Покана от ТСА за участие в конкурс за изпълнение на проучване на нуждите от финансови продукти и услуги на уязвими общности

The Trust for Social Achievement (TSA) is issuing this Request for Proposal (RFP) for the development of research on the financial needs and considerations of vulnerable communities in Bulgaria. TSA is soliciting responses from firms with experience in sociological research and expertise in the field of research on development and impact of various financial products and services.

This RFP does not commit TSA to select any form, award any work order, pay any costs in preparing a response, or procure or contract any services or supplies. TSA reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal received, cancel, or modify the RFP in part or in its entirety, or change the RFP guidelines, when it is in the best interest of TSA to do so.

TSA is a non-profit organization, founded in 2012. Our mission is to break the poverty cycle by promoting opportunities that help Bulgaria's most disadvantaged citizens achieve educational and economic success. We support programs that, with their integrity, growth potential and transparency, help to improve the well-being of the poorest people in Bulgaria. Our special focus is on the Roma, two thirds of whom live in poverty. In our quest to provide equal opportunities for all, we provide support in three main areas: early childhood development with a focus on raising healthy children and increased attendance in kindergarten; educational achievements and prevention of children dropping out of school with a focus on improving participation and learning in school and increasing the number of students graduating from secondary education; access to opportunities to increase the income of people at risk, which includes networking with employers, entrepreneurship and housing. It is also important for us to build the capacity of local organizations for financial transparency and monitoring of results.

Since its very first days, the Trust for Social Achievement has been providing access to both knowledge and resources to budding entrepreneurs from disadvantaged communities who lack the means and expertise to develop their business ideas. In 2009, the America for Bulgaria Foundation awarded a grant to the Land Source of Income Foundation, focused on refining and improving a lease-to-own model that helps boost income generation and promote entrepreneurship for the Roma, and further support was later continued by the Trust for Social Achievement, based on their remarkable success and achievements in helping Roma families secure economic self-sufficiency.
Support provided by TSA has allowed the Land Source of Income Foundation to scale up and franchise its model in five regions in the country. The model was successfully tested and implemented in Kyustendil, Rakitovo, Yambol, Vratsa and Stara Zagora.  With TSA’s support by the end of 2021, the Land Source of Income Foundation and the regional partners managed to support 107 families with both agricultural and non-agricultural initiatives, with an average repayment rate of 93%, and average size of support for each initiative approx. EUR 1520.

In addition to that, TSA has implemented a business support program in Bulgaria since 2015, aiming to prepare aspiring entrepreneurs on how to build and grow a profitable business.  In 2015-2017 TSA piloted with great success the Workshop in Business Opportunities model in Bulgaria, which links business volunteers with budding entrepreneurs to provide the latter with hands-on guidance and instruction on how to start a business. Based on the lessons learned from WIBO, the America for Bulgaria Foundation developed the Business Academy for Starting Entrepreneurs (BASE) program offering free business training, which TSA also implements with very positive results.

In 2020 a TSA team participated in the Rockefeller-Acumen Social Innovation Challenge and became the first team selected from Eastern Europe to continue to the final stage of the Student Social Enterprise Accelerator competition. As a part of this challenge, a model was developed for a microfinancing institution that would focus on Bulgaria’s Roma and provide business, agricultural, and educational loans. During the development of the microfinance model, a number of interviews were conducted with local Roma community members as well as community-based organizations serving in the field. The feedback received, coupled with the TSA experience so far, has shown that there is a clear gap in funding opportunities for people from disadvantaged communities, resulting from the fact that they are considered “unbankable” since for the most part they cannot meet the requirements and standards of traditional lenders. The need to identify potential products and services that can fill this gap or be otherwise appropriate financial products tailored to the particular needs of the target group, has emerged.

Scope and objectives of the assignment

TSA is seeking the services of a research agency to develop the methodology, data collection and survey tools as well as to conduct the Nationally Representative Survey. The objective of the research is to study the financial needs and considerations of Roma who are currently considered “unbankable”. This research will be used with the goal to ultimately provide financial and business support services and products that are most tailored to cater to these needs.

Target group

Roma, 18 + years old, representatives of the different communities in Bulgaria (Muslim/Christian, living in large cities/ small municipalities, living in mixed/segregated communities, etc.) with a booster of businesses owners.

Research proposed should focus on the following topical questions:

• To what degree is the surveyed group aware of different financial instruments available on the market?
• Which financial instruments are most used by the surveyed group?
• Which financial instruments are rarely used?
• What are the reasons for using/not using financial instruments? What challenges do the surveyed group face in terms of accessing financial institutions and their products?
• What specific processes, procedures, or regulations present challenges in terms of using financial institutions and their products?
• What conditions or characteristics could be adopted by financial institutions to make products more desirable or accessible to the surveyed group?
• Who are the customers using home loans/consumer loans/fast loans/business loans/savings account/cash transfer services?
• What characteristics (if anything) do they like about them and what (if anything) would they like to change about them?
• What kind of customers would use agricultural leasing loans? What characteristics would such a loan need to have (size, repayment period, monthly installments)?
• What kind of customers would use educational loans? What characteristics would such a loan need to have (size, repayment period, monthly installments)?
• What kind of customers would use home renovation or construction loans? What characteristics would such a loan need to have (size, repayment period, monthly installments)?

Тhe research also needs to include a booster of people with businesses, where the following additional questions would be addressed:

• What type of business activities do they have?
• What sources of financing do they use to fund them?
• What concerns do they have/ have they had when seeking financing?
• How satisfied are they with the financial products they currently use/ have used in the past?
• Do they need any other support (apart from financial) regarding their business?

Expected deliverables

The selected Agency needs to propose an appropriate methodology that would serve the objective above, conduct relevant field work and produce a report on the findings made.

Deliverable and Implementation Timeline

• Propose methodology - 27 May 2022
• Field work - 6 June 2022 – 6 July 2022
• Draft Report of Findings - 15 July 2022
• Final Report - 29 July 2022

Submission and Responses

The response must be sent by email to pzeynelova@tsa-bulgaria.org and pgoolamallee@tsa-bulgaria.org no later than COB on 05 May 2022.  The following information should be submitted in the offer in Bulgarian:

Technical proposal in Bulgarian:

Respondents should provide a sample of survey content (outline) for the Nationally Representative Survey with a proposed cost breakdown per questionnaire, along with a proposed sampling approach and methodological implementation.

TSA shall evaluate each response with timely and complete submission. After review of the responses, interviews with shortlisted candidates might be required.

• Adherence to solution requirements & appeal of proposed solutions;
• Prior experience in research in finance sphere (particularly in development and impact of financial instruments) and ethnically diverse neighbourhoods;
• Cost;
• Appeal of non-specified additions to improve quality of collected data and analysis.

Свързани Документи

• Техническо задание