Readvertisement - Consultancy for Self-Help Groups Credit Profile Assessment and Graduation Model Manual Development

Readvertisement - Consultancy for Self-Help Groups Credit Profile Assessment and Graduation Model Manual Development

Background and Rationale

Habitat for Humanity Kenya (HFHK) is a national non-profit organisation committed to enabling vulnerable families to access decent and affordable shelter as a foundation for improved livelihoods. Recognising that sustainable housing is closely linked to resilient income systems, HFHK integrates shelter, water access, climate resilience, financial inclusion, and community capacity strengthening into its programming.

Solio Settlement Scheme in Laikipia County is characterized by semi-arid climatic conditions, erratic rainfall, and prolonged recurring drought. Agriculture and livestock are key income sources, but households face limited access to affordable finance, low business capitalisation, weak market linkages, and limited access to formal financial services. With funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), HFHK is implementing a 39-month climate resilience project in Solio, combining climate-smart agriculture and financial inclusion interventions.

Qualifications and Experience

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, Economics, Accounting, Business Administration, Development Studies, Cooperative Management, Microfinance, Agribusiness, or a related field.
• A master’s degree in a relevant field, or a recognised professional qualification (e.g. CPA, ACCA, or a certified microfinance/credit qualification), will be scored favourably at evaluation and may offset up to one year of the required experience below (Section 4.3 evaluation criteria).
• For consulting firms: the proposed Team Leader must meet the above education requirement. The firm itself must demonstrate a minimum of three (3) years' institutional track record in financial inclusion, microfinance or credit-assessment-related work — a newly registered firm fronting a single qualified individual will not meet this requirement. Other team members should hold relevant qualifications appropriate to their role (e.g. field data collection, financial analysis).

Experience

• Minimum seven (7) years' demonstrated experience in financial inclusion, microfinance, savings groups (VSLA/SHG), cooperative development, credit assessment, or a related field (six years where the consultant holds a Master's degree or recognised professional qualification as above).
• Demonstrated experience developing credit profiles, institutional assessments, or financial-readiness/graduation assessments — evidenced by at least three similar assignments in the last five years, of which at least one must involve the design (not only the application) of a scoring, rating or graduation/maturity framework.
• Experience working directly with SHGs, VSLAs, cooperatives, or other community-based financial groups, ideally in a Kenyan or comparable East African rural context.
• Demonstrated experience engaging banks, MFIs, SACCOs or other financial institutions on group-lending products and requirements.
• Experience developing assessment frameworks, scoring systems, or graduation/maturity models.
• Experience working with rural and semi-arid/ASAL communities and on women's economic empowerment programmes is an added advantage — most SHG members are women, and familiarity with gender-responsive facilitation will strengthen field engagement.
• Working knowledge of the Kenyan financial inclusion and community finance environment, including relevant regulatory and cooperative/SACCO frameworks.
• Fluency in English and Kiswahili is required; familiarity with local languages spoken in Laikipia is an advantage for field-level engagement.