FORMULATION OF A PROGRAMME SUPPORT DOCUMENT ON STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY FOR DEVELOPMENT EFFECTIVENESS
Location : Lilongwe, MALAWI
Application Deadline : 18-Apr-12
Additional Category Democratic Governance
Type of Contract : Individual Contract
Post Level : International Consultant
Languages Required : English
Starting Date :(date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 23-Apr-2012
Duration of Initial Contract : End April- end June 2012
Expected Duration of Assignment : 2 Months
Background
In 2006, the government of Malawi started the formulation process of the Development Assistance Strategy (DAS). In 2008, the DAS was approved and adopted. The DAS is a document that sets out policy and strategies for increasing efficiency and effectiveness in the mobilisation and utilisation of aid in achieving the development results set out in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS). In the same year that the DAS was approved and adopted, the Malawi Government with the support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) established a Development Assistance Coordination Unit (DACU) within the Debt and Aid Management Division (DAD) in the Ministry of Finance (currently Ministry of Finance and Development Planning – MoFDP). The DACU acts as a focal point for quality control and coordination of development assistance so as to effectively absorb, monitor, disseminate and manage development assistance and ensure that the targets laid in the Paris Declaration (PD) on aid effectiveness are met.
As the current DAS approached its end in 2011, the DACU undertook an internal review of its implementation. The review aimed to assess results of current DAS implementation against results, targets and baselines outlined in the DAS action plan. The later are grouped in the action plan according to the five PD principles -Ownership, Alignment, Harmonization, Managing for Results, and Mutual Accountability. The review concluded that the current DAS led to better processes, but a number of challenges remain. For instance, through the DAS the Government has developed mechanisms for dialogue and coordination with development partners and other stakeholders such as civil society and the private sector – including a High Level Forum on Aid Coordination, Sector Working Groups (SWGs), and Common Approach to Budgetary Support (CABS). The Aid Management Platform is the main vehicle for donor reporting on aid activities to Government. On the other hand, with few exceptions SWGs are under-performing. The SWG process needs to be revitalized learning from the experiences of the few sectors in which such SWGs exist. Project support is still the dominant aid modality. Transaction costs for government remain high, and joint missions and joint analytical work involving several development partners are not sufficiently used. The monitoring framework for the DAS is not sufficiently robust. The Action Plan lacked baselines in some cases, and some targets and actions are not specific. There are no performance indicators. This has limited ability to monitor progress made by the Government and the development partners. Most mechanisms for dialogue in DAS have not evolved as planned, and the DAS contribution to the MGDS has not been very direct.
The 2011 Paris Declaration Monitoring Survey reported similar mixed results. Out of 12 indicators with targets that should have been reached by 2010, Malawi met 5 (operational development strategies, alignment of aid flows to national priorities, strengthened capacity building through co-ordinated support, predictability of aid, and mutual accountability). Since 2005, of the remaining indicators, four have made progress, three have been set back and three remained static. Performance on alignment has generally been good, while progress on harmonization has been limited, with no targets met. The Mutual Accountability report indicates significant asymmetry in the aid relations in Malawi.
In 2010 the Government commissioned a study on Division of Labour ( DoL) in Malawi, in order to collect baseline information and assess the views of both the Government and development partners on how to move forward with the DoL agenda in Malawi. The study shows that sector engagement by development partners varies across the board from 1 sector per development parter to 14 sectors per development partner. The average is around 6 sectors per development partner. Highly subscribed sectors like Health involve around 20 donors, while low subscribed sectors have on average only 3 to 4 donors (for example, wildlife, tourism and culture and ICT/RD). The latest edition of the Government’s Annual Aid Atlas reported that fragmentation within priority sectors continues to remain high and in some cases is increasing. The 2010 comprehensive review of the MGDS also noted a number of challenges such as insufficient harmonization between the MGDS, SWAps, and some ministerial programs and District Development Plans, insufficient use of country systems, and continued use by some development partners of parallel implementation structures.
