Title: Analysis and Advocacy for Child-Centred Budgeting
Countries: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland
Duration: 40 working days, spread over a period of 5 calendar months
Timeline: 1 April to 31 August 2016
1. Background and Justification
Economic growth in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland (BNLSS) has been on average more than 4% in the last 5 years, except for South Africa and Swaziland where an economic slowdown has resulted in growth rates of less than 2% annually (IMF, 2014). Despite their differences, all BNLSS countries tend to devote relatively large shares of their budgets to sectors relevant to children (e.g. health, education, social assistance), though much lower shares are allocated to finance programs and services seeking to prevent and respond to child abuse and violence (which UNICEF programmatically refers to as “child protection”). Questions also arise, across BNLSS countries as well as in specific sectors in each country, in terms of differences in budget execution(differences between allocations and expenditures across social sectors as well as between sub-national entities),decentralization (the extent to which various spheres of government have a major say in budget decisions), equityand fairness (how fair and equitable budget allocations and expenditures are in each country), allocative and technical efficiency of public spending in child-relevant sectors, etc. Levels of budget transparency and awarenessamong key decision-makers tend to vary across BNLSS countries, as does UNICEF’s capacity and role to influence the budgeting process in a manner that will deliver better results to children.
UNICEF defines Public Finance for Children (PF4C) as “A core objective of UNICEF’s PF4C work relates to its capacity to mobilize and strengthen in-country capacities for understanding the State Budget and helping shape budget decisions in ways that can help leverage resources and optimize results for children, especially the most disadvantaged”.
Country experience in the Southern African region (e.g. Mozambique) shows that the timely production and dissemination of Budget Briefs can not only help inform decisions about the allocation of funds for programs and services relevant to children, but also position UNICEF Offices as a key advocate and broker for more child-centred budgeting outcomes. This requires a good understanding of a country’s budgeting process, the way a country classifies and reports on revenues and expenditures, the critical times in the budgeting cycle where greater oppprtunities exists for leveraging, and the most relevant national stakeholders that UNICEF needs to work with, over the short as well as medium term if local capacity needs beefing up, to help shape budget decisions in favour of children.
Unlike Mozambique, this is a relatively new area of engagement for UNICEF in BNLSS countries. While concrete deliverables are expected to be achieved immediately, it is equally important to lay the ground for a sustained, systematic and effective engagement in child-centred budget analysis and advocacy over the medium to long term in the BNLSS countries. This is the main purpose of the consultancy, namely, to assist UNICEF offices and national partners in BNLSS countries in:
· Defining a common underlying framework and methodology for conducting child-centred budget analysis in key sectors in each BNLSS country
· Guiding the process of scoping and identifying the most strategic entry points for leveraging policy influence and advocacy in each country’s budgeting process
· Transferring know-how and capacity for ongoing budget analysis and advocacy to local stakeholders
· Coordinating and quality assuring successive rounds of Budget Briefs in selected sectors in each country, as a basis for ensuring the quality of the analysis and informing on the most effective ways of using the Budget Briefs as a means of influencing budget allocations in favour of disadvantaged children in Southern African countries.
The international consultant will work closely with national consultants recruited in each BNLSS country to liaise with national stakeholders (treasury officials, line ministries), collect background public finance data, undertake preliminary analysis of each country’s budget based on a common approach and methodology informed by the international consultant, and distil key findings and messages that will be used to advocate for more child-centred budget outcomes across the BNLSS countries. The role of the international consultant will be to help:
· Develop and validate an approach and methodology for child-centred budgeting that meets the needs of BNLSS countries
· Guide and provide feedback and quality assurance to the local consultant(s) and UNICEF Offices in the respective countries
· Review the preliminary analysis conducted in each country, assist in distilling key messages for inclusion in the Budget Briefs and provide quality assurance to the final version of the Briefs
· Take part in inception and dissemination workshops aimed at raising awareness and transferring know-how on how to make budgets more child-centered in these five Southern African countries.
Apart from working closely with the national consultant(s) recruited in each BNLSS country, the international consultant will also be coordinating closely with the respective UNICEF office to ensure that this exercise will provide the cornerstone for future regular engagement in child-centered budget analysis and advocacy across the BNLSS area.
2. Purpose and Objectives
The ultimate purpose of this consultancy is to guide and quality assure the process of developing child-centred and equity-focused Budget Briefs in each of the BNLSS countries. The Budget Briefs are short and reader-friendly advocacy tools, based on sound and rigorous analysis of the State Budget in sectors relevant to children. They aim at expanding the debate around social sector budgets and help shape a more child-centred, transparent, participatory and equitable pattern of public spending in the countries concerned. Budget briefs intend to cover key social areas such as education, health and nutrition, water and sanitation, social protection and social welfare (child protection). The analysis underpinning the budget briefs will also help inform the development of fiscal space profiles in each BNLSS country, as a basis for exploring ways of leveraging more resources and/or better spending in favour of children.
The main audience of the Budget Briefs will be government officials, members of the Parliament, development partners and civil society representatives engaged in child rights advocacy. The intent is to help spark broad public interest and debate around the State Budget and how resources are distributed among as well as within social sectors, in light of a country’s poverty profile and national and international-treaty obligations with respect to their children.
Specifically, the Budget Briefs have the following key objectives:
a) To inform Government, Parliament, development actors and general public about the key patterns and trends of budget allocations and expenditures in the social sectors, thereby serving as a tool for increased understanding and advocacy on child-centred budgeting.
b) To inform UNICEF advocacy and programmatic efforts seeking to leverage resources for children.
