Terms of Reference (ToR) To Hire Short-Term Individual/Team of Consultants

• Project Title: Economic Recovery for Conflict-Affected Population (ER-CAP)
• Consultancy Title: Provision of technical assistance (TA) on financial and non-financial support services for the ER-CAP Programme’s access to finance pillars in Mekelle and Abala.

About First Consult Development

First Consult Development (FCD) is an economic development organization dedicated to empowering vulnerable communities by designing and implementing sustainable projects across various sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, and services. Our multidisciplinary teams leverage local expertise to drive enterprise growth, improve access to finance, and foster skill development. With a proven track record, we’ve successfully created jobs, generated wealth, and attracted investments, ultimately leading to the formation and growth of thriving businesses.

Background

First Consult Development is implementing the ER-CAP programme in collaboration with the Danish Refugee Council and Mercy Corps. This initiative targets the Tigray region (Mekelle), Amhara region (Woldiya), and Afar region (Abala). Economic Recovery for Conflict-Affected Populations (ER-CAP) programme is looking to hire a short-term individual consultant. The consultants will be responsible for conducting a comprehensive assessment of the significant role that both financial and non-financial services play in the economic recovery of conflict-affected populations. A case of three A2F interventions in Mekelle and One in Abala. The target training participants will be ER-CAP target participants who get credit access from partner financial institutions in Mekelle and Abala.

1. Objective of the assignment

The main objective of this assignment is to provide technical assistance (TA) in assessing the outcomes of both financial and non-financial services in support of conflict-affected populations residing in Mekelle and Abala. By examining the availability, accessibility, and effectiveness of these services, we seek to understand how they contribute to the resilience and recovery of communities in the aftermath of conflict. This assessment will delve into the specific needs and vulnerabilities of the affected population, identifying gaps in service provision and exploring innovative approaches to enhance their impact.

Scope of the work

The consultant will undertake the following tasks:

• Assess the status of informal, women-led businesses that accessed credit through a de-risking modality from two financial institutions in Mekelle. Entrepreneurial Capacity Needs Assessment: Conduct a gap analysis of the entrepreneurial and managerial skills of the target groups and identify specific non-financial capacity needs (e.g., record keeping, marketing, inventory management, supply chain management, digital skills, etc.).
• Psychosocial support: Assess how trauma, displacement, and post-conflict stress influence decision-making, risk appetite, and financial behaviour of affected populations and evaluate coping mechanisms and support systems.
• Evaluate the business performance and loan repayment status of the target group involved in the intervention, specifically those who received credit through the de-risking modality (from 2 financial institutions); refinancing (from 3 financial institutions) and through revolving funds in Abala (1 financial institution).
• Business Formalization Support: assess the degree of business formalization among the target groups and identify bottlenecks in registration, licensing, and compliance, and propose simplified support mechanisms.
• Identify the best practices and challenges faced by the target groups in business operation, loans repayment, saving culture and explore the reasons behind these challenges.
• Assess the contribution of access to finance interventions to economic recovery program for conflict affected population.
• Analyze the barriers, behaviors, and motivations of the target groups regarding access to and use of financial services and products.
• Suggest the main needs of the target groups for growing their businesses.
• Identify their future plans.
• Propose potential interventions tailored to the needs of the target populations in collaboration with capable and willing financial institutions, aimed at enhancing the delivery of inclusive and innovative financial services.
• Based on the findings, provide training on non-financial services to key staffs of partner financial institutions Develop tailored ToT materials on non-financial services (business coaching, psycho-social support integration, customer relationship management, etc.).

Target participant information: Mekelle and Abala

• Target participants who accessed credit through de-risking modality (facility).
• Target participants who covered interest rate and principal through loan restructuring.
• Target participants who refinanced after covering their partial interest rate and principal.
• The TA will be made:
  • For intervention – one in two financial institutions for intervention (Mekelle).
  • For intervention-two in three financial institutions (Mekelle)
  • For intervention- three in one financial institution (Abala).

Methodology

Technical assistance (TA) will use both qualitative and quantitative, Survey, FGDs and KII methodologies to assess the outcome of financial and non-financial services for the target participants.

Deliverables

• Inception report
• Assessment Tools
• Field visit reports- Raw findings from surveys, KIIs, and FGDs disaggregated by location, gender, and modality.
• Case stories- Up to 5 participants
• Report on in-depth analysis of financial and non-financial services and their impact, Challenges, gaps, and behavioural insights and evidence-based recommendations.
• Training of Trainers (ToT) Materials to the key staff of FIs
• ToT delivery report

Working arrangement and Reporting

The consultant will work with ER-CAP project teams and its partners in the Mekelle and Aballa as well as national teams. The TA is expected to be completed within a maximum of 50 days for 3-month period upon signing of the agreement. If it is agreed to be carried out by a team of consultants, the maximum timeline will be reduced to two months.

• The consultancy team will be working under a contract with First Consult Development and will report directly to First Consult Development-ER-CAP Access to finance lead.
• The consultancy team is expected to work within the required deadlines and be available in accordance with schedule, which can be adapted as needed.

Required Qualifications

• Having a team of experts for each technical capacity and practice across the development projects/programmes in Ethiopia, especially the Amhara, Afar and Tigray Regions.
• Previous experience of at least 5 years working with I/NGOs
• Experience in facilitating in undertaking qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis.
• Excellent presentation and representation skills in multicultural contexts.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
• Ability to translate complex technical ideas to a non-technical audience both verbally and in writing.
• Knowledge and experience of embedding cross-cutting approaches as an aspect of organizational change.
• Fluent written and spoken English and Amharic are required.

Evaluation Criteria

	Description	Weight
1	Technical Competency	70%
1.1	Understanding of ToR	20%
1.2	Methodology and Work plan	30%
1.3	CV of consultant	20%
2.	Financial feasibility/budget)	30%

 

• Those candidates who scored below 50% on the technical evaluation will not be considered for financial evaluation.

Instructions for the Technical and Financial Proposal

Interested individual consultant to send a technical and financial proposal detailing the experience and qualifications of the individual or team to execute the assignment. The potential consultants/s should prepare a budget based on the proposed methodology and resources required for the assignment. The financial proposal should include daily fees for the assigned personnel and the total cost to execute the assignment.