A new MGDS (MGDS II) for the period 2012-2016 has been developed and will be soon officially launched. The Government has also formulated a comprehensive Public Financial and Economic Management (PFEM) Reform Program (PFEM-RP). The programme covers the complete public financial management cycle from planning and budgeting to resource mobilization, procurement, accounting, financial management, cash and debt management, reporting, auditing, and evaluation. A World Bank Trust Fund has been established to provide a joint donors financing vehicle for the reform program. PFEM reforms are instrumental for accelerating the use of country systems by development partners.
The next country framework on aid effectiveness should harmonize and align development assistance with the development outcomes of the MGDS II. Reflecting the spirit of the commitments made at the latest High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea, it should provide a strong framework for monitoring progress and promoting mutual accountability to improve the effectiveness and results of development cooperation. To achieve this, the strategy must possess the standing needed to gain maximum support from all interested stakeholders.
The purpose of the consultancy is to carry out a qualitative assessment of DAS implementation and two thematic case studies on the quality of dialogue and the division of labour. The results will inform the preparation work for the next country framework on aid effectiveness for the period 2012-2016, in line with MGDS II for the same period.
Duties and Responsibilities
Specific tasks
Qualitative assessment of DAS Implementation:
The consultant will be asked to implement qualitative assessment of DAS implementation with development partners operating in Malawi collecting information from each development partner on their performance against the targets in the DAS Action Plan. A sub-section of the questionnaire to each development partner should be dedicated to peer review of two other development partners. The expectation is that at the end of the exercise there should be a self-assessment by each development partner, as well as a peer review of each development partner by two other development partners.
Thematic case study on the quality of dialogue:
In this part of the assignment the consultant is expected to generate conclusions and recommendations for improving the mechanisms for dialogue from the DAS, using results from the qualitative questionnaire with DPs. This information should be complemented by structured qualitative interviews with senior government officials from OPC and MoFDP and sector focal points in selected sectors.
The following structures for dialogue from the DAS should be addressed:
• High Level Forum (HLF) on Aid Coordination: It is the highest level forum for policy dialogue and coordination between Government and its development partners. It is chaired by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, and it includes the Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) (Deputy Chair), Secretary to the Treasury (ST), relevant Ministers and Sector Ministries’ Principal Secretaries, Heads of Delegation, Heads of Mission, and Resident Representatives of development assistance organizations active in Malawi, as well as civil society representatives.
• Sector Working Groups (SWGs): In 2008 the Government issued Guidelines aiming at institutionalizing 16 SWGs. SWGs are chaired by the Principle Secretary of one of the relevant sector line ministries while the leading donor in the sector acts as Vice Chair. Members of SWGs are senior representatives from Government, development partners, NGOs and the private sector. Up to 5 Technical Working Groups can be established to serve as the technical arms of a particular SWG. Overall, SWGs are responsible for guiding the effective coordination and implementation of sector strategies and policies. Donor presence in the SWGs allows development partners to better align their assistance to the country with the Government’s stated sector priorities. Not all SWGs are currently functional.
• : The DAS envisions it as a quarterly forum for dialogue within Government to ensure that the Government acts in a consistent manner in interactions with DPs and pursues those reforms that are required to increase the effectiveness of aid. It will periodically examine the prioritization of the MGDS. It will be attended by Principle Secretaries (PS) and their Directors of Planning. To economize on time, the agenda of these meetings can be part of PSs’ quarterly meetings. All relevant ministries should take part in this forum.
• MGDS Annual Review: It includes Government and Development Partners. It assesses progress under the MGDS and the attainment of Paris Declaration targets taking into account sector reviews, PERs and others.
• Development Partners’ Dialogue Group: It involves only development partners and aims to ensure coordination of activities and harmonization of procedures. According to DAS in this forum the development partners should seek prior agreement on responses to important high-level issues that involve Government. This mechanism evolved in the form of regular Head of Cooperation meetings.
Some other coordination mechanisms that have evolved include:
• Coordination with the development partners providing general budget support: Under the CABS mechanism progress is being measured through jointly agreed set of performance indicators as described in the Performance Assessment Framework (PAF). There are bi-annual meetings to coordinate activities, discuss policy issues and assess progress against targets set out in the PAF.
