1. Background:
The Alliance for Financial Inclusion
The Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) is the world’s leading organization on financial inclusion policy and regulation. Currently, 84 member institutions make up the AFI network including central banks, ministries of finance and other financial policymaking or regulatory institutions from over 76 developing countries and emerging markets. AFI empowers policymakers to increase the access and usage of quality financial services for the underserved through sustainable and inclusive policies and an effective use of digital technologies.
Policies developed and implemented by AFI members contribute to a range of the Sustainable Development Goals. By Setting their own agenda, AFI members harness the power of peer learning to develop practical and tested policy reforms that enhance financial inclusion with strategic support from both public and private sector partners.
AFI has 7 Working Groups (WG): Consumer Empowerment and Market Conduct Working Group (CEMCWG), Digital Financial Services Working Group (DFSWG), Financial Inclusion Data Working Group (FIDWG), Financial Inclusion Strategy Peer Learning Group (FISPLG), Global Standards Proportionality Working Group (GSPWG), Inclusive Green Finance Working Group (IGFWG) and SME Finance Working Group (SMEFWG),
As the key source of policy developments and trends in financial inclusion and as the primary mechanism for generating and incubating technical content in the network, the Working Groups serve as “communities of practice”. Providing a platform for knowledge exchange and peer learning among policymakers to share, deliberate and deepen their understanding, the working groups offer leadership and expertise in their respective policy fields and support the network to monitor new developments in emerging fields.
The knowledge generated via the working groups is disseminated for implementation by a range of capacity building activities such as Joint Learning Programs, Member Trainings, Trainings by Private Sector Partners. The practical experience members garner from engaging in peer learning based capacity building is then applied by members as in country implementation projects which are supported by the provision of financial or technical support to AFI member institutions in conducting activities that aim to deliver financial inclusion policies, regulations, supervisory tools or enablers for the development of policies, such as national financial inclusion strategies.
The working groups receive strategic guidance and insight from the High-Level Global Standards & Policy Committee, while the Gender Inclusive Finance Committee, supports WGs in integrating gender considerations into all aspects of their work and support members in fulfilling their Denarau Action Plan (updated 2022) commitment to promote women’s financial inclusion.
AFI members have made further commitments in a range of other accords which can be read here.
The AFI’s five regional initiatives complete the AFI platform of services by supporting policy implementation in Africa (AfPI), Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC), the Pacific Islands (PIRI), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECAPI) and the Arab Region (FIARI).
2. Project Background:
AFI launched the Pilot Project to Advance Financial Inclusion Policy and Regulation in the Latin American and the Caribbean Region in December 2022 with the support from the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs (MFEA). This 24-months project starting in January 2023 was conceptualized around supporting member institutions of AFI from the Latin America and the Caribbean Region (LAC) in the development and implementation of innovative financial inclusion policies and regulations.
The overarching objectives of this pilot project is to (a) enhance policy knowledge to inform and guide member institutions in the LAC region to develop and implement financial inclusion policies in the area of national financial inclusion strategy (NFIS), digital financial services (DFS) / inclusive fintech, inclusive green finance (IGF) and gender inclusive finance (GIF); (b) increase technical skills and strengthen the capacity of member institutions from the LAC region to implement evidence-based financial inclusion policies and regulations; and (c) scaling partnerships with the Luxembourg community, the broader European community and the global community of AFI members and ecosystem stakeholders, and amplifying LAC members’ voice and views on issues of shared policy priority.
3. Overall Objective:
The main objective of this consultancy is to undertake an end-project evaluation of the Pilot Project to Advance Financial Inclusion Policy and Regulation in the Latin American and the Caribbean Region 2023 – 2024.
The evaluation is intended to capture the lessons learnt from the project. This will involve an assessment of project achievements and results against its planned objectives and outcomes. The evaluation will cover the overall project lifecycle from its design and planning to implementation and results. The evaluation shall assess the project achievements based on the project proposal, results framework, and its performance in project delivery. The findings and analysis from this evaluation will inform AFI’s programming strategy for the Latin America and the Caribbean region moving forward.
The evaluation should be based on the six criteria outlined by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC): relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact.
