Local Revenue Generation Consultant

Result of Service Reports and documentations listed in the Output table will give UN-Habitat a clear vision and a way ahead to implement the revenue generation recommendations in the city of Erbil. Upon completion of the work, the Consultant will have contributed to the piloting of the recommendations in Erbil and the drafting of a final report based on current and planned revenue generations challenges, showing how Erbil has benefited from the ROSRA tool implementation, pilot activities and next steps.

Work Location Erbil

Expected duration 7.5 months

Duties and Responsibilities Organizational Setting: UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. It is the focal point for all urbanization and human settlement matters within the UN system.

The "Supporting Iraq's Recovery and Stability through Local Development" programme, funded by the European Union and implemented by UNDP in partnership with UN-Habitat, focuses on supporting local authorities in improving basic urban services. In addition to implementing urban recovery projects in five conflict-affected areas, UN-Habitat will target five cities to promote revenue generation and local asset management.

The overall outcomes of the Local Revenue Generation component are: (1) Implementation of performance-based revenue assessment mechanisms using the ‘Revenue Own Source Rapid Analysis (ROSRA) tools developed by UN-Habitat, whereby performance indicators are an important tool for assessing and measuring efficiency and effectiveness in resource generation and use, and holding directorates accountable for performance; (2) Training of local authority staff on revenue generation that will focus on improving citizen awareness initiatives, mapping of assets, developing a good information system, and mapping assets, improving employee motivation, fulfilling citizen's expectations, encouraging the writing of clear general business strategy programs, and managing the case burden of defaulters, reporting and infographics; (3) Piloting of at least one of the recommended improvement in managing assets and generating revenue in 5 cities which will be drawn from the results of the ROSRA assessment and conducted by local authorities with the support of UN-Habitat to improve the efficiency of revenue systems. This could include (a) the creation/development of an electronic property, residence and businesses database using dedicated software and applications, and (b) the development of a GIS street map system and arcGIS digital online program to register residents and companies in specific pilot areas; or (c) experimenting with non-cash billing systems to pay for service fees, public property rental fees and commercial taxes.

Reporting Line: The Consultant will work under the supervision of the Head of UN-Habitat Kurdistan Region of Iraq Office and programme manager, and/or his/her designate, and in close collaboration with staff in UN-Habitat Head Quarters and in the Iraq Country Programme.

Duties and responsibilities: The consultant will be working in Erbil and be responsible for the following duties:

• Communicate with members of the targeted local authorities and directories to explain the purpose of UN-Habitat’s intervention, planned project activities, timeframe and to gather required information for project implementation.
• Plan, organize and facilitate consultation meetings and events in liaison with Local Generation Coordinator, UN-Habitat Programme Manager and experts.
• Collect socio-economic data at city level (GDP, population, Human Development Indicators, economy), data on devolved functions of local government, budget documents providing overview for the past 5 years including revenue breakdown (OSR and non OSR), billing systems, actual vs budget revenue, current vs capital expenditure, absorption rates, etc., data around costs of local revenue administration, and data on admin processes, taxpayer registration, fee collection, exemptions, billing, fines, compliance, etc
• Research Own Source Revenues (OSR) related information in local context
• Take part to the Technical Committee and the Steering Committee to ensure the smooth and efficient collecting, analysing, and reporting of the required data.
• Report to Project Coordinator and management staff on a regular basis about developments on the ground.
• Participate in internal workshop on OSR optimization.
• Manage online data repository of all local government documents received/collected.
• Organize kick-off workshop with key staff of local government that will contribute to the assessments
• Collect of key government documents for purposes of data collection
• Clean and compile data for ease of analysis in Excel sheets and all types of finance/budgeting system required.
• Undertake qualitative interviews with local government officials and tax collectors
• Estimate key baselines for OSR and collaborate with local surveyors to gather additional data for OSR baselines
• Draft OSR report and associated presentations
• Support the implementation of the recommended actions by the ROSRA tool (e.g. GIS and budgeting software training, design of Apps, cashless system, surveys)
• Take part to a final workshop on the key findings of the OSR Report attended by the steering committee and senior management from local government

• Assist UN-Habitat’s Revenue Generation Coordinator in monitoring and implementing the Revenue Generation Programme in Erbil by gathering and organizing information and data received from Erbil Municipality and utilities directorates on the progress and outcomes of the pilot capacity development activities that will be developed as a result of the earlier assessment conducted by UN-Habitat and deriving recommendations.

  Qualifications/special skills Academic Qualifications:

• Advanced Degree Administration, Finance, budgeting sciences/management studies or related fields is required. Training in Municipal accounting and budgeting is desirable. A first-level university degree in combination with additional two years of qualifying experience will be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience: - At least 2 years’ experience in Financing, Administration management work or a related field is required (desirable in government offices). - Familiarity with local revenue billing systems, municipality budgeting and financing systems, municipal/city administrative budgeting processes is desirable. - Residency in Erbil is highly desirable. - Confident user of Microsoft Office software, particularly Excel is desirable. - Familiarly with finance and budgeting software is highly desirable.

Language: - English and French are the working languages of the United Nation Secretariat, for this position fluency in English and Kurdish (both oral and written) is required. Knowledge of Arabic language is a strong advantage.

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.