Local Revenue Generation Coordinator

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 cities of Erbil, Dohuk, Ramadi, Heet and Baiji. Upon completion of the work, the Coordinator will have contributed to the piloting of the recommendations and the drafting of a final report based on current and planned revenue generations challenges, showing how the 5 cities have 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 each of the 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 Coordinator 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, in coordination with other Local Revenue Generation personnel working in Dohuk, Mosul, Ramadi and Baiji.

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

• Communicate and coordinate with members of the 5 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 UN-Habitat Programme Manager and experts.
• Coordinate the collection of socio-economic data at city level in the 5 cities (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
• Analyse the socio-economic data at city-level from the 5 cities and prepare reports illustrated by infographics.
• Coordinate research on Own Source Revenues (OSR) in the 5 cities and prepare briefs.
• Liaise with the 5 Technical Committees and Steering Committees to ensure the smooth and efficient collecting, analysing, and reporting of the required data.
• Coordinate on a regular basis with the Local Revenue Generation consultants in the 5 cities and report to overall project management about developments on the ground.
• Participate in internal workshops on OSR optimization.
• Manage online data repository of all local government documents received/collected.
• Facilitate kick-off workshop with local government key staff
• Archive 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.
• Design questionnaires and oversee the rolling out of qualitative interviews with local government officials and tax collectors
• Analyse data collected by surveyors and UN-Habitat revenue generation consultants
• Draft the final OSR report and associated presentations
• Support the implementation of the recommended actions by the RORSA tool (e.g. GIS and budgeting software training, design of Apps, cashless system, surveys
• Organize 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 Programme Manager and experts in monitoring and implementing the Revenue Generation Programme in Iraq by gathering and organizing information and data received from the Revenue Generation Assistants working in the 5 targeted cities on the progress and outcomes of the pilot capacity development activities that will be developed in each city, as a result of the earlier assessments 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. 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 5 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. - Resident in Erbil is 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 Arabic (both oral and written) is required. Knowledge of Kurdish 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.