Data Management Consultancy

Near East Foundation

Consultancy Announcement

Assignment:               Data Management Consultant

Location:                    Remote

Category:                    Consultancy

Introduction and Background

The Near East Foundation (NEF) is seeking qualified candidates and firms for a Data Management Consultancy to provide maintenance and troubleshooting support, as well as development, replication, and upgrades for NEF’s current and prospective web-based loan information management systems (LIMS).

For 100 years, the Near East Foundation (NEF) has worked to build more sustainable, prosperous, and inclusive communities in the Middle East, Caucasus, and Africa through education, governance, and economic development initiatives. Working through a network of country offices and local partners, NEF currently has operations in nine countries: Armenia, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Mali, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, and Syria. Its programs are organized around three themes: Peacebuilding through Economic Cooperation, Climate-resilient Agriculture, and Microenterprise Development.  More information on NEF’s and its affiliates’ work and geographic focus can be found on NEF’s website: www.neareast.org.

Overview

The Data Management Consultancy is responsible for maintaining and upgrading an accurate and up to date LIMS to manage loan recipient information and monitor the performance of NEF-supported community revolving loan funds in three offices. NEF’s revolving loan funds are integral to its inclusive economic development programming in these locations, with the aim to support the expansion of micro, small and medium enterprises owned by vulnerable entrepreneurs who have been traditionally excluded from formal financial services.

LIMS was built in-house using ASP.NET connected to MSSQL database. LIMS was developed with Visual Studio and is hosted by SmarterASP.net. LIMS is available only in Arabic language. Although the LIMS is currently in use in one office, a few issues (such as errors sometime displayed when saving forms) need to be resolved. The existing LIMS currently manages around 80 individual loan accounts and captures information regarding applicant/recipient demographics, application status, loan type, disbursement information, repayment installment date and status, as well as supporting documentation.

In addition, new planned features (e.g., dashboard and reports) as well as roll-out in two new offices (including minor customizations) are needed. Reporting will need to occur at least on a monthly basis, with the ability to pull ad hoc reports both for individual loan recipients and aggregate accounts, as needed.

Objectives

NEF anticipates the following needs through December 2021. NEF may choose to postpone some Phases. Estimated budgets and days of work are provided for reference only and may be adjusted during the final negotiation phase. NEF will consider reasonable financial proposals over these amounts with justification.

Loan Information Management Systems (LIMS):

Phase I (Estimated timeframe: February 2021; estimated budget: $5,000 USD):

• Provide troubleshooting support (e.g., resolving errors and make minor content update) to project staff and upgrade existing LIMS in Jordan to incorporate a dashboard and reporting features as per the LIMS key performance indicators.  

Phase II (Estimated timeframe: March 2021; estimated budget: $2,000 USD):

• Replicate and adapt the Jordan LIMS for NEF’s revolving loan fund programming in Syria to eventually manage approximately 2,000 distinct loan accounts. Both LIMS systems will be run independently from each other. Major changes are not expected, only minor content tweaks.

Phase III (Estimated timeframe: May 2021; estimated budget: $4,000 USD):

• Replicate and adapt the Jordan/Syria LIMS for NEF’s revolving loan fund programming in Sudan to eventually manage approximately 2,000 distinct loan accounts. All LIMS systems will be run independently from each other. Work may include adding one or two new features and update to the content.

Database Maintenance (January through December 2021; estimated 1-2 days per month plus 10 days for bug fixes):

• Provide ongoing support and maintenance to ensure the LIMS are operational, with data regularly backed up.

Experience/Qualifications

• Proven experience in website development, HTML and ASP.NET
• Proven experience in database development and management, including preferably in MSSQL database coding, querying, upgrade, and maintenance.
• Proven experience in data management, analysis, and reporting, including preferably proven experience working on economic development and microfinance projects.
• Familiarity with microfinance-related information management tools and global standards.
• Ability to design and manage data entry systems to facilitate analysis, e.g., Excel pivot tables.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Arabic.
• Familiarity with international data privacy and transfer laws and regulations (e.g., GDPR).