| Overview : Background. 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 Goal 1 on eradicating poverty and Goal 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 in Uganda With the support of the Sweden Development Agency (SIDA) UNCDF launched the “Leaving No One Behind in the Digital Era” programme in Uganda. The Programme aims at empowering rural community members in Uganda to lead productive and healthy lives, by expanding access and usage of digital services. The programme has a specific focus on the regions Northern Uganda and West Nile. The main expected outcomes are: - Rural community members in Uganda (women, migrants, smallholder farmers, agri-businesses & refugees) have the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to access and use digital services. They have better access to training and education through digital channels.
- New business models and technologies for delivering services are scaled for rural communities in the finance, agriculture, energy, education and health sectors.
- Rural community members have improved access to and increasingly use digital payment accounts.
- The Government of Uganda implements policies that enable access and usage of digital services
UNCDF Uganda has entered into a partnership with Centenary Technology Services Limited (Cente-Tech), a subsidiary of the Centenary Group with the objective of increasing access to and usage of digital products and service offerings by under-served segments of society, in a bid to improve their livelihoods and wellbeing. This partnership aims to design, develop and deploy a digital platform – a farmers’ hub. The Hub will be designed and developed as a public good, anchored on a public sector entity or a national farmers’ consortium with the objective of making the solution none-exclusive and available to all deserving market players, for the purpose of availing various relevant digital solutions to the large rural customer base of Centenary group. The public good will be operated with a business model for sustainability. A. Key Task The assessment will be undertaken in a sample of 5 districts. The selection of the sample districts will seek to align with areas where Centenary group has significant inroads in relation to the use of uptake of digital services. These districts will include: FortPortal, Masaka, Lira, Gulu and Mityana. The assessment should include: - A documentary review to understand any comparable platforms and their business models
- An indepth research among potential users of the platform to clearly undersand a compelling value proposition and how this ought to be delivered to them:
- The target users to undertand the demand side aspects of digital solutions
- The (potential) providers of digital solutions
- Indepth consultations with relevant stakeholders, including Cente-tech and other Centenary group subsidiaries
B. Methodology The Consultancy firm shall provide the most appropriate methodology for executing this task. For guidance, it is preferred that the proposed methodology captures: - Proposed research approach and method(s)
- Sampling stategy
- Analytical framework
- Data analysis and interpretation methods
Please refer to the attached Request for Proposal document for more details of this consultancy and the application process. |
