Consultant: Special Report and Case Studies on “Mapping AFI Members Progress in Closing the Financial Inclusion Gender Gap”

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 a range of the 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 7 Working Groups (WGs): 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).

As 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 Working Groups serve as “communities of practice”. Providing a platform for knowledge exchange and peer learning among policymakers to share, deliberate and deepen their understanding, the working groups 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, 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

Financial regulators and policy makers are cognizant of the fact that reforms, within their mandate, such as developing and implementing a National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) or National Financial Education Strategy (NFES), are effective enablers for increasing women’s financial inclusion, along with the collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated data and supporting the development of an effective women’s leadership pipeline in their institutions. All these initiatives are highlighted by the DAP as effective enablers to financial inclusion of women. Although members have a clear understanding that financial inclusion policies are a progressive response aimed at supporting economic stability and growth, and work towards increasing women’s financial inclusion rate, what is less clear is specifically which of these policies, or which of these, alongside a raft of other policy reforms, have the greatest impact on reducing the financial inclusion gender gap and supporting women’s access to and usage of quality financial products and services in the long-term. Without knowing the policies and initiatives that work best, there will be challenges in the consistent implementation of policy initiatives and therefore uneven results for the efforts.

Furthermore, the persistent gender gap in financial inclusion shows that mainstreaming gender into policies and regulations by financial sector regulators and policy makers may not be enough to advance women’s financial inclusion and to address structural barriers. Instead, evidence-based, data-driven gender transformative policy solutions which consider the unique needs, interests and behaviours of women, and men, will also be required.

Whilst acknowledging the limitation of the existing data (World Bank Global Findex is the main reference point for identifying the financial inclusion gender gap in member jurisdictions but not all AFI member countries are covered by the Findex and the index does not always align well with national level data sets), this drive for transformative policy will need to be built on the foundations of the available data. There must also be recognition of the deep and broad body of available knowledge around the existing barriers that women face including cultural and social norms, access to money, access to and usage of technology, women’s own financial capability as well as other barriers including the recourses of the regulator, their policy reach, national infrastructure, capacity and the existing or future availability of resources.

Thus, this project is very timely. It will present a unique opportunity to garner a clearer and more in-depth understanding of how policy and regulatory initiatives may have had an impact on reducing the gender gap in different member countries and within different national contexts. By understanding what has worked, how it was implemented and which of the key barriers it looked to address first and why addressing those barriers in that order was most effective then other regulators will be able to identify what initiatives to take and where to target their finite resources to have the most positive impact.

Further, there is also an opportunity to present a holistic view, across the AFI network, of the current state of women’s financial inclusion and the positive work being done to close existing financial inclusion gender gaps; identify highly effective policy and regulatory interventions that have been deployed at the national level and regional and global trends in effective gap reduction; identify the current policy gaps and/or barriers holding up further progress. Such data-driven evidence will help financial regulators and policy makers to better understand where their efforts should be placed and specifically, what policy areas should be prioritized, in order to achieve their respective women’s financial inclusion objectives.

The unique value of this research project is to develop a policy taxonomy of the effective financial policy and regulatory solutions members can take through an intersectional lens, and in relation to their national context, that will have the most meaningful impact on increasing women’s formal financial inclusion, closing the financial inclusion gender gap and improving the livelihoods of the vulnerable populations. This work will lead to the goal of developing an AFI Policy Model for Women’s Financial inclusion in 2022.

3.Objective

The objective of this research is to provide financial sector policy makers and regulators with a deep dive conceptual understanding of the proven solutions for increasing women’s financial inclusion and how, working within their remit, they can be applied to help close their financial inclusion gender gap. Whilst barriers and possible solutions are known, in some cases, the development of a full taxonomy for financial policy makers and regulators to use for women’s financial inclusion is new.

4.Outputs

To facilitate this, the research will;

· Define and articulate the key principles and concepts underlying financial inclusion and gender equality.