• Group on Financial and Economic Management (GFEM). It includes Government and Development Partners interested in PFEM reforms. The group’s meetings are chaired by the ST and co-chaired by donors on a rotational basis.
• Thematic case study on the division of labour – In this part of the assignment the consultant is expected to verify the conclusions and the recommendations in the DoL study that the Government commissioned in 2010. The consultant should include specific questions on the DoL process in the qualitative questionnaires to development partners. To the extent necessary this should be complimented by structured interviews with selected government officials. The outcome should be an updated DoL matrix by sector engagement, modalities, and MGDS themes, and proposals for DoL targets for the next country framework on aid effectiveness
• Consultative workshop with stakeholders – The consultant is expected to present the results of the assessment at a consultative workshop with interested stakeholders towards the end of the assignment. The consultant will facilitate the dialogue with participants at the workshop in order to receive additional feedback on the proposals.
Deliverables
• An inception report should be produced within 5 days after the contract is signed. The report should provide a clear picture of how the consultant intends to achieve the expected tasks. It should include fully developed questionnaires for the collection of qualitative data from the development partners. It should identify those that will be interviewed and should propose questions for the structured interviews. It should propose a methodology for the thematic case studies. The report should also include a work plan with timelines for all the tasks that the consultant will undertake during the exercise.
• The consultant will present a draft assessment report within 25 work-days after the contract is signed. He or she will make a presentation of the report to major stakeholders for validation and will incorporate relevant information from the validation meeting into the report. The final report is to be submitted 30 days after the contract is signed.
Implementation arrangements
The consultant will work with the Task Force which will steer and give directions on the formulation process for the new country framework on aid effectiveness. The Task force will act as a Reference Group. The DACU will act as a secretariat for the Reference Group and will be the contact point for the consultant. The Assistant Director in the DAD who is the head of DACU will receive and approve all reports from the consultant. The consultant is also required to coordinate and consult with the consultant who will carry out the reviews of SWGs in selected sectors (sector case studies).
The consultant should provide regular feedback on the progress of the assignment and should ensure strict adherence to timely delivery of the inception and draft and final reports.
The consultant is expected to be fully self-sufficient in terms of office equipment and supplies, communication, accommodation and transport
Timeframe
The assignment is for a maximum of 30 full-time working days from the date the contract is signed. The assignment is expected to be carried out in April-May 2012.
Competencies
• Sound knowledge and understanding of the Paris Declaration and the ACCRA Agenda for Action
• Familiarity with the results from the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea
• Good understanding of Development Assistance, mechanisms for dialogue and aid modalities
• Working experience in developing countries
• In-depth understanding of Results Based management (RBM) or managing for development results
• Excellent report writing skills
• Strong communication skills
• Previous experience in Malawi will be considered an advantage
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
• Master’s degree in Law, Public Administration, Development Studies, Economics, Political Science, or any other related social science discipline.
Experience:
• Minimum of seven years progressive professional experience in policy assessment and project/programme review and evaluation
Application procedure:
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:
• Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and 3 references
• Motivation letter (no more than 1,000 words) – (i) Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work. (ii) Providing a brief understanding on how they will approach and conduct the work.
• Financial proposal expressed as a Lump sum (inclusive of professional fees, DSA, Ticket and other cost if applicable).
Evaluation criteria:
The award of the contract shall be made to the consultant who has received the highest score out of pre-determined technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
• Technical criteria weight – 70 %
• Financial criteria weight – 30 %
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points and above would be considered for the financial evaluation.
Criteria
Weight
Max.Point
Technical (based on CV, motivation letter and interview)
Minimum educational background and work experience (CV)
20%
20
Understanding of the assignment from the motivation letter
20%
20
Individual competencies ( CV and interview)
30 %
30
Financial
30%
30
Please note that the online system will only allow you to upload one document, therefore the technical and financial proposal are to be attached to the CV and uploaded together at once.
UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.
Closing Date: Wednesday, 18 April 2012
