UNDP Jobs - 49248- Consultancy Roster on Budget Processes, Economic A

Consultancy Roster on Budget Processes, Economic Assessments and Poverty/Gender Analysis for the Poverty-Environment Initiative

Location :

Home Based (with possible travel to designated PEI Africa countries)

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

23-Sep-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

To be determined

Languages Required :

English French Portuguese

Expected Duration of Assignment :

To be determined

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. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Background

The Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is a global programme that supports country-led efforts to mainstream poverty-environment (P-E) objectives into national development and sub-national development planning, from policymaking to budgeting, implementation and monitoring. In Africa PEI provides support to nine countries: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi,Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Tanzania. (www.unpei.org).
Since 2005 PEI Africa support has resulted in the integration of P-E objectives and targets in 15 national policies and subnational development plans in 9 countries and in 22 sectoral policies and plans in 8 countries. Consequently 7 countries report on Environment and Natural Resource (ENR) linked socio-economic indices. Further since 2005 6 countries report an increase in public resource allocation to P-E mainstreaming activities and processes.The current phase of PEI 2014-2017 will focus on meeting the implementation challenge of P-E
mainstreaming. Increased use of a broader range of economic outputs will be necessary to meet this implementation challenge particularly in order to increase budget and other investment allocations to implement P-E objectives. In addition, increased support to improve the inclusion of poverty including gender elements of P-E mainstreaming in Environment Natural Resource and Climate Change (ENR-CC) policy, plans and budgets will be a crucial aspect of the next phase.

Objectives and Scope of the Roster

The objective of this roster is to have a pool of experts that are available to provide technical services in the field of ENR-CC on poverty-environment and climate change mainstreaming. More specifically for assessing poverty and gender impacts of ENR-CC issues, assessing the economic costs of ENR unsustainability and the economic benefits of investing more in pro-poor ENR sustainability including cost-benefit analysis and social return on investments at national levels that includes disaggregated poverty and gender data. Further, technical support for increasing budget allocations to pro-poor sustainable ENR is required, including support for Public Expenditure Reviews (PER) and
the preparation of budget guidelines on how to better include ENR-CC issues in budget processes. The roster will be valid for three (3) years (2014-2017). PEI Africa issues around 25 consultancies per year across its nine countries. PEI Africa will draw on the experts from the roster to carry out these consultancies. The detailed TORs for each consultancy will be developed separately as and when the
need arises and experts will be contacted to express interest in undertaking the assignment. Depending on the assignments the consultants registered in the roster may be required to work in teams.

Duties and Responsibilities

Areas of Expertise / Expected Deliverables

In order to support countries engaged in integrating pro-poor environmental sustainability in national development policy, planning and budget processes, the PEI Africa is looking for consultants with expertise and experience in at least one of the following areas:

Economic Assessments & Cost Benefit Analysis;
Public Finance Management and Budget Processes;
Poverty and Gender.

A range of deliverables will be expected from country level assignments including and not limited to:

Technical reports and analysis;
Briefing notes on methodologies, findings & recommendations;
Mentoring and support to national consultants and PEI teams.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Developing country budget processes, preferably with Ministries of Finance;
Poverty assessments, including gender elements, and incorporation of poverty reduction in programmes and projects;
Good understanding of international best practices in the mainstreaming of cross- cutting issues, such as poverty, environment and gender, into national development processes including budgets;
Sound understanding of the poverty-environment nexus in the Africa context, and in particular in a cross-sectoral and integrated approach;
Strong pro-active leadership skills, including strong interpersonal skills with ability to multi- task and maintain effective work relationships in a multi- cultural environment;
Excellent communication skills with ability to express ideas clearly, concisely and effectively, orally and in writing;
Ability to work in a complex institutional environment;
Excellent analytical, organizational and negotiation skills;
Ability to demonstrate tact and diplomacy.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced University Degree in either, Economics with focus on development, natural resources and/or agriculture environment,Social sciences related to poverty reduction and gender, Public Administration and Public Financial management, other related fields of study.

Experience:

At least seven years of work experience in fields related to ENR and climate change policy within at least in Economics, Planning and budget processes, Poverty, Gender;
Experience with multi-dimensional poverty indicators preferable;
Experience with capacity building in developing countries;
Experience of working with UN systems and/or other development partners;
Extensive experience providing strategic and technical advice to Government institutions and senior staff in relation to integrating pro-poor environmental sustainability into national development policy, planning, budgeting and monitoring processes.

Language:

Fluency in English and/or French and/or Portuguese.