Duties and Responsibilities

• Overview of allocations and trends in public expenditure from all sources (domestic revenue and external funds)Overview of other environment sources and expenditure trends where data available – private sector, NGO, community, households
• Trends on prioritization of the environment sector within overall Government of Rwanda budget and comments on intra-sectoral allocations within the environment sector.  Clarify definitions of sector and sub-sectors used in analysis
• Analyse the effectiveness of expenditure allocation, disbursement and execution.
• Outline reasons for any differences between approved budgets vs actual disbursements and expenditures linking implications to progress in achieving policy objectives.
• Analyse input mix (including recurrent v capital, salary v non-salary, balance between management overheads and service delivery expenditure).
• Evaluate performance of Rwanda in relation to regional and international benchmarks.  Cross country comparison should be made wherever possible throughout the report.  Identify lessons from international best practice.
• Evaluate marginal social benefits vs marginal social costs on environment interventions in Rwanda where possible.
• Commentary and analysis on trends towards de-centralisation of funds.
• Analyse and comment on equity of allocations at local government level.  Evaluate current allocation formulas for de-centralised expenditures and provide suggestions on how this could be improved using available data.
• Comment on the progressiveness of government spending by level of environment.
• Evaluate efficiency of fund allocation with regard to the semi autonomous government agencies such as REMA and RNRA – have the establishment had a value added to the environment sector in terms of financing and execution.
• Support Capacity Building for MINECOFIN and for planning staff in key sectors to integrate environmentally sustainable natural resource use and climate change into national and key sector plans, budgets and monitoring and evaluation using PEER as an entry point.
• Provide guidance on the actual drafting process for the section on environment and natural resources as well as climate change mainstreaming for the EDRS II document drawing on lessons from sector engagement and PEER.
• Organise and hold training on Public Environmental Expenditure Review (PEER) for the government staff focusing on key sectors under PEI (MINALOC, MINAGRI, MINIRENA, MINICOM, MINECOFIN, MININFRA

Forward-Looking Analysis and recommendations

• Highlight areas for efficiency savings.  Compare current and projected unit costs to other developing/SSA countries.  Identify possible areas for cost savings and improvement in efficiency with reference to best practice surveyed in other developing countries
• Identify implications of Government decentralisation plans for environment sector. Provide recommendations on pathway for future decentralisation of funds.

METHODOLOGY AND REPORTING FRAMEWORK

The appropriate methodology to be used will be suggested by the consultant in a proposal, but should, at the minimum, provide for adequate participation of key stakeholders in ministries and relevant public sector agencies, private sector especially service providers, and civil society representatives and at least four representative Districts for the five Provinces. It should ensure adequate consultation with different GoR Ministries/Agencies (at least: MINIRENA, MINAGRI, MINECOFIN, MINALOC) and decentralised levels (Provincial administration and district local authorities), donors and other development partners and end-users.  It should also include a significant element of quantitative analysis, evidence based findings and an emphasis on making clear recommendations based on thorough, objective analysis that have substantively relied on sector specific specialists.

The suggested approach described above will broadly use the environment and natural resources sector working group and the sub-sectors of ENR as well as other sector working groups within the EDPRS context as the entry point for sector engagement and will involve participatory rapid appraisal of the planning and budget execution processes.  A comprehensive training will be carried out to ensure capacity building for the target institutions.

The specific PEER training and capacity building should, at the minimum, include basic definitions and explanations of the terms used, statistical calculations, and assumptions used to derive the figures in the PEER report. The report will include details of relevant statistical figures, presented in formats that can be easily updated for future use/ reviews, preferably in a spreadsheet (MS Excel) or Database package (MS, This process should be closely followed up by relevant personnel in relevant Ministries including MINECOFIN and MINIRENA and REMA.  

A clear definition of the environment and climate change sector is to be used in the analysis.  It must include ALL relevant budget lines in and outside of MINIRENA and REMA, including district budgets, other relevant sector ministries and agencies who are involved in the preparation, execution, monitoring of or reporting on public expenditures related to environment and natural resources as well as climate change. Thus, public financial management and accountability institutions such as the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) and agencies such as the Institute of Statistics and the external finance unit in MINECOFIN as well as Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) will be consulted for purposes of tracking environment and climate change expenditure.

The PEER should be undertaken with strong collaboration between the GoR and the consultant(s), and efforts should be made to ensure ownership of the conclusions and recommendations by the GoR.  It is to be emphasised that capacity building for MINECOFIN, MINIRENA and REMA staff is a key element of the consultancy process and a contractual obligation.

