BACKGROUND

For companies to grow and prosper, planning is an important process that guides from where the company is right now to where it wants to be in the future. The dynamism nature of the business environment is pausing business to step back and think strategically on how to cope up with the everchanging business dynamics and proactively surpass any hurdles that may encounter on the way. As competition in any business environment is becoming stiff, planning strategically is the key that will for sure help any business ensure their exitance and prosperity and hence companies must have strategic plan for each of their respective business that is realistic, measurable and achievable.

The financial sector in Ethiopia is growing although as the pace that is not as expected. It is inevitable for the companies to develop and have a road map that clearly indicates and be measured for taking the company to the next level.  Financial institutions play a critical role in economic development and job creation. The most productive youth force is currently facing lack of access to finance which mainly is attributed not targeting the youth in their strategies.

BRIDGES PROGRAMME

 First Consult (FC)/Development Alternative Inc (DAI) is contracted to provide management and technical support services to Mastercard Foundation  under the BRIDGES programme to support the creation of close to 600,000 youth jobs (80% women) and 15,000 MSMEs, with 300,000 unemployed youth trained through supporting IP job creation initiative and market linkage between IPs and MSMEs.

The Government of Ethiopia recognizes the critical role played by Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in creating job opportunities especially for young people and women, as well as for boosting national income and wealth that is important in igniting industrial transformation and private sector development. This is also well articulated in the Growth and Transformation Plan which prioritizes and identifies the development of micro and small businesses as catalyst for promoting industrial development. However, issues such as A2F, premises, market and linkage issues remain a challenge. To address the aforementioned the A2F issue, BRIDGES Programme partners with many Financial Institutions (FIs) to ensure that FIs received the necessary Technical Assistances that will enable the FIs to cater the wider group of MSMEs that are youth focused. One of BRIDGES programme partner is Oromia Credit and Saving Share Company (OCSSCO) which now transitioning to Bank which BRIDGES aims to support the institution by providing technical assistances such as trainings, preparation of strategic plan, enterprise development etc… that to enable MSME development, job creation and access to finance to the young men and women.

Oromia Credit and Saving Share Company (OCSSCO)

 Oromia Credit and Saving Share Company (OCSSCO) within its 24 years of operation and services, had prepared four medium term (five years) Strategic Business Plan (SBP) documents to lead its growth through deliberate roadmap.

On 24^th May 2021, OCSSCO was given permission to transform to Siinqee Bank to provide both the microfinance and banking services and is currently under licensing process. Therefore, it is mandatory to have appropriate Strategic Business Plan (SBP) to carry out the intended businesses through strategic roadmap.

For Siinqee Bank, the fundamental decision to develop new strategic plan were emanated from both from internal & external factors. The internal force was the demands of major re-examination of the current growth attained. For the last few four years, the existing growth or progress hasn’t been showing satisfactory progress. The existing growth is almost increasing at a minor progress with all aspects.

The other internal force is the acquisition of technology ‘core banking system’ which initiates the reappraisal of OCSSCO to transfer to banking business to carry out the business in modern way so as to be competent in the market and compatible with the fast-changing business environments.

The outside force was from the interest of regional and federal governments. The financial sector in Ethiopia is growing although as the pace that is not as expected. The interest of regional and federal governments to increase the number of financial institutions so as to realize the intended financial inclusion (the availability and equality of opportunities to access financial services by which individuals and businesses can access appropriate, affordable, and timely financial products and services) in the region and as well as in the country.

OBJECTIVE         

The objective of this assignment is to assist one of the BRIDGES programme partners Oromia Credit and Saving Share Company (OCSSCO) now transitioning to Siinqii Bank develop its first five years Strategic Plan (2022-2026). The main objective for supporting OCSSCO is mainly facilitate MSME development, job creation and creating access to finance access to finance.

 SCOPES

The scope of the study is expected to conduct all pertinent assessments both internal and external environments. Internally, it should try to assess all internal stakeholders, fundamental Issues (Mission, Vision and Values), institutional profile, governance, the current organizational structure, each working units at all layers. Externally, it should conduct survey on global economy and banking industry, nationally, macro and micro-environments analysis, competition & competitors’, collaborators, market and marketing and customers’ analysis in general.

