Dimensioning FIRA’s Demand for Gender-Sensitive Financing Products in Mexico

Date documents can be requested until : 24 January 2025 16:00
Title : Dimensioning FIRA’s Demand for Gender-Sensitive Financing Products in Mexico.
Procurement No. : 100011847
Process : RFP

Date documents can be requested until : 22 January 2025 16:00
Title : Dimensioning FIRA’s Demand for Gender-Sensitive Financing Products in Mexico.
Procurement No. : 100011847
Process : RFP

Date documents can be requested until : 07 January 2025 16:00
Title : Dimensioning FIRA’s Demand for Gender-Sensitive Financing Products in Mexico.
Procurement No. : 100011847
Process : RFP
Description : Global Green Growth Institute in Mexico invites all eligible companies to submit their proposals for consulting services to undertake consulting services for the Dimensioning FIRA’s demand for gender-sensitive financing products in Mexico.

PROJECT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:
Based in Seoul, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is an intergovernmental organization founded to support and promote a model of economic growth known as "green growth," which targets key aspects of economic performance such as poverty reduction, job creation, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. GGGI works with 47 countries around the world, building their capacity and working collaboratively on green growth policies that can impact the lives of millions, as well as promoting green growth investments. The organization partners with countries, multilateral institutions, government bodies, and private sector to help build economies that grow strongly and are more efficient and sustainable in the use of natural resources, less carbon intensive and resilient to climate change.
Established in 1954 by Mexico's federal government, Trust Funds for Rural Development (FIRA) is a second-tier development bank that offers credit and guarantees, training, technical assistance and technology-transfer support to the agriculture, livestock, fishing, forestry, and agribusiness sectors in Mexico. FIRA consists of four trusts funds, FONDO, FEFA, FEGA and FOPESCA. FIRA operates as a second-tier financial institution and offers its financial products through a wide network of banking and non-banking financial intermediaries.

FIRA plays a key role in the implementation of the Government of Mexico´s climate agenda and low carbon transition. In 2018 FIRA issued Mexico´s first green bond for the agri-food sector with IDB support, with a value of approx. US$ 125 million, followed by a second green bond issuance in 2019 with the same face value and a third one in 2020 for approximately US$150 million. In October 2020, FIRA issued the first gender bond (FEFA 20G) and, a second one in April, 2021 (FEFA 21G).

FIRA has a solid market position, strong economic fundamentals, and a AAA credit rating on its national debt securities. FIRA´s ongoing credit expansion program requires long-term affordable funding from domestic and international capital markets. As part of the GCF Readiness Programme, GGGI is providing support to FIRA to access GCF funds through the Project-Specific Assessment Approach (PSAA). GGGI is collaborating in the strengthening of FIRA’s internal capacity, systems, and frameworks to comply with GCF standards on ES safeguards and gender, which include the updating of FIRA’s Gender Equality Policy, with emphasis on increasing women’s participation in decision-making, reducing the gender pay gap, and developing gender-transformative financial products.

As part of this collaboration, GGGI has supported FIRA in the development of a concept note regarding integrated water management in the agri-food and rural sectors in Mexico to present to the GCF under the PSSA. This concept note includes a gender assessment focused on women’s participation in water management and women’s access to credit in Mexico. The proposed program also aims to mainstream gender by including gender considerations in all the activities.

GGGI is seeking to contract the services of a qualified Consultant/Service Provider to identify barriers rural women face to have access to financial products and provide recommendations to increase their financial inclusion and estimate the demand for gender-transformative financing products in Mexico's primary sector; which will ultimately feed into the development of FIRA’s gender-transformative financial products, in line with its Gender Equality Policy.

PROPOSED ACTIVITIES:
The proposed project will strengthen FIRA’s offer of gender-sensitive financial products to support compliance with FIRA’s Gender Equality Policy and Annual Equality, Non-Discrimination, and Gender Work Program
The Consultant/Service Provider shall complete the following activities:
I. Preparation of a report on the state of the art of financial inclusion of women working in the primary sector in Mexico.
II. Development of a report regarding the characterization of productive activities, and industries in the primary sector where women's participation is relevant and/or could potentially increase
III. Identify the main obstacles rural women face accessing financial products (from the supply and demand side) in the primary sector and make recommendations to overcome such obstacles.
IV. Design a methodology, through the engagement with financial intermediaries and women's social organizations focusing on financial inclusion, to estimate the demand for gender-responsive products among rural women in Mexico by identifying, from the pool of women that apply for credit, which proportion of them are rejected due to the lack of any requirement

SCOPE OF WORK:
The consulting firm shall produce each of the items mentioned below individually, specifying any modification from the Terms of Reference.

I. Deliverable 1: Report containing a state-of-the-art financial inclusion of women working in the primary sector in Mexico.

The consulting firm shall produce a report that describes, based on relevant evidence and research in Mexico, rural women’s financial behavior, the gender gap in financial inclusion products (credit and insurance) and services, particularly in the primary sector in rural areas, and the main obstacles rural women face when trying to have access to the mentioned financial products and services.

II. Deliverable 2: Report regarding the sustainable productive activities, industries or in which part of the productive chain from the primary sector, women’s participation is relevant and/or could potentially increase.

The consulting firm shall develop a document pointing out in which of FIRA’s selected sustainable productive activities, industries or link of the productive value chains women's participation is relevant and/or in which activities, industries their knowledge (traditional or technical) is or could be incorporated as part of the value chain.

a. Identifying projects in Mexico aligned to FIRA’s taxonomies where women are participating and/or where their participation could potentially increase

III. Deliverable 3: Report on the identification of the main obstacles rural women face accessing financial products (from the supply and demand side) in Mexico and an action plan to tackle them

The consulting firm shall develop a document containing at least the following elements:
a. Recommendations (financial solutions) and an action plan for FIRA, as a second-tier institution, to tackle identified obstacles that prevent women from having access to credit through the development of gender-sensitive financial products
b. List of elements to consider when designing a gender-sensitive financial product or service. Examples of best practices in Latin America associated with implementing gender-responsive financial product

IV. Deliverable 4: Report on estimating the demand for gender-sensitive financial products according to the research developed with financial intermediaries focusing on financial inclusion
a. The consultancy should develop a methodology for estimating the demand for this type of financial products
b. The consultancy should propose a methodology for defining a significative sample of financial intermediaries and credit applications taking into consideration regional differences to estimate the demand for this type of financial products

V. Deliverable 5: A final report on the overall consultancy delivered (in English).
a. The consultancy should develop a final report that encapsulates the findings, insights, and recommendations from the consultancy project. It serves as a strategic resource for GGGI, aimed at guiding decision-making and future actions.

For more details, please refer to the Terms of Reference (TOR) document attached.

IMPORTANT TIMELINES:
The tender submission deadline is JANUARY 7, 2025 16:00 HRS KOREAN STANDARD TIME (KST).
If any bidder has any request for clarification on the TOR or any part of the tender documents, GGGI will be happy to clarify if they are received on or before 7 days before the deadline (namely: if the tender submission deadline is 16:00 7 Jan 2025 KST, then the due date for submission of request for clarification is 16:00 31 Dec 2024 KST).

Interested parties will be required to register their details on the GGGI e-Green Procurement Portal (https://in-tendhost.co.uk/gggi).

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