Development and standardization of financial education modules, materials, and delivery channels, and technical assistance to financial education providers focusing on women, youth and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME)
1. BACKGROUND
About the BRIDGES Programme:
With Ethiopia's labour force expanding by two million each year, BRIDGES seeks to contribute toward the country's efforts of creating highly productive and decent jobs for its young population by direct job creation within factories, as well as creating employment opportunities in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The result of these efforts will be the creation of jobs for more than 600,000 young people.
BRIDGES is a Mastercard Foundation Young Africa Works initiative implemented by First Consult. First Consult is the leading development consulting organization in Ethiopia implementing economic development projects. Founded in 2006, First Consult has grown to design and implement projects across the agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors. Our multidisciplinary teams combine a capacity to execute with a clarity of the local context. We have delivered at-scale real impact in terms of jobs & wealth creation, business formation & growth, and investment attraction & mobilization.
Poor access to finance is one of the critical constraints to job creation and enterprise development that needs to be addressed through facilitation, awareness creation, innovation, BDS support to enterprises, and increasing technical assistance to participating financial institutions. The Access to finance pillar in the BRIDGES Programme will address two fundamental, immediate and complementary challenges (financial illiteracy and lack of access to finance) by providing financial awareness creation and unlocking access to finance to create a potential for job creation for young men and women. BRIDGES' engagement in the financial market for about two years has shown that unemployed young men and women and MSMEs lack awareness about the various financial service offerings that would enable them to access credit to realize their vision. BRIDGES thus designed an intervention to provide financial education/literacy training to young men and women and MSMEs, as a result of which 25,000 youth were trained and 40% have accessed credit from micro finance institutes (MFIs) and saving and credit cooperatives (SACCOs). The BRIDGES financial education program is being provided in partnership with financial institutions (MFIs, SACCOs, Capital Goods Financing), Job Creation and Enterprise Development Bureaus, TVET, etc, using different delivery channels ranging from financial literacy campaigns to more structured seminars and workshops.
Project Rationale and Objectives:
The BRIDGES Programme is collaborating with the National Financial Education Strategy (NFES) of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) to support the implementation of the National Financial Education Strategy (NFES) (2021-2025) developed with the mission to “improve and increase the financial literacy and capability of adults, through financial education, to enable them to make informed financial decisions.” The strategy is targetting to ensure 75% of adults, households, and enterprises in Ethiopia have awareness of financial products and services by 2025.
The NFES has set up the Financial Education Working Group (FEWG) to implement and help in the coordination, monitoring, and evaluation of various financial education programs charted in the strategy. FEWG comprises professionals from institutions identified in the NFES to have a direct stake in the implementation of the NFES programs and are expected to support the promotion of financial inclusion in Ethiopia. As specified in the NFES, the FEWG is divided into sub-groups including for women and youth and MSMEs which are responsible for the implementation of the programs for the respective targeted groups. The BRIDGES Programme is collaborating with the NBE to support and coordinate the activities of the women and, youth and MSMEs Working Groups in the development and standardization of financial educational modules, materials, and delivery channels.
2. OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The following are the objectives of the assignment.
i. By working with the two women’s and youth and MSMEs’ Financial Education Sub-Working Groups, design and standardize financial education materials, modules, and delivery channels that will be used by different financial education providers across the nation targeting women, youth and MSMEs
ii. Technically assist the two Financial Education Sub-Working Groups
iii. Provide technical assistance for the Sub-Working Group members to implement financial education trainings using the standard modules developed
iv. Provide/facilitate training and capacity building and ToT to the NBE, Sub-Working Group members, and financial education providers
v. Pilot and roll out the modules as appropriate.
3. SCOPE OF WORK
The BRIDGES Programme is seeking applications from - firms to work with and technically assist the activities of the women and, youth and MSMEs Financial Education Sub-Working Groups and to develop and standardize financial education materials, modules, and delivery channels.
The financial education materials, modules, and delivery channels should cover all relevant financial education and literacy topics such as personal financial management, saving, borrowing, debt management, available financial services and products (including insurance, digital financial services), etc, and develop other teaching aids, materials and delivery methodology.
