Business Finance for the Poor in Bangladesh

Terms of Reference / Scope of Work

 

Job Title: Consultant (Editing services)  
Project: Business Finance for the Poor in Bangladesh (BFP-B)

Contract start date: June 10, 2018 (TBC)

Contract end date:  July 31, 2019 (subject to further extension depending on approval of DFID).

Duration of Initial Contract: 160 days

Type of involvement: Intermittent

Reports to:
BFP-B Team Leader

Supervises:
None

Background
Business Finance for the Poor in Bangladesh (BFP-B) is a 6.5-year programme funded by UK aid from the UK government. The Bangladesh Bank (BB), the central bank of Bangladesh, is the implementing agency, and the Financial Institutions Division (FID) of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Government of Bangladesh (GoB), is the executing agency. Nathan Associates London Ltd, in consortium with its partner, Oxford Policy Management, is appointed as the management agency for the programme. The programme aims to improve access to finance for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) and create economic opportunities for small business in Bangladesh through improvements in the policy and regulation of financial services, innovations in the nature and scope of financial services targeting the poor and strengthening of information systems supporting micro-finance and bank lending. BFP-B has three components: a Challenge Fund, a CIB-Microfinance, and a Policy Component.

Background and Context of the Assignment
BFP-B produces large number of open publications for public consumption.  These include the following:

  • Case studies
  • Impact studies
  • Occasional thematic lessons learnt reports
  • Policy study reports and briefs
  • Synthesis reports and summary notes for policymakers
  • Programme quarterly and annual reports
  • Programme newsletters, two pagers and blurbs
  • Programme baseline report
  • Programme newspaper article

These studies are generated both in-house, as well as through BFP-B suppliers. 

BFP-B is seeking consultants to provide comprehensive English editing services for all its external publications to ensure that these are of highest international standards.

The consultants will be expected to deliver on the following objective:
Edit, copyedit, proofread and format all external communication reports/briefs/notes and produce a final version ready for publication.

Scope of work     
The activities include, but not limited to

Activity 1: Proof-reading

  • Reading the manuscript thoroughly and picking up all types of errors.
  • Reviewing the manuscript for appropriate capitalization and punctuation.
  • Ensure grammatical accuracy, factual accuracy, consistency and logical flow of sentences, formatting and coherence across all the external communication reports
  • Checking redundancies and improper word usage.
  • Checking the manuscript layout (headlines, paragraphs, and illustrations) for their correct dimensions and placement.
  • Identifying biased language that could offend some readers.
  • Identifying and resolving clichés and repetitive words.

Activity 2: Copy-editing

  • Review, verify and edit to ensure use of gender and cultural sensitive language in the document
  • Checking for the consistency in writing style (capitalization, American/British Eng).
  • Checking for consistent use of abbreviations.
  • Checking for correct scientific terminology, appropriate use of units of measurement, symbols and variables.
  • Checking the manuscript for consistency in referencing style.
  • Rephrasing and revising the sentences for better clarity.
  • Checking the manuscript layout (headlines, paragraphs, and illustrations) for their correct dimensions and placement only.

Activity 3: Substantive editing

  • Rephrasing & revising sentence structure, improving word choice.
  • Adjusting the writing style to make it consistent and logical.
  • Improving the organization and quality of communication.
  • Eliminating repetitions to ensure continuity and logical presentation of the authors' thoughts.
  • Triple-checks to improve the clarity and logic of presentation.
  • Checking facts to verify simple and obvious statement of facts about their accuracy.

Timeframe
The tentative timeframe of this part-time consultancy will be spread over the period of June 2018 to July 2019. The consultancy contract will be at daily rate based on agreed work plan/assignments. Specific deliverables and time frame will be determined in consultation with the Team Leader. The areas of work and number of days may be changed based on need of the project and mutual agreement between the consultant and BFP-B team-leader.

Educational Qualifications and Experiences:

  • Undergraduate degree in any discipline, Post graduate preferred.
  • 3 to 5 years relevant experience, preferably in English Newspapers/ Publications with demonstrated ability to edit, copyedit, proofread and format reports for targeted audiences, with portfolio that includes donor reports, government standard reports and other documents.
  • Exceptional command of the English language in written form.
  • Ability to work in a fast paced environment and produce quality work in a short time, within deadlines and under pressure
  • Ability to work independently with sound judgement

Application Process
Candidates are requested to download Application Form from by visiting BFP-B website
https://www.bfp-b.org  and send application to mhasnat@nathaninc.com
The application should include following:

  • Complete application form
  • Curriculum Vitae

Last Date of Application: May 30, 2018