to introduce a concessional credit scheme for the women entrepreneurs in partnership with a partner financial institution.

The objective of this consultancy assignment is to:

1.       Support the Country Lead and UNCDF PNG team by preparing reports such as the annual country report, strategy reports, and quarterly reports through gathering inputs.

2.       Provide programming support and implementation to the STREIT and RFF related projects through coordination of tasks internally and with external stakeholders.

UNCDF proposes to engage the services of an Analyst-Programme Support, delivering the outputs described in Section III below:

Scope of Work

The UNCDF PNG country office aims to develop its – 1) Country Strategy and 2) PNG Inclusive Digital Economy Accelerator (IDEA) program which will leverage on the existing work of UNCDF to promote digital and financial inclusion focusing on vulnerable sections of society in rural areas – women, farmers, youth and MSMEs 3) Setup a PNG Digital Economy Task Force.

Under the supervision of the UNCDF PNG Country Lead, the Consultant will complete the following activities and deliverables.

Activities: Support Country Lead and UNCDF PNG team with:

• Assist the PNG Country Lead and the team in preparing the country programmes progress reports and the country strategy documents  
• Preparation of meeting minutes and discussion papers and presentations in the areas of digital and financial inclusion
• Provide programming support to coordinate and implement the STREIT and RFF projects and other projects as required
• Provide remote support to project partners during development of project description and appraisal documents in specified formats
• Assist in the development of knowledge products, blogs and presentations relation to Women Economic Empowerment and other related topics

Scope of Work

The UNCDF PNG country office aims to develop its – 1) Country Strategy and 2) PNG Inclusive Digital Economy Accelerator (IDEA) program which will leverage on the existing work of UNCDF to promote digital and financial inclusion focusing on vulnerable sections of society in rural areas – women, farmers, youth and MSMEs 3) Setup a PNG Digital Economy Task Force.

Under the supervision of the UNCDF PNG Country Lead, the Consultant will complete the following activities and deliverables.

Activities: Support Country Lead and UNCDF PNG team with:

• Assist the PNG Country Lead and the team in preparing the country programmes progress reports and the country strategy documents  
• Preparation of meeting minutes and discussion papers and presentations in the areas of digital and financial inclusion
• Provide programming support to coordinate and implement the STREIT and RFF projects and other projects as required
• Provide remote support to project partners during development of project description and appraisal documents in specified formats
• Assist in the development of knowledge products, blogs and presentations relation to Women Economic Empowerment and other related topics

1. Assignment outputs and deliverables

Institutional Arrangement

• The consultant will report to the UNCDF PNG – Country Lead, or a designated member of staff.
• The consultant will provide feedback to UCNDF by engaging via daily calls or email.

The assignment will start with a kick-off call with the UNCDF PNG Project Team, where the contractor will explain the expectations for the assignment as well as clarify any questions that the coordinator might have.

Duty Station

Home Based. No travel is envisaged.

Frequency of progress reporting – Daily by email and through calls.

Duration of Work:  This is a 60 days of the assignment to be completed between March 2022 To September 2022.

Educational Qualifications:

ü  Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree qualification in Governance or Political Science, Social Science, Economics, Finance, Commerce, International Development or related discipline.

Experience

ü  Has knowledge and understanding of theories, concepts and approaches relevant to digital financial services, innovation, and financial inclusion and technical assistance

ü  Minimum 3 years of progressive experience working closely with a variety of stakeholders, private sectors, banks, international donor organizations and development partners

ü  Past or recent experience in implementing projects, programme monitoring and reporting

ü  Previous work experience with the United Nations or similar international organizations are also desirable.

Language requirements

• Fluency of English language is required;

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The bidder must send a financial proposal based on lump sum payment at the completion of the deliverables.

The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the successful bidder in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages:

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Bids will be evaluated on cumulative analysis. The award of the contract shall be made to the bidder whose offer has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%) and financial criteria (30%).

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Documentation required

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications.

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex II.
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
• Technical proposal, including a) a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment; and b) a methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment.
• Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex II. Note: National consultants must quote prices in United States Dollars (USD).

Incomplete, joint proposals and proposals sent to the wrong mailing address will not be accepted and only candidates for whom there is further interest will be contacted.

Individuals interested in this consultancy should apply and will be reviewed based on their own individual capacity. The successful individual may sign an Individual Contract with UNDP or request his/her employer to sign a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) on their behalf by indicating this in the Offerors letter to Confirming Interest and Availability using Annex linked.

Please refer to the IC Job Portal UNDP for applying for this Position