NGO JOBS

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Islamic Micro-Finance Consultant

Project: Islamic Micro-Finance ConsultantNo of Jobs: One (01)Duty Station: Hargeisa, Somaliland with travels to Puntland and MogadishuDuration: 45 daysStarting Date: ASAPClosing Date:

Overview of CTG GlobalCTG Global is a Personnel Management Service Company specialised in Recruitment, Management Consultancy, and Human Resources in countries experiencing or emerging from armed conflict, natural disasters, or acute social and economic crisis worldwide. CTG Global provides tailored personnel management support enabling a growing number of public and private sector agencies and individuals to achieve their objectives in complex and challenging environments. CTG Global clients currently comprise UN agencies, non-government organizations (NGOs), and different corporate organisations such as security companies.

Overview of the PositionThe prolonged conflict in Somalia has eroded the capacity of the population to maintain sustained livelihoods. In spite of efforts exerted by UN agencies, NGOs and other actors the issue of poverty is still prevalent. An important building block in any poverty reduction strategy is access to financial services.

The experience in Somalia is mixed with some NGOs providing small loans and others providing grants. However, these efforts are targeting few of the potential borrowers who are interested in receiving loans to start a micro-enterprise or enhance an existing one.

Our Client has provided support to carry out a baseline survey of the Micro-Finance sector in Somaliland. The baseline report reflected a number of challenges that face the sector. Some of these challenges included a limited of number of Micro-Finance Institutions providing Micro-Finance services; low capacity of those institutions; absence of a MF regulatory framework; lack of bank laws; lack of operational manuals and high operating costs and high rates of delinquency. Similar reviews in Puntland revealed similar results.

The recently produced Micro-finance policy and strategy for Somalia failed to highlight the role of the microfinance sector as an essential element within a broader approach for poverty alleviation and socio- economic development -enabling the poor to access financial services that are not limited to credit but also include savings, cash transfers and insurance. It also did not clearly delineate how the country would build a microfinance industry that is institutionally and financially sustainable, and integrated within the broader formal financial sector.

The strategy should have also explored and provided suggestions on how to address the lack of collateral system in lieu of the fact that the Micro-Finance clients would most likely be economically active poor clients. It should also allude to the need of introducing a credit guarantee system to safeguard loans dispensed to high risk clients, and should elaborate on the different Islamic Micro- Finance modalities to ensure that the selected modalities address the different client needs.

Furthermore, it is important prior to finalizing the strategy to explore Micro-Finance best practices in countries similar to Somalia's social, economic and political context, with the view of developing a strategy that captures the challenges and opportunities today, while availing scope for future expansion.

In its efforts to arrest the problem of access to Micro-finance services, our client’s Somalia Office is seeking to support national efforts to institutionalize Micro-Finance in Somalia. This would be carried out through a rigorous exercise that would start by assessing the sector, identifying the gaps, drafting a road map that would lead to the institutional set up, validate the findings through national consultative dialogue and review and present the final draft road map in a regional workshop that intends to review the findings, compare them with experiences elsewhere and enhance the road map on the basis of best practices from countries with a similar political, social and economic context as Somalia.

The main objective of this assignment is to guide the national efforts in the three regions to finalize the three documents relating to the road map for institutionalizing Islamic Micro-Finance in Somalia and to consolidate the comments from the national and regional discussions. The road map will provide the course of action that needs to be undertaken to reach the intended objective. This includes the assessment exercise, developing a vision, a policy document and an action plan. The action plan will tailor the individual activities including the regulatory and legal aspects required, the capacity building needs, the monitoring and oversight mechanisms.

For that purpose, our client seeks to engage an international consultant to lead the technical process in the three regions of Somalia. The international consultant will also facilitate the presentations as well as the discussions related to the three documents at the regional workshop.