 SPECIFIC TASK

The firm will be responsible:

1. Review the existing Strategic plan (OCSSCO 4^th SBP), vision and mission statements, values and develop SBP which integrates microfinance services and banking business);
2. Undertake stakeholder analysis and other analysis listed under scope of the intended SBP;
3. Through a consultative process and application of an appropriate tool of analysis, identify focus areas and develop strategic objectives and key result areas for the same;
4. Review the institutional capacity, organizational set-up, financial and administrative systems against the TA mandate and the identified strategic objectives and key result areas; and make recommendations, if any;
5. Activities in the development of a five-years Strategic Plan with emphasis on roles and responsibilities

• Review all relevant primary data supportive to the strategic plan development;
• Conduct deep environmental scanning to identify themes and key issues that will become strategic drivers for the next five years;
• Indicative contents may include in executive summary, SWOT, KPIs, Target Customers and products, Industry Analysis, Marketing and new product development plans, HR and development plans, Operation plans, Financial projections, Technology (core-banking, E-payment), Indicators and time frame.

1. Propose appropriate strategies for achieving the strategic objectives and key results;
2. Develop a Results and Resources Framework for the plan period;
3. Hold stakeholder meeting(s) to validate the draft Strategic Plan;
4. Finally, based on findings of each phase, the consultants will triangulate information from the various strategy development processes and presentation with wider stakeholders and prepare the final draft.
5. Finalize Strategic plan and submit
6. Any other tasks to be determined;

DELIVERABLES

The following reports will be required as deliverables:

1. An inception report that outlines how it will accomplish the consultancy objective, specific methodology and work plan, Staffing and management, work plan: detailed timeline of activities and meetings, outline of the table of content, deliverables.
2. Draft report: The report is expected to address the specific deliverables in specific activity section. Presentation is required at this stage.
3. Final report
4. Power point presentation out of the final report

 QUALIFICATION

Firm experience of at least 10 years, that specialized in providing strategic consulting services especially to the financial sector players.

This advisory service requires three consultants for successful delivery of the 5 years strategic plan. The following qualifications are required:

• One key senior expert with management, finance and or economics background with more than 10 years of high-level advisory experience preferably with financial sector background (Minimum Master Degree)
• One Senior consultant with MFI expertise and a background of advisory services to MFIs and or previous working experience (Minimum Master Degree)
• One data analyst as a support for data analytics

WORKING ARRANGEMENT

Siinqee Bank will assign Senior Personnel to assist the development process and for any information. The MFI senior management will be involved through out the process of the engagement.

 Documents

In response to this TOR, qualified companies should submit both technical (maximum 10 pages, CVs could be annexed) and financial proposals (Maximum 3 pages) in the following structure:

Technical Proposal Structure

1. Organization Track Record and Relevant Experience
2. Description of Technical Approach, Methodology, and Work Plan for Performing the Assignment
3. Team Composition, Assignment, and Key Experts CV’s

Financial Proposal

The firm should submit the total budget in the proposal with detail breakdown including applicable government taxes. All costs should be stated in ETB. Professional fees should be delineated to person-days.

Clarification/ Contact person

For any clarification, please contact Henok Tenna at htenna@firstconsultet.com

Submission of the proposal

The Offeror shall prepare both the “Technical” and “Financial” Proposal to the following email address bids4@firstconsultet.com

Deadline for submission of proposals

Applicants should email their proposal (technical and financial) to bids4@firstconsultet.com with the relevant information detailed in technical and financial section of a proposal. The subject of the email should say Strategic Planning Development, BRIDGES Project. Proposals must be received no later than no later than 5 PM on 04 November 2021.

WASH access is a critical line of defense against climate change. Gete, a 14 years old girl, from Burie Zuriya Woreda in the Amhara region used to collect water from a spring located about ten minutes away from her house. Even though it is not that far, she had to carry 20 litters of water, within a jerrycan, on her back and walk on the road that gets slippery during the rainy season, which made her journey dangerous. But that was three years ago. Today, Gete is amongst over sixteen thousand people who have gotten access to clean water through WaterAid Ethiopia’s Multi-Village System for Resilience and Scale project funded by People’s Postcode Lottery (PPL) Corporation. The project aims to pilot multi village systems, advocacy, and communication.
Globally, unprecedented extreme weather events are leading to more frequent and severe flooding and droughts. The situation is set to worsen, with the UN projecting that 40% of the world’s population could be living under severe water stress by 2050 due to the impacts of climate change.
Ethiopia is one of the countries experiencing the worst effects of climate change. Besides the direct effects such as an increase in average temperature or a change in rainfall patterns, climate change also presents the necessity and opportunity to switch to a new and sustainable development model. The Government of Ethiopia has, therefore, initiated the Climate-Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) initiative to protect the country from the adverse effects of climate change and build a green economy that will help the Government’s ambition towards attaining middle-income status before 2025 (Ethiopia CRGE, 2011).
According to World Food Programme’s statistics, climate change in Ethiopia has caused a decline in rainfall and increased droughts causing humans, livestock, and property to be destroyed and for people to be displaced from their natural habitats. In recent years, the seasonal rainfall over Eastern and North-eastern Ethiopia has been decreasing and exhibiting a high amount of seasonal rainfall variability and a general drying trend. When extreme weather events occur, it is the poorest people who are least able to prepare and protect themselves and their environments – or bounce back following disasters.