Apart from guiding and assisting the development of the first round of Budget Briefs in collaboration with UNICEF offices and locally-recruited consultants, the international consultant will provide guidance for the identification of the most strategic entry points for leveraging policy influence and advocacy in the budgeting process of each BNLSS country. S/he will also play a key role in transferring know-how and capacity for ongoing budget analysis and advocacy to local stakeholders in these countries.
3. Methodology and Approach
The budget briefs are the result of an in-depth review of key public finance documents and budget books, based on an understanding of the ways in which countries classify and report on revenues and expenditures in the sectors that are most relevant to children. Each brief will cover one sector, teasing out allocations / expenditures that are child-specific from those that are not, as a gauge of the extent to which children are prioritized in the budget planning and execution process. Key public finance and sector strategy documents will be reviewed, based on a conceptual framework that will be agreed and validated during the project inception phase.
It is planned that the international consultant will be working closely with national consultants in each country to transfer know-how and ensure ownership with the view to gradually embed the capacity to lead the budget analysis and advocacy process locally. Collaboration with local institutions/organisations will also be sought by UNICEF to develop and implement a solid communication and dissemination plan to ensure that relevant target groups are reached and engaged effectively in each country.
4. Activities and Tasks
The international consultant will work closely with the national consultant to:
- Conduct an inception and subsequent workshops across the five BNLSS countries to meet with stakeholders and discuss methodological aspects and guidelines
- Produce an inception and methodology report to guide UNICEF and stakeholders
- Conduct coaching and training of the national teams, based on the agreed framework and methodology for analyzing the budgets from a child lens
- Guide and provide feedback and quality assurance to the national consultant(s) throughout the process of data collection, analysis and distillation of findings and messages
- Review and input into the drafts containing the preliminary and final analysis of the sector budgets in each country
- Take part in the launch and support the dissemination of the Budget Briefs to key national audiences.
5. Deliverables and Management
This Consultancy will have the following outputs:
Tasks
Timeframe
Deliverables
Conduct an inception workshop for the national consultant(s), key government counterparts and UNICEF on child focused bugdet analysis including preparation of training materials, with the aim of building capacity and developing an agreed underlying framework and methodology for the budget briefs.
3 days at the start of the assignment
Inception workshop held: Coaching and training delivered and country-specific methodologies agreed.
Provide regular support to the national consultants during all phases of the project including review of the work-in-progress, feedback through teleconference and other support necessary.
3 days for each country (15 days)
At least 1 to 2 teleconferences and other related communication organized with the national consultants to provide feedback on the work-in-progress by the national consultant and respond to any technical inquiries the national consultant may have
Provide necessary support and guidance to lead (draft, review and edit) the analysis and production of draft budget briefs in collaboration with the national consultant.
12 days
Written feedback to successive drafts of the briefs, and review, editing and clearance of the final versions of each budget brief.
Conduct a validation workshop with the national consultants, key government staff and UNICEF, with the aim of reviewing and agreeing on key findings and messages for inclusion in the budget briefs.
2.5 days
Inception workshop held: Agreement on key findings and messages in each country
Guide, orient and take part in a dissemination workshop to be conducted in each country.
1.5 days in each country (7.5 days overall)
Final presentation and dissemination materials completed
A detailed work plan and timeline will be requested at the beginning of the assignment and will be revised at the inception phase. Products will be delivered in English and will be later translated into local language by UNICEF. All deliverables should be accompanied by the excel file with all used datasets (including raw data, graphs, maps etc.). The consultant is expected to work in close collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and, where appropriate, the local representatives of IMF and the World Bank. The number and specific sectors to be covered in the first round of Budget Briefs will be determined for each country during the inception phase, based on consultations with UNICEF offices and local stakeholders.
6. Budget
The level of payment will be determined by the profile of the candidates, in accordance with the UNICEF rules and procedures. Payments will be made upon submission and acceptance of the specified deliverables and submission of invoices. Payments will be made in tranches, with the percentage of consultancy fee indicated in the table below. Payment of travel and accommodation allowances will be made in line with the respective UNICEF rules and regulations.
· 1st payment: 20% upon delivery of the approved methodology after inception mission
· 2nd payment: 40% upon delivery of the first draft budget briefs
· 3rd payment: 40% after the satisfactory completion of the assignment.
7. Qualifications
The international consultant will have:
· An advanced University Degree in Economics, Public Policy, Governance or other relevant areas;
· At least 12 years of experience in Public Financial Management and related fields;
· A solid knowledge of PFM instruments, and proven experience on similar analyses of the State Budget with focus on child-centred analysis of the social sectors;
· Prior work experience in BNLSS countries is an advantage;
· Strong analytical and writing skills, and the ability to present the results in a simple language, making use of interesting visual aid (maps, graphs and other visual tools);
· Consolidated knowledge and foundation on crosscutting themes such as equity and sectoral decentralization;
· Full computer literacy, including an advanced knowledge of excel;
· High proficiency in English;
· Ability to complete the tasks in a tight schedule and with limited supervision.
8. Conditions
· This consultancy is open to International professionals.
· The selected consultant will be governed by and subject to UNICEF’s General Terms and Conditions for individual contracts
· The consultant must quote an all-inclusive fee/rate.
· Flight costs will be reimbursed at discounted economy class rate.
HOW TO APPLY:
Interested and suitable candidates should ensure that they forward their applications (a cover letter, CV, and signed P11 form which can be downloaded at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/P11.doc), quoting the consultancy reference LES/SSA/SP/2016-01 on or before 17/02/2016 to: Email address:lesothohr@unicef.org
Applications submitted without an all-inclusive fee/ rate (including lump sum travel, consultancy fee, subsistence costs etc.) will not be considered. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. "