General FunctionsObjectives of the assignment
The main objective of this assignment is to guide the national efforts in the three regions to finalize the three documents relating to the road map for institutionalizing Islamic Micro-Finance in Somalia and to consolidate the comments from the national and regional discussions. The road map will provide the course of action that needs to be undertaken to reach the intended objective. This includes the assessment exercise, developing a vision, a policy document and an action plan. The action plan will tailor the individual activities including the regulatory and legal aspects required, the capacity building needs, the monitoring and oversight mechanisms. For that purpose, our client seeks to engage an international consultant to lead the technical process in the three regions of Somalia. The international consultant will also facilitate the presentations as well as the discussions related to the three documents at the regional workshop

Scope of Work/Expected Output Expected outcomes: • A rapid assessment report of the Micro-Finance sectors in the three regions of Somalia • Three refined road maps aimed at institutionalizing Islamic Micro-Finance in South Central, Somaliland and Puntland. The assessment report should also identify the capacity gaps in the sector and the measures needed to address those gaps. • Enhancing road maps by incorporating comments from national workshops and regional workshop • Final assignment report, both in hard and soft copy with all necessary annexes

Monitoring and Progress ControlsThe Consultant will be required to provide a report upon completion of each of the derivable along with the actual deliverable in both soft and hard copy, In light of the fact that the assignment will be undertaken over a period of 45 days spread over a four months period, the Consultant will also available to answer queries and address issues by e-mail when he/she is not engaged in the field. The deadline for each deliverable is provided under section V below. The Consultant will establish close working links with PREP Program Manager and the SL Project Manager. He/She will use the our client’s reporting templates to provide reports and data and will be available to attend meetings in both Nairobi and Somalia when requested during the duration of the field engagement. He/She would also be available to meet with Government Counterparts and discuss issues related to the assignment when requested to do so. During the Regional Workshop, the Consultant will be required to facilitate discussions as well as make presentations as reflected in the Workshop Program. He/She will also facilitate the discussions relating the Road Maps of the three regions and incorporate comments resulting from those discussions in the individual road maps and the final workshop report.

Final Product / DeliverablesDeliverables Completion Date Duty Station Payment Upon CompletionFinalise the Micro-Finance Assessment Report for the three regions 15 November Hargeisa 10%Review and update the Draft National Road Map for Somaliland 15 November Hargeisa 10%Review and update the Draft National Road Map for Puntland 15 November Garowe 10%Review and update the Draft National Road Map for South Central 15 November Mogadishu 10%Facilitate the discussions in the Regional Workshop 06 December Khartoum 10%Facilitate all three Road Maps based on the discussions at the Regional Workshop 30 December Hargeisa 10%Develop an outline and the first Draft for the Program Support Document for Micro-Finance in Somaliland 30 December 2012 Hargeisa 20%Produce the Final Workshop Report as well as Mission Report 30 December 2012 Hargeisa, Home 20%Or number of days as per the sample belowDates : 07 – 17 December Total Number of Days: 11 Days

Review/Approval Time Upon completion of each deliverable, the Consultant will submit a short narrative report along with the deliverable. The Report will reflect an explanation of the actual deliverable, how it was achieved and how it may be used. The Report will be submitted to the SL Project Manager, who will review the Report and Deliverable, provide comments as needed. If the SL Project Manager is satisfied with the Deliverable, he will submit his inputs to the PREP Program Manager recommending the release of the payment in accordance with the milestones reflected in Section V. The Program Manager will certify the payment and request our client’s Finance to issue the payment in accordance with the identified milestone.

Essential ExperienceCorporate Competencies: • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards • Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of our client Functional Competencies: Identifying and building partnerships • Effectively networks with partners seizing opportunities to build strategic alliances relevant to our client’s mandate and strategic agenda Knowledge Management and Learning • Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills Management and Leadership • Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive altitude • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities • Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills • Promote cross-unit teamwork and the development of operational skills of the team members through coaching and mentoring. • Promotes coordination among the various components of the project and programmes.

Education: Advanced University degree in Economics, Finance, Business Administration, Enterprise Development, Entrepreneurship and/or other field relevant to economic development and research specialization preferably in post-crisis countries

Experience: • A minimum of 10 years of documented relevant work experience in the Micro-Finance sector with solid knowledge of the Islamic Micro-Finance modes and modalities• Documented technical knowledge and practical experience in applying concepts and principles to practically challenging issues and extensive experience in institutional development is required
• Ability to produce well written reports and documents.
• Knowledge of the UN and our client’s processes, rules and regulations is desirable
• Knowledge of the target region and particular experience in Somalia is a plus
• Extensive knowledge of the national economic issues (within the Somali context) is highly essential.
Other Information Eg: The expert will be required to have a personal lap top computer.

Languages• Strong written and spoken English language skills