TA Programme supporting EIB intermediated lending operations for small and medium agri-food sector investments integrating smallholders

The beneficiary countries of the Technical Assistance Programme supporting EIB intermediated lending operations for small and medium agri-food sector investments integrating smallholders (“TA Programme”) are Malawi and Zambia.

The EIB is putting in place in Malawi and Zambia a number of intermediated lending and guarantee operations (“Credit Facilities”) to support the longer-term investment-oriented funding needs of private sector entities (mostly small and medium enterprises -SMEs) integrating smallholder producers into agri-food value chains. The beneficiary institutions of the TA Programme are financial intermediaries (“FIs”) based in these countries and include commercial banks and potentially leasing companies engaged in providing finance to private sector entities. In addition, initially in Malawi only and potentially to be extended to Zambia, the TA Programme also targets the SMEs active in the agri-food value chains as Final Beneficiaries.

 

The Social and Gender-Agriculture Expert (KE4) will be in charge of delivering on Component 1 of the TA programme (undertake a gender analysis of small holder farmers’ integration in agricultural value chains) and ensure that relevant activities and actions under Components 2 to 4, as outlined in these TORs, are gender-responsive and socially inclusive. KE4 will be in close contact with the FIs, FBs and other project stakeholders and responsible for developing a pipeline including female smallholder farmers, cooperatives or female-led MSMEs.


Key Expert 4 will work in close coordination with the other Key Experts to ensure the integration of a gender and social inclusion perspective across all Components of the TA programme. KE4 will also be in charge of identifying gaps in FI social screening and monitoring procedures, in relation to the requirements of the Credit Facilities and EIB E&S standards and developing procedures and capacity building to address identified gaps. KE4 will also draft TORs to mobilise short-term experts and quality control their deliverables.

Qualifications: 

Qualification and Skills

  • Minimum of a Master’s Degree in the field of Sociology, Development, Gender, Economics, Political Science, Agriculture or related field. In the absence of a Master's degree, the expert must have an equivalent five (5) years extra relevant professional experience;
  • Fluency in English is required;
  • Computer literate;
  • Excellent analytical, writing, communication and presentation skills;
  • Pro-active personality, with the ability to work well in a team, and excellent communication and inter-personal skills.

General Professional Experience

  • Experience in addressing social issues, including protecting the rights of vulnerable groups and low income households, as demonstrated by at least two (2) years of relevant professional experience;
  • Experience in applying social standards for investment and/or development projects, experience in occupational, health and safety risks and mitigation, particularly in agri-food production and processing would be a strong advantage;
  • In depth knowledge of gender and social gaps in the agriculture sector in sub-Saharan Africa as evidenced by a minimum of five (5) years of relevant professional experience;
  • Project experience in agricultural value chains and opportunities for small holder farmer integration and adoption of climate responsive agriculture practices.

Specific Professional Experience

  • Experience in 5 projects/assignments of undertaking gender and/or social inclusion analysis as it relates to agricultural value chains;
  • Experience in 5 projects/assignments of developing agricultural products including but not limited to financial, insurance, information and capacity building targeting women and small holder farmers, cooperatives and MSMEs;
  • Experience in developing systems for the collection of sex-disaggregated data would be an added advantage;
  • Experience in working with women farmers and/or women entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa.
Start / Duration: 

The intended commencement date is end March/April 2020 for the TA support to the Malawi Credit Facilities. The period of implementation of the contract will be 48 months for the TA support to the Malawi Credit Facility.


The TA support to the Zambia Credit Facility is preliminarily anticipated to start in May 2020 with a period of implementation of 36 months.

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