RFP2521 End-Project Evaluation of the Women’s Economic Empowerment and Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa Project
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 84 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.
Project Background
AFI was awarded a grant by the European Commission to implement the Women’s Economic Empowerment and Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa (WEE-FI Africa) project. This initiative aims to strengthen financial inclusion across Sub-Saharan Africa by expanding equitable access to quality financial services, thereby enhancing financial resilience and overall economic well-being for underserved populations.
The project is designed to support AFI member institutions in the region by fostering a robust regulatory framework and facilitating the formulation of evidence-based financial inclusion policies. Key thematic areas addressed through this initiative include digital financial services and emerging consumer risks, financial inclusion for youth and women, and inclusive green finance. This project leverages peer-learning and evidence-based knowledge to assist financial sector regulators and policymakers to refine financial inclusion policies and regulations, as well as promote policy solutions that are innovative, inclusive and responsive to the diverse needs of the region’s population. This is done through AFI’s established services, platforms and modalities that integrate knowledge dissemination, capacity building, peer-learning engagements, and direct in-country technical assistance, dialogue platforms with private sectors and financial regulatory from developed countries.
By strengthening the financial regulatory landscape, the project aims to create an enabling environment for sustainable financial inclusion, ensuring that regulatory frameworks remain both forward-looking and adaptable to emerging trends. The ultimate objective is to enhance economic participation among marginalized groups, contributing to broader financial stability and inclusive economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
It is against this background that AFI is commissioning an end-project evaluation of the Women’s Economic Empowerment and Financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa (WEE-FI Africa) project (January 2024 – December 2025).
Overall Objective
The main objective of this consultancy assignment is to undertake an end-project evaluation of the Women’s Economic Empowerment and Financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa (WEE-FI Africa) project.
The evaluation will assess the project’s design, implementation and outcomes to produce evidence-based insights that will inform future financial inclusion initiatives.
Specifically, this end-project evaluation seeks to:
- Assess project performance and achievements: assess the overall progress made towards achieving the outputs and outcomes of the project using the project’s logical framework.
- Assess relevance and responsiveness: assess alignment of project’s activities and outcomes with the policy priority and needs of AFI member institutions; identify gaps and opportunities to refine AFI service delivery meeting members’ demand.
- Evaluate implementation efficiency and effectiveness: assess the effectiveness of project implementation mechanisms, including coordination mechanism and collaboration among all relevant departments within AFI Management Unit as well as with partners / external stakeholders outside AFI. Examine efficiency of resource allocation and budget utilization for project implementation.
- Evaluate contributions to regulatory advancements: evaluate the extent to which activities and outputs of the project have contributed or influenced the development and implementation of financial inclusion policies and/or regulatory frameworks by AFI Member Institutions
- Assess broader qualitative change: identify any shift in policy narratives, institutional mindsets, or sectoral paradigm that the project may have catalyzed, evaluating its boarder impact on intended beneficiaries and stakeholders.
- Assess impact and sustainability: assess the extent the project is generating impact on financial inclusion and economic empowerment, as well as the likelihood of the benefits to be sustained beyond the project’s implementation period
- Formulate recommendations: provide actionable recommendations to enhance operational effectiveness of AFI Management Unit in project implementation; provide evidence-based insights to improve on future project design, and ensure long-term sustainability of outcomes
- Disseminate findings: submit an end-project evaluation report and deliver presentations to AFI Management and relevant stakeholders, as required.
Scope of Work
The end-project evaluation shall confirm to OECD/DAC’s Quality Standards for Development Evaluation. The evaluators shall use the OECD/DAC Glossary of Key Terms in Evaluation.
The tasks that are expected to be achieved include:
- Conduct a desk review of the project document, annual workplan and budget of the project, annual progress report and financial report submitted, logical framework, and other documents as advised by the AFI Monitoring & Evaluation Unit;
- Develop the evaluation matrix outlining the approach and methodology of this review, including research questions that address the scope of work defined above; develop the workplan for this evaluation assignment;
- Identify key informants for this evaluation assignment – including technical staff of AFI Management Unit involved in the project implementation, selected technical staff of AFI member institutions who are involved and/or participated in the activities under this project, as well as donors, partners and stakeholders as advised by AFI Monitoring and Evaluation unit – and conduct remote or virtual interviews for data and information gathering;
- Develop key deliverables (as detailed in the next section) of this evaluation assignment;
- Provide weekly updates (in writings or virtual calls) to the AFI Monitoring & Evaluation unit on the progress of the evaluation assignment;
- Prepare presentations for the AFI Management Unit and AFI Senior Management Team
Timeline and Deliverables
The assignment would be undertaken from 4 August 2025 and ends 15 December 2025, with an estimated level of effort of 20 person-days.
Travel
No Travel is expected for this assignment. The consultant will work remotely and undertake virtual meetings to complete the tasks.
Closing date: 28 May 2025