Individual consultancy: Technical Assistant to support the Members of the National Assembly on Financial Oversight (UEEFO), 10 months, Maputo, Mozambique

Contract

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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, Hope

How can you make a difference?

Purpose of Activity/Assignment: provide capacity building to the Unidade de Estudos Económicos Financeiros e Orçamentais (UEEFO) staff within the National Assembly to develop analyses of key budgetary, financial, and economic policies, plans, and strategies.

Networking and developing contacts within the Parliament and wider external stakeholders including donors and relevant local experts.

Scope of Work:

The purpose of the proposed Technical Assistant (Snr PFM Analyst) is to develop the UEEFO’s technical capacity to support the role of financial oversight by Members of Parliament. The consultant will take overall responsibility for the technical lead on the development and timely delivery of increasing quality analytical products, by UEEFO staff, for use by Members of Parliament and Committees. The TA will revitalize and lead UEEFO’s staff in the production of financial and economic products, towards the highest technical quality, and ensure analysis is independent and authoritative.

The Technical Assistant, in consultation with UNICEF, under the management of the head of the Technical Cabinet General Secretariat of the National Assembly and with the technical staff of UEEFO, will ensure the maintenance and delivery of an effective strategy for the UEEFO in terms of production and dissemination of financial analyses and oversight, as per the Unit’s mission. The successful candidate will be an experienced PFM analyst with strong communication skills and a networker who can develop necessary relationships and create demand for the analytical products being developed by UEEFO.

Moreover, and most importantly, the Technical Assistant will serve as a key resource to deliver training through learning by doing capacity development strategy and acting as a mentor to the members of the Technical Cabinet.

The proposed technical assistance can only be successful if the parliament guarantees and sustains staffing of UEEFO – working full-time, one of whose capacity will be strengthened by the PFM analyst. Such an approach will ensure that there will be a housing capacity of technical staff conducting analysis and working on concrete steps towards making the Parliament a better-informed and equipped actor for the development of Mozambique. The vision is that UEEFO will build the foundation to establish functions, within the structure of the Parliament, and financed by Parliament, on financial oversight, similar to a Parliamentary Budget Office.

The assignment will be organized according to the following workload distribution:

Financial and economic research and analysis (70%)

• Act as UEEFO’s Senior PFM Analyst leading the capacity building for the development of products and responses to requests received by this office (led by the Chief of the Technical Cabinet) and in pursuance of its mission.
• Support UEEFO to develop and propose, within the first month of consultancy, a calendar for the production and dissemination of regular analyses, opinions, and technical information to MPs, based on the legislative calendar and budget and report cycle and, when appropriate, the general public
• Lead UEEFO to undertake economic research with a focus on, but not limited to, technical analyses of Plano Económico e Social e Orçamento do Estado (PESOE) Proposals (by end of November, unless requested by CPO earlier), Conta Geral do Estado, Budget Execution Reports (Balanço Trimestral, Semestral e Anual do PESOE), Audit Reports and recommendations.
• Ensure that high-quality analyses of the plan and budget documents include an in-depth look at social sectors such as health, education, water and sanitation, social protection, and nutrition.
• Respond to requests from committees and parliamentarians, particularly requirements of the 2nd and 3rd committees, within the mission and scope of UEEFO, presenting findings in user-friendly briefings and other formats
• Lead UEEFO to produce briefs, in user-friendly formats, on PFM issues to engage readers with no such expertise.
• Ensure that UEEFO provides independent assessments of the financial implications of draft legislation and policy.
• Ensuring the TC maintains or has access to datasets to ensure it can respond quickly and accurately to requests for information and analysis.
• Devising appropriate methodology for responding to requests from the TC’s end-users
• Ensuring timely completion of all analyses so they are delivered to deadline and meet the requirements of the end-user
• Ensuring all TC outputs and products related to financial/economic analyses are high-quality and adhere to internal standards.
• Ensure accuracy and editorial quality of all the TC’s economic products and analyses.

Support and leadership (10%)

• Provide leadership in an open, interactive, and consultative style, which values the views and skills of all the UEEFO’s staff.
• Ensure that UEEFO is continuously improving its services and products, ensuring relevance to all key customers in the Parliament.
• Liaise with and ensure appropriate information is provided to the Committees.
• Ensure all reporting requirements are effectively fulfilled.

Mentoring and development (10%)

• Assess training and development requirements of the UEEFO staff, primarily, and, complementarily parliamentary technical staff (especially the TC staff).
• Identify and arrange appropriate training and development opportunities for the TC to ensure necessary skill sets are available and maintained.

Communications and stakeholder engagement (10%)

• Constant communication with UNICEF and Parliament institutions.
• Proactive communication and marketing across the Parliament of the UEEFO’s services, soliciting use and incoming requests.
• Proactive communication and marketing of the UEEFO’s products and analyses.

Networking and developing contacts within the Parliament and wider external stakeholders including donors and relevant local experts.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Masters Ph.D.
• Disciplines: Public Policy; Economics; Public Administration; Public Finance; Finance.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• Other An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum of [insert years] of relevant professional experience in [insert ]
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.