10009293-Development of inclusive financial services and products

The assignment is structured around three work packages. The first covers the selection and appraisal of partner FSPs. The contractor will conduct an institutional diagnostic for each FSP, reviewing their current product offering, business model, lending processes, digital infrastructure, client outreach capacity, and staff skills. Based on that analysis, a cooperation agreement will be signed with each FSP, along with a detailed work plan laying out what the collaboration will achieve and by when. This phase should be completed within the first three months. The second work package is where the core technical work happens. The contractor will support FSPs in designing or adapting financial products that genuinely respond to the needs of target groups, particularly women-led businesses, rural borrowers, and MSME clients who currently lack access to suitable financing. The process follows a structured product development methodology: from prototype design, through pilot testing, to assessment and refinement, and finally roll-out. Alongside the product work, the contractor will help FSPs develop marketing materials and outreach strategies, adjust internal procedures and manuals, and train front-line staff such as loan officers and branch managers. At least three financial product prototypes must be developed by the fifth to seventh month, piloted by month eight, and formally adopted with updated manuals by month ten. The third work package covers cross-cutting contributions: occasional training inputs for financial sector stakeholders such as the Central Bank of Iraq and sector associations; support for GIZ's monitoring and evaluation activities; and at least three public communication outputs, case studies, blog posts, fact sheets, or similar, documenting the work done with each FSP.