Customer Service Volunteer Expert International Executive Service Corps (iesc) Tanzania
Job Type: Full-Time
Closing Date: 30th October 2023
Location: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
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Overview

Location of Assignment:  Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 

Proposed Level of Effort:  approximately 3-4 weeks

Anticipated Start Date:   TBD 2019 

Anticipated End Date:    TBD 2019

Background

The Tanzania Enabling Growth through Investment and Enterprise Program (ENGINE) is a four-year, USAID-funded Feed the Future activity awarded through the International Executive Service Corps (IESC), that aims to streamline and enhance many of the regulatory, informational and financial channels that encourage domestic and foreign investment in the southern mainland agricultural regions of Mbeya, Morogoro, and Iringa, and in Zanzibar.

ENGINE works at the district level, using a broad-based approach to engage with district Local Government Authorities (LGAs), private sector associations, business development service providers, financial institutions and small and medium enterprises. The program’s activities are divided into three main components:

Implement policies for growth. Build the capacity of the private sector to effectively dialogue with the government to set the policy agenda and improve the capacity of the public sector to implement policies.

Equip businesses for growth. Strengthen SME capacity and foster the growth and capacity of a sustainable market for business development services (BDS) in Tanzania.

Access to finance for growth. Broaden access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially women and youth entrepreneurs and those working within agricultural value chains, to facilitate increased investment and growth.

Problem Statement  

According to the Bank of Tanzania (BOT), in the last four years they’ve seen a growth in licensed banks and financial institutions, from 38 to 56. Despite this increase in financial institutions, according to FinScope Tanzania 2017 data, only 16.7% of Tanzania’s adult population from the age of 16 and above have or use services from formal financial institutions.

Many Tanzanian financial institutions struggle to attract and maintain customers. Reasons include inadequate infrastructure and technology, insufficient training for managers and employees, poor data quality, and weak performance incentives.

If financial institutions are to grow their customer base—including women-owned businesses and youth-owned businesses—and maintain their competitive position, then they need to improve their overall customer service orientation.

Objectives of the Assignment

This assignment aims to build the capacity of Tanzania financial institution employees to learn effective methods and tools to provide high-quality customer service.

The workshop will include group exercises to apply concepts learned and participating FIs will come away with:

Approach

Anticipated Tasks 

The Expert Volunteer will complete the following tasks:

Prior to departure:

  1. After receiving confirmation to work with ENGINE, the volunteer will coordinate closely with the IESC office in Tanzania, review available secondary information and identify any country or institution-specific information needed to tailor the materials to the local context.
  2. Develop effective workshop materials and finalize details of the assignment. The volunteer is encouraged to incorporate case studies and practical examples in the materials.

Upon arrival in Tanzania:

  1. Attend an orientation meeting with ENGINE Program staff in Dar es Salaam .
  2. Meet with financial institutions: Spend 2 days with each financial institution to get a better understanding of their operations, marketing strategies, policies and procedures.
  3. Conduct a customer service workshop for each of the selected financial institutions: Volunteer should plan to cover the following topic areas:
    1. Best practices in customer service
    2. Customer Engagement
      1. Efficiency in handling customers
      2. Active listening techniques
      3. Cross selling
      4. Conflict resolution
      5. Managing customer complaints
    3. Effective Communication
    4. Strategic Problem-solving
    5. Time Management – turnaround time
    6. Data Analytics
    7. Employee and organizational performance management
    8. Strategy for continuous process improvements
    9. Customer feedback

 

  1. Attend meeting with FI’s senior leadership to provide high-level recommendations on business process improvements as it relates to customer service. 
  2. Provide recommendations to the ENGINE program staff on potential follow-up assignments with the financial institutions. 
  3. Write a final report summarizing observations and recommendations, as well as follow-up plans. The final report is discussed in the section on deliverables below. 
  4. Attend a debriefing session with ENGINE COP and host organization staff members to provide feedback and discuss the recommended future to follow up on volunteer recommendations and capture impact. 

Deliverables 

The Expert Volunteer will submit the following deliverables:

i) To be submitted prior to delivering the workshop:

  1. Training materials that include practical examples, case studies and group exercises.

ii) To be submitted after concluding the workshop:

  1. Final Report: Volunteer must submit a Final Report and tools to the ENGINE program, which is to include the following sections:
  1. A summary of tasks and observations from FIs visits
  2. A list of 5-7 specific and actionable recommendations for the host organization(s). These recommendations will be reviewed during the debriefing session with ENGINE staff at the end of the assignment and the volunteer may revise them in their Final Report.
  3. A section listing the assignment objectives above and how they were met or why they were not met.

Additionally, the Expert Volunteer will provide exit debriefings to the ENGINE staff.

Volunteer Qualifications