Business Management Training for Village Saving and Loan Associations 82 views1 applications

Terms of Reference

Business Management Training for Village Saving and Loan Associations

1. Background

CARE is targeting communities in Sanaag region of Somaliland where chronic drought, weak governance and harmful natural resource management practices have deteriorated livelihoods and increased vulnerability to shocks and stresses, especially among women. Given the high, recurrent levels of vulnerability in Somalia, a focus on building household and community resilience is needed if vulnerability is to be reduced over time. To strengthen the resilience of chronically food insecure pastoral populations through provision of cash relief, income generation support, farm inputs, rehabilitation of water sources, CARE received funding from the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). CARE’s experience in Somalia and globally also suggests that inequitable distribution of rights, resources, and power is strongly influenced by gender. The proposed approach therefore acknowledges that gender is a critical factor in understanding vulnerability – and thus resilience – and the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women is a proven strategy to overcome poverty.

One of the main vehicles for strengthening household and community resilience and empowering women girls in this project is the VSLA’s safety-net model. VLSAs have been shown to build solidarity among groups of disadvantaged women, provide a platform for developing business enterprises, and link to education and training women where their access to such things might otherwise be restricted by time constraints or a lack of support from their husbands. Recent research in Somalia/Somaliland and the East Africa region emphasizes the need for livelihoods that are diverse in their risk profiles, highly nuanced to the context, as well as connected to other livelihood zones and resource bases. Therefore, livelihoods diversification is important for resilience because if some livelihood activities are harshly affected by a shock, there is still household income and food potential through other sources, thereby reducing households’ vulnerability in the face of shocks. In light of this, the project has supported 348 VSLA (302 female and 46 male) by procuring and distributing IGA equipments and supplies in accordance with their selected IGA type and business plan. Eight enterprises were selected and supported and these were: food restaurant, cafeteria/snack bar, solar apparatus/system, tailoring, beauty salon, bee-keeping, meat vending, and water pump and pipes.

It’s against this background that the project intends to strengthen the capacity of these VSLA members in business management to ensure the sustainability of these business activities.

Strengthening the business management capacities of these groups is promising and rewarding as it is expected to lead to improved and sustainable incomes.

CARE is looking for two dynamic facilitators to conduct the training, advice on further approaches to strengthen the knowledge and skills of these groups and prepare a detailed report of the proceedings and outcome of the training.

2. Objectives of the training

The main objective of the training is to improve the conceptual understanding, knowledge and skills of VSLA members in successful, sustainable and profitable business management through training mainly in book-keeping, business management related calculations, business planning and marketing.

Specific objectives of the training are:

a) To assist the trainees to establish transaction recording system (cash book, ledger, etc.), book-keeping system, etc.

b) To strengthen the skills of trainees in basic business calculations to help them easily compute profit/loss, exchange of currencies (US dollars versus Somaliland shillings) as well as stock taking, etc.

c) To strengthen the capacity of trainees to monitor market dynamics and undertake basic market research for the development and growth of their businesses and products

3. Scope of the training

This is a two-day training aimed at building the business management and marketing skills of VSLA members with small-scale business. These VSLA members run different small-scale enterprises such as meat vending, tea shops, bee-keeping and tailoring among others and many of them have low literacy and numeracy skills. The training shall introduce basic business management knowledge and skills and emphasize on practical aspects such as basic business calculations, book-keeping and business planning.

The number of the participants will be 48 VSLA (302 female and 46 male). The participants will be organized in groups of about 30 participants each.

4. Training methodology

The consultant shall be expected to design and employ appropriate methods that will yield the best results with regard to the achievement of the training objectives. This shall include but shall not be limited to Q&A, brainstorming, plenary discussion and group work. A participatory and trainee-centered approach should be employed. Trainers should try to avoid long theoretical sessions but use skill-based training methodology with concrete examples and scenarios.

5. Training topics

These are the main areas to be focused on for the training: **

a. Identification of business opportunity

b. Planning and strategizing business

c. Human relations, communication skills and customer care

d. Entrepreneurship and Business planning/management

e. Innovation, creativity and decision-making

6. Indicative time-frame

The facilitators will work for a period of 21 days which will include developing and preparing training materials, travel, training facilitation and reporting.

Activity

# of days

Preparation of training materials

2

Facilitation of training

12

Travel days (Hargeisa – Erigavo – Hargeisa)

4

Preparation and compilation of the final report

3

Total

21

7. Deliverables

a. Training materials prepared

b. Training facilitated for 348 VSLA members

c. Training report with recommendations about viable business opportunities

8. Roles & Responsibilities of CARE

a) Provide any necessary support such as logistics, making announcement/pre-informing trainees as well as necessary background information about the project and its involvement with VSLA groups;

b) Review training materials and monitor the training and provide feedback for improvement;

c) Ensure successful implementation of the training by the consultant;

d) Review the training report and provide feedback for finalization of the same

9. Key requirements and competencies of the consultant

a) Advanced university degree in Business administration/management, Development Studies, Economics or a related discipline

b) Extensive experience in market and business researches, business skills development and entrepreneurship trainings

c) Strong analytical and writing skills and the ability to clearly present findings and drawing practical conclusions and recommendations

d) Prior work experience saving and loan groups, petty traders, hawkers, etc

10. Reporting

The consultant will write and produce a precise final report written in simple and clear English language. The draft report shall be shared with CARE for comments and inputs for inclusion in the final report by the consultant. The report should have the following format:

a. Cover page: title of the work, title of the project, names and logos of the donor and implementing partner, dates of the exercise, etc.

b. Table of contents, Executive Summary (maximum 3 pages) and main report including; desk review, proceedings and achievements of the training, conclusions and recommendations for future action.

c. Annexes

• Terms of Reference
• List of literature and documents reviewed
• List of training participants
• List of abbreviations