Country: Uganda
Closing date: 31 Dec 2019
Specification of the assignment
The consultant is to carry out an assignment for the Agri-Business Skilling for Youth in a Refugee context (ABSYR) and High Flyers programme of ICCO Cooperation from January to June 2020.
The ABSYR programme (2018-2020) supports 5,000 youth in Yumbe district (Ariwa and Odravu sub county) to set up an agribusiness. The youth receive trainings, long-term coaching, market linkage support and are also supported to access finance. As part of the ABSYR programme, ICCO Cooperation implements an initiative together with Rural Finance Initiative (RUFI) MFI, piloting a new agricultural loan product and a digital application (A-CAT) to support MFIs to get more insight in (potential) clients.
The High Flyers programme (2019-2021) supports 1,000 young agripreneurs from Nebbi district and Lango region to grow and strengthen their agri-business through training, coaching, long-term mentoring, and market linkage and financial linkage support.
The consultant will be responsible for leading the A-CAT and Loan pilot of ICCO Cooperation and Rural Finance Initiative (RUFI) MFI on the ground, mapping and analysis of financial products available for targeted agripreneurs of the High Flyers programme, support to FSPs in (preparations for) development of new agricultural loan products, linkage of targeted youth to the available products, and provision of financial education sessions to young agripreneurs of the High Flyers programm
Responsibilities of the Consultant
The consultant will be responsible for the following:
- Mapping and analysis of available loan products for beneficiaries of the High Flyers programme, through review of documents including studies done by ICCO and other organizations and additional interviews with formal and informal financial service providers;
- Identify potential ‘new’ financial services/products and market niches;
- Discussions with and advisory to financial service providers about the potential to develop new and affordable products for (young) entrepreneurs in agribusiness;
- If possible support to the financial service provider in the (preparations for) the development of new agricultural loan products;
- Linkage of youth from the High Flyers programme to suitable products, and support to them to access the financial services;
- Provision of financial education training to young agripreneurs of the High Flyers programme;
- Identify potential future roles of ICCO in developing appropriate financial services for young agripreneurs from Northern Uganda;
- Leading and monitoring the A-CAT and Loan pilot on the ground, as part of the ABSYR programme in Ariwa and Odravu sub county.
Qualifications and skills required
The following qualifications and skills are required:
Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in Finance or other relevant field;
Experience in mapping and analysis of financial providers and financial products in the agricultural sector;
Experience in providing capacity-building initiatives to micro-finance institutions and other financial service providers;
Preferably expertise in provision of technical assistance in the development of agricultural financial products;
Experience in provision of financial education;
Experience in support to entrepreneurs in accessing financial products;
Thorough knowledge about the financial sector in Uganda;
Preferably expertise in the use and development of digital applications for financial inclusion.
Period and duration of assignment The assignment is scheduled for the period from (mid/end) January to June 2020.
Special conditions
The assignment will be implemented in close cooperation with the Uganda Country Manager of ICCO Cooperation. The consultant also liaises with the ABSYR and High Flyers team of ICCO, RUFI MFI loan officers and Financial Inclusion Advisors of ICCO from other countries.
The Financial Inclusion Consultant must be present in the field (Yumbe/Koboko/Ariwa and Nebbi/Lango) regularly, approximately 2-3 weeks per month.
How to apply:
Interested persons should go to http://icco.hrmagic.co/careers/ and apply online. Ensure you fill in all the required fields and submit accordingly. The final deadline for submissions is Tuesday 31st December 2019 at 17:00 hrs. Only applications submitted before the deadline will be considered.