Consultant: Development of a Special Report on Closing the Financial Inclusion Gender Gap During the Crisis and Afterwards

1. Background

The Alliance for Financial Inclusion

The Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) is the world’s leading organization on financial inclusion policy and regulation. Currently, nearly 100 member institutions make up the AFI network, including central banks, ministries of finance and other financial policymaking or regulatory institutions from over 85 developing countries and emerging markets. AFI empowers policymakers to increase the access and usage of quality financial services for the underserved through sustainable and inclusive policies and an effective use of digital technologies.

Policies developed and implemented by the members of the Alliance contribute to the attainment of a number of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals. By setting their own agenda, AFI members harness the power of peer learning to develop practical and tested policy reforms that enhance financial inclusion with strategic support from both public and private sector partners.

AFI has seven Working Groups (WGs), which have become the key source of policy developments and trends in financial inclusion and as the primary mechanism for generating and incubating technical content in the network: The WGs are Consumer Empowerment and Market Conduct Working Group (CEMCWG), Digital Financial Services Working Group (DFSWG), Financial Inclusion Data Working Group (FIDWG), Financial Inclusion Strategy Peer Learning Group (FISPLG), Global Standards Proportionality Working Group (GSPWG), Inclusive Green Finance Working Group (IGFWG) and SME Finance Working Group (SMEFWG) and also serve as “communities of practice”.

Providing a platform for knowledge exchange and peer learning among policymakers to share, deliberate and deepen their understanding, the WGs offer leadership and expertise in their respective policy fields and support the network to monitor new developments in emerging fields.

The knowledge generated via the working groups is disseminated for implementation by a range of capacity building activities such as Joint Learning Programs, Member Trainings, and Trainings by Private Sector Partners. The practical experience members garner from engaging in peer learning based capacity building is then applied by members as in country implementation projects which are supported by the provision of financial or technical support to AFI member institutions in conducting activities that aim to deliver financial inclusion policies, regulations, supervisory tools or enablers for the development of policies, such as national financial inclusion strategies

The working groups receive strategic guidance and insight from the High-Level Global Standards & Policy Committee, while the Gender Inclusive Finance Committee, supports WGs in integrating gender considerations into all aspects of their work and support members in fulfilling their Denarau Action Plan (2016) commitment to promote women’s financial inclusion.

AFI members have made further commitments in a range of other accords which can be read here.

The AFI’s five regional initiatives support policy implementation in Africa (AfPI), Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC), the Pacific Islands (PIRI), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECAPI) and the Arab Region (FIARI).

2. Project Background

With the global pandemic in its second year, policymakers and regulators are presented with a timely and relevant opportunity to enhance their efforts to ensure women and girls are at the front and center of their national recovery plans. It is critical that they develop and implement evidence-based, and sex- and age-disaggregated data driven financial inclusion policies, initiatives and practices that facilitate the economic empowerment of women and girls and greater levels of gender equality. As the policies being developed now focus more on the recovery stage from the pandemic, it is imperative that gender transformative principals are embedded into every stage of the policy lifecycle; from design and implementation to monitoring and evaluation. This will ensure that policymakers and regulators are able to adequately mitigate the impact of this pandemic and respond to the needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls in a holistic and sustainable manner.

Evidence and insights from previous experiences suggest that existing structural inequalities and vulnerabilities were more apparent and exacerbated during crisis periods, and the COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. These negative effects are even more pronounced among rural, migrant and forcibly displaced women and those living with a disability or a chronic health condition. This highlights the intersectional nature of gender with other vulnerabilities. Furthermore, these external negative impacts are compounded by the disproportionate amount of time women and girls spend on unpaid domestic and care work, which limits their time availability, mobility and access to finance, as well as access to opportunities for productive income, access to healthcare, social safety nets, education and economic opportunities, thus leaving them more isolated and vulnerable. Many of the policy responses to COVID-19 from financial sector policymakers and regulators have not been gender transformative and have not adequately addressed the root causes of the challenges, with relevant gender solutions. This has resulted in the risk of deepening of pre-existing inequalities, which threatens global progress for financial inclusion, gender equality and inclusive development for many generations to come.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, technology has been instrumental in facilitating remote access to essential services such as healthcare, education and financial services, among others. Countries are embracing digital solutions to address the immediate needs of the most vulnerable groups, across the formal and informal sectors, to soften the impact of the crisis on their livelihoods, particularly for those in the MSME sectors. Globally, many governments have leveraged DFS to deliver emergency social assistance to the most vulnerable communities in the initial phases of their crisis response. At least 200 countries and territories have introduced or scaled up social protection measures in response to COVID-19, reaching almost 1 billion new beneficiaries since March.[1]

