Terms of Reference (ToR): Consultancy to Develop a Policy Brief on Collateral and Credit Guarantee Mechanisms for Young Women Farmers under the Kataza Programme
Programme | Kataza – Young Africa Works Rwanda MSME-Financing Program |
Funding partner | Mastercard Foundation |
Consortium lead | Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD Plc) |
Consortium partners | African Management Institute (AMI), MVEND Ltd, Association of Microfinance Institutions in Rwanda (AMIR), I&M Bank Rwanda PLC and RWAMREC |
Contracting organisation | Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre (RWAMREC) |
Assignment | One evidence-based policy brief on collateral, alternative collateral and credit guarantee mechanisms for young women farmers, with a supporting policy and regulatory review |
Type of consultancy | Policy and regulatory analysis, evidence synthesis, stakeholder consultation and policy writing |
Primary audiences | National Bank of Rwanda (BNR), MINECOFIN, MINAGRI, MIGEPROF, BRD, guarantee fund managers, partner financial institutions, AMIR, Rwanda Bankers Association and development partners |
Estimated duration | Six (6) weeks from contract signature; approximately 24 consultant working days |
Tender Method | Open Tender |
Submission deadline | November 20, 2026 |
Tender reference number | RWAMREC/TND/024/2026 |
1. About RWAMREC
The Rwanda Men's Resource Centre (RWAMREC) is a non-governmental organisation striving to achieve gender equality by promoting positive masculinities and male engagement approaches to prevent gender-based violence (GBV) in Rwanda and the region. RWAMREC's vision is a peaceful society where women and men share roles and responsibilities in raising families and governing society through equality and respect. Its mission is to promote gender equality by transforming masculinities and femininities through awareness creation, advocacy, capacity development, movement building and service delivery.
2. Background and Context
Kataza is the Young Africa Works Rwanda MSME-Financing Program, a three-year proof-of-concept programme funded by the Mastercard Foundation and led by the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD), in consortium with AMI, MVEND, AMIR, I&M Bank and RWAMREC. It aims to enable youth-owned MSMEs in Agriculture and Tourism & Hospitality, especially those owned by young women, to access affordable and tailored finance. At least 80% of targeted beneficiaries are expected to be young women.
Agriculture engages the majority of Rwanda’s population, and women make up a large share of those working in the sector, yet agriculture receives only a small fraction of formal lending. High collateral requirements are among the most binding barriers to credit for young farmers, and they weigh most heavily on young women. Even where land and matrimonial property laws provide for joint ownership and equal inheritance rights, young women frequently cannot pledge co-owned land or assets without their spouse’s consent, may not be aware of their rights, or hold assets of too little value to meet lenders’ requirements. Unmarried young women and those in informal unions face additional exclusion. Financial institutions, in turn, often perceive young women farmers as high-risk, rely heavily on physical collateral and apply high collateral-discounting rates.
Kataza responds to these barriers through several mechanisms: an unfunded credit guarantee scheme with 80% credit-risk cover for partner financial institutions lending to youth-owned agricultural and T&H MSMEs; subsidies on guarantee commissions charged by existing schemes (such as those of BDF, FAGACE and the African Guarantee Fund); micro-insurance for young smallholder farmers; the use of VSLA savings history and digital credit scoring as alternatives to physical collateral; capacity building of SACCOs and MFIs on group guarantees and alternative collateral; and policy engagement with BNR on recognising unfunded guarantees from unrated institutions. RWAMREC complements these efforts by addressing the gender norms and household power relations that determine who controls and can pledge assets, through the Journey of Transformation (JoT) with couples and Gender Transformative Approach (GTA) sessions with financial institution staff, credit committees and community actors.
The programme proposal commits RWAMREC to produce policy briefs addressing challenges identified during programme monitoring, including collateral issues for women entrepreneurs. RWAMREC is therefore seeking a qualified consultant to develop an evidence-based policy brief that analyses the collateral and guarantee landscape from the perspective of young women farmers and sets out practical policy, regulatory and institutional recommendations.
3. Purpose and Objectives
The overall purpose of this consultancy is to produce an evidence-based policy brief that identifies the collateral-related barriers facing young women farmers and recommends policy, regulatory and practice changes that would make collateral requirements, alternative collateral and credit guarantee mechanisms work better for them.
The specific objectives are to:
Map and analyse the legal, policy and regulatory framework governing collateral, secured transactions, credit guarantees, land and matrimonial property, and agricultural insurance, as it affects young women farmers’ access to credit.
Assess how existing credit guarantee schemes and alternative collateral instruments, including those introduced under Kataza, are reaching and serving young women farmers, and identify design and implementation gaps.
Analyse the gender and social norms, household dynamics and financial institution practices that prevent young women from using the assets and instruments available to them.
