Procurement Notices

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 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 the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG  1 on eradicating poverty and SDG 17 on the means of implementation. UNCDF also contributes to other SDGs 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.  To achieve these goals, UNCDF is providing financial support and technical expertise to the public and the private sector. It provides capital financing – in the form of grants, soft loans and credit enhancement products – and the technical expertise to unleash sustainable financing at the local level.

UNCDF manages initiatives to develop inclusive digital finance ecosystems which offer a wide range of financial services especially 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 investing in research and other public goods to benefit all market actors. By supporting the development of digital finance ecosystems in these countries, UNCDF aims to increase the financial security of low income and rural households through access to appropriate, affordable and secure means to receive, manage and save money. 

Recently, 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 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 SDGs. UNCDF will apply a market development approach and continuously seek to address underlying market dysfunctions. For more information, please see: https://www.uncdf.org/article/4567/uncdf-launches-digital-economy-strategy-leaving-no-one-behind-in-the-digital-era

Enabling policy and regulation:

UNCDF has been working with national governments to improve access to financial services for over 25 years. In the last decade, we have focused specifically on the role that digital technologies play in accelerating usage of financial services by low-income people. In our role as a technical assistance provider and neutral broker, UNCDF works closely with global and national partners to build capacity and support governments to engage with industry to facilitate solutions to key market constraints at the local and regional level. For more information, please see: https://www.uncdf.org/article/4944/enabling-policy-and-regulation-leaving-no-one-behind-in-the-digital-era

Under the umbrella of UNCDF’s recently developed strategy, ‘Leaving no one behind in the digital era’, UNCDF has expanded the scope of support on policy and regulations to improve access to an inclusive digital economy ecosystem.

The objective is to:

1. Identify financial and non-financial sector policies and legal frameworks for inclusive fintech and digital commerce for review and define the review process, including identifying stakeholders to engage based on their respective contribution to an inclusive digital economy. Review and carry out analysis of the identified financial and non-financial sector policies and legal frameworks for inclusive fintech and digital commerce. 

2. Identify enabling attributes or gaps constraining the growth of an inclusive fintech and digital commerce ecosystem in Tanzania. 

3. Provide an analysis of synergistic and antagonistic relationships among enabling attributes of non-financial sector legal frameworks and those of digital financial services.

4. Identify benchmark countries globally for Tanzania and provide analysis of how Tanzania compares against benchmark countries in enabling or inhibiting digital innovation and provide common (best practice) policy, legal and regulatory recommendations to make the environment more enabling for a digital economy to thrive. 

5. Highlight regulations that may be suitable for harmonization at the regional level (East Africa) to support accelerated growth of fintech and digital commerce innovation across the region. 

6. Highlight regulations which needs to be eliminated, those which need to be amended and to what extent, in order to foster a conducive and nurturing regulatory landscape for Fintechs.

7. Develop two regulatory playbooks or toolkits to guide fintech and digital commerce innovators and investors on legal frameworks they are expected to comply with and the corresponding regulatory bodies. The objective of these toolkits/playbooks is to improve understanding of the existing policies and regulations and guide digital innovators and investors in navigating the legal and regulatory environment in Tanzania. 

8. Support UNCDF Policy Specialist in disseminating the developed regulatory toolkits/ playbooks to a wider audience through publications, webinars and workshops with targeted stakeholders.