· Present an understanding of the core financial policy and regulatory barriers (relating to women’s financial inclusion) that AFI members currently face;

· Present an understanding of the key barriers (relating to women’s financial inclusion) that financial regulators and policy makers face, that are outside of their core remit and the likely weighting/impact of these barriers on advancing women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment;

· Provide an assessment of the key financial policy and regulatory enablers at a national level that will assist members in creating a conducive environment for increasing women’s financial inclusion, closing the financial inclusion gender gap and contributing to the achievement of the SDGs (SDG 1 No Poverty, SDG 5 Gender Equality and SDG 8 Economic Growth);

· Undertake an assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on progress toward financial inclusion for women, as well as their economic growth prospects and gender equality.

· Develop a catalogue of effective financial inclusion policy and regulatory approaches that members can use to replicate and scale in their own national context;

· Showcase a deep dive into member countries that have been successful at narrowing or closing the financial inclusion gender gap since 2014, and the policies and regulatory interventions that they have in place, both directly linked to the mandate of the financial policy makers/regulators and in the wider women’s economic empowerment ecosystem, that have worked well in terms of narrowing the financial inclusion gender gap.

· Additionally, highlight countries that have a stagnant financial inclusion gender gap despite significant policy and regulatory efforts to promote women’s access to and use of formal financial services.

Ideally the deep dive will include up to 30 case studies (including the seven existing AFI case supported by AfDB) that will represent a third of the AFI membership. The final number will, however, be informed by the first part of the research which will identify all those members who are making progress in closing their financial inclusion gender gap. This may result in less than 23 additional members being identified; however, where more than 23 members are identified, no more than 23 studies will be undertaken. These case studies will explore the following:

· Assess the existing regulatory landscape in the jurisdiction both in terms of financial sector policy and regulation and wider policy relating to women’s economic empowerment as well as the role of policy and regulation in tackling key barriers to women’s access to finance and the role and existence of relevant data;

· Highlight the existing challenges and future opportunities in closing the financial inclusion gender gap, in access to formal financial services both those within the remit of the financial policy maker/regulator and those outside of their remit;

· Assess the potential impact/weight that these barriers have on financial policy makers and regulators’ capacity and ability to make progress in women’s financial inclusion;

· Highlight the major milestones, targets and drivers for women’s financial inclusion in the respective jurisdictions and the policy and regulatory interventions that have positively impacted women’s opportunity to access and use quality financial products and services in member jurisdictions, and lastly,

· Reflect on members’ own unique needs, challenges, successes and progress towards fulfilling their Denarau Action Plan and commitment to women’s financial inclusion.

This research will build on the substantial body of existing AFI knowledge, with a focus on the GIF, including the initial research study on “Policy Frameworks to Support Women’s Financial Inclusion” commissioned in 2016 and the Denarau Action Plan which has a focus on the collection and use of sex-disaggregated data, the development of gender sensitive NFIS, the importance of institutional diversity and women’s leadership and the need to collaborate with other key stakeholders, including government agencies, development partners and civil society. It will also draw on ongoing research such as the ‘Study on Closing the Gender Gap During the Crisis and Afterwards’ and on data insights from the ‘AFI COVID-19 Policy Response’ and the other relevant gender focused AFI publication found on the AFI website.

5.Key Deliverables and Activities

The consultant is expected to deliver the following:

Deliverable 01: One detailed landscape report (up to 30,000 words plus infographics, etc.) on the state of women’s financial inclusion across the AFI network, building on the initial work completed in 2016 (Policy Framework for Women’s Financial Inclusion), which became the foundation for the Denarau Action Plan.

ü Define and articulate the key principles and concepts underlying financial inclusion and gender equality;

ü Identify key gender focused indicators relating directly to women’s financial inclusion and more broadly to women’s economic empowerment;

ü Map the existing rate, where known, of women’s financial inclusion and the existing financial policy and regulatory landscape including identifying core financial policy and regulatory barriers that are inside and outside of their core remit and the likely weighting/impact of these barriers on advancing women’s financial inclusion and economic empowerment;

ü Identifying, where possible, changes in the gender gap in access to finance (both positive or negative) between 2011 and 2021, including data from the 2011, 2014 and 2017 Global Findex, or other year points depending on availability of data from national level surveys;

ü Based on the existing landscape in each AFI member country provide an assessment of the key financial policy and regulatory enablers at a national level that will assist members in creating a conducive environment for increasing women’s financial inclusion, closing the financial inclusion gender gap and contributing to the achievement of the SDGs (SDG 1 No Poverty, SDG 5 Gender Equality and SDG 8 Economic Growth);

ü Undertake an assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on progress toward financial inclusion for women, as well as their economic growth prospects and gender equality.

