Terms of Reference
Research on Insurance Services
for the MEDA EMERTA Project in Ethiopia
1. Background
Value Chains for Economic Growth in Ethiopia is an economic development project that begun in Ethiopia in May 2016 and will run to March 2023. The project, which is known locally as EMERTA, (which stands for Ethiopians Motivating Enterprises to Rise in Trade and Agri-business and means ‘to leap to great heights’ in Amharic) is committed to increasing sustainable employment and income generation for women and men in the Amhara region of Ethiopia in rice, vegetables and gems sectors, with a particular focus on women.
MEDA believes that access to appropriate and affordable financial services for value chain actors is imperative, as part of its market systems development approach to achieve project goals. Access to financial services allows value chain actors to scale up and improve their businesses to better support small-scale producers. EMERTA’s financial services team, in collaboration with HQ rural finance consultant would like to develop appropriate financial products to meet the needs of the value chain actors.
For this purpose, the project seeks to ensure that rural SMEs in Amhara Region get access to financing services. Further, to facilitate access to finance for small producers, the EMERTA project also links smallholder farmers to financial services providers including community-based savings and lending groups, value chain stakeholders and formal microfinance organizations.
In order to ensure that small producers and rural SMEs have access to financial services that help them safeguard against risks caused by natural calamities or any other unfavorable events, the EMERTA project would like to explore possibilities of introducing and pilot testing business insurance products in its target geographical area (Amhara Region) among the stakeholders in the rice, gemstones and vegetables sectors. This Terms of Reference (TOR) serves as a guide for an external consultant to conduct the research, explore opportunities and assess feasibility of introducing and pilot testing insurance services within the EMERTA project.
2. Scope of Work
This TOR was designed for the external consultant in Ethiopia to carry out the following assignments:
At the end of this research consultancy, the Consultant will provide a full report with all the observations, findings and recommendations. The Consultant will draft a report outline prior to the research completion and report development with the EMERTA project and will use the report outline once it is reviewed and approved by EMERTA project management.
3. Deliverables
As a result of this research consultancy, the Consultant will submit the following deliverables to the EMERTA project:
Deliverable 1: A full research report to be submitted to the project management and team with all the observations, findings, recommendations and relevant research tools, interview notes, contact information and bibliography used for the desk-based research
Deliverable 2: At the end of the research, the Consultant will prepare a PowerPoint presentation of the research and will present all the observations, findings, recommendations, and ideas to the EMERTA project team
Deliverable 3: Expense Report for the field trip – an expense report template will be provided by the EMERTA Project
At the beginning of the research, the Consultant, along with the EMERTA Financial Service team, will review and agree on the schedule of the research activities and deliverables.
At the end of the field trip, the Consultant must also provide a short debrief about the trip findings and conducted work to the Project Management Team in the field, solicit their feedback on those findings and ensure final concurrence on the agreed deliverables, its content and main parameters if required.
The following table suggests estimated level of effort (LOE) for this research consultancy:
You can get full detail of the ToR from the link below
ToR-Research on Insurance services.doc
5. Required Skills and Qualifications for the Consultant
The Consultant must possess the following main set of skills and qualifications for this research assignment:
The EMERTA Financial Services will support the Consultant with the research planning, setting up appointments, accommodation and flights reservation, and all other support during the field trip, interviews, and the whole course of the research.
7. Timelines
Availability to do this task is end of January 2021.