RFA:Responsible Payment Digitization for Women Merchants in Bangladesh

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 46 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.

The Better than Cash Alliance, hosted by UNCDF, is a membership of 80+ governments, international agencies, and private companies that are committed to transitioning from cash to digital payments responsibly. The Alliance has been a long-standing partner for the Government of Bangladesh and has supported the country’s payment digitization journey through several initiatives.

This initiative, ‘Responsible Payment Digitization for Women Merchants’, aims to understand women merchants’ needs, preferences, barriers, and incentives for using and adopting digital payments through action research and add to the growing evidence in favor of merchant payment digitization in the country. The research output, which will include the point of view of the retailers and consumers, will be utilized to advocate strategies that drive/advance merchant payment acceptance and consumer preference. The effort will be supported by the convening of demand-side and supply-side stakeholders, who will also contribute input to the Merchant Digitization Strategy. The Merchant Digitization Strategy will finally be presented to the regulatory agencies and disseminated through a selected media partner.

This request for applications (RFA) invites applicants from registered entities who can offer research, consulting, and convening support and effectively disseminate the initiative’s outcome.

The Better Than Cash Alliance is seeking applications from qualified technical partners (e.g., commercial, for-profit firms, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations) with a track record, reputations, and experience in building narratives, policy advocacy, and similar projects. The firms must have knowledge of key payment databases internationally and in Bangladesh, including supply-side and demand-side. They should also commit to providing in-country resources to fill data and analysis gaps. They must have experience facilitating multi-stakeholder workshops and providing action-driven recommendations based on innovative approaches. The service provider must have experience establishing, adopting, and using digital payment platforms in Bangladesh, focusing on women merchants.

Expected outputs are:

UNCDF-based Better than Cash Alliance will provide a grant of up to $50,000 to implement the initiative. The applicant is not expected to raise funds/invest their own funds into this initiative. Only one applicant will be selected. The selected applicant, who will be technically responsive to this Request for Application, will be required to sign a Performance-Based Agreement (PBA) with UNCDF.

Inquiries to this request for applications may be submitted by email to meron.tamrat@uncdf.org and cc to nabila.khurshed@uncdf.org (indicate here the deadline for submitting queries)

Any amendment to the deadline will be posted on the “add the link”; applicants are requested to closely monitor the deadline in case of any change.

All applications must be submitted by 29th January 2023at 23:59 EST on UNCDF online platform: https://apply.uncdf.org/prog/btca_bangladesh_responsible_payment_digitization_for_women_merchants

To ensure successful application to the RFA. Applicants shall consider the following notes:

Stage 1 “Pre-screening Questions”:

Applicants will need to fill in the online pre-screening questions and upload the required documents “where needed”. Note that once the “Mark as completed” button is clicked, you can no further introduce any change to this section.

Stage 2: “Main Application”

Under this section, applicants will provide information on the:

1. Address and information of their organization
2. There is a hyperlink “Technical Proposal Template”. Applicants shall click the link to download the proposal template; fill in the information required; click on the button “Upload a file” to upload the proposal.
3. CV template. The applicant will download the templates, fill in the information and upload the filled-in CVs.
4. Project Budget template. Applicants can download the budget template, prepare the budget and upload it to the platform.
5. Sign-off the Declaration of Conformity
6. Click on “Mark as Completed”.
7. Submit

The application deadline is 29^th January 2023 at 23:59 EST.