Tender Description:

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has commissioned German Sparkassenstiftung for International Cooperation (German Sparkassenstiftung) with the implementation of the project “Socio-ecological transformation of the rural MSME sector and sustainable financial services in Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan and Ukraine”.

German Sparkassenstiftung aims to strengthen the economic participation of people in rural regions of project countries, in line with sustainable resource use, through adequate financial services and thus to contribute to improving life prospects in rural areas and to increasing resilience to external influences. Moreover, the project objective is to improve access to a sustainable financial market for the population and MSMEs in rural regions, enhance entrepreneurial skills of the dedicated target group and to strengthen the sustainable use of demand-oriented financial services.

The project thus targets the following results:

• The partner financial institutions improve their range of needs-oriented financial services for MSMEs in rural areas.
• The entrepreneurial literacy programme for MSMEs in rural areas, including content on resource-saving and risk-conscious business management, is sustainably established.
• The regulatory framework and the implementation of international and national guidelines on sustainable financing (ESG) have improved in at least two project countries.

Micro, Small and Medium entrepreneurs in the rural regions have been defined as an indirect target group on the demand side. Young adults, as future change agents in the partner countries, were added to this target group. Female entrepreneurs as well as female heads of households in rural regions were also included in the target group as they are particularly vulnerable. 

Relevant partner organizations on the demand side (state, civil society or private companies) and on the supply side (MFIs, PFIs, credit cooperatives), are defined as the direct target group as they are multipliers for the intended project measures and hence the part of achieving the project goal. The National Bank of Georgia being a sole supervisor of financial service provides is considered to be one of the major partner organizations.

Since 2017, the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) has been actively working on advancing a Sustainable Finance Framework in Georgia. As part of this initiative, in 2022, the NBG adopted the Sustainable Finance Taxonomy and the Regulation on Loan Classification and Reporting according to the Sustainable Finance Taxonomy (Taxonomy Regulation). The Taxonomy Regulation entered into force in January 2023, and commercial banks started to report on a monthly basis the Taxonomy aligned green loans to the NBG. The NBG has a responsibility to timely check these reports to ensure that technical criteria are met, and green loans are aligned with the Taxonomy. Therefore, NBG intends to conduct loan screening and checking exercise with the help of the technical consultants as well as hands-on training sessions on Green Taxonomy technical criteria for capacity building of its employees during November-December 2023.

Assignment Description:

The objective of the planned assignment is to support the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) in advancing sustainable finance agenda in the country. The purpose of the assignment is to support the NBG in development of methodology for checking the monthly reports from commercial banks with regards to the eligibility and alignment of reported loans with the Sustainable Finance Taxonomy (Taxonomy Regulation). At the same time the consultant shall provide helpdesk support to answer questions from the NBG and commercial banks regarding the green taxonomy and its application.

To achieve the goal of the proposed project, the following tasks will be implemented by the consultant:

• Perform initial screening of the delivered monthly reports of commercial banks and develop the methodology/procedure for data collection and analysis of these reports for reported thematic areas, agreed with NBG.
• Using the developed methodology, collect additional data and check the monthly reports of commercial Banks, including the eligibility and alignment of reported loans with the Sustainable Finance Taxonomy (Taxonomy Regulation). This process will be performed together with NBG team.
• Provide help desk support to answer questions from the NBG and commercial banks regarding the green taxonomy and its application.

Deliverables:

The consultant will provide the following project deliverables: 

• Methodologies/procedures for checking the monthly reports by commercial banks for agreed thematic areas that will be used by NBG for further operation.
• Results/reports of the performed assessments of the reports of the Banks

Tasks:

• Develop the methodology/procedure for data collection and analysis for other thematic areas.
• Present and discuss developed methodology with the NBG team.
• Based on approved methodology check the reporting / conduct technical assessment.
• Present and discuss technical assessment results with the NBG team.
• Handle ad-hoc queries from NBG/FI-s (e.g. project eligibility, etc.).

Interested consultants/consulting companies should submit their proposal to the following e-mail address: info.georgia@sparkassenstiftung.de

Please, indicate assignment title in the subject of the e-mail.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

The deadline for accepting submissions is: 8 December 2023

ტენდერის კატეგორია:

• 66100000 საბანკო და საინვესტიციო მომსახურებები
• 73200000 კვლევასა და განვითარებასთან დაკავშირებული საკონსულტაციო მომსახურებები
• 79200000 საბუღალტრო, აუდიტორული და ფისკალური მომსახურებები