UNDP Macro Assessment of Rwanda's Public Financial Management (PFM) System Job Vacancy in Kigali, Rwanda

MACRO
ASSESSMENT OF RWANDA’S PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT (PFM) SYSTEM

Location : Kigali, RWANDA

Application
Deadline : 25-Mar-14

Type of
Contract : Individual Contract

Post Level :
International Consultant

Languages
Required : English French

Starting
Date : (date when the selected candidate is expected to
start) 06-Apr-2014

Duration of
Initial Contract : 14 Working days

Expected
Duration of Assignment : 30 days

Background

Pursuant to
the UN General Assembly Resolution 56/201 on the Triennial Policy Review of
operational activities for development of the United Nations System, UNDF,
UNICEF, UNFPA and WFP (the United Nations Development Group (UNDG)
Executive Committee Agencies) adopted a common operational framework for
transferring cash to government and non-government Implementing
Partners. In April 2005, the UNDG formally released a Harmonized Framework
for Cash Transfers to Implementing Partners (HACT, hereinafter called as “the
Framework”). Its implementation will significantly reduce transaction
costs and lesson the burden that the multiplicity of UN procedures and rules
creates for its partners. This framework applies to the UNDG’s Executive
Committee Agencies (ExCom Agencies being UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and WFP) and other
UN Agencies that choose to adopt it. It calls for an upfront assessment of
the programme country’s public financial management system (macro assessment)
and similar assessments of Implementing Partners’ (IPs) financial management
capacity (micro assessment). The HACT Framework has been revised in February
2014.

In order to
ensure adequate awareness of the Public Financial Management (PFM) environment
within which agencies will provide cash transfers to IPs, a desk review of
existing assessments of the PFM system will be conducted. The term PFM in the
HACT framework is broadly defined to include a range of considerations for
operating within the country, not limited solely to the financial environment,
but also including national procurement capacity, exchange rate volatility, presence
of informal/black markets etc. This assessment is called a “Macro Assessment”.

The macro-assessment will be based entirely on PFM-related work that has
already been conducted by development partners. In addition, the
consultant shall review other relevant reports and documents which would be
useful for this exercise.

In order to ensure that the review is of maximum usefulness and
relevance, the above assessment reports should be as recent as possible, but
not more than five years old.

The review will cover areas of the national budget development and execution
process, the functioning of the public sector accounting and internal control
mechanisms, legal regulations and judicial environments, the procurement system
and tender process, audit and oversight, financial recording systems, staff
qualifications, environmental conditions, exchange rate volatility,
and existence of black markets.

Should
further clarification or verification be required to substantiate the review,
responsible officials of relevant government agencies may be consulted. The
Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN), the Office of the
Auditor General and the Rwanda Public Procurement Authority (RPPA) will be
among government agencies for clarification/verification exercise.

The
following provides typical sources of existing PFM assessments

Assessments
by the World Bank:

Country Financial Accountability Assessment.
CFAAs vary in format and presentation;
Public Expenditure Review. This analyzes a
country’s fiscal position, expenditure policies, and public expenditure
management systems;
Country Procurement Assessment Review. This
reviews public procurement institutions and practices;
Institutional and Governance Review. This
reviews the quality of accountability, policy-making, and service delivery
institutions;
Capacity Assessments of Heavily Indebted Poor
Country PFM. Done jointly with the IMF, this assessment covers some of the
same issues as a CFAA;
Public Financial Management Performance Report
(PFM-PR), Rwanda. Final Report was published inNovember 30, 2010 (The
World bank Group was the lead agency with the involvement of other
agencies such as DFID, EU, KfW, SIDA, USAID.

Assessments
by Other Institutions:

Fiscal Transparency Review. IMF. This uses the
code of good practices on fiscal transparency adopted by the IMF in
1998.
Diagnostic Study of Accounting and Auditing.
Asian Development Bank.
Ex-ante audits of PFM systems undertaken by
the EC.
Assessments by CIDA, DFID, EU, SIDA, ADB and
other Agencies.
DFID’s assessments include:
Rwanda: Independent Evaluation of the
Implementation of the PFM Reform Strategy 2008-2012
Fiduciary Risk Assessment (FRA) of the
Education Sector in Rwanda

SIDA’s
assessments include:

Overall PFM assessment in Rwanda and the assessments
of the social protection sector and the forestry, land and environment
sector.