The consultant will closely work with NBE and FE Sub-Working Groups to provide the needed technical support for the members to implement financial education trainings using the standard modules developed; and provide/facilitate training and capacity building, ToT to the NBE, Sub-Working Group members and financial education providers; and pilot and roll out the modules as appropriate.
The activities in the assignment will be delivered in five phases as described in the table below.
Assignment phases | Activities |
Phase 1: Desk review of the existing FE materials used by different organizations | · Conduct a desk review of existing financial literacy materials available in Ethiopia. This includes both written resources, pictorials, digital resources such as apps and audio-visual materials, and all other tools used for financial literacy by different FE working groups and development organizations such as the ILO, UNDP, the BRIDGES Programme, etcThe desk review may be supplemented by interviews with key stakeholders providing financial literacy training. · The draft materials will be shared with the two FE Sub-Working Groups for input and feedback |
Phase 2: Development of standard financial education materials | · Develop a financial education curriculum comprising modules, interactive materials, teaching aids, digital resources, delivery channels, and other relevant materials by working with the FE Sub-Working Groups. |
Phase 3: Provide ToT to Financial Education providers · MFI loan officers · Organizations working on financial education for women, youth and MSMEs · Cooperating promotion officers working with women, youth, formal and informal groups | · Conduct training of trainer’s workshops in collaboration with NBE and FE Working Groups on how to use the financial education materials, modules, and delivery methodology for improving the financial literacy of women, youth and MSME in selected places. · Adapt the training content per feedback from the participants and refine the training materials for application by others for a Training of Trainers (ToT) approach; o |
Phase 4: Technical assistance for the implementation of FE training using the materials developed | · Technical assistance to the FE Working Groups and other financial education providers to implement the financial education materials, modules, and delivery channels in their respective organizations. · Provide one-on- one mentoring of each institions to deliver Finacial education trainings |
Phase 5: Monitoring and evaluation of the FE training | · Monitoring and continuing technical support and gathering outreach performance from each implementing organization or subgroups and report to the BRIDGES Programme and NBE · Produce an evaluation report describing the applicability and effectiveness of the materials and delivery channels, and recommendations for effective implementation. · The training curriculum, objectives, training materials, timing, and other detailed technical requirements should consider specific gender needs (e.g.. flexible time of day), with training activities taking place as close as possible to the project sites.
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4. Deliverables
Phase | Days | Deliverable |
Phase 1: Desk review of the existing FE materials used by different organizations in Ethiopia | 5 | · Report on a desk review of existing financial literacy materials used by different FE providers including a list and annex of reviewed materials
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Phase 2: Development of standard financial education materials | 25 | · Draft financial education curriculum including the following o Training modules on specific financial education topics; o Training methodology including teaching aids, delivery channels, interactive learning materials, digital resources, and other relevant materials including teaching moments or apprproate time for teaching customized to each of the target materials |
Phase 3: Provide ToT to Financial Education providers | 15 | · ToT sessions with financial education providers, for participants of key stakeholders or organizations engaged in financial education training · Summary report on ToT sessions indicating the number of participants, lessons learned, feedback, and recommended revisions to the training materials and recommendations for improvement gained from the sessions |
Phase 4: Technical assistance for the implementation of FE training using the materials developed | 10 | · One-on-one mentoring report · Site visit report to each of the financial education training providers · Report on field visits and technical assistance activities · Documented lessons learned and recommendations for improvement on the materials · List of suggestions for improving the capacity of financial education providers |
Phase 5: Monitoring and evaluation of the FE training | 5 | · Monitoring report on the implementation of the financial education training · Final evaluation report including feedback and comments from the FE Working Groups and financial education providers · Final financial education materials including modules and methodologies and teaching guides |
Total | 60 days |
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5. QUALIFICATIONS
· Education: Master’s degree in business management, finance, education, journalism and communication, economics or related field or a combination of bachelor’s degree and a minimum of fiveyears of relevant experience.
· Experience: Experience and track record in curriculum development and training for diverse audiences
· Prior work experience in the financial sector is a strong asset
· Knowledge of the national/regional situation and context
· Capacity to deliver training for financial sector specialists
· Experienced in producing concise reports and presentations, training modules, and materials.