International Consultant on Illicit Financial Flows - EGPFS - MGD

Contract

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Result of Service

The implementing countries will benefit from an increased understanding of the concepts and methods to measure tax and commercial and crime related IFFs, an enhanced awareness of the national IFF risks, data needs and availability, and enhanced capacity to develop policies for effective curbing of IFFs.

Work Location

Remote

Expected duration

10 months

Duties and Responsibilities

Background

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) jointly with the other United Nations Regional Commissions (ECLAC, ESCAP, ESCWA and to a lesser extent, UNECE), in close coordination and with substantive support by the custodian agencies of indicator 16.4.1 on IFFs, namely UNCTAD and UNODC, are carrying out a UN Development Account project on “Measuring and Curbing Illicit Financial Flows”. This project aims to achieve the following:

• Strengthen the statistical capacity of selected countries across regions to measure IFFs, while increasing awareness of the globally agreed definitions, concepts, methods and tools in all regions. • Consolidate methodological guidelines with the aim to produce estimates on IFFs, also by gathering and aggregating existing early estimates (where possible) from different IFF types (tax and commercial and crime related IFFs) to allow for the reporting of SDG Indicator 16.4.1. • Strengthen the capacity of beneficiary countries to develop evidence-based policy responses to curb IFFs and strengthen domestic resource mobilization (use).

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the indicator framework for the monitoring of progress towards SDGs with indicator 16.4.1 on the “total value of inward and outward illicit financial flows (in United States dollars)” selected as one of two indicators to measure progress towards target 16.4 to “significantly reduce illicit financial (and arms) flows by 2030, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organized crime”. UNCTAD and UNODC are custodian agencies of indicator 16.4.1 and their respective statistical sections jointly developed a Conceptual Framework for the Statistical Measurement of Illicit Financial Flows in 2020 . The Framework was endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in March 2022. So far, globally agreed methodologies to measure IFFs have been tested in 12 African countries, 4 Latin American and 6 Asia-Pacific countries that have produced the first preliminary estimates of commercial or crime-related IFFs.

While first data on indicator 16.4.1 on 9 countries pilot measuring crime-related IFFs have been recently published, further efforts are required to expand the measurement to a wider group of member States and to test methods for aggregated estimates on tax and commercial IFFs together with crime-related IFFs. Consolidated work on statistical measurement of IFFs is important to inform evidence-based policy development for effective curbing of IFFs. Further, it is important to note that policy intervention is not limited to using statistical analyses only but may also include development of practical tools and actionable policy interventions. These may include enhanced investigative capacities in selected countries through use of open-source tools to allow for the cost-effective investigation of IFFs.

The implementing countries will benefit from an increased understanding of the concepts and methods to measure tax and commercial and crime related IFFs, an enhanced awareness of the national IFF risks, data needs and availability, and enhanced capacity to develop policies for effective curbing of IFFs.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Director of the Macroeconomic and Governance Division (MGD) and the immediate supervision of the Chief of the Economic Governance and Public Finance Section (EGPFS), the consultant will lead on the IFF measurement work and provide technical support with regard to policy work of the DA15 project. The consultant will undertake his/her assigned duties in close collaboration with national consultants in the participating countries, providing technical guidance and leadership to the whole process of data analysis, training of members of respective Technical Working Groups (TWGs), selection of country’s types of IFFs and methods to be used, and actual estimation of IFFs. For the assignment, the consultant will get acquainted with the available resources, including the Conceptual Framework, Methodological Guidelines and other relevant technical and training materials. The consultant will also provide technical advice to ECA on the development and rolling out of policy tools to assess country’s policy landscape and institutional architecture for effective curbing of IFFs.

The work will be conducted under the supervision of ECA, in close collaboration with UNCTAD and UNODC. The activities will be completed by January 2026.

The main duties and responsibilities are as follows:

Provide leadership and technical support to national consultants in their respective duties to:

• Carry out a data availability review with the national institutions considering the legal frameworks and statistical capacity of agencies. Based on the findings, agree on types of IFFs to be estimated in the country, covering both tax and commercial and crime-related IFFs. • Support agencies in the planning and process of measurement and compilation of IFF statistics, including their dissemination to Global SDG indicators database, discuss challenges and early results in close contact with ECA, UNCTAD and UNODC experts seeking guidance and methodological support as necessary. Contribute to the development of tools and procedures to gather and process data. • Support agencies in drafting policy recommendations to address IFFs based on compiled and disseminated IFF statistics. • Support country in the development and application of methods and tools to identify country’s IFF threats and risks. This would build on existing evidence including, country reports under DA11 which identify products and sectors with high IFF risks. Examining deeper the issues in those high risk sectors would include assessing policy landscape, institutional set up and legal and regulatory frameworks to identify gaps and threats to IFFs. • Support country in the design of evidence-based policy responses based on the identified threats and risks • Organise a wrap-up meeting with the Technical Working Group and relevant stakeholders to discuss IFF estimates, policy implications and the way forward. Agree on an Action Plan for future measurement and reporting of IFFs in the country, and policy reform agenda for effective curbing of IFFs, and provide draft reports of national activities and results.

Leading on:

• Development and delivery of training modules to members of TWGs on the Conceptual Framework, Methodological Guidelines and other relevant technical and training materials that may facilitate countries to effectively measure IFFs, • The process of analyzing respective data landscapes, selection of methods to be used, and actual estimation of IFFs. This will be done with support from national consultants.

Support:

• ECA in the development and rolling out of tools for assessing risks and gaps emerging from country’s policy landscape and institutional set up, • National consultants in the rolling out of policy tools and design of appropriate policy responses/actions building on risks and gaps identified.

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in economics, econometrics, statistics, or another related field is required. A first level university degree in combination with an additional 2 years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

A minimum of Ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in the field of economic analysis, political science, statistical analysis, financial analysis or related field is required.

Experience in estimating IFFs, particularly through trade mis-invoicing, and knowledge of the literature related to estimating IFFs, is required.

Experience in conduct large scale consultations and data collection exercises at the national level is required. Conducting national risk assessments is also desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in written and oral English is required. Ability to communicate with respective national consultants in French is an advantage.

Additional Information

The consultant will be required to travel to selected countries.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.