Items to be
provided to the Consultant in advance of starting fieldwork:

Summary of primary programme initiatives and
IPs within the country; and
Details of previously performed Macro
Assessment performed in the country (if any); and
Any other documentation that may help the
third party service provider better understand the country context from a
United Nations perspective.

Methodology

The
consultant will begin by reviewing the information provided by the agency and
with the collection of existing PFM review reports and will also consider the
relevant UN Agencies’ own experience and knowledge of PFM in Rwanda. The
consultant will review the existing documentation and the relevant UN Agencies’
experience to address the issues raised in the checklist for determining risks
related to a country’s PFM.

The
consultant will prepare a draft report on the results of the
macro-assessment. The preliminary results of the Macro Assessment will be
discussed with agencies that are implementing the HACT framework, both to
provide a summary of the results and to incorporate agency-specific experience
and knowledge of the country into the final assessment as appropriate

The
consultant will finalise the macro-assessment report taking into account
comments received on the draft report and submit a final report to UN Resident
Coordinator Office, who will share the report with the relevant UN Agencies.

Deliverables

A draft
macro-assessment report summarizing the findings regarding the risks related to
the use of PFM systems for cash transfers within the country in the Macro
Assessment Checklist.

The report
should include:

Objective of the review and statement of
process and participating institutions;
Summary of findings—to address each of the
issues identified in checklist;
Any key risks the PFM poses to the functioning
of the cash transfer framework;
Assessment of the Supreme Audit Institution’s
capacity to undertake required audits.

The two
primary outputs of the Macro Assessment are:

An outline of risks related to the use of the
PFM for cash transfers within the country by government IPs, as well as
other country specific knowledge for non-governmental IPs (e.g.
environmental conditions, exchange rate volatility, presence of black
markets, etc.); and
A determination on whether the Government’s
Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) has the capacity to undertake the
scheduled and special audits of government IPs.

Within this
context, the relevant UN agencies in Rwanda (i.e. UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, WFP, UN
Women) plan to undertake a macro-assessment of Rwanda’s public financial
management system in order to enable them to take appropriate decisions on cash
transfer modalities, procedures and assurance activities for their
programmes/projects during the current United Nations Development Assistance
Plan (UNDAP) 2013-2018.

Duties and
Responsibilities

Competencies

Core
Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s
values and ethical standards;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race,
nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional
Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning;
Ability to provide top quality policy advice
services on economic issues;
In-depth practical knowledge of
inter-disciplinary development issues.

Management
and Leadership:

Consistently approaches work with energy and a
positive, constructive attitude;
Demonstrates strong oral and written
communication skills;
Capacity to engage with a wide audience and to
maintain good working relationships is multicultural environments.

Required
Skills and Experience

The
assessment will be conducted by a consultant, independent of the Government of
Rwanda. The consultant is expected to have the following qualifications:

Education:

Masters of Finance, Accounting, Economics,
Public Administration or equivalent.

Experience:

Minimum of 7 year experience in PFM systems;
Ability to identify and collect reports on the
PFM system in Rwanda;
Experience and expertise in reviewing PFM
systems, assessing risks related to them and in performing similar
assessments;
Prior consultancy experience on HACT
Macro-assessments a strong advantage;
Knowledge of the United Nations system and
familiarity with UN agencies’ financial management policies/practices and
assistance projects;
Broad understanding of governance and
accountability issues;
Experience and knowledge of the Government of
Rwanda’s policies and systems.

Language
requirements:

Excellent written and oral
communications skills in English;
Knowledge of French and /or Kinyarwanda is an
added advantage.

Price
Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

The
consultancy fee will be paid as a Lump Sum (inclusive of all expenses related
to the consultancy), and will be fixed regardless of changes in the cost
components of the consultancy. The consultancy fee will be paid upon
completion of the following milestones:

30% after preparation and submission of the
draft macro-assessment report.
70% after submission of the final
macro-assessment report and its acceptance by the RCO.

Application
Procedure:

Qualified and interested candidates are hereby requested to apply. The
application should contain the following

Personal CV or P11, indicating all past
experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email
and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional
references;
Brief description of why the individual
considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a
methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment;
Financial Proposal that indicates the
all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of
costs, as per template provided.

Delivery
address:

All
application must be delivered to: UNDP Rwanda, P.O. Box 445, 12 Avenue de
l’Armée, Kigali, Rwanda, and Attn: Head of Procurement Unit, Or by email
address at offers.rw@undp.org no later than Tuesday 25th March
2014.

Note:

Applicants
failing to submit their Methodology of approach and Financial proposals will
not be shortlisted.

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.