Document emerging programme evidence on what is working, including the unfunded guarantee, guarantee-fee subsidy, VSLA savings history, group guarantees, digital credit scoring and micro-insurance.
Formulate clear, costed where feasible, and prioritised recommendations for regulators, government, guarantee fund managers, BRD, financial institutions, development partners and RWAMREC, to inform advocacy and a potential second phase of Kataza.
4. Key Policy Questions
The brief shall, at minimum, address the questions below. These will be refined with RWAMREC at inception.
4.1 Collateral barriers
What collateral do lenders currently require from young farmers, and how do these requirements, collateral-discounting practices and appraisal methods affect young women compared with young men?
To what extent can young women farmers, married, unmarried and in informal unions, use land and other co-owned or individual assets as collateral in practice? How do spousal consent requirements, household decision-making and awareness of rights shape this?
4.2 Guarantee and alternative collateral mechanisms
How accessible, affordable, and gender-responsive are existing credit guarantee schemes for young women farmers? What share of guaranteed lending reaches them, and what are the main bottlenecks (cost, eligibility, awareness, processing time, claims)?
How are Kataza’s unfunded guarantee, guarantee-fee subsidy, and micro-insurance being taken up by partner financial institutions and young women farmers, and what early lessons emerge?
How far are alternative collateral options, such as VSLA savings history, group and solidarity guarantees, movable collateral, warehouse receipts, value-chain or contract-based lending and digital credit scores, accepted by lenders, and what would it take to scale them?
4.3 Policy and regulatory environment
Which laws, policies and BNR regulations (e.g., on secured transactions, loan classification and provisioning, and recognition of guarantees from unrated institutions) enable or constrain collateral-light lending to young women farmers?
What changes in policy, regulation, guarantee scheme design and lender practice would have the greatest impact, and who is responsible for each?
5. Scope and Methodology
The consultant will propose a detailed methodology in the technical proposal and refine it at inception. The approach should combine policy analysis with programme evidence and the lived experience of young women farmers, and should include:
Policy and regulatory review: national laws, policies and regulations on land, matrimonial property and succession, secured transactions and collateral registries, BNR prudential regulations on credit guarantees and provisioning, financial inclusion, agricultural finance and insurance, and gender equality.
Programme and secondary data review: Kataza documents, MEL platform data on lending and guarantee uptake disaggregated by sex, age and location, partner financial institution data, JoT and GTA reports, and published literature on guarantee schemes and alternative collateral in Rwanda and comparable contexts.
Key informant interviews (indicatively 15–18): BNR, MINECOFIN, MINAGRI, MIGEPROF, BRD Project Implementation Unit, guarantee fund managers (e.g., BDF), I&M Bank, partner SACCOs and MFIs (including credit committee members), AMIR, the Rwanda Bankers Association, agricultural insurers, Access to Finance Rwanda and land administration officials.
Focus group discussions (indicatively 6–8): young women farmers (borrowers, rejected applicants and non-applicants), JoT couples and VSLA members, in a sample of programme districts agreed at inception.
Analysis: gender analysis of the policy framework and its implementation, triangulation of regulatory, programme and qualitative evidence, and a stakeholder-responsibility matrix for recommendations.
Validation: a half-day validation workshop with RWAMREC, BRD, consortium partners, regulators and selected financial institutions.
6. Key Responsibilities
The consultant will be responsible for:
Holding an inception meeting with RWAMREC to agree on scope, policy questions, methodology, sampling, deliverables and timelines.
Reviewing relevant legal, policy, regulatory, programme and secondary documentation.
Developing data collection tools and a sampling plan, and submitting them to RWAMREC for approval before fieldwork.
Conducting KIIs and FGDs in line with ethical and safeguarding standards, with respondent mobilisation support from RWAMREC.
Producing a policy and regulatory mapping matrix that identifies each relevant instrument, its gender implications, gaps, and responsible institution.
Drafting the policy brief with clear findings and prioritised, actionable recommendations.
Facilitating the validation workshop and incorporating feedback from RWAMREC, BRD, the Mastercard Foundation and other stakeholders.
Designing and formatting the final brief with infographics, data highlights, anonymised quotes and case examples, in line with programme branding guidelines.
