MENA_ Microfinance Facility and actions supporting the financial inclusion in the Southern Neighbourhood of the EU

The overall objective of the project of which this TA operation will be part of, is as follows:

"to foster employment generating activities and promoting access to finance to MSEs and low income persons of the Southern Neighbourhood of the EU, with the ultimate goal of sustaining job creation, socio-economic growth and to contribute to poverty alleviation, therefore directly addressing the causes of migration."

In the framework of the Risk Capital Facility for the Southern Neighbourhood countries, financed by the EIB and the European Commission (from the general budget of the European Union under the Neighbourhood Investment Facility), the Bank launched the Southern Neighbourhood Microfinance Facility ("SNMF or the Facility"), a EUR 71.25m envelope to realise small microfinance investments in the Southern Neighbourhood of the European Union (the "Region").

The main characteristics of the SNMF are:

  • Final Beneficiaries: defined as business with fewer than 10 employees in both urban and rural areas, including self-employed individuals, sole-proprietorships and micro-entrepreneur groups.
  • Financial Intermediaries: defined as existing and newly created microfinance institutions; credit unions/cooperatives; microfinance investment vehicles and banks willing to serve small clients.
  • Type of operations: mainly debt transactions in EUR and USD. Equity type investments may also be considered.

For the purposes of this TA operation, Financial Intermediaries are those in the EIB pipeline of operations under the SNMF as well as existing EIB microfinance counterparts in the Region.

The overall objective of this TA operation is to promote responsible financial inclusion of the Southern Neighbourhood populations so as to reduce poverty, encourage entrepreneurship and increase stability across the region. The aim is to improve the quantity and quality of financial services on offer to the final beneficiaries/clients currently unserved or underserved by the traditional financial sector.

A further objective is to support the implementation of the SNMF by facilitating its deployment in an efficient, responsible and sustainable manner in accordance with EIB standards and requirements.

Qualifications: 

KE 2 assures team leader functions during absence of the Team Leader. KE 2 works as a consultant-trainer/coach and diagnoses needs of Financial Intermediaries. They will be in charge of preparing training sessions and/or mobilising STEs to that effect within the geographic zones / Financial Intermediaries under his/her remit. They may further provide direct coaching or capacity building to FIs, depending on their areas of expertise. Responsibilities include drafting training TORs, quality management control of deliverables, training evaluation, guidance to trainees, reporting the obtained attendance, performance, satisfaction, and other indices relating to the functioning of the in situ training programme or consulting actions delivered. The reporting should enable monitoring of the project’s progress as well the achievement of results and impact.

Qualification and Skills

  • University degree, preferably in Business Administration, Economics, Finance, Banking, or related field or equivalent professional experience;
  • Excellent writing and communication skills;
  • Fluency in spoken and written English as well as very good command of French and/or Arabic, where applicable and depending on the Countries where activities will be carried out;
  • Computer literate.

General professional Experience

  • Relevant professional experience with a minimum of 5 years with a microfinance institution or an inclusive finance TA provider, with a specific focus on financial analysis and micro and small lending, non-performing loan management, identification of key lending risks;
  • Good management skills of microfinance entities, especially in the areas of Risk management, Operations, Audit and Business Development;
  • Experience in matters related to the transformation of MFIs would also be appreciated (direct involvement in at least 2 transformation processes);

Specific professional Experience

  • At least 3 years of relevant international professional experience in countries of the Southern Neighbourhood;

  • At least 5 years practical experience and proven track record in defining institutional needs, organising and delivering successful professional bank and microfinance TA training and coaching programmes; Previous experience with EIB financing would be particularly appreciated. Knowledge of the EIB’s Know Your Customer and AML procedures and Social and Environmental standards would be an asset

  • Previous experience of helping financial intermediaries improve Social Performance Management.

     
Start / Duration: 

The intended commencement date is September 2018 and the period of implementation of the contract will be 36 months from this date.

The location of the TA operation will depend on where the beneficiary Financial Intermediaries are based. As a consequence, the Consultant’s base of operations is still to be determined and will have to be chosen by the Consultant in close cooperation with the EIB. Activities of the TA operation are to be performed in the countries of the EU Southern Neighbourhood, namely Algeria; Morocco; Tunisia; Egypt; Jordan; Lebanon; Palestine and Syria (to be noted however, that activities are currently suspended, subject to the decision of the Bank’s governing bodies to resume new operations in this last country).

Are you interested to cooprtate with AFC in this upcoming project, please send your most recent CV to:

Barbara.Braun [at] afci.de Thank you! Please note, that only shortlisted experts will be contacted