The International Finance Corporation (IFC); a member of the 杏吧论坛 Group; is seeking to engage a recognized rating agency to support the development of credit ratings for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in select countries within its Europe region of operations. The objective of this engagement is to increase the access of SMEs to finance—particularly from debt funds and structured (and unstructured) SME facilities—and to facilitate their entry into capital markets over time. This initiative is part of IFC’s broader strategy to deepen local capital markets; support financial inclusion; and mobilize institutional capital toward the SME segment; which is often underserved due to a lack of transparent credit risk assessments. Objective of the Assignment The primary objective is to provide reliable; standardized; and transparent SME credit ratings in select countries in IFC Europe’s region. The ratings will be used by debt funds; financial institutions; and other market participants to assess creditworthiness; price risk appropriately; and build scalable investment vehicles. The initial focus countries will include Poland and up to three additional countries to be identified based on demand and market readiness. Scope of Work The selected rating agency will: *Apply a robust methodology for assessing the credit risk of SMEs in alignment with best practices and regulatory standards; *Provide credit ratings for SMEs (number; size; countries and sector to be determined with IFC and local partners); *Support awareness-raising and capacity building for SMEs; financial institutions and other relevant stakeholders on the use and interpretation of credit ratings; *Ensure rating outputs are accessible and useful to both local and international investors; *Adapt methodologies where necessary to local data availability; legal and regulatory context; sectors and market maturity; Where applicable; contribute to public-private dialogue on SME transparency; credit data infrastructure; and capital market access.