7. Deliverables and Timeline
# | Deliverable | Description | Timing |
1 | Inception report | Refined policy questions, methodology, list of laws and policies to be reviewed, sampling plan, data collection tools, brief outline and work plan. Approved by RWAMREC before fieldwork. | End of Week 1 |
2 | Policy and regulatory mapping matrix | Technical annex (10–15 pages) mapping relevant laws, regulations, policies and guarantee schemes, their gender implications and gaps. | End of Week 3 |
3 | Draft policy brief | Full draft brief (4–6 pages) submitted for review by RWAMREC and consortium partners. | End of Week 4 |
4 | Validation workshop | Half-day workshop to present and validate findings and recommendations; summary notes captured. | Week 5 |
5 | Final policy brief | Final designed brief (4–6 pages) incorporating feedback, in print-ready PDF and editable Word formats, with the finalised mapping matrix as an annex. | End of Week 6 |
6 | Advocacy summary | Two-page summary of key messages and recommendations in English and Kinyarwanda, for policy dialogue and community dissemination. | End of Week 6 |
7 | Technical report and data | Short technical report (methodology, limitations, detailed findings), anonymised transcripts or notes and a PowerPoint presentation of key findings. | End of Week 6 |
8. Data and Documents to be Provided
RWAMREC will provide, at inception, access to the following materials, subject to data protection requirements:
Kataza programme proposal, theory of change, results framework and relevant operational guidance on the guarantee, guarantee-fee subsidy and micro-insurance facilities.
Programme monitoring data, including MEL platform extracts on lending, guarantee and insurance uptake disaggregated by sex, age, sector and location.
JoT and GTA curricula, training reports and records of sessions with financial institution staff and credit committees.
Quarterly progress reports, stories of change, case studies and relevant learning notes.
Contacts of consortium partners, partner financial institutions and relevant stakeholders.
9. Ethical Considerations and Safeguarding
The consultant shall comply with RWAMREC’s safeguarding, child protection and confidentiality policies and with Law N° 058/2021 of 13/10/2021 relating to the protection of personal data and privacy. Informed consent must be obtained from all respondents; quotes and case examples must be anonymised; and data must be stored securely and returned to RWAMREC at the end of the assignment. Because discussions on asset ownership and spousal consent may expose household conflict or gender-based violence, the consultant shall follow a do-no-harm approach and apply RWAMREC’s referral procedures where needed.
10. Qualifications and Experience
The assignment is suitable for an individual consultant or a small team combining financial sector and gender expertise. The lead consultant should have:
An advanced degree in Finance, Economics, Agricultural Economics, Law, Public Policy, or a related field; complementary gender expertise within the team is required.
At least seven (7) years of experience in agricultural finance, financial sector policy or MSME finance, preferably in Rwanda or East Africa.
Demonstrated knowledge of credit guarantee schemes, secured transactions, alternative collateral and risk-sharing instruments, and of prudential regulation relevant to lending by banks, MFIs and SACCOs.
Good understanding of land and matrimonial property rights, and of how gender and social norms affect women’s control over assets.
Demonstrated experience producing policy briefs or policy papers for regulators, government and financial sector audiences.
Proven skills in policy analysis and qualitative data collection (KIIs, FGDs).
Strong writing and data visualisation skills; experience working with a graphic designer is an advantage.
Excellent written and spoken English; proficiency in Kinyarwanda is strongly desirable, as several legal and programme documents are in Kinyarwanda.
11. Reporting and Management
The consultant will report to the RWAMREC Kataza Project Coordinator, with technical oversight from the RWAMREC Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Manager. Deliverables will be reviewed by RWAMREC, with input from BRD and the Mastercard Foundation as appropriate, and approved by RWAMREC before payment. All products and data generated under this assignment are the property of RWAMREC and the Kataza consortium and may not be used or published by the consultant without written permission.
12. Payment Schedule
● 30% upon approval of the inception report.
● 70% upon approval of the final policy brief and all remaining deliverables.
All costs shall be inclusive of applicable taxes (PAYE, WHT and VAT where applicable). RWAMREC will support respondent mobilisation and host the validation workshop.
13. Evaluation Criteria
# | Criteria | Score |
1 | Understanding of the assignment and proposed methodology | 30 |
2 | Work plan | 10 |
3 | Qualifications and relevant experience | 30 |
4 | Financial proposal | 30 |
Total | 100 |
14. Application Process
Interested consultants should submit:
A technical proposal (maximum 6 pages) outlining understanding of the assignment, proposed methodology, and work plan.
A financial proposal in Rwandan Francs (RWF), inclusive of all applicable taxes.
Updated CV(s) of the consultant or team members, highlighting relevant experience.
At least two examples of previous similar work (e.g., policy briefs, policy papers or research reports on financial sector or gender issues).
All applications should be addressed to the RWAMREC Executive Director by e-mail at info@rwamrec.org by 20th Nov 2026 at 5:00 pm (Kigali time), with the subject line “Application – Kataza Policy Brief on Collateral and Guarantees for Women Farmers”. Late applications will not be accepted. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted. RWAMREC is an equal-opportunity employer and encourages applications from individuals of all backgrounds, particularly women.
Done at Kigali, 4 November 2026
Fidèle RUTAYISIRE,
Executive Director
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