GOVERNMENT OF SIERRA LEONE

Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI) for hiring a Digital Financial Services Specialist for DIGIGOV PROJECT

Date Issued : 30th October, 2020

Sector: Digital government payment services

Grant Number: 5900155016196

Project ID No.: P-Z1-HB0-071

  1. The Government of Sierra Leone, through the Ministry of Finance, has received funding from the African Development Bank acting as administrators of grant funds under the Transition Support Facility (TSF). The said grant funding from the TSF Pillar III Window is to assist in the financing of the digitization of government payments and intends to apply part of the agreed amount for this grant to payments under the contract for the recruitment of an Individual Digital Financial Services Consultant for Short Term Consultancy to play a key role in the implementation of the digitization of the Government to People (G2P) payments project and financial inclusion strategy thus creating digital payments ecosystem that will ensure public resource management transparency, security and optimization in Sierra Leone ;
  1. The services to be provided under the Assignment include :
  • Support the implementation of the digitization of the Government to People (G2P) payments project and the development of the national financial inclusion strategy ;
  • Assist the authorities to adopt a holistic approach to assessing the government payments system; Provide professional advice on the best practices for government payment flows and on making the process of government payments more efficient ;
  • Assist in the mapping of payment schemes in Sierra Leone ;
  • Assess payment channels, infrastructure and Payment Service Providers (PSPs) ;
  • Support the implementation of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) ;
  • Review and support activities of drafting of the new NFIS as the old one ends in 2020 ;
  • Actively participate in the financial literacy campaigns led by the Bank of Sierra Leone ;
  • Participate in thematic working group meetings hosted by the Bank of Sierra Leone and also in data collection, monitoring and evaluation to inform policy making; and
  • Support the Financial Inclusion Secretariat in organizing financial inclusion events and programming.
  1. The Project Fiduciary Management Unit hereby invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested consultants must provide information (detailed curriculum vitae including bio-data, copies of academic and professional qualification, certificates and contact details), indicating that they are qualified to perform the service through meeting the following qualification requirements for this position :
  • Master’s degree in economics, statistics, public/business administration, social sciences, technology or related discipline or the equivalent experience ;
  • Excellent stakeholder management is required across public and private sector stakeholders; Good understanding of Financial Inclusion and Market Systems Development in Sub-Saharan Africa ;
  • The consultant will have at least 5 years’ experience working with payment systems and government payments and an experience in the advancement of financial inclusion and support to government is preferred.
  1. Eligibility criteria, establishment of the short-list and the selection procedure shall be in accordance with the African Development Bank’s “Procurement Policy and Methodology for Bank Group Funded Operations” (BPM), dated October 2015 which is available on the Bank’s website at http://www.afdb.org ;
  1. Interested consultants may obtain further information at the address below during office hours from 9:00am- 4:30 pm Mondays- Fridays ;
  1. Expressions of interest must be delivered to the address below by 17th November, 2020 at 4:30pm and specifically labelled Hiring a Digital Financial Services Specialist for DIGIGOV Project.

The Team Lead

Project Fiduciary Management Unit -PFMU

Ministry of Finance

13A Howe Street-Africanus House

(Former World Bank Country Office)

Freetown, Sierra Leone

Attn : The Secretariat, PFMU

Tel : +232 76-672-186

E-mail : [email protected]; [email protected]