TOR Title: Expert in Securities Industry Crowdfunding Policy
Location: Accra, Ghana
Application Deadline: Febraury 10, 2023
Type of Contract: Individual Contract
Post Level: Individual Contractor
Language required: English
Duration of contract: up to 60 paid working days within the period of February 2023 to July 2023.
A. Project Title
Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana – (GrEEn)
Thematic Area: R3 – Access to Finance. (Technical assistance to policy makers for securities crowdfunding guidelines in Ghana.)
B. Project Description
The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 46 least developed countries. The UNCDF strategy of ‘Leaving no one behind in the digital era’ is based on over a decade of experience in digital finance in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. UNCDF recognizes that reaching the full potential of digital financial inclusion in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aligns with the vision of promoting digital economies that leave no one behind.
UNCDF is bringing its expertise in digital and financial inclusion in Ghana under the “Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana – (GrEEn)”, a four-year action from the European Union (EU) funded by the EU Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF). The GrEEn Project aims at creating greater economic and employment opportunities for youth, women, and returning migrants by promoting and supporting sustainable, green businesses in selected regions (Ashanti and Western). More info can be found on www.uncdf.org/green.
Under the GrEEn Project, UNCDF manages a portfolio of partners (Financial Service Providers) to test, develop and roll out innovative financial services for the targeted groups in the targeted regions. Through its technical and funding Facility under the GrEEn Project, UNCDF engages with innovative financial services providers (banks, fintech, Savings and Loans, Microfinance institutions, remittance providers, MNOs, MTOs, etc.) and support them to pilot and/or scale up innovative financial services for the excluded segments and bring them to the last mile where targeted groups struggle with accessing and using formal financial services.
One key area of work is crowdfunding, where UNCDF is pioneering crowdfunding in Ghana under the GrEEn Project by supporting the ecosystem in developing new business models that could help channel investments for segments excluded from traditional finance. To this end, advocating and supporting a conducive regulatory environment becomes crucial for the private sector to build on these models while protecting investors and fund recipients. Participatory approaches are key to ensuring all parties are involved in defining new policies to better reflect the interests and risks of the business environment, strengthen best practices, enforce implementation and broaden ownership of the process by all key stakeholders. In Ghana, crowdfunding sector is regulated by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC): while BoG has published guidelines for donation-based crowdfunding, SEC is currently in the design phase of upcoming guidelines that will regulate investment-based crowdfunding. While an initial draft is already available, SEC is planning to continue some exchanges with stakeholders to fully inform the policy making process.
Considering the relevance of policy guidelines for the UNCDF work in the digital finance space, UNCDF has been working with SEC to facilitate engagements with private sector and inform the policy drafting. To this end, UNCDF is looking for an Expert with expertise in Securities Industry Crowdfunding to support the Securities and Exchange Commission and provide specific technical assistance to complete the crowdfunding guidelines for Ghana following participatory approaches and best practices.
For more info see : https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=97478