ToR: Hiring a Service Provider (SP) for Monitoring, Institutional Capacity Building, and Reporting for Financial Service Providers (FSPs) in Woldiya, Amhara region

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Terms of Reference (ToR)

To Hire a Service Provider (SP) for Monitoring, Institutional Capacity Building, and Reporting for Financial Service Providers (FSPs) in Woldiya, Amhara region

Institution: FC Africa Development.

Project Title: Economic Recovery for Conflict-Affected Population (ER-CAP)

Project Implementation Location: Woldiya, Amhara region.

ABOUT FC AFRICA DEVELOPMENT

FC Africa Development 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.

About the ER-CAP Programme

The Economic Recovery for Conflict-Affected Population Project (ER-CAP) is a five-year project aiming to improve the economic adaptation, protection, and recovery of populations affected by conflict. The program led by Mercy Corps in collaboration with the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and FC Africa Development, uses an integrated conflict-sensitive, systems-strengthening, climate-smart, and inclusive approach to enhancing systems that support the economic recovery of communities in three regions: Afar (Abala), Tigray (Mekelle), and Amhara (Woldiya). The programme aims to benefit 43,540 individuals, with a specific focus on Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), host community and returnee women, youth, and other marginalized groups. The expected outcomes include resilient livelihoods, improved access to financial products and services, and enhanced capacity to mitigate protection risks through access to justice and psychosocial support.

As part of this consortium, FC Africa Development primarily focuses on facilitating tailored access to finance to support conflict affected communities, such as internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees, and host communities. To ensure effective implementation on the ground, it is crucial to establish partnerships with key stakeholders, including microfinance institutions, savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs), and banks in all our intervention sites. To strengthen the capacity of these financial institutions and providing technical assistance is essential.

BACKGROUND OF SERVICE PROVISION

The Amhara Region hosts a complex mix of displaced and returning populations, including over 166,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 1 million returnees. While security conditions have gradually improved, many families remain in precarious conditions, lacking access to credit, savings, or stable livelihood opportunities. In Woldiya City, years of conflict have eroded local market systems, devastated Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and left financial institutions risk-averse, undercapitalized, or facing severe liquidity shortages.

To address systemic exclusions, FC Africa Development is launching an integrated intervention under the ER-CAP Access to Finance programme. This intervention utilizes a Market Systems Development (MSD) approach to shift the local financial ecosystem from dependency-based aid to sustainable, market-driven inclusion. ER-CAP collaborates with banks, MFIs, and SACCOs to enable internally displaced persons (IDPs), host communities, and returnees to access credit sustainably, while also enhancing the capacity of financial institutions. This Terms of Reference (ToR) specifically outlines the hiring of a service provider to act as a focal point for ER-CAP program interventions related to financial inclusion, institutional capacity building, monitoring, reporting and the rollout of financial literacy in the Woldiya city administration, located in the Amhara region.

OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The objective of this assignment is to identify and hire an experienced consulting firm to monitor, facilitate, and report the technical assistance, product adaptation, and training components of ER-CAP interventions. The Service Provider will ensure, monitor, and report to the FC Africa Development ER-CAP A2F team that partner financial institutions have the operational capacity to manage risk mitigation facilities. The service provider will also monitor and support access to credit, and financial literacy cascading for target groups, support in delivering products that are culturally and religiously inclusive and successfully enhance the financial capabilities of underserved communities.

SCOPE OF WORK

The Service Provider will be directly responsible for executing activities split across five highly interconnected sub-interventions:

Financial Service Provider (FSP) Capacity Building,

• Support and implement capacity-building initiatives for MSMEs, financial service providers, and community-based service providers, focusing on enhancing financial literacy, business management skills, and utilization of digital financial services.
• Conduct targeted operational review of partner Financial Service Providers (FSP) in Woldiya. Support in designing and delivering customized training modules covering financial governance, internal controls, compliance frameworks, and credit portfolio management.
• Ensure the financial inclusion of IFP financing in alignment with local cultural and religious values.
• Equip FSPs staff with credit provision, monitoring, credit evaluation and risk tools required to effectively administer the Access to Finance(A2F) components.

Financial Literacy, Digital Readiness, & Identity Inclusion

• Support in facilitation and cascading financial literacy from the participating SACCOs, MFIs and commercial banks. Instruction must focus on adult learning principles, gender-sensitive facilitation, and mobile-app troubleshooting.
• Support and monitor FSPs in cascading financial literacy training to beneficiaries. Provide comprehensive training reports including participant lists, signed attendance sheets, and photographic evidence.
• Work alongside Mercy Corps, FC Africa and the Woldiya City Administration to design administrative and promotional workflows that help unregistered IDPs, returnees, and vulnerable host community members secure valid Kebele/Fayda IDs, thereby fulfilling essential bank Know Your (KYC) mandates.

Partnership Management

• Establish and maintain strong partnerships with financial service providers, including banks, MFIs, Digital Financial Service Providers, and SACCOs, to ensure the availability of affordable financial products and technology for MSMEs.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for technical aspects of access to finance-related activities and inquiries.
• Work closely with financial service providers to assess market demand to identify key constraints in the financial service system.

Monitoring and Reporting

• Provide support in designing and conducting a baseline assessment.
• Conduct baseline assessment in collaboration with ER-CAP partners.
• Prepare a weekly progress report and participate in weekly ER-CAP virtual meetings.
• Hire or assign a qualified professional with experience in the access to finance sector to serve as the focal point for the ER-CAP programme in Woldiya City.
• Prepare high-quality quarterly and annual reports according to the ER-CAP programme template.
• Closely work with the MEL team to integrate financial service in the program M&E system to track the impact of access to finance interventions, identify areas for improvement, and ensure program effectiveness.
• Monitor progress and identify risks for timely action and early resolution.
• Develop a performance tracking system and key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure data alignment with FC Africa Development’s reporting framework.

Knowledge Sharing

• Facilitate knowledge sharing and learning opportunities among program stakeholders, including organizing workshops, trainings, and peer-to-peer learning sessions.

DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAMES

The total contract duration for this assignment is six (6) months, with the possibility of extension based on performance and discussions.

Required Qualifications

The service provider is expected to have:

• Minimum of 5–7 years of proven experience in financial inclusion, microfinance, SACCO management systems, and building digital financial literacy programs in Ethiopia.
• Deep understanding of the Market Systems Development (MSD) approach, post-conflict economic recovery, and working with vulnerable populations in fragile and conflict affected settings (IDPs, returnees).
• Experience working with and monitoring FSPs.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills in English and Amharic.
• Familiarity with the socioeconomic dynamics of Woldiya and the wider North Wollo/Amhara context is highly preferred.

WORKING ARRANGEMENT AND REPORTING

1. The service provider will be working under a contract with FC Africa Development. They will report directly to the ER-CAP A2F Team and will also work with other key stakeholders, such as:

• Financial institutions.
• ER – CAP Consortium partners
• Other stakeholders

The service provider will work with these stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of this consultancy program. The service provider is expected to work within the required deadlines and be available in accordance with schedule, which can be adapted as needed.

Evaluation Criteria

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

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

Instructions for Preparation of Technical and Financial Proposals

Interested consulting firms are required to submit separate Technical and Financial Proposals.

The Technical Proposal should clearly demonstrate the firm’s understanding of the assignment, its relevant experience, and its proposed approach and methodology for delivering the required services.

The Financial Proposal should be prepared based on the proposed methodology and the resources required to undertake the assignment. It should include a detailed cost breakdown, including professional fees, personnel daily rates, and any other related costs necessary for the successful execution of the assignment. All costs should be quoted in ETB and be inclusive of applicable taxes.