Call for Proposals “Women’s Financial and Economic Inclusion in Rural Egypt: COVID-19 Response in Assiut and Sohag”

Deadline: 15-Aug-20

UN Women has announced a call for proposals for the Women’s Financial and Economic Inclusion in Rural Egypt: COVID-19 Response in Assiut and Sohag.

The overall goal of the programme is to utilise the SGs approach to mobilise vulnerable rural women for deeper and wider financial inclusion, a group that continues to be unreached by banks and microfinance institutions alike. SGs will support poor and vulnerable groups to shift from informal to formal financial system and empower them through increased access to financial savings and the safe custody of funds, financial literacy awareness and opportunities for access to formal credit.

The mutual support that members will provide to each other will also help them gain confidence to participate in local markets as well as value chains. SGs will also provide a space for addressing discriminatory cultural norms and to act as a catalyst for enhanced social capital and women’s leadership in the household and community levels.

Focus Areas

Specifically, the programme will focus on creating and expanding SGs in the governorates of Assiut and Sohag to create a wider base for women’s financial inclusion. It will support women’s financial and economic empowerment through:

• provision of financial literacy awareness, including through testing use of gamification;
• facilitating women’s access to savings and loans out of the accumulated savings of the group;
• ability to use those savings and/or loans to invest in their wellbeing and/or that of their children (health and education) and/or to start and expand a business. SGs can also serve as a steppingstone for women to access larger credit from responsible microfinance institutions;
• capacity development for women members of SGs on business development and technical skills to start incomegenerating projects in areas that are based on the governorates competitive advantage and support the women-led clusters/SGs to be integrated into higher value chains.

Programme Outcomes and Outputs

For the purpose of this call for proposal, UN Women seeks collaboration with NGOs partners to deliver on the below indicative activities that include but are not limited to the following:

• Overall objective and expected impact:
  • Outcome: Rural women are socially and economically empowered through their participation in Savings Groups across Egypt to access basic financial services and build their financial and economic capabilities
  • Output: Saving Groups (SGs) capacities are scaled-up through digital and non-digital means.

Timeframe

The activities should commence on the 15st of September 2020 for 30 months of implementation.

Competencies

• Technical/functional competencies required
  • The selected NGO will be responsible for the implementation of programme activities ensuring the realization of the anticipated interventions in line with UN Women rules and regulations and will work in close collaboration with the UN Women team.
    • Organizational experience and proven track record/credibility on gender and development, results-based management and its application to key processes (e.g., planning, programming, monitoring, reporting and evaluation), and other areas of expertise relevant to the services required.
    • Relevant experience in partnerships with UN Women, other UN agencies, governments, NGOs, private sector, national institutions, and other development actors.
    • Previous experience in creating and expanding Saving Groups (SGs) and/or community-based women centric microfinance initiatives.
    • Previous experience in community development work in the governorates of Assiut and Sohag.
    • Soundness of the proposed results and activities, and linkages between them.
    • Soundness and adequacy of the technical approach and proposed strategies to support the achievement of results with a focus on sustainability of results.
    • Realistic detailed Implementation plan.
    • Soundness of the Monitoring and Evaluation approach and tools.
  • Other competencies, which while not required, can be an asset for the performance of services
    • Management arrangement for the required services, including for monitoring and reporting, and if needed, evaluation
    • Overall governance/management structure of the proponent organization

For more information, visit https://www2.unwomen.org/-/media/field%20office%20egypt/attachments/about%20us/call%20for%20proposals/call%20for%20proposal-%20implementing%20partners-%20egy-03-%202020-%20assiut%20and%20sohag.pdf?la=en&vs=1510