The final reports should include the following:

Executive Summary
A part from a comprehensive consultancy report, the International Consultant is requested to produce a clear and well written three to five page summary bringing out the main findings and recommendations from the report highlighting the level of sector engagement and involvement of sector specialists. This will guide the presentation for stakeholders workshop to validate the findings of the reports.

Conclusion and Recommendations
Prioritised list of recommendations and responsibilities with particular reference to how the sectors have been prepared to conduct ongoing PEER or capture environmental sustainability and climate change issues in sector specific PERs.
Recommended action plan

Annexes
Definitions, assumptions and data sources
Public Financial Management Action Plan

Data Sources and references

Reference Materials available:
EICV I, II and III
EDPRS ! (2008 – 2012)
Joint budget sector review reports
PEER report and Training and Reference Manual (2009)

• An inception report after 10 days
• Public Expenditure Report after at the end of the assignment
• 3-5 page summary report including major findings and recommendations
• Report for sector engagement with guidance tools for monitoring P – E indicators

REMUNERATION AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

• The successful consultant will start his/her assignment as soon as possible following the completion of the recruitment process.   
• Submissions will be accepted from Individual International Consultants only.
• The period of the assignment is 2 months working days spread over a 5 month period (June – October) and payment is based on deliverables:
• Inception report submission 20%
• Submission of information from Sectors and Districts 20%
• Sector engagement reporting and Draft PEER 40%
• Major findings and recommendations (3 to 5 pages) and Final PEER draft 20

SELECTION PROCESS

Submissions will be evaluated in consideration of the Evaluation Criteria as   stated below

Evaluation Criteria (Total of 100 points):

• Master’s degree in a relevant field such as Development Economics, Environment  Management, Environmental policy, Natural Resources Management, etc.; [20 points];
• Minimum five years’ work experience in related fields such as Poverty Reduction Strategies, policies, Monitoring and Evaluation and strategic planning, including considerable experience dealing with policy makers at senior level [20 points];
• Experience of at least three years of working with Ministries of planning and/or environment is highly desirable, especially knowledge of leading policy frameworks and new directions [30 points];
• Experience of three years of conducting Public expenditure Review in developing countries [20 points];
• Fluency in English or French and a working knowledge of one of the other language [10 points].

The minimum required score is 70%. The candidate with the highest score shall be invited for contract negotiations.

Competencies

• Professionalism
• Communication
• Teamwork
• Planning &Organization
• Accountability

• 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;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• MSc in Economics,with at least 5 years of practical  experience with public expenditure review; experience with ENR sector public expenditure review would be a distinct  advantage and/or Masters degree in a relevant field such as Development Economics, Environment Management, Environmental policy, Natural Resources Management, etc.;

Experience

• Minimum five years work experience in related fields such as Poverty Reduction Strategies, policies, Monitoring and Evaluation and strategic planning including considerable experience dealing with policy makers at senior level;
• Proven understanding of ongoing processes such as EDPRS and DDPs;
• Experience in poverty focused data analysis and management of environment and climate change issues;
• Experience in institutional coordination and harmonisation;
  

Language Requirements

• Fluency in English and/or French (preferably both).

Submission requirements

The application shall include:

• A motivation letter expressing suitability for the assignment;
• Curriculum Vitae of the consultant with the required supporting documents (Copies of Academic qualifications);
• List of previous work, contractual responsibility and successful completion of at least 5 similar services;
• Methodology that demonstrates a clear understanding of the Terms of Reference, relevance to the assignment needs and a work schedule that responds to REMA’s proposed assignment timeframe
• A detailed work plan and a financial proposal that will facilitate contract negotiations.

Address for submission:

All applications to be clearly marked “Consultancy to conduct a Public Environmental Expenditure Review (PEER)” and Addressed to:

• The Director General of REMA
  Inyota House, near UK Embassy
  Boulevard de l’Umuganda
  P.O.Box 7436 Kacyiru-Kigali, 

• Late applications shall not be considered
• The deadline for the submission of applications shall be on 25/03/2013 at 14h00;- Terms of Reference (ToRs) of the above mentioned consultancy can be collected at REMA’s reception or on REMA’s website (www.rema.gov.rw);
• Your documents shall be valid for a period of 90 days from the date of Submission;
• Online applications shall not be accepted
• Enquiries regarding this consultancy may be addressed in writing to: 
etushabe@rema.gov.rw and fredsabirwa@yahoo.com


FC 30000