4. Scope of Work:
The consultant will be required to work with AFI members and other key stakeholders towards coming up with the deliverables. The assignment entails the following:
- Review the overall progress made towards achieving the key outputs and outcomes of the project as defined in the project proposal, results framework and other metrics as appropriate;
- Review the project’s relevance to AFI members’ priority needs, identifying gaps and opportunities at the activity level to ensure AFI service delivery meets members’ demand;
- Review the coherence of the project’s intervention in creating complementarities with other AFI services and benefits; as well as alignment with Luxembourg’s General Development Cooperation Strategy “The Road to 2030” and synergies with the Luxembourg ecosystem partners;
- Review the efficiency and effectiveness of project implementation by AFI Management Unit, including coordination mechanism and collaboration with the LAC Regional Office (LRO), Europe Representative Office (ERO), and with other relevant departments within AFI as well as partners / stakeholders outside AFI; as well as budget utilization for project implementation;
- Review the extent to which key outputs and outcomes of the project are contributing to the development and implementation of effective financial inclusion policies by AFI member institutions;
- Review the extent the project is generating impact and the likelihood of the benefits to be sustained after the completion of this project;
- Submit an end-project evaluation report of the project outlining recommendations including on the strategic and programmatic considerations for possible subsequent phase (s) of this project, project monitoring and evaluation and impact measurement;
- Prepare presentations for the relevant AFI teams, as necessary.
The work will be primarily an off-site review in coordination with the AFI Main Office (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). The evaluation will be conducted through a combination of desk review of project documents including progress reporting and other related AFI documents, and key informant interviews of AFI personnel, AFI member institutions, and development partners and other stakeholders. Remote interviews with selected AFI member institutions, and/or partners and stakeholders will also be conducted virtually.
5. Timeline and Deliverables:
This work would be undertaken between end-August 2024 and December 2024. The key timelines are summarized in the table below:
Refer Link to Job Listing & ‘How to Apply’ section for more detailed information.
6. Travel:
No Travel is expected for this assignment. The consultant(s) will work remotely and undertake virtual meetings to complete the tasks.
7. Consultant Experience:
The consultant(s) performing this task must have the following qualifications:
- Relevant academic qualification: advanced degree in international development, public policy, economics, finance or other related fields;
- Experience in undertaking projects/programs reviews and evaluations: lead evaluator / team leader should have more than eight (8) years of professional experience in undertaking project and/or program reviews and evaluations in emerging or developing economies is compulsory; prior experience undertaking projects/programs reviews and evaluations in the Latin America and Caribbean region will be an added advantage;
- Experience working on financial inclusion: prior experience on financial regulations, public policy and international development are desired; professional engagement with financial regulators and/or public sector stakeholders will be an added advantage;
- Experience with global and/or regional membership-based organizations: prior experience working with membership-based organizations in project / program reviews and evaluations is desired;
- Language and report writing skills: fluency in English and Spanish (oral and writing) is compulsory; French (oral) is an added advantage
- Ability to maintain and keep confidential information within the scope of the project.
8. Reporting:
Throughout the contract period, the Consultant will be reporting to AFI Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Department and is expected to provide weekly progress updates (in English).
During this assignment, consultant(s) will also be working closely with the AFI LAC Regional Office (LRO) and Europe Representative Office (ERO).
9. Payment Terms:
The payment terms/schedule proposed for this consultancy are as following:
Refer Link to Job Listing & ‘How to Apply’ section for more detailed information.
10. Proposal Submission Information:
Proposals will be due with the following requirements for submission:
Refer Link to Job Listing & ‘How to Apply’ section for more detailed information.
11. Evaluation Criteria
The proposals submitted will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
Refer Link to Job Listing & ‘How to Apply’ section for more detailed information.
Evaluation of technical and financial proposals
AFI reserves the right to award the most suitable proposal based on the evaluation of combined criterion, where bidders are qualified by the combined valuation of the technical and financial proposals, with the following weightage:
i) Technical Proposal: 70% (Seventy percent)
ii) Financial Proposal: 30% (Thirty percent)
How to apply
Interested applicants are expected to submit a proposal with an updated CV and using the template given (Download the RFP document here) by email to AFI’s Procurement & Contracts Office at [email protected] by 14 June 2024, Friday.
Note: AFI does not tolerate copyright infringement, including and not limited to infringement, in the form of plagiarism. Consultant or consulting entity awarded a contract by AFI shall take responsibility to ensure that the authored works, produced in parts or as an entirety of the deliverables stated in this RFP does not infringe on copyrights.
The final decision on the selection of a consultant/consulting firm for this project rests with AFI management team and with the Inquiry. Only shortlisted and successful consultants will be contacted.