Terms of Reference :Research on Insurance Services for the MEDA EMERTA Project in Ethiopia

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.

Scope of Work

This TOR was designed for the external consultant in Ethiopia to carry out the following assignments:

• Conduct and document a desk-based research on all available insurance services, their main types and their service providers in Ethiopia and specifically insurance services that are most suitable or might be most suitable for rural small holder farmers and rural SMEs in the Amhara Region
•  Provide a list or table of all the available main insurance products with main characteristic descriptions for the small holder farmers and rural SMEs, and their providers with contact information
• Review all the available research for insurance services in Ethiopia and document a summary overview of all findings and recommendations of these researches – or conduct a review of existing researches and reports
• Conduct interviews with all the major insurance service providers and other industry stakeholders, including development NGOs and donors, in order to identify any development trends in the insurance sector for the benefit of small holder farmers and rural SMEs, document the interviews and main findings. Phone and other distant interviews are acceptable due to the COVID-19 situation.
• Subject to the COVID-19 situation, conduct one field trip to Amhara Region and together with the EMERTA Senior Financial Services Specialist, conduct the group and individual interviews with the project target groups and clients (group interviews with small farmers and individual interviews with rural SMEs) in order to reveal their risk profile, current risk management / coping strategies and insurance needs if any.
• While interviewing service providers, clients, and industry stakeholders, the consultant will probe the opportunities and interest of stakeholders / partners service providers to develop new insurance products and/or modify the existing products to the needs of small holder farmers and rural SMEs in Amhara Region.
• Based on the research findings, the consultant will also recommend the steps further, if deemed feasible, to introduce and pilot test the insurance products for the target clients in Amhara Region, and will also suggest service providers and industry stakeholders for partnership (if deemed required) to pilot test those services.
• Provide any other recommendations (skills required, budget considerations, timelines, any related ideas, etc.) for making a successful pilot test and introduction of the insurance services, if deemed feasible and necessary.

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.

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.

Estimated Level of Effort

 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

Job Requirements

Required Skills and Qualifications for the Consultant

The Consultant must possess the following main set of skills and qualifications for this research assignment:

• Preferably, at least a master’s degree from a reputable university with a demonstrated sound research skills and experience
• Preferable educational background in economics or development economics, finance or business management, agriculture economics, or banking and finance
• Previous experience and strong familiarity with the financial services and insurance industry in Ethiopia
• Proven track record of the consulting experience in the research areas for international development projects, specifically for the private sector and agriculture development, financial services and insurance
• Fluency in the Amharic language; other local languages are preferable, strong familiarity with the Amhara Region
• Fluency in English, and strong presentation and report writing skills in English.

Support

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.

Timelines

 Availability to do this task is end of January 2021.

How to Apply

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

Interested applicants should provide the following: -

• Cover letter and current resume/CV. The cover letter must demonstrate the applicant’s understanding of and interest in the topic, describe the applicant’s capability for completing the assignment, include a timeline for completing the work, include examples of previous experience with similar activities (maximum two pages).
• Work plan or detail activity plan which shows the number of days
• Financial information must be submitted in breakdown which includes daily professional rate/fees and budget to accomplish the task.
• Daily rates shall be the same for all the activities.

The following must be submitted as well,

• Renewed professional license of the company 
• VAT registration certificate 
• Renewed business license 
• Professional certificate of key personnel 

Evaluation Criteria

MEDA will use the following to evaluate every proposal submitted.

• Technical proposal - 70%
• Financial proposal - 30% 

We will accept proposals until January 22, 2021. Applications can be sent by email to vacancy.ethiopia@meda.org. Applicants can drop their application and supporting documents to MEDA office at Addis Ababa located on the new road from Bole to AU In front of Andnet Buchery or Yimechn Restaurant. Applicants may also apply in person to MEDA Bahir Dar office located at Kebele 13 or behind Bureau of Education or you may contact us with +251583206489.