Fashionomics Africa Program | WSME Development Consultant - AHGC at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

African Development Bank Group (AfDB) - Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: EOI - AFAWA: Fashionomics Africa Program | WSME Development Consultant - AHGC

Location: Home based
Consultant type: Individual Consultant
Job family: Gender

The Complex

• The Vice-Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on two of the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy High 5s priority of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.
• The Complex objectives are (i) to develop, policy and strategy; (ii) provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by gathering pools of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions; (iii) develop new financing instruments; (iv) the Vice President will act as the spokesperson to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.

The Hiring Department

• Within the Complex, the Gender, Women and Civil Society Department is designed to improve coherence and coordination across Complexes on gender and civil society organization issues.
• The Department ensures strategic priorities are reflected in resources allocation, enhances monitoring and management of performance, and strengthens the focus on results.
• The Department also houses a number of special initiatives, including the flagship Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), which aims to bridge the gender gap in access to finance and unleash women’s entrepreneurial capacity across the continent.
• AFAWA’s holistic approach focuses on 3 pillars: (a) access to finance, leveraging African Development Bank’s various instruments such as lines of credit, equity investments and risk sharing mechanisms, (b) technical assistance, to financial institutions as well as women entrepreneurs, and (c) policy dialogue to reform the legal and regulatory frameworks affecting women businesses.

Rationale

• The African Development Bank is the first Multilateral Development Bank in Africa to recognize the potential of the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) and their critical contribution to the continent's economic transformation and diversification.
• Through Fashionomics Africa, the creative industries, notably the fashion industry (Textile, Apparel and Accessories), has been identified as a niche value chain of great opportunity for women entrepreneurs, which equipped with the required skills, access to finance and markets can be an important economic actor for the continent’s development.
• Thus, under the Bank’s AFAWA initiative, Fashionomics Africa aims to enhance opportunities for fashion WSMEs by facilitating access to finance through innovative and tailored financing instruments.
• In addition to access to finance, the program is supporting women entrepreneurs operating in the textile, apparel and accessories (TA&A) value chain through market intelligence and tailored capacity building programs that enable knowledge transfer and access to markets.

The Position - Scope of Work

• The AHGC Department is seeking to recruit an Individual Consultant to support the Bank’s efforts in implementing the innovative Fashionomics Africa program and enhancing gender-advancing investment opportunities in the textile and apparel industry in order to improve women's economic empowerment and entrepreneurship.
• With the Fashionomics Africa program, the Bank focuses on addressing four key challenges in the Africa textile and apparel value chain: (1) access to market data and information, (2) access to finance, (3) access to skills and production standards, and (4) access to markets.
• Under the guidance of the AFAWA Coordinator and synergy with the other areas of work of the AHGC Department, the incumbent will support the AHGC Department in developing and piloting proposals for the Bank's engagement in the African textile and apparel industry. The Consultant shall undertake the following tasks:

Access to market data and information:

• Support the development of knowledge products and publications; and participate in the team’s efforts to develop a repository of data on women’s access to finance and women’s economic empowerment in the textile and apparel sector in Africa.
• Actively contribute to the development of innovative operational products/tools to adequately address the challenges women entrepreneurs face in accessing finance and markets and achieve AFAWA's goal, with a focus on the textile and apparel industry.

Access to skills and production standards:

• Manage and coordinate the day-to-day execution and supervision of planned activities and timely achievement of expected results for the ‘Fashionomics Africa Technical Assistance Programme for Jewellery Manufacturing’ project in Zimbabwe, funded by the Transition Support Facility (TSF).
• Support the development and implementation of the Fashionomics technical assistance projects under the AFAWA transactions with financial institutions looking to create products for women entrepreneurs in the textile and apparel sector.

Access to finance and markets:

• Co-task the development and implementation of Fashionomics Africa’s financing mechanisms under AFAWA to promote the growth of WSMEs operating in the textile and apparel industry.
• Build and strengthen partnerships/synergies; and mobilize resources to develop the various components of the initiative and explore investment windows to accelerate access to market opportunities, such as e-commerce, for women's SMEs in the textile and apparel sector.
• Draft donor proposals and secure funding for the Fashionomics Africa program as needed; and support the preparation of approval reports including project objectives, scope of work, key deliverables, timelines, budget and expected outcomes and impacts with relevant input from Bank Departments.
• Support the development of tools and standards to further enhance the Bank’s ability to deliver strong and impactful access to finance and markets programs for women entrepreneurs in the textile and apparel industry on the continent.

