CONSULTANCY TO DEVELOP ANNUAL CREDIT PROFILES AND GRADUATION MODEL FOR 20 SELF-HELP GROUPS IN SOLIO SETTLEMENT SCHEME, LAIKIPIA COUNTY.

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR CONSULTANCY TO DEVELOP ANNUAL CREDIT PROFILES AND GRADUATION MODEL FOR 20 SELF-HELP GROUPS IN SOLIO SETTLEMENT SCHEME, LAIKIPIA COUNTY.

Habitat for Humanity Kenya (HFHK) is a national non-profit organization committed to enabling vulnerable families to access decent and affordable shelter as a foundation for improved livelihoods. Recognizing that sustainable housing is closely linked to resilient income systems, HFHK integrates shelter, water access, climate resilience, financial inclusion, and community capacity strengthening.

Solio Settlement Scheme in Laikipia County is characterized by semi-arid climatic conditions, erratic rainfall, prolonged drought cycles, and increasing climate variability. Agriculture and livestock remain important sources of household income, but communities continue to face challenges including limited access to affordable finance, low levels of business capitalization, weak market linkages, and limited access to formal financial services.

Through funding support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), HFHK is implementing a 39-month climate resilience project in Solio Settlement Scheme. The project seeks to strengthen household resilience and income security through climate-smart agriculture, improved water access, financial inclusion, savings groups, cooperative development, and livelihood strengthening.

As part of the project's financial inclusion component, 20 Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have been established and are being supported by Social Mobilisation Workers. The groups maintain regular savings, loan, repayment, attendance, and financial records. Social Mobilisation Workers also submit monthly monitoring and group progress documentation, providing an ongoing source of information on group performance, financial behaviour, governance, membership, savings, internal lending, loan repayment, and other aspects of group development.

To support the SHGs to transition from savings-based groups towards stronger and more economically viable community financial institutions, the project will develop an annual credit profile for each of the 20 SHGs. The profiles will consolidate information from group records, monthly Social Mobiliser reports, monitoring forms, group documentation, and direct engagement with the SHGs.

The credit profiles will provide a structured assessment of each group's financial strength, governance, operational capacity, creditworthiness, risks, and readiness to engage with formal financial institutions. They will also identify gaps that need to be addressed before a group can appropriately access external financing.

In addition, the consultant will develop a graduation model that categorizes the SHGs according to their current level of institutional and financial development and defines the actions required for each group to progress to the next level.

To ensure that the profiles are relevant to actual financing opportunities, the consultant will engage banks, microfinance institutions (MFIs), SACCOs and other relevant financial service providers to understand their requirements for group lending and financing. The findings will be incorporated into the credit profiling and graduation framework.

The consultancy will therefore provide HFHK with a practical tool for linking SHGs to appropriate financial services while strengthening the groups' internal capacity, financial discipline, governance, and long-term sustainability.

A documented assessment of financing requirements from relevant banks, MFIs, SACCOs and other financial institutions.