Building climate-resilient and sustainable WASH systems

WaterAid Ethiopia operates in Burie Zuriya Woreda of West Gojjam Zone; Amhara Regional State located 408 kms north of Addis Ababa, the country’s capital; and 150 kms from the regional capital, Bahir Dar, with a total population of 193,010.
With increasing climate vulnerability, WaterAid aimed at building a Climate Resilient and Sustainable WASH service by investing in strengthening the management models for rural multi-village systems. This project is being implemented in three neighbourhoods in Burie District/Woreda where there was a serious water shortage. The project contributed towards enhancing the capacity of water users’ association and represented committee members. This was through setting up clear roles and responsibilities, formalizing management structures and transiting from voluntary committees to water utility boards with efficient financial, revenue collection and tariff setting systems. WaterAid Ethiopia has been working to establish associations designed to be led independently by boards of community associations. Hence, WaterAid Ethiopia believes such systems are crucial to the success of all waterpoints in a community. Extensive training and awareness campaigns on environmental protection and sustainable use of water have been conducted among key members of the community, over 35 water committees, and stakeholders.
Furthermore, one of the crucial steps required for building climate-resilient WASH facilities was to address the gaps in capacity between the WASH sector offices of the district and Burie Water and Sewerage Utility for developing and implementing climate resilience and water security plans. The capacity of community groups to manage watersheds is essential to weathering the effects of climate change. By implementing water safety plans communities can address threats to water security, including current climate variability, weak governance of water resources as well as the WASH services, environmental degradation, growing demand for water and threats to water quality, such as pollution and salinity.
As part of introducing resilient WASH facilities, the construction of solar-powered water supply systems has been implemented in the three Kebeles. The construction work includes three reservoirs of 100 m3, 125 m3, and 50 m3, 1500 pipeline works, and 42 water points as well as a spring development, a 25 m3 collection chamber, a 50 m3 elevated service reservoir, and 5km of pipeline works.

The value of sustainable WASH in climate adaptation

The value of sustainable WASH services in a climate adaptation context is not well recognized in Ethiopia. There is low investment by the government and other actors in analysing the effects of climate change on clean water and decent sanitation services including early warning systems. To reach universal access to WASH, it is critical to work with the local government and communities by supporting them to develop contextually appropriate solutions to adapt to climate change. Currently, WASH is seen solely as a development issue. This has implications for the prioritisation of WASH in a global narrative, increasingly dominated by climate change, and for attracting funding to the sector. Hence, it is critical to advocate for more climate financing, to make sure water is at the heart of climate adaptation, and development plans and advocating for an increase in climate financing for water and sanitation, and dedicated funding that enables countries to adapt and build their resilience to climate change.

At a global level, 77% of climate finance is allocated to mitigation and 23% to adaptation. Within that 23%, a smaller percentage is devoted to water for domestic use. Adaptation sector financing needs to implement the NDCs for adaptation amounts to US$ 40.5 billion which is 12.8% of the total budget required for the NDCs. Yet, investing in resilient WASH services reduces climate vulnerability by enhancing the adaptive capacity and resilience of populations affected by WASH poverty. Sustainable WASH services require strong institutional and regulatory frameworks for climate-responsive planning and development, as well as climate-resilient infrastructure. There is a clear case in terms of the adaptation impact for investing climate finance in WASH services.
The recommended district-wide approach implemented in Burie Zuria woreda focuses on reviewing district WASH plans through a climate adaptation lens and building district (woreda) level capacity of coordinated planning between the sectors. At the district level, sectors are empowered to mobilise a significant increase in climate finance for safe water and WASH for adaptation. The capacity to leverage climate finance for WASH is currently the primary focus, built progressively through a multi-stakeholder task force that facilitates the preparation of a project proposal for WASH for adaptation through mobilizing support, increasing woreda level WASH and climate vulnerability data access and water safety planning and implementation.

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