About EAC Payment System Masterplan
The Masterplan envisions a payments ecosystem that fosters economic integration and sustainable growth across the EAC. Its mission is to implement an inclusive, secure, efficient, and interoperable cross-border payments ecosystem to support the objectives of the EAC Monetary Union.
Vision and Mission
The implementation of this project is at a critical stage. The Liaison Consultant working under the guidance and tutelage of the respective EAC directorate responsible for MAC affairs at the EAC Secretariat, will support the directorate in liaison with Payments Subcommittee in actualizing the Masterplan Implementation.
Scope of Work
The Consultant will serve as the strategic liaison bridge for the respective EAC directorate, Monetary Affairs Committee (MAC) and payments subcommittee.
- Core Mandate and Objective
Liaison Role: The primary objective of this role will be to provide specialized liaison support to the EAC Directorate, Monetary Affairs Committee (MAC) and Payments Subcommittee. The Consultant will serve as the strategic liaison to support the implementation agenda.
- Progress Tracking
- Progress Monitoring: Assist in tracking the progress of Monetary Affairs Committee (MAC) and Payments Subcommittee Masterplan activities and generating necessary updates.
- Liaison and Stakeholder Management
- Strategic Collaboration: Under the tutelage of EAC Directorate responsible for MAC affairs and with the support of Payments Subcommittee facilitate effective communication and harmonization of MAC masterplan activities.
- Operational Liaison Coordination
- Workstream Alignment: Under the tutelage of EAC Directorate responsible for MAC affairs and with the support of Payments Subcommittee, assist in coordinating specific workplans to ensure Masterplan objectives are met.
- Logistical Facilitation: Under the tutelage of EAC Directorate responsible for MAC affairs and with the support of Payments Subcommittee assist the coordination of convening/s, regional initiatives and committee engagements required for successful Masterplan implementation.
- Compliance and Risk
- Policy Adherence: Under the tutelage of EAC Directorate responsible for MAC affairs and with the support of Payments Subcommittee monitor activities to ensure alignment with MAC policies and directives.
- Risk Identification: Under the tutelage of EAC Directorate responsible for MAC affairs and with the support of Payments Subcommittee, assist in identifying potential risks in workplans and proposing mitigation strategies for the Committee’s consideration.
- Capacity Building
- Knowledge Transfer: Under the tutelage of EAC Directorate responsible for MAC affairs and with the support of Payments Subcommittee, assist in the organization and facilitation of workshops, seminars, and training sessions to build stakeholder capacity in line with MAC priorities.
Deliverables
Recognizing there are multiple ways to organize and structure this technical assistance, we request the bidder provides and updated resume appropriate to the task. The consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables.
1. Executive Dashboard
- High level report/s designed to monitor pulse of the Masterplan implementation.
2. Briefs and Strategic Status Reports
- Executive reporting (Bi-Weekly/monthly/quarterly) submitted to EAC Directorate responsible for MAC affairs and Payments Subcommittee. These reports will synthesize complex data from technical workstreams into decision grade intelligence, highlighting achievements, critical bottlenecks requiring intervention, and overall alignment with Masterplan implementation.
4. Stakeholder Consensus and Decision Logs
- Records of MAC and Payments Subcommittee coordination activities related to Masterplan implementation, including minutes, decision logs, and briefing notes from engagements together with systematic tracking of resolutions and agreed action points.
5. Strategic Risk Monitoring and Mitigation Matrix
- Dynamic documentation identifying systemic and strategic risks to the Masterplan implementation (e.g., regulatory divergence, funding gaps). This deliverable focuses on providing EAC Directorate responsible for MAC affairs and Payments Subcommittee with foresight and actionable mitigation strategies for decision making.
7. Convening Liaison
- Under the tutelage of EAC Directorate responsible for MAC affairs and with the support of Payments Subcommittee, provide liaison support for MAC meetings and regional convenings to ensure effective decision making and smooth execution of the Masterplan agenda.
8. Capacity Building Liaison
- Under the tutelage of EAC Directorate responsible for MAC affairs and with the support of Payments Subcommittee, provide liaison services for policy dialogues, peer learning sessions, and seminars designed to strengthen the MAC committee’s capacity to achieve Masterplan success.
The assignment
The assignment will be for initial period of Six (6) months (Duty Station Arusha Tanzania) and will be renewable subject to the availability of funds.
Expected starting date: April 2026
Education and Qualifications
- Advanced Degree: A Master’s degree in Economics, Finance, Business Administration, International Relations, Technology, Public Policy, or a related field.
- Bachelor’s Degree: A Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline (Economics, Commerce, Technology or Development Studies) or a related field.
- Experience: 5+ years’ work experience, mainly in Central Banking, Finance, Digital Economy and Payment systems, regional exposure and/or exposure in monetary policy will be an added advantage.
Experience and technical skills
Essential
- Liaison / Coordination: Proven track record in managing complex, multi-stakeholder projects. Experience in designing workplans, monitoring implementation matrices, and using project management tools (e.g., MS Project, Asana) to track deliverables.
- Payment Systems: Technical understanding of financial market infrastructures, including Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) systems, Instant Payment Systems (IPS), and cross border payment platforms. Strong balance between technical payments knowledge and liaison engagements.
