SOFIA Data Analysis Consultant

Background of the Project and Assignment

The Government of Indonesia partners with the Government of Australia on an initiative to boost smallholder farmers’ incomes: The Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Rural Economic Development (AIP-Rural).

AIP-Rural is a suite of programs that improves smallholder farmers’ access to new markets, better inputs, knowhow, technology, irrigation, and small loans. Its goal is to achieve a sustainable 30% increase in the net incomes of 1,000,000 male and female smallholder farmers in Eastern Indonesia by 2022. AIP-Rural operates in East Java, West and East of Nusa Tenggara, Papua and West Papua.

The program focuses on agricultural sectors that display strong growth potential and are the main source of income for many smallholder farmers.. All of this is done via co-investing in new business models with local, regional, national and international market players to create business models that improve the agriculture sector’s competitiveness, especially for smallholder farmers.

AIP-Rural’s four programs are:

Promoting Rural Income through Support for Markets in Agriculture (PRISMA)

A program dedicated to supporting the Government of Indonesia’s mid-term development strategy to eradicate rural poverty. The program aims to improve agriculture competitiveness – productivity, profit, access to new or better markets, and innovation – for rural farmers. PRISMA aims to achieve a 30% increase in the net incomes of 300,000 male and female smallholder farmers in Eastern Indonesia by the program’s completion.

Tertiary Irrigation Technical Assistance (TIRTA)

TIRTA is a program that aims to improve smallholder farmers’ access to irrigation. It supports the creation of tertiary irrigation schemes that are managed by HIPPA (water user associations) and local investors (lead farmers or local entrepreneurs). The program’s goal is to increase the net income of 10,000 farmers by 60% through improvements to the efficiency, technical and economic viability of at least 35 tertiary irrigation projects.

Strengthening Agriculture Finance in Rural Areas (SAFIRA)

This is a program that improves smallholder farmers’ access to essential financial services, such as business and investment capital loans. The program facilitates a financial service model that can answer to farmers’ specific needs through a partnership between formal and informal financial institutions in rural areas. The program will also expand smallholder farmers’ financial access through key market stakeholders (including but not limited to input retailers, collectors, traders and manufacturing companies) in the value chain.

Applied Research and Innovation System in Agriculture (ARISA)

ARISA is a partnership between Indonesia’s Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) and Australia’s science and technology think tank, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), that aims to disseminate applied and adaptive research in agriculture that will have practical and significant impacts on the incomes of farmers. Its goal is to support innovations that can increase the incomes of 10,000 small farmers in Eastern Indonesia by the end of 2018.

Strengthening Agricultural Rural Finance in Rural Areas (SAFIRA) is a three-year project that is part of the Government of Indonesia (GoI) strategy to accelerate poverty reduction through inclusive economic development. SAFIRA will focus initially on East Java, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). It is supported by BAPPENAS and the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) under the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Rural Economic Development (AIP-Rural). The program will focus on agriculture value chain finance (VCF) to expand smallholder farmer access to finance.. VCF is made possible by value chain relationships and mechanisms. SAFIRA will work with partner financial institutions (PFIs), small and medium enterprises (SMEs) (e.g. seed producers, other input suppliers, collectors, processors, other traders) and farmers to equip them with the skills and capability to engage in sustainable applications of VCF.

SAFIRA’s intention is not only to support financial institutions and other value-chain actors to utilize the available information about VCF and strengthen the institutional capacity in VCF at each level but also to strengthen the support system surrounding financial institutions in the guidance and implementation.

In 2016-2017 SAFIRA commissioned a financial access survey, SOFIA, similar to FinScope in methodology. The study looked at the demand side of financial access across 5 provinces in Indonesia. One of the intentions of SOFIA was to use this dataset to inform financial sector partners about the potential customer base so that they may adequately design products and services to meet their needs. 

Purpose of The Consultant

While SAFIRA has the raw dataset, the further analysis of the data to form conclusions that is across provinces, gender disaggregated and relevant for SAFIRA partners is still lacking. SAFIRA is looking for a consultant to provide further analysis on the data so that our partners can draw relevant conclusions from the results. These data are meant to provide financial service providers with information that they can use as they develop new products or services and better meet the needs of the rural populations.

SAFIRA is seeking SOFIA Data Analyst (individual consultant or consulting companies) to support SAFIRA in developing a report from SOFIA dataset that would appeal and be a utility to Financial Institutions partners.

Roles and Responsibilities

Under the direction of the SAFIRA Team Leader, the consultant is fully responsible to conduct data analysis and report on findings. Activities should include:

• A meeting with selected partners to gain an insight on relevant data points
• Review the data for relevant findings

The report should include:

• Relevant insights (commercial value) for FIs to appeal to rural populations, farmers (men and women)

• Suggest means by which financial institutions might be able to bridge the gap to meet the needs of the market (with reference to value chain finance)

• Potential number of customers in agriculture sector as well as potential women borrowers (as part of the commercial case)
• Potential agriculture VCF product/ services for each types of financial institutions
• Risk matrix report associated with agriculture financing based on SOFIA result
• Provides market outlook and appropriate recommendation related to agriculture financing for policy maker in banking industry, financial institutions association and at Government level

The consultant will maintain coordination with SAFIRA Team Leader and Coordinator during the assignment.

Key Selection Criteria

Essential skills and experience:

• Fluent in English and Bahasa Indonesia
• Experts in data and reporting review analysis
• Experts in report writing both in English and Bahasa Indonesia
• Minimum education is bachelor degree in economics, finance, business, agriculture, statistic, or other related discipline with minimum 10 years experiences
• Strong record working in agriculture financing issues in Indonesia
• Ability to work independently and as a member of a team.
• Professional presentation and communication skills both in English and Bahasa Indonesia.

Functional Relationships

This position reports to the SAFIRA Team Leader with support from the program coordinator.

Input and Location

The total input for this assignment is up to 30 days with information as follows:

• The consultant work will be done on weekdays, weekend and Indonesia national holiday in Surabaya
• All reimbursable costs (including local transportation) will be paid against actual costs incurred.
• Hotels will be arranged by AIP-Rural.
• Consulting Fee and Per-diem will be paid based on actual working days and meals which are not provided by the training session.
• Consulting Fee and Per-diem will be paid after the consultant send the timesheet, respective deliverables and expense report according to the actual expenses.
  
  

Expected Output and Deliverables

The output of this assignment will be as follows:

Deliverable	Due Dates 2018
Develop design of data analysis and review	4 May
Data and information collection	11 May
First draft data analysis and report	18 May
Presentation to SAFIRA team	22 May
Final report	28 May
Presentation to stakeholders	31 May

How to Apply

Please apply via following link:  SOFIA Data Analysis Consultant

Female candidates are encouraged to apply.

Applications close on 6^th April 2018