Whilst adoption of DFS was already increasing across the globe, the COVID-19 crisis presented policy makers and regulators with a new urgency to consider DFS as a business continuity tool, particularly in the MSME sector, and for an inclusive, sustainable and resilient recovery. There is also an opportunity to build policymakers and regulators’ capacities to put in place gender-sensitive and -transformative (digital) financial inclusion policies, as part of a country’s mitigation and recovery efforts. According to an analysis by UN Women and UNDP, it was revealed that by 2021, for every 100 men aged 25 to 34 living in extreme poverty, there will be 118 women – and unless targeted action is taken now this gap is expected to increase to 121 women per 100 men by 2030, as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.[2] Additionally, it was predicted that the gains made in poverty alleviation actions in the South Asia region are under threat, as the region is set to face a “resurgence” in extreme poverty, with pre-existing gender inequalities and financial inclusion gender gaps expected to widened in the years to come.

To fully capitalize on the opportunities that DFS present, the specific barriers facing women in accessing DFS need to be adequately addressed. E-KYC could have a highly positive impact on the inclusion of women, particularly where they face cultural-based mobility restrictions. Policymakers and regulators should also develop a shared understanding of the new and emerging risks associated with the accelerated adoption of DFS such as cybersecurity, data protection and privacy, consumer protection, among others. These new and emerging risks resulting from the use of technology need to be carefully managed to avoid further risk of marginalizing women and other vulnerable groups.

Whilst this situation appears sobering, there are many opportunities to build back a more inclusive and sustainable economy. Financial policymakers and regulators have a critical role to play in ensuring that the gains of women’s financial inclusion are sustained and that halving the financial inclusion gender gap by the end of 2021 remains at the center of AFI members’ financial inclusion efforts, especially during this unprecedented time. At the same time, it is equally important to acknowledge the potential impact of the risks and vulnerabilities emerging from the rapid shift towards DFS, while taking into account the social, cultural, infrastructural and regulatory barriers that persist in many member jurisdictions today.

To this end, AFI is preparing a number of linked publications including a Special Report titled “Closing the Financial Inclusion Gender Gap During the Crisis and Afterwards.”. The report will seek to provide a baseline assessment of how policymakers and regulators have responded to the COVID-19 crisis with a special focus on the role of DFS in driving access to and usage of quality financial services in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as assess the extent to which the AFI’s Policy Framework for Women’s Financial Inclusion Using DFS has been leveraged to further women’s digital inclusion in the pre-crisis phase. The study will look at women’s access to and usage of financial services pre crisis and currently; any policy and regulatory changes brought in response to the crisis; the potential use cases; and any impact on women’s financial inclusion within AFI member jurisdictions and the global financial sector in general. It is envisioned that the data and findings of the study will support and further inform the development and implementation of smart and gender inclusive financial inclusion policies to improve financial inclusion and livelihoods of women and girls in crisis and post-crisis settings.

As a follow-up to the Special Report, AFI will produce the following linked publications, which will build on the findings and insights from the Special Report:

· Toolkit on “Gender-Sensitive Rapid Response and Crisis Recovery Policies**”** which will guide financial sector regulators and policymakers in integrating gender-sensitive approaches into the planning, response and recovery measures throughout all stages of policy reform process so that they can better prepare for any future crises. Specifically, this toolkit will provide practical tools and technical guidance, supported with short use cases from selected members with different sets of challenges, target groups and policy priorities.

· A Compendium of Case Studies titled “*Leveraging DFS to Advance Women’s Financial Inclusion in Selected AFI Member Jurisdictions During the Crisis and Afterwards*” which will deep dive into how selected AFI member institutions (up to five member institutions) are tapping into the opportunities presented by DFS as part of their crisis response and recovery efforts to support and enhance financial inclusion for women in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. These case studies will explore how DFS were leveraged to mitigate the social and economic impacts of COVID-19 on women and support women’s digital financial inclusion. In doing so, these case studies will highlight the importance of a holistic and nuanced policy approach to women’s DFS that circumvent some of the persisting social and cultural barriers to women’s access to and usage of DFS and reduces the underlying risks and vulnerability among female clients. In addition, new and emerging risks and challenges for the consumers and the financial sector resulting from use of technology should be analyzed and, through some examples based on those case studies, some key insights will be provided on how to mitigate them.

