Position Overview
Position Summary
Women’s World Banking (WWB) is seeking an experienced consultant or small consulting team to lead the development and piloting of an alternative credit score for women in self-help groups (SHGs) across SRLMs in three states, namely, Bihar, Jharkhand and Telangana. The score will use consented, digitised SHG and credit data to help financial service providers assess individual women’s applications for enterprise and other productive loans.
The consultant will serve as the project delivery lead across the SRLMs, participating financial service providers, WWB and specialist data-science teams. The role will connect field-level data improvement with model development, operational testing and evidence for scale-up. The consultant is not expected to independently build the scoring engine but must be able to translate lending requirements into clear data, modelling and implementation decisions.
Roles and Responsibilities
The assignment will run for 12 months and will be organized around three connected workstreams.
- Data review, validation and readiness
- Review the availability, structure, quality, completeness and use of SHG, member, savings, group participation, enterprise and loan data held by SRLM/SERP and Stree Nidhi.
- Map existing data flows, identifiers, consent and access arrangements, including data transfer and governance requirements under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
- Assess data-capture processes across SHGs, village organisations, cluster-level federations and field teams; identify bottlenecks, duplication, missingness and inconsistent definitions.
- Coordinate data cleaning, de-duplication and standardisation using documented rules; maintain a variable dictionary, data-quality dashboard and issue log.
- Develop or refine data protocols, SOPs, training materials and field-support tools. Coordinate campaign-based data improvement with field teams and data champions, and verify that outputs meet model-readiness requirements.
- Ground-truth key fields and model assumptions with field stakeholders and lending teams; feed findings into data-process improvements.
- Alternative credit score development
- Document the target lending use case, borrower journey, underwriting decision points, minimum data requirements and intended use of the score.
- Work with WWB’s data-science team and specialist model partner to translate SHG behaviour and credit history into candidate features and explainable score dimensions.
- Coordinate model-development cycles, including feature review, data checks, back-testing against repayment outcomes, performance assessment, stability checks and fairness/segment diagnostics.
- Support conversion of model outputs into an operational score or risk tier that participating financial service providers can interpret and use.
- Maintain clear documentation of model logic, variables, exclusions, assumptions, limitations, minimum data-quality thresholds and recommended use cases. The score should support responsible underwriting and should not be treated as an automatic approval or rejection mechanism.
- Piloting, validation and scale-up
- Assess the readiness of SRLMs and participating FSPs to test the score, including workflow, system, staff and policy requirements.
- Design and coordinate a sandbox and/or live pilot in which the score is used alongside existing underwriting processes; track applications, decisions, turnaround time, sanctioned amounts, repayment and operational experience.
- Coordinate validation with at least one additional FSP, subject to partner readiness, and compare results across borrower segments, geographies and lending contexts.
- Capture structured feedback from FSP underwriters, field teams and women borrowers; identify improvements required in data capture, score design and operating processes.
- Prepare recommendations for adoption, responsible use, institutional ownership, monitoring and scale-up, including inputs for stakeholder consultations and a policy or synthesis note.
Cross-cutting responsibilities
- Own the integrated workplan, milestones, risk register, decision log and monthly progress reporting.
- Convene working sessions and maintain effective communication across SRLM/SERP, Stree Nidhi, FSPs, WWB and technical partners.
- Escalate data, access, consent, operational or partner dependencies early, with practical options for resolution.
- Ensure that all outputs are reproducible, well documented and suitable for handover to WWB and participating institutions.
The consultant will be responsible for the laptop, connectivity and software/tools required for the assignment. Where partner or DPDP requirements mandate work in client systems, the consultant will work within those systems in addition to using their own equipment, subject to approved access and security protocols.
Required Qualifications
- At least 6–8 years of relevant experience in credit scoring, credit underwriting, lending operations, financial inclusion, data systems or closely related work; experience with SHG, microenterprise or emerging-market lending is strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated experience managing end-to-end data or analytics projects involving multiple institutions, field teams and financial service providers.
- Working knowledge of credit-risk concepts, alternative data, feature engineering, model validation, scorecards/risk tiers and responsible or explainable AI. The consultant need not be the primary model developer but must be able to manage and challenge technical work effectively.
- Experience improving data quality and designing practical data-capture processes, SOPs, training materials or field-support systems.
- Strong stakeholder management, facilitation, documentation and project-management skills, including the ability to work with senior institutional stakeholders and field teams.
- Fluency in English and working ability in Telugu and Hindi. Willingness and availability to travel within states.
Measure of Success
Indicative deliverables and timeline
| Timing | Stage | Expected outputs |
| Months 1–2 Sep–Oct 2026 |
Inception and diagnostic | Inception report and detailed workplan; stakeholder and data-flow map; review of lending use case; data inventory; data-quality and process diagnostic; risk and governance register. |
| Months 3–5 Nov 2026–Jan 2027 |
Data readiness and field improvement | Cleaned and standardised model-ready data extracts; variable dictionary; data-quality dashboard and issue log; revised data protocols/SOPs; training and field-support materials; campaign execution and progress reports. |
| Months 6–8 Feb–Apr 2027 |
Score development and back-testing | Documented score-development requirements; feature and score-dimension review; coordination of model iterations; back-testing and validation outputs; model documentation; pilot-readiness assessment. |
| Months 9–11 May–Jul 2027 |
Pilot and validation | Pilot protocol and tracking tools; implementation support; monthly pilot monitoring; FSP and field feedback; validation analysis; recommendations for data, model and process refinement. |
| Month 12 Aug 2027 |
Close-out and scale-up | Final report; scale-up and responsible-use recommendations; institutional handover pack; policy/synthesis note; presentation to WWB and stakeholders. |
Note: The alternative credit scoring model and insights on it will be owned by NRLM and WWB.
How to Apply
- A brief proposal outlining your proposed approach & methodology, capacity to complete this assignment, highlighting relevant experience and similar projects previously completed, along with profiles of the proposed team members. We want your proposed workplan too. Please also add a detailed budget with justifications and full breakup.
- A cover letter detailing your capacity, overview of approach, budget and statement of availability.
Applications must be received no later than August 25, 2026, by 23:59 IST.
Note: This RFQ does not guarantee or commit Women’s World Banking to proceeding with the above-described work. Due to the overwhelming responses, not all candidates will be contacted.
Women’s World Banking is an equal opportunity employer for all regardless of race, color, citizenship, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran or reservist status or any other category protected by federal, state or local law.
Women’s World Banking will be unable to contract with any individual who is US citizen or resident without an LLC or LP or similar structure.
About Women's World Banking
We believe in being a force for the greater good, devoted to accelerating and growing the financial inclusion of women. With rapidly changing markets, influenced by technology and social behavioral expectations, we are embarking on a new chapter to transform the way we design and implement solutions.
For over 40 years, Women’s World Banking has partnered with financial institutions, showing them the benefit of investing in women as customers. We equip these institutions with in-depth research and data driven insights to develop financial products and educational programs. While our clients are financial service providers, our mission is to engage consumers – women who are marginalized by financial systems.
Women’s World Banking and WWB Asset Management is an equal employment opportunity for all regardless of race, color, citizenship, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran or reservist status or any other category protected by federal, state or local law.
