Assessment of Women Entrepreneurs Consultant

Background:

Study shows that most Indonesians still do not have access to banking and other financial services.  Many are unaware of the services, live far from a bank branch and/or are deterred by the burdensome bank fees and requirements.  It is estimated that only 36% of adult Indonesians have access to formal financial institutions[1]. The government of Indonesia initiated the document of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (SNKI) in June 2012, with branchless banking called out as a priority area.  As part of the strategy, Indonesia recently reinforced a new presidential decree in 2016 to promote financial inclusion through branchless banking (LAKU PANDAI)[2] as one of the initiatives to increase access to financial services among its large unbanked population. 

Scaling-Up Women Entrepreneurs Empowerment Training (SWEET) will follow up the findings of Mobile Financial Services for Female Entrepreneurs Program (MFS) which was implemented in 2016 to 2018 to test and identify a cost-effective and sustainable approach to promote women entrepreneurs’ uptake of mobile financial services as a way to increase investment in and profit from their businesses. As the first phase intervention, the project was producing tailored training for 2,000 women entrepreneurs randomly selected across three districts. In this current project, as the second phase, SWEET project’s goal is to expand the financial literacy training to add an additional 1,200 women entrepreneurs located in the similar project areas

Purpose / Project Description:

The aim of the SWEET project is that women entrepreneurs will have improved knowledge and skills around financial management that applies to their household and business. Additionally, SWEET beneficiaries will understand the different types of branchless banking products and actively use saving product through the digital channel services in order to improve business profits and family welfare.

The beneficiaries will also receive mentoring support to further enable the use of mobile financial services to increase savings, investment, and business profits. The key objectives are 1) To ensure that the targeted women entrepreneurs are able to distinguish between and prioritize household and business financial needs; 2) To support the targeted women entrepreneurs to begin saving practices and link them with branchless banking services.

Consultant Objectives:

The SWEET Project needs a consultant to conduct the needs assessment of women entrepreneurs prior to project implementation. This needs assessment shall give a clear result on the current situation of the saving behaviour, existing saving providers, available saving products, and financial management behaviour of the women entrepreneurs. This assessment in overall must portray the profile of women entrepreneurs in the three districts of Ngawi, Bojonegoro and Tuban, in term of their financial access, demand/needs, constraints and the gaps amongst the aspects mentioned above.

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will conduct a series of activity to complete the needs assessment in three districts of Ngawi, Bojonegoro and Tuban. The activity should be conducted in Focus Group Discussion on:

Consultant Activities:

The Consultant will conduct a series of activity to complete the needs assessment in three districts of Ngawi, Bojonegoro and Tuban. The activity should be conducted in Focus Group Discussion on:

1.       Saving behaviour of women entrepreneurs

• Identify the actual conditions, familiarity and type of savings activity in the respective areas
• Identify the providers in the area and their coverage of accessibility
• Identify factors and constraints which affect the saving behaviour of women entrepreneurs, including (but not limited to) social, cultural and technological factors.

2.       Needs for saving products of women entrepreneurs

• Identify the required type of products
• Identify the preferred channels
• Recommend the education and promotion strategies to attract women entrepreneurs become the active savers

3.       Financial management behaviour assessment

• Identify the current practice of women entrepreneurs related to financial business and household management.
• Identify the  needs for specific skills and knowledge related to financial management or business management

  

Consultant Deliverables:

The Consultant should complete these main outputs:

1.       Develop an assessment plan and FGD instruments

2.       Draft finding of assessment to be reviewed by the Project Manager and Program Director

3.       Final assessment report

The consultant should develop a very clear and simple assessment report. The main content of the report should not exceed 20 pages, including executive summary and recommendation. Technical explanation should be comprised in appendices, including list of participants being assessed and other information. The information should have relevance to the assessment analysis, findings and conclusion.. 

The consultant should explain the assessment methodology clearly and how the methodology is used for the analysis through relevant data information. The assessment of result should be justified by evidence in order to provide recommendations. The recommendations should include detail strategy on how to roll out the implementation of the upcoming project..

  

Consultant Qualifications:

We need a consultant with a strong background in community engagement and/or evaluation, in particular in Financial Services, Financial Inclusion, or Economic Development. The Consultant should have excellent knowledge of assessment method and data analysis, and good understanding in participatory process. It would be beneficial if the Consultant have the following skills and competencies:

1.       Demonstrate experience of producing high quality assessment reports

2.       Experience working with NGO in rural area

3.       Ability to write concisely, analyze data and information precisely, and present key findings in a well-defined structure

4.       Adequate knowledge of branchless banking, financial services or financial inclusion

5.       Excellent writing and verbal communication in English and Bahasa Indonesia

  

Timeframe / Schedule: 

This consultancy works must be completed within 20 working days started upon the signed date of contract or based on the agreed date of both parties, and not exceeding 31 January 2019.

No	Activity	Day
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
1	Document reading and preparation
2	Travel to/from project areas/other districts
3	Focus group discussion in Ngawi
4	Focus group discussion in Bojonegoro
5	Focus group discussion in Tuban
6	Organize and analyze data
7	Draft finding (including data) submission
8	Review and discussion
9	Finalize assessment document
10	Final presentation and submission of assessment report

  

The Consultant will report to:

Glory Sunarto - Project Manager of SWEET in MCI Jakarta Office

  

The Consultant will work closely with:

1.       Project Manager of SWEET

2.       District Coordinators of SWEET at Ngawi, Bojonegoro and Tuban Districts

3.       Project Officers of SWEET in Ngawi, Bojonegoro and Tuban Districts

Applicants should send their CV to procurement@id.mercycorps.org at the latest December 16^th, 2018.