Other:

• Prepare various written outputs, e.g. relevant project management related documents and reports, draft background papers, analysis, sections of reports and studies, issue debriefings, inputs to presentations, publications, press releases, blogs, etc.
• Review, in close collaboration with the Monitoring and Evaluation Expert, project implementation progress and monitoring reports in line with the Bank’s results management framework of the approved projects.
• Organize and facilitate cross learning workshops, networking and pitching events in partnership with relevant stakeholders; and support communication strategy and tools to disseminate project results.
• Discuss challenges and constraints in project implementation.
• Perform other duties as assigned by supervisor.

Qualifications & Experience

• A minimum of a Master's Degree or equivalent in a development field: Gender, International Relations, Social Sciences, or related field.
• A minimum of five (5) years of relevant work experience in the Cultural and Creative Industries and more specifically the fashion (textile, apparel, and accessories) sector with a strong knowledge of its structural challenges and opportunities in an African context and with multilateral institutions.
• Relevant experience – in international organizations, preferably prior experience with the African Development Bank and other multilateral institutions – to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality with a focus on innovation.
• Excellent communication, teamwork, and networking skills.
• Ability to work with a wide range of partners and manage multiple, simultaneous, and shifting demands/priorities under tight deadlines.
• Results-oriented, proactive, self-motivated, and able to work both with autonomy and with a team in diverse national and cultural contexts.
• Strong IT skills and good knowledge of the Bank’s standard software (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and web tools).
• Perfect knowledge of the Bank’s official languages: French and English.
• The position is open to nationals of one of the Bank Group’s Member Countries of the African Development Bank.

Duration & Location of the Assignment:

• The duration of the assignment is twenty-four (24) months renewable based on the needs and implementation performance and is expected to begin on June 15, 2023. The Consultant will be homebased with occasional travels to projects in different regions.
• The AHGC/AFAWA unit invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in providing the abovedescribed services. Interested Consultants shall provide information on their qualifications, experience demonstrating their ability to undertake this Assignment (documents, reference to similar services, experience in similar assignments, etc.) and his/her references.
• The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Rules and Procedure for the Selection of Corporate Consultants. Please, note that interest expressed by a Consultant does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include him/her in the shortlist.

Remuneration:

• The Consultant will receive a monthly lump sum. The Bank will cover full costs of any required missions and provide per-diem in accordance with rules governing Consultant mission travel.

Administration/Reporting:

• The Consultant will submit a monthly report detailing the activities carried out and the status of each activity.
• S/he will formally report to the AFAWA Coordinator in the Gender, Women and Civil Society Department.

Selection Criteria

• General Qualifications and suitability to the Tasks - 40
• Experience in the specific assignment - 30
• Experience with International Institutions - 10
• Language Capacity - 10
• Working knowledge of the Africa Region - 10

Technical and Financial Proposal:

• Shortlisted candidates will be invited to submit a technical and financial proposal for the assignment.
• An interview will be held with the candidates who obtained over 70% following assessment of their proposals.
• Final ranking will be based on 50% of the scores obtained following assessment of proposals, and 50% of the score obtained from the interview scores.

The Eligibility Criteria

• The establishment of the shortlist and the selection procedure will comply with the Rules and Procedures for the Use of Consultants for Projects Financed by the African Development Bank Window, 2008 edition revised in 2012, which are available on the Bank's website at: http://www.afdb.org

The Bank is under no Obligation:

• The Bank is under no obligation to shortlist any individual who expresses interest. It should be noted that the interest shown by an Individual Consultant does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include them on the shortlist.

Application Closing Date
22nd May, 2023 at 17:00 GMT.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Expressions of interest must be submitted by e-mail, to the address mentioned below While applying, please mention "Selection of Individual Consultant |AFAWA: Fashionomics Africa Program | WSME Development Consultant".

For the attention of:
Mr. Basil Jones,
African Development Bank Group,
Gender, Women and Civil Society Department,
Immeuble du CCIA, Rue Jean-Paul II - Plateau, 01 Boite Postale 1387, Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire
E-mail: [email protected] ; Copy: [email protected] ; [email protected] ; [email protected] ; [email protected]

Click here for more information

Click here for the Job Description (PDF)