1.Background:
The Alliance for Financial Inclusion
The Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) is the world’s leading organization on financial inclusion policy and regulation. Currently, 90 member institutions make up the AFI network including central banks, ministries of finance and other financial policymaking or regulatory institutions from over 83 developing countries and emerging markets. AFI empowers policymakers to increase the access and usage of quality financial services for the underserved through sustainable and inclusive policies and an effective use of digital technologies.
Policies developed and implemented by the members of the Alliance contribute to a range of the Sustainable Development Goals. by Setting their own agenda, AFI members harness the power of peer learning to develop practical and tested policy reforms that enhance financial inclusion with strategic support from both public and private sector partners.
AFI has 7 Working Groups (WGs): Consumer Empowerment and Market Conduct Working Group (CEMCWG), Digital Financial Services Working Group (DFSWG), Financial Inclusion Data Working Group (FIDWG), Financial Inclusion Strategy Peer Learning Group (FISPLG), Global Standards Proportionality Working Group (GSPWG), Inclusive Green Finance Working Group (IGFWG) and SME Finance Working Group (SMEFWG).
As the key source of policy developments and trends in financial inclusion and as the primary mechanism for generating and incubating technical content in the network, the Working Groups serve as "communities of practice". Providing a platform for knowledge exchange and peer learning among policymakers to share, deliberate and deepen their understanding, the working groups offer leadership and expertise in their respective policy fields and support the network to monitor new developments in emerging fields.
The knowledge generated via the working groups is disseminated for implementation by a range of capacity building activities such as Joint Learning Programs, Member Trainings, Trainings by Private Sector Partners. The practical experience members garner from engaging in peer learning based capacity building is then applied by members as in country implementation projects which are supported by the provision of financial or technical support to AFI member institutions in conducting activities that aim to deliver financial inclusion policies, regulations, supervisory tools or enablers for the development of policies, such as national financial inclusion strategies.
The working groups receive strategic guidance and insight from the High-Level Global Standards & Policy Committee, while the Gender Inclusive Finance Committee, supports WGs in integrating gender considerations into all aspects of their work and support members in fulfilling their Denarau Action Plan (updated 2022) commitment to promote women’s financial inclusion.
AFI members have made further commitments in a range of other accords which can be read here.
The AFI’s five regional initiatives support policy implementation in Africa (AfPI), Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC), the Pacific Islands (PIRI), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECAPI) and the Arab Region (FIARI).
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is the central bank of Pakistan. SBP has several key functions, including issuing currency, conducting monetary policy, regulating the financial system, managing public debt, and acting as a banker to the government. It also serves as the lender of last resort and provides advice to the government on financial and economic matters. It regulates banks, development financial institutions, microfinance banks, and exchange companies to ensure stability and protect depositors. The non-traditional or promotional functions, performed by the State Bank include development of financial framework, institutionalisation of savings and investment, provision of training facilities to bankers, and provision of credit to priority sectors. The State Bank also has been playing an active part in the process of islamization of the banking system.
The Bank is active in promoting financial inclusion policy and is a leading member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion. It has been pursuing financial inclusion through enhanced financial literacy as one of its strategic goals. To this end, SBP has been implementing various programs and initiatives to cascade financial literacy among unbanked and underbanked segments of the society.
2. Introduction and Context:
Pakistan ranks among the top 10 countries most affected by climate change, experiencing unprecedented rains, glacial melt, flooding, and heatwaves. These events have severely damaged livelihoods, crops, and infrastructure, significantly threatening national food security. The vulnerable agriculture sector, crucial for Pakistan’s economy and rural livelihoods, faces multifaceted impacts on production, stability, pricing, and farmers’ income, many of whom lack adaptive resources.
Given these challenges, financial inclusion is a crucial strategy for climate change mitigation and adaptation, especially in climate sensitive sectors like agriculture. It empowers vulnerable communities with access to financial services, enabling the adoption of clean energy, enhancing resilience to climate shocks, and fostering sustainable economic activities. Integrating financially excluded groups, especially those in the food systems, also helps reduce climate-induced socio-economic inequalities as they benefit from climate finance flows. Consequently, there is a pressing need for policy frameworks, guidelines, and capacity building for financial institutions to tailor their products to the needs of marginalized communities affected by climate change.
To address the adverse impacts of climate change, a key strategic objective of SBP is to "Promote Inclusive and Sustainable Access to Financial Services." Recognizing the agriculture sector’s heightened vulnerability to climate-related risks, a primary focus area is the promotion of climate-smart agriculture financing to enhance resilience.
3. Overall Objective:
The project aims to support the enhancement of the capacity of SBP and the banking industry in Pakistan to implement climate-smart agriculture financing and ultimately contribute to climate resilience building in the country, including through the review and development of comprehensive guidelines for climate-smart agriculture financing. These guidelines will encompass best practices, tailored financing products, effective risk mitigation tools, and innovative climate-smart agricultural solutions.
