FINACCESS DEEP-DIVE CONSULTANTS

Background

The Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) programme was established in 2005 to support the development of financial markets in Kenya to stimulate wealth creation and reduce poverty. Working in partnership with various stakeholders, the programme’s goal was to expand access to financial services for lower income households and small and micro scale enterprises as a route to strengthening the livelihoods of lower-income Kenyans. Since then, the financial landscape in Kenya has evolved in ways far beyond the vision of the programme at its inception. It is clear today that financial access only represents a milestone, albeit a significant one, on the path to creating an inclusive financial system. With the launch of FSD’s new strategy, the focus has shifted from deepening access and use of financial services, to improving the value and relevance of finance in addressing real world challenges and needs for lower income households, MSEs and underserved groups such as women and youth. FSD’s new strategy (2022- 2026) seeks to contribute to the development of “A financial system that increasingly delivers value for a green and inclusive digital economy while improving financial health and capability for women and micro and small enterprises (MSEs)”. The intention is to support recovery from the impact of COVID-19, as a key national priority.

Over the years, FSD’s research has played an important role in monitoring and understanding changes in financial inclusion. FSD’s contribution to the development of the FinAccess survey, now a pillar of Kenya’s market information landscape, has played a key role in this. FinAccess is undertaken approximately every three years to monitor progress towards financial inclusion, through a partnership (the FinAccess Management or FAM) between the Central Bank of Kenya, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and FSD Kenya. The latest survey, FinAccess 2021, offers a valuable tool to explore changes in the financial landscape, including the impacts of COVID-19, particularly through the expansion of the sample to county level representation. The results of the survey were launched by the FinAccess Management (FAM) in December 2021 unveiling the headline FinAccess report.

Following the launch of FinAccess 2021, FSD is keen to take advantage of the opportunities presented by this rich data set in terms of providing detailed analytics that will inform FSD programming as well as guiding policy and innovation on inclusive growth and recovery from COVID-19. FSD Kenya, is thus looking for highly skilled researchers to undertake deep dive analysis of FinAccess data to provide insights that will inform the execution of FSD Kenya’s fifth strategy as well as supporting policy and business development. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, green finance, education, MSEs, agriculture, health, affordable housing, gender, climate adaptation, resilience and COVID-19 impact.

FSD Kenya recognises the importance of building local capacity in analysis for policy and market development. To this end, FSD will prioritise local consultants and researchers, and/or external experts who propose working in partnership with local researchers/consultants.

Minimum requirements:

· Track record in high quality research on economic and financial inclusion, preferably in Kenya

· Expertise in quantitative analytics and household surveys (FinAccess analytical experience in any of the thematic areas highlighted above is highly desired).

· Demonstrated understanding of the application of research for policy and business development

· Commitment to deliver the desired results as prescribed

· Ability to respond to demands as rapidly and flexibly as possible as well as ability to work proactively and deliver against deadlines

· Excellent visual, written and verbal communication skills and ability to package information in a compelling manner for a range of audiences