Agriculture Finance/market Research Expert

FARMER-TO-FARMER PROGRAM BACKGROUND:  The USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) Program, implemented by Land O’Lakes, Inc. in partnership with IESC, is designed to enhance agricultural competitiveness in the MENA region and to ensure reliable and consistent national food supplies. To help improve agricultural competiveness in the MENA region, the F2F Program seeks to increase access to rural finance by: 1) enhancing access to finance for infrastructure upgrades essential to improve quality assurance; and 2) supporting financial institutions to better serve farm enterprises that seek to implement quality assurance protocols.   BACKGROUND: Lebanon in general has a sophisticated investment and banking history and infrastructure. However, The microfinance sector in Lebanon is fairly new; two organizations have been in existence since 1984, and the others came into existence in the early 1990s or later. Most lenders perceive the agricultural sector as a high risk investment, which results in an underserved financial sector.  Even though many of the  microfinance institutes (MFI) fund “agro-related” activities through their normal product offering, most do not have specialty products for agribusiness or the staff well-versed in agriculture/rural lending.  Some of the more NGO focused MFIs do provide support to farmers and cooperatives outside of microfinance in the form of agriculture-related technical support for improving productivity, accessing markets, etc.  In the first round of outreach to microfinance sector early this year, the F2F team concluded that many of the MFIs are genuinely interested in agriculture lending; however, they don’t have a clear vision of what actions need to be taken to overcome the challenges facing agriculture lending. Thus, there is a need for specialized assistance in identifying appropriate interventions to assist continued growth in this sector. The Consultant will analyze the existing data and based on his/her findings he/she will assist the MFIs in identifying challenges and needs that will result in creating expert volunteer opportunities.  Anticipated types of technical assistance include, but are not limited to:  (1) internal capacity building, (2) agricultural lending product development, (3) sector-wide training, and (4) investment preparedness   DETAILED RESPONSIBILITIES: Phase I: Work directly with the F2F Lebanon Country Director and her team to discuss and learn about the data and work that has already been executed. Meet with appropriate organizations and individuals involved in agriculture finance, within the microfinance and banking sectors, to get a better understanding of the sector and better identify how the F2F MENA program can utilize volunteers to further quality initiatives in agriculture lending and in particular assess the current capacities and needs of potential partners, such as MFIs and banks. Meet with F2F MENA Agricultural Beneficiaries and to have a better understanding of the funding needs and challenges in this market. Phase II: Conduct in depth brainstorming session with interested MFIs and banks to articulate their exact needs in terms of technical assistance and training to improve their agriculture lending services. Work directly with IESC’s team and the F2F Lebanon team to develop a list of Scopes of Work for hosts that have shown interest in improving their agriculture lending services. The SOWs subjects will be guided by the findings of the data analysis and interviews conducted by the consultant. Together with the MFIs and/or banks, write a set of specific scopes of work for future volunteer assignments. Work directly with the F2F Lebanon team and IESC’s team to develop an action plan for the implementation of future scopes of work. Deliverables: Phase I: An initial report containing findings and conclusions of the data analysis and discussions with the F2F Lebanon team and other relevant sources of information. Phase II: A list of specific scopes of work for future volunteer interventions that have been drafted by the consultant, reviewed by the F2F Lebanon and IESC’s team and accepted by the MFIs and/or banks.  At least five scopes of work must have been signed-off by the MFIs and/or banks as well as have their commitment to receive volunteer experts in the next 6 months. A final report detailing specific and practical recommendations on next steps for the implementation of additional scopes of work in the next 12 months.