3. Objective

The objectives of the assignment are threefold. The first objective is to provide financial regulators and policymakers with a holistic picture of the relevant gender-sensitive policy and regulatory interventions implemented in AFI member jurisdictions to increase access to and usage of quality financial services, thus supporting women’s and girls’ livelihoods and economic security before and during crises.

The main output related to this objective is a global study report exploring policy and regulatory interventions implemented by AFI member institutions to promote access to and usage of quality financial services by women and girls before and during the crises. Whilst this report will specifically focus on the COVID-19 crisis many of the policy recommendations will be applicable to other crises and can be adapted for the national context. Specifically, the report will deliver the following:

· Provide an analysis of the gendered implications of COVID-19 on women, girls and other vulnerable segments of the population and the role of financial inclusion in mitigating the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic;

· Provide an updated assessment and deeper insights into policy and regulatory interventions that increased women’s and girls’ access to and usage of quality financial services before and during crises in AFI member jurisdictions;

· Identify effective policy and regulatory approaches, lessons learnt and ongoing challenges faced by policymakers and regulators during this crisis with a focus on women’s financial inclusion and DFS;

· In a dedicated chapter on DFS, explore why and how existing DFS guidance is being leveraged by AFI member institutions as well as wider DFS applications and what solutions are being developed and implemented to overcome key barriers to women’s financial inclusion across the five regions of the world including Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and Middle East [1];

· Provide key insights regarding the relevance of (digital) financial literacy and financial consumer protection policies for a safe, responsible, and effective uptake and usage of financial services including DFS, as well as to reduce the risks from digital finance and build resilience against economic shocks.

· Discuss how COVID-19 presents an opportunity for all countries to build back better from the crisis, including a spotlight on DFS as one of the key enabling factors;

· Identify how policymakers and financial services providers can collaborate to develop an enabling ecosystem with appropriate regulation, products and services that support the needs of women and girls at different stages of their life cycle;

· Provide policy recommendations including other related peer learning and advocacy opportunities for AFI members to consider as they seek to redouble their efforts to bridge the financial inclusion gender gap and ensure that no one is left behind in their crisis response and recovery efforts.

The second objective is to provide financial regulators and policymakers with knowledge on the gendered impact of a crisis on women and girls (at various stages of their life cycle) and equip them with practical tools to integrate gender considerations into their short-, medium- and long-term policy response and recovery plans. The main output related to this objective will be a toolkit, which will be based on the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, but applicable to other crisis situations in the future.

Specifically, the toolkit aims to deliver the following:

• Provide headline data related to the economic impact of COVID-19 on women and girls in member’s economies;

• Provide step-by-step guidance on how regulators and policy makers can apply a gender lens to their policy responses — across the seven thematic areas that AFI work in — addressing the diverse needs, market constraints, risks and opportunities (at various stages of their life cycle) in crisis response and recovery situations vis-à-vis women’s financial inclusion in the short-term, medium-term and long-term.

• Identify specific country diagnostics, strategies and tools drawing from examples within the AFI Network and beyond, to inform the implementation of gender-sensitive evidence-based policy design interventions including applying a gender lens to the typical NFIS stages from pre-formulation, formulation, implementation to monitoring and evaluation.

The final objective is to build evidence, promote good practice and facilitate knowledge sharing on fostering sustainable digital financial inclusion of women in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. The main output related to this objective is a compendium of case studies featuring up to five member institutions’ journeys in leveraging DFS to support economic participation and inclusion of women in crisis, recovery and resilience efforts. These case studies will build develop new knowledge and understanding as well as build on the learnings from AFI’s Policy Framework for Women’s Financial Inclusion Using DFS as well as the findings from the Special Report on “***Closing the Financial Inclusion Gender Gap During the Crisis and Afterwards***” and explore the following:

· Take stock of the countries’ unique experiences in scaling up policy initiatives to support women’s financial inclusion in selected AFI member jurisdictions including challenges;

· Assess the impact of the policy initiatives on women’s access to and usage of DFS during the crisis and impact of these initiatives on women’s economic empowerment;

· Develop a set of policy recommendations for different stakeholders (policymakers, regulators, financial service providers, private sector institutions, and civil society) that cuts across access, usage and quality dimensions of women’s financial inclusion and highlight emerging themes and opportunities to support greater future digital financial inclusion for women and its implications for women’s economic empowerment and gender equality going forward.

