Volunteer Assignment for Training Financial Institutions Credit Officers in the Mechanics of Agriculture Lending

Caribbean Agricultural Productivity improvement Activity (CAPA)

Terms of Reference

 

1.     Introduction

Improving Economies for Stronger Communities (IESC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to equitable and sustainable economic growth in developing countries. IESC believes that a robust private sector is a foundation for resilient nations and strong communities. Since 1964, IESC has supported the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises around the world and strengthened the systems and institutions that support them. By deploying a mix of technical assistance and volunteer expert support, IESC works with small-holder producers, emerging industries, financial institutions, and governments to stabilize economic environments, increase opportunity, and promote growth.

 

In the Eastern and Southern Caribbean (ESC), food prices and the cost of agricultural inputs have increased significantly, and smallholder farmers are unable to produce sufficient food to meet local and regional demand without the introduction of appropriate business practices and cost-effective financial management techniques. In response to the foregoing, IESC is implementing the USAID-funded Caribbean Agricultural Productivity improvement Activity (CAPA), designed to help financial institutions better meet the needs of farmers including women and youth in selected fruit and vegetable value chains, adopt market-driven agricultural best practices and technologies.

 

IESC intends to assist financial institutions with capacity building to enable improved access to financing by farmers to acquire inter alia; inputs, production assets and working capital.

 

IESC is therefore recruiting a Volunteer to facilitate technical assistance to financial institutions to build the capacity of credit officers in the mechanics of agribusiness lending.

 

 

2.     Scope of Work

The Volunteer is expected to develop training materials and facilitate virtual capacity building with credit officers in financial institutions in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean. The scope of work covers all activities necessary to accomplish the deliverables as stated below.

 

The Volunteer will execute the following main tasks/activities:

        i.          Participate in an inception briefing with representatives from IESC to discuss the objectives, expected content of training materials, approach, expected outputs, and any other issues related to the execution of the assignment that require clarification.

      ii.          Develop and deliver a training program for Credit Officers from Financial Institutions on the Mechanics of Agri-business lending. 

3.     Deliverables

The principal deliverables of the Volunteer will be:

        i.          Deliverable 1 – Capacity Building for Credit Officers- Develop and deliver a training program for Credit Officers on the Mechanics of Agribusiness lending. The training program should include the following areas but not limited to:

a.      Risk and cost management in agricultural lending (operational and financial)

b.      Agricultural credit management (character assessment, farm-business assessment, loan structuring)

c.      Marketing and sales of agricultural financial products

d.      Innovations in agricultural finance.

The Capacity Building Program is to be submitted within 10 days after the volunteer agreement award. Each training session should be approximately 3 hours in length and will be expected to be delivered over 3 days.  

4.     Duration of Volunteer Assignment

The assignment will require a maximum of 15 days for completion.

 

 

 

5.     Qualifications

Candidates are expected to have at least:

·       Advanced degree in agriculture economics, development finance, accounting or a related and relevant field. Masters a plus.

·       Minimum of three years’ professional experience in developing and delivering agriculture training and capacity building.

·       Knowledge about loan product design for various types of financial institutions

·       Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite of products

·       Experience in preparing high-quality training materials.

·       Fluency in English required. Knowledge of Dutch will be an asset.

 

This assignment is expected to commence in May 2024.