National Expert on Pubic Finance Management

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) presents an ambitious, complex and interconnected vision that countries around the world have committed to working towards. Realizing this vision will require mobilizing a diverse range of public and private resources to contribute to sustainable development outcomes. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda, which outlines a framework for financing the 2030 Agenda, calls for integrated approaches to finance that are driven at the national level.

Operationalising the concept of an integrated national financing framework (INFF) and bringing its building blocks together can help governments to strengthen vertical integration between national development aspirations and SDGs, and the policies governing each individual area of public and private finance. More specifically, integration of SDGs into national budgeting provides mechanisms for deepening the vertical alignment between a country’s long-term sustainable development aspirations and the resources over which government has most direct control, i.e. the budget. This is critical because of the importance and scale of public finance. Enhancing the integration of the budget with the SDGs is therefore a key part of the objectives of an INFF.

Budgeting for SDGs reform paths and solutions vary in their nature and can be applied in isolation or need an orchestrated effort throughout the whole Agenda-2030 timeframe. The modelling of Budgeting for SDGs (B4SDG) choice can vary from a base model aimed at enabling governments in understanding better the alignment of its budget resources with SDGs to a ’best practice model’, where country systems produce SDG related information, including the priorities, targets, progress in achievement of the goals and, most importantly, a wide range of stakeholders, primarily the legislature and CSOs play an active role in SDG-related policy and budget formulation, monitoring, reporting and accountability.[1]

Within the current context, where Covid-19 is significantly altering the short- and medium-term outlook for sustainable development in many countries, as well as their ability to mobilise public and private financing, Budgeting for SDGs solutions are being used to address budget related challenges and help governments in the transition from the response to recovery.

The current wave of reforms in Armenia, triggered by the “velvet revolution” in 2018, has created a unique momentum for transformation in Armenia. So far 20+ new sectoral strategies have been rolled out and an overall national development strategy – the Armenia Transformation Strategy (ATS) 2050 – is being developed. To help ensure these strategies and policies are properly costed and aligned with integrated financing frameworks, UNDP Armenia implements “Making Finance Work for Transformative Change in Armenia: UNlocking Finance for Armenia 2030” project in partnership with UNICEF and WFP, funded by the Joint SDG Fund. The joint Programme is designed to (i) help the Government create clear links between policies, planning and budgeting processes (horizontal workstream); and (ii) conduct a development finance assessment (DFA) to build a more integrated public and private approach to financing for national development priorities and deploy innovative and evidence-driven mechanisms to leverage partnerships and multiple sources of finance towards three priority areas in Armenia - climate change, food security and human capital (vertical workstream).

This will include measures that can help the Government of Armenia develop capacities to assess its financing framework as a whole, guide thinking about new financing options that can support investments in sectors that disproportionately benefit women, poor and vulnerable groups, and strengthen medium and long-term planning by better aligning financial market incentives with longer-term development goals/the SDGs. The expected outputs of the project are:

• Output 1.1: Armenia Transformation Strategy is adopted as an integrated, gender-sensitive and equitable national SDG framework
• Output 1.2: Public finance management system is strengthened for better measurement and increased adequacy, effectiveness and equitability of the distribution of public resources for the realisation of gender-responsive, child-sensitive and SDG-aligned policies
• Output 1.3: Public, private and development financing landscape, including existing flows, gaps and options, is mapped to inform the implementation of the ATS
• Output 2.1: Financing needs and gaps are diagnosed in the achievement of climate change, food security and human capital sectoral targets
• Output 2.2: Coherent financing frameworks developed in the pre-selected sectors (climate change) for the allocation of sufficient and adequate public and private resources.

[1] For more information please refer to UNDP (2019) “Budgeting for Agenda-2030 Opting for the Right Model”.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of UNDP Programme Analyst on “Innovation, Acceleration and SDG Finance” and in close cooperation with the Project Coordinator, the National Expert will work with the RCO Country Economist, the UNICEF and the WFP focal points for the joint project towards establishing and accelerating common methodologies for integrating the SDGs into medium-term and/or annual budget policies.

Duties and key milestones

• Work closely with RCO Economist, UNDP, UNICEF and WFP sectorial economists to link planning outcomes with costing and budgeting processes
• Liaise with development partners and IFIs working in the field of public finance management to ensure coherence of action and building on already developed guidelines (e.g. climate and gender budgeting), practices and so on.

• Serve as joint project focal point for the Ministry of Finance in relation to budgeting, sectorial strategy costing overviews, INFF roadmap development, etc.

  Integrating SDGs into medium term and/or annual budget policies

• Assist in reflecting SDG targets and indicators into the Mid-Term Expenditure framework (MTEF) and/or annual budgeting processes and documents in a systemic way, including specific support in relation to integrating SDGs into 2022-2024 MTEF for climate change, food security and human capital sectors.