Deliverable 02: Up to but not more than 23 regionally representative, in-depth, case studies (up to 6,000 words per case study plus infographics, etc.) exploring the enabling policy and regulatory ecosystem and other relevant factors that have facilitated women’s financial inclusion and the halving/closing of the financial inclusion gender gap in relevant member jurisdictions.

ü A short overview of the status of women’s financial inclusion, with regard to access, usage and quality indicators, within the member’s jurisdiction, including comparisons to 2016 when the DAP commitment was made

ü An overview of how a baseline was established and what targets were then set relating to women and or girls and why they were set.

ü An in-depth look at commitments made by financial policy makers and regulators, the range of policy and regulatory solutions that have been undertaken to date, how and why they were undertaken and what challenges were discovered

ü An analysis on the relevance and impact of DFS within the policy solutions implemented and an additional focus on women owned and led SMEs

ü A real-life story or portrayal of up to two cases per country of previously unserved or underserved women or female households or women owned/led SMEs who benefitted from enhanced access to formal financial services

ü An overview of the identifiable broader impact that these interventions have had so far, in particular but not exclusively related to the reduction of the gender gap in access to finance

ü An overview of how coordination, monitoring and evaluation has been undertaken to ensure the women financial inclusion policy initiatives are achieved

ü The lessons learnt and the recommendations for other regulators and policymakers to follow along with the next steps the member is planning to take

Deliverable 03: One summary report, (up to 20,000 words plus infographics, etc.) based on the case studies, looking at the global, regional, and national level trends (in the financial inclusion gender gap) and the key policy recommendations and interventions required to close the gender gap across the AFI network effectively.

ü Develop within the summary report a catalogue of effective financial inclusion policy and regulatory approaches that members can use to replicate and scale in their own national context

Deliverable 04: One comprehensive data set containing data indicators from desktop research, publicly available datasets, surveys and Key Informant Interviews (KII) conducted with AFI members and select stakeholders, presented in an Excel format and/or any other format compatible with the AFI Data Portal.

6.Timeline

This work would be carried out between October 2021 to March 2022.

The timelines are summarized in the table below:

Deliverable – Tentative Timeline – Person Days

Submission of findings from literature review – Late October – 12

Outline of the landscape report, case studies and summary report – Late October – 12

Conducting survey(s) and key informant interviews – Mid December – 35

Submission of the first draft of landscape report – Mid November – 15

Submission of the second draft of landscape report – Late December – 10

Submission of the first draft of the case studies – Late December – 15

Submission and publication of landscape report – Mid February – 0.5

Submission of the second draft case studies – Late January – 10

Submission of the first draft of summary report – Early February – 10

Submission Case Studies, Summary Report and Dataset – Late March – 0.5

TOTAL: 120 Days

7.Consultant Experience

The consultant firm undertaking this assignment should have the following qualifications:

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

· Development or another related discipline.

· Minimum 10 years of professional experience with proven competence in strategy formulation and implementation in the financial sector and related areas.

· Minimum 8 years of specific experience in the fields of financial inclusion, gender equality and international development.

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

· Previous experience in gender sensitive/transformative data gathering and analysis

· Extensive research experience in countries in the developing and emerging economies.

· A track record of publication in the fields of financial inclusion, gender equality, international development.

· Fluency in English (oral and writing) is compulsory.

· Excellent written and presentation skills in the English language.

· French and Spanish language proficiency is an added advantage.

8.Travel

This consultancy work is a home-based work. No travelling is required.

9. Criteria of Evaluation

Criteria – %

1. Academic Qualification; 10%

2. Experience and competence of the key staff for the assignment related; 55%

3. In strategy development/implementation in the financial sector or related areas; 20%

4. In gender and financial inclusion policy related work; 20%

5. Gender data gathering and analysis; 15%

6. Adequacy of the proposed work plan and methodology in responding to the Terms of Reference; 30%

7. Technical approach and Methodology; 25%

8. Workplan; 5%

9. Sample work – Writing experience and English; 5%

Total : 100%