DID – STEP PROJECT
call for tenders
Financial Services Market Study in 14 provinces of Vietnam
Planned starting date: January 15th 2018
Location: Hanoi and 14 provinces in Vietnam
Duration of the mandate: 3 months
Maximum budget: 40,000 USD
Context:
Développement international Desjardins (DID) [1] is currently seeking consultancy in the field of Financial Services and specialised in Rural Market Surveys to assist its field team working on the STEP project, a technical assistance project targeting capacity building for the Cooperative Bank of Vietnam (Co-opBank) and its network of financial cooperatives, the People’s Credit Funds (PCFs). The mandate entrusted to DID under the STEP project involves coaching and advising the Co-opBank and its network of PCFs during a transformation and modernization process intended to increase their integration and performance. Specifically, DID supports its partners in organizational and operational assessment and capacity building with respect to governance, management/planning, supervision, risk management, training and development/deployment of new financial products/services, in particular for clients in rural areas. This five-year project (2016-2021) is financed by Global Affairs Canada.
Objective:
Facing increasing competition from other financial intermediaries, the PCFs suffer from a limited range of products and a low visibility in the market. As a result, they cannot fully satisfy the needs of their members and have difficulty to attract new members. The team from DID is assisting the PCFs in conducting an in-depth market study in order to better understand the local business environment, the existing supply and demand of financial services, and ultimately recommend a new range of products that will be suitable for the growing needs of the PCF’s members as well as other potential members in the local communities and most particularly the needs of the rural and women members. The DID STEP project team is recruiting a consultant (consulting firm or an academic institution) to conduct this study on their behalf.
Responsibilities:
The main tasks to be completed are summarised below:
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study the local business environment;
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perform an analysis of current supply of financial services, including the offer of competitors, in the areas of operations of the PCFs;
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review the demand for financial services by conducting an in-depth primary demand survey (including questionnaires and focus group discussions);
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assess the current reputation of PCFs within the local community and their capacity to provide member-centric services.
Qualifications:
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Local firm or local academic institution (with business licence in Vietnam in the case of firm, registration certificate in Vietnam in the case of academic institution);
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Experience in quantitative and qualitative methodologies for sample selection;
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Experience in conducting market surveys including individual interviews and focus group discussions, ideally in the development aid or microfinance industry;
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Experience in the field of microfinance and small enterprise finance;
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At least 3 projects successfully conducted in a similar set-up.
Interested parties are invited to submit their proposal exclusively composed in English by email only to [email protected] [2]. Detailed Terms of Referencemust be requested from this address. Any request for clarification should also be sent to this address before the deadline mentioned in the Detailed Terms of Reference.
Deadline for the proposal submission: November 22nd, 2017
Qualified bidders will be notified of the outcome of their bids by November 29th, 2017 and contractual arrangements will be made immediately afterwards.