Note: Youth and forced displacement considerations should be incorporated in the Special Report, Toolkit and Case Studies, where applicable.*

4. Key Deliverables

The consultant is expected to undertake the following activities:

a) Undertake a review of the current literature and data (both from withing the AFI network and outside of it) available on the economic impact of COVID-19 on women and girls; the opportunities and considerations for women’s and girls’ (digital) financial inclusion in light of COVID-19 and other crises; and existing policies and programmes to drive women’s (digital) financial inclusion during and after a crisis in AFI member jurisdictions;

b) Develop research tools, including one (1) online survey questionnaire and up to 20 interview guides and questionnaires, to guide the virtual key informant interviews with AFI members and relevant stakeholders;

c) Undertake a series of virtual key informant interviews (up to 20) with (13) AFI members (up to five of whom will be for the case study but can be used in the rest of the deliverables as well) and (7) other relevant stakeholders and provide interview transcription and recordings;

d) Develop a preliminary outline of the Special Report, Toolkit and Case Studies; and

e) Develop a survey report communicating detailed findings and recommendations based on a thorough analysis of the results; and

f) Draft and edit Special Report, Toolkit and Case Studies.

The consultant is expected to deliver the following:

a) 1 Survey Report;

b) 1 Special Report, 1 Toolkit and a Compendium of Case Studies that will include the objectives stated above; and

c) Present the findings of the Special Report, Toolkit and Case Studies to the high-level Gender Inclusive Finance Committee and one other fora as identified by AFI to solicit feedback and comments before finalizing the above outputs.

5. Timelines

The consultant team is expected to commence the assignment at the end of September 2021 and will complete the deliverables by the end of February 2022. The tentative timelines and key deliverables are found below:

Timeline – Duration (Working Days) – Deliverables by Consultant

September 27^th – 1 work day – Kickoff discussion with AFI Management Unit

October 4^th – 5 working days – Preliminary outline of the special report, toolkit and case studies

October 4^th – 25^th – 15 working days – Desk-based research and literature review report

October 29^th – 4 working days – Develop online survey, interview guides and questionnaires

October 29^th – November 12^th – 14 working days – Conduct key informant interviews with AFI members and key stakeholders

November 12^th – December 13^th – 21 working days – Draft survey report, special report, toolkit and case studies

December 13^th – 31^st – N/A – Review first draft

December 31^st – January 18^th – 12 working days – First draft edit, according to feedback received from the AFI Management Unit

January 20^th – 1 work day – Present findings to the Gender Inclusive Finance Committee and AFI Management Unit and undertake up to three rounds of additional minor edits, based on feedback received

January 27^th – February 10^th – 10 – Finalize and submit draft

Early-Mid February 2022 – 1 work day – Disseminate key findings at a virtual forum

6. Consultant Experience

• Advanced degree in a field related to Economics, Public Policy, International

Development or a closely related field.

• At least 10 years of knowledge and technical experience in digital financial services, gender and women’s economic empowerment, financial inclusion or a closely related field.

• Proven knowledge and experience on financial regulations and policies on gender inclusive finance and disaster and humanitarian crisis.

• Experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection and research on gender inclusive finance and women’s economic empowerment.

• Previous experience working with global and national institutions involved in financial policy and regulation, financial inclusion and gender inclusive finance policy and regulation, particularly in developing and emerging countries.

• Highly proficient written skills in the English language.

• Fluency in French and Spanish is a significant asset but not essential.

7. Reporting

The consultant will report directly to Head, Gender Inclusive Finance.

8. Criteria for Evaluation

The proposals submitted will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

· Academic Qualification (10%)

· Experience and technical competence of the key staff for the assignment; (50%)

o Knowledge and technical expertise relevant to the assignment (25%)

o Experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection and research on gender inclusive finance and women’s economic empowerment (25%)

· Adequacy of the proposed work plan and methodology in responding to the Terms of Reference (35%)

o Technical approach and methodology (25%)

o Workplan (10%)

· Sample work – Writing experience and English (5%)

Total: 100%