• Support the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in adjusting and adopting the MTEF and budget methodological instructions for SDG alignment, data disaggregation and gender-responsiveness
• Provide capacity development and support to the MoF, line Ministries and relevant committees of the National Assembly) with more effective and SDG-informed budget negotiations.
• Provide overall methodology support to the Project team and line ministries in effective integration of SDG targets and indicators in KPI framework during the pre-budget negotiations with CSOs.
• Develop coding/tagging principles and provide recommendations on a coding model suitable for Armenia for SDG aligned programmes and projects within the MTEF and budget programme classification structure for better tracking of budgets in line with the ATS and sectoral strategies

Strengthening SDG budget expenditure monitoring and reporting systems

• Assist in developing monitoring and expenditure effectiveness analyses on priority SDG targets/indicators to showcase the usefulness of such feedback mechanisms for both improved budget accountability, transparency and budget decision-making processes
• Support in bridging the budget expenditure performance reporting framework with government’s SDG reporting framework (incl. SDG statistics system of the National Statistics Committee), including in specific processes such as the Voluntary National Reviews on Climate Change, etc.

Strengthening accountability for SDG-aligned budgets

• Assist in capacity development of Government of Armenia, the Parliament and CSOs in understanding SDG-aligned programming and budgeting
• Supporting the design and implementation of Development Finance Assessment and INFF
• Work with a team of international & local experts to support the design and implementation of a Development Finance Assessment to increase the understanding of the country’s current financial landscape, needs and opportunities.
• Support the development of the design of an INFF roadmap for Armenia
• Provide technical assistance to the MoF and the PM’s office for the effective operationalization of the Development Assistance Database, using SDG tagging/coding.

The National PFM expert will be responsible for the following key deliverables:

• Adaptation of budget circulars and proposal templates with requirements on SDG relevance, priority level, disaggregation, bridging SDG targets/indicators with budget outcome frameworks, etc.
• Supported reflection of SDG targets and indicators in the MTEF and budget
• Development of SDG relevance checklist for selected budget proposals (the depth of analysis may be basic or more elaborated).
• Development of SDG policy-budget mapping table (mapping of budget programmes vs. SDG, national and key sectoral strategies, disaggregated by goals).
• Draft SDG budget coding model suitable for Armenia (including options for manual/ automated processes, with/ without changes in the chart of accounts, short- and long-term solutions, etc.)
• Support to development of monitoring and expenditure effectiveness analyses on priority SDG targets/indicators
• Budget programmes’ alignment with SDG policies and results
• Capacity building and assistance with SDG costing, including development of training modules and/or delivery of on-the-job capacity building on SDG costing
• Draft Climate Change Financing Framework integrated into relevant MTEF sections, based on outputs (CPEIR, CBT) from UNDP Climate Change Programme
• Capacity-development and technical assistance to MoF and PM’s office for the operationalization of the Development Assistance Database, using SDG tagging/coding.
• Other deliverables, in line with the task and objectives above.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent intercultural, moderation, facilitation and negotiation skills;
• Builds strong relationships with stakeholders, focuses on impact and result and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Ability to lead effectively, mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure
• Proven networking, teambuilding, organizational and communication skills

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced academic degree in public finance, economics, or equivalent discipline.

Experience:

• At least of 10 years of working experience in the field of public finance management at country level,
• At least 5 years of working experience in results- or program-based budgeting, performance monitoring & evaluation and reporting of budgeting.
• Working experience on integrating SDGs in budgeting processes,
• Proven experience in policy analysis and public financial management, and advisory role to senior government stakeholders
• Research experience in the areas of public finance, budget review and public expenditure review are required.
• Solid knowledge of UN Sustainable Goals, public finance, Public Financial Management, Innovative Financing for Development
• Demonstrated ability to engage in strategic analysis, and in-depth sectoral analysis.
• Excellent writing skills required, as demonstrated by previous high-quality research/analytical reports on relevant topics.
• Ability to lead consultations with senior government officials from ministries of finance, line ministries and relevant government institutions required.

Language:

• Fluency in Armenian and English languages

APPLICATIONS WILL BE EVALUATED BASED ON THE FOLLOWING METHODOLOGY:

Applications will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants' technical qualifications, experience and financial proposal.The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as technically responsive/compliant/acceptable to the requirements of the ToR and received the highest cumulative (technical and financial) score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation - max. 70 points

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation - max. 30 points.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION.

• Financial Proposal and Availability form: OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP ( all-inclusive daily fee option is applicable for this assignment)
• CV shall include Education/Qualification, Processional Certification, Employment Records /Experience

General Conditions of Contract is available here: GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT

Note: Please note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).