4. Scope of Work and Key Deliverables:
The scope of the work for the delivery of the project will broadly cover the following:
- Toolkit on climate-smart agriculture for farmers including relevant case studies. Review of international best practices on climate smart agriculture relevant to Pakistan’s context and agriculture financing; development of a toolkit specifically for farmers that includes case studies on climate smart agriculture financing;
- Gap analysis. Review of SBP’s Green Banking Guidelines as well as international policy frameworks on climate smart agriculture financing to identify gaps and policy recommendations for integration in the Green Banking Guidelines;
- Climate risk profiling. Understanding climate risk profiling tools being used globally to assess lending risks in the agriculture sector; undertaking interviews, surveys, and consultations with local organizations, financial institutions, and agricultural lending banks to understand climate risk exposures; and developing tools and guidelines in assessing climate-related risk exposure for agricultural projects;
- Capacity building for the Pakistan banking institution on climate-smart agriculture financing. Development of training modules and materials focused on providing guidance for banking institutions in developing policies for climate-smart agriculture financing; delivery of training sessions for the Pakistan banking institutions.
5. Timeline and Deliverables:
Work is proposed to be undertaken for a period of 9 months, starting from the onboarding of the consultant. The key timelines are summarized in the table below:
Refer link in "How to Apply" section for more detailed information.
6. Travel:
This consultancy work requires domestic/regional/international travelling to support the implementation of the assignment. The estimated travel expenses should be included with breakdown of the flight, accommodation, per diem whenever relevant and will be capped as reference for further evaluation and contract award.
7. Consultant Experience:
The consultancy firm will undertake this assignment should have the following qualifications at minimum:
- 8+ years of professional experience in broad financial regulation, climate risk management, green finance, sustainable finance, agricultural finance, financial inclusion, climate policy and international development.
- Advanced understanding and experience in analyzing the issue of regulatory oversight and supervision around financial inclusion, sustainable finance, and public finance.
- Advanced understanding and experience in global climate smart agriculture practices including for smallholder farmers. Experience in supporting climate smart agriculture projects is desirable.
- Experience working directly with central banks on policy development and implementation, preferably in regulatory oversight, risk management, supervision, prudential regulation, and enforcing policies and mandates.
- Knowledge of agricultural finance, climate change policies and development. Experience in supporting green finance/climate finance policy development is desirable.
- Excellent oral, writing and presentation skills in English language is compulsory. Ability to communicate in Urdu is an advantage.
- Previous experience working with the Government of Pakistan or in South Asia is an advantage.
- Previous experience writing is desirable.
- Advanced university degree in social science, international economics, environmental policy, development finance or other related field.
8. Reporting
During the period of the execution of project, the Consultant will be reporting regularly to AFI Team and BCM Team on a schedule mutually agreed by all parties.
9. Payment Terms:
The payment terms proposed for this consultancy are as following:
Refer link in "How to Apply" section for more detailed information.
10. Administrative Information:
10.1 Disclaimer
The final decision on the selection of a consultant/consulting firm for this project rests with the AFI management team and with the Inquiry. Only shortlisted and successful consultants will be contacted.
10.2 Proposal Submission Information
Proposals will be due with the following requirements for submission"
Refer link in "How to Apply" section for more detailed information.
10.3 Retention of Proposals
All proposals submitted become the property of AFI. AFI will make all reasonable efforts to maintain proposals in confidence and will release proposals only to personnel involved with the evaluation of the project. Proprietary information should be identified in each proposal.
11. Evaluation Criteria
The proposals submitted will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
Refer link in "How to Apply" section for more detailed information.
Evaluation of technical and financial proposals
AFI reserves the right to award the most suitable proposal based on the evaluation of combined criterion, where bidders are qualified by the combined valuation of the technical and financial proposals, with the following weightage:
i) Technical Proposal: 70% (Seventy percent)
ii) Financial Proposal: 30% (Thirty percent)
How to Apply:
Kindly refer the RFP details from this link RFP2520. Interested applicants are expected to submit a proposal with an updated CV and using the template given by email to AFI’s Procurement & Contracts Office at RFP2520@afi-global.org by 23 May 2025, 5:00PM (Malaysia time).
Note: AFI does not tolerate copyright infringement, including and not limited to infringement, in the form of plagiarism. Consultant or consulting entity awarded a contract by AFI shall take responsibility to ensure that the authored works, produced in parts or as an entirety of the deliverables stated in this RFP does not infringe on copyrights.
The final decision on the selection of a consultant/consulting firm for this project rests with AFI management team and with the Inquiry. Only shortlisted and successful consultants will be contacted.