- Institutional Support: Demonstrated experience working with technical and operational working groups with ability to coordinate logistics and information flow between diverse entities.
- Strategy Implementation: Experience in supporting the execution of strategies. The candidate should be able to translate high level decisions into actionable operational tasks.
- Reporting and Documentation: Exceptional writing skills in drafting technical progress reports, minutes, briefing notes, and updates. Ability to synthesize complex technical data into clear status reports.
- Escalation: Ability to understand pain points, delays or resource gaps with ability to articulate issues with escalation thresholds to strengthen Masterplan Implementation discipline.
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Proven ability to work collaboratively in a diverse, regional environment and aptitude to appreciate the diverse stakeholder relationships
Desirable Experience
- Regional Experience: Prior work experience within Regional Economic Communities (RECs).
- Digital Financial Services (DFS): Familiarity with mobile money, fintech’s, and banking infrastructures (including interoperability).
- Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): Familiarity with the “DPI approach” for financial market infrastructure.
- International Standards Knowledge: Understanding of BIS (Bank for International Settlements) principles for financial market infrastructures.
- Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E): Understanding of M&E frameworks to effectively track the high impact metrics.
- Capacity Building Liaison: Experience facilitating workshops, technical committee meetings, and capacity building programs.
- Experience working with Market Systems Development (MSD) approaches.
Attitude/Competencies
- Strategic thinking and thought leadership.
- Strong drive for results and strong sense of engagement and responsibility.
- Teamwork, interpersonal and relationship building skills, and ability to lead by influence and example.
- Proven ability to partner, communicate and manage/navigate through multiple disciplines and organizational groups.
- Ability to work within a complex and often ambiguous environment and ability to influence senior management and other relevant parties.
- Team oriented, collaborative, flexible, and can adapt to a changing environment.
- High degree of professionalism and integrity.
Evaluation Criteria
The table below summarizes the required consultant’s competencies and experience that also constitute the main evaluation criteria.
| Item | Technical Evaluation Criteria (A detailed CV is mandatory) | Weighting |
| Strategic Liaison Capability | Executive Liaison Coordination: Proven track record in providing specialized liaison support to high level committees or executive leadership. Experience in designing Executive Dashboards and monitoring frameworks that provide real time visibility into complex initiatives. Proficiency in using management tools to track high level milestones and decision logs. Experience with donor funded projects and reporting frameworks. | 20 |
| Technical Domain Expertise | Payment Systems: Strong conceptual understanding of national and regional payment systems (RTGS, IPS, Fast Systems). The focus is on the ability to synthesize technical concepts into policy-level insights for leadership, ensuring that technical realities align with strategic objectives. The proposal should demonstrate a clear methodology for bridging technical workstreams and executive oversight, with proven ability to develop institutional capacity over time. | 20 |
| Stakeholder Engagement and Activity tracking. | Institutional Liaison: Demonstrated experience in facilitating effective communication and harmonization among diverse stakeholders (Central Banks, Partners, Secretariat). Ability to coordinate high level logistics, manage decision logs, and ensure seamless information flow to support leadership agenda. | 20 |
| Communication | Technical Writing and Documentation: Exceptional drafting skills in producing high quality briefs and strategic status reports, and policy memos. Ability to synthesize complex technical data into clear, actionable status reports for leadership and committee consumption with the ability to facilitate handover plans and skills transfer (Include evidence reports).Working knowledge of English, French, and Kiswahili, will be an added advantage. | 20 |
| 1- 2 page Motivation letter | 20 | |
| Total Score | 100 | |
Evaluation of Consultant
The evaluation of CVs will use Quality Based selection methodology as detailed below:
- Detailed evaluation is scored at 100%
- Minimum technical score: The mark required to pass the technical evaluation is 70%
- The highest ranked Consultant will be invited for negotiations on financial and any technical aspects.
- If the negotiations with the designated consultant do not result in a procurement contract, AFR may invite the other consultants for negotiations until it arrives at a procurement contract.
Link to the Masterplan: https://www.eac.int/component/documentmananger/?task=download.document&file=bWFpbl9kb2N1bWVudHNfcGRmX1V5cldvWnRVT094eE1VU3VFeHhBVkRNRUFDIFBBWU1FTlQgU1lTVEVNUyBNQVNURVJQTEFO&counter=1588
NB: No financial proposals are required at this stage
Right to Reject: AFR reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal or to cancel the procurement process and reject all applications at any time prior to contract signature, without incurring any liability to AFR.
Submission Requirements
Interested consultants should submit a motivation letter and updated CV detailing academic qualifications, relevant professional experience, and a summary of previous assignments, including client references.
Important Notes
- AFR will not reimburse any costs incurred by consultants in the preparation or submission of their applications.
- Applicants must clearly indicate the area of expertise in the subject line of their email as follows: “Application for Liaison Consultant – EAC Cross-Border Payment System Masterplan Implementation”.
Submission Deadline
All expressions of interest must be submitted electronically by: Tuesday March 24, 2026, at 5:00PM Rwanda time (CAT)
Submission Email: procurement02@afr.rw
Subject line: Application for Liaison Consultant –EAC Cross-Border Payment System Masterplan Implementation”
Format: PDF Format
Sincerely,
Jean Bosco Iyacu
Chief Executive Officer
To apply for this job email your details to procurement02@afr.rw
