UNDP Jobs - 51083- International Consultant for Ministry of Finance -

International Consultant for Ministry of Finance - Budget, Fiscal Planning & Treasury

Location :

UNDP, Asmara, ERITREA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

17-Nov-2014

Application Deadline :

11-Nov-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Four Months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Four Months

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

During 2013, Eritrea witnessed important development changes. The signature of the Strategic Partnership Cooperation Framework 2013 – 2016 (SPCF) and implementation of related action plans. Government facilitation and participation in key international events & observances (e.g. the UN Day) after considerable period of inactivity; the Government delegation to the UN General Assembly actively sought and engaged in high-level side meetings as a sign of a new approach to UN- GOSE relationship. At the invitation of GoSE, the UNDG-DESA High-Level Mission visited Eritrea and held high level meetings, including with the President. Furthermore, the GoSE submitted its second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report, an important commitment to the implementation of the recommendations of the UPR on human rights. These developments are seen as positive indicators for confidence building between the UN and the government and an important and much needed platform for the UN and UNDP in particular to strengthen development cooperation.

On the economy side, real GDP growth was estimated at 7 percent up from 6.3% in 2012; annual inflation increased to 12.5% from 12%, mainly due to high world food prices, a drop in crop output caused by poor rains, and accommodative monetary policy pursued by the country’s monetary authorities. Improvement in economic growth is attributed to an increase in investment in the mining (African Economic Outlook, 2014). Government has called for Public-private Partnerships to seize existing investment opportunities in the economy although this is still at small scale. Foreign currency regime has been relaxed with Proclamation No.173/2013, which allows institutions and individuals to open foreign-currency deposits, although this issue still requires monitoring for improvement.

Ensuring food security is an important goal for Eritrea’s development programmes. However, Government reports indicate that poor harvests were realized in 2013, and yet 80% of the population depends on rain-fed subsistence farming and pastoralism for livelihoods. In this regard, the country’s decision to participate in the second phase of the Drought Resilience and Sustainable Livelihoods Program in 2013 has the potential to improve the livelihoods of the majority of the population, particularly those in rural areas. ( the program is not signed or started and has to be revised. Too early to conclude) With support from UNDP and other partners, Government has also embarked on constructing micro dams, terracing and afforestation to control and contain environmental degradation and effects of climate change and improve agricultural outputs and productivity.

Eritrean Population and Health Survey (EPHS) Report 2010 was validated and disseminated in 2013, another much welcomed development considering the very limited access to up-to-date data. The report indicates significant progress made in attaining MDGs 4, 5 and 6. The country is heading towards certification of polio-free State and pre-elimination stage of malaria. HIV prevalence rate is below 1% (0.93%). Overall, some improvements have been made in the education and health sectors, but challenges remain, especially in achieving the Poverty and Universal Primary Education MDGs.

The above positive trends notwithstanding, the country continues to face challenges as a result of extensive drought, occasional volcano eruption and floods, with the arid areas of Eritrea having the highest incidence of poverty and extreme poverty. Prices of most market commodities, including staple grains, pulses, and animal feed are rising annually, leading to growing incidents of malnutrition especially in children. The continued UN sanctions, the unresolved border conflict with Ethiopia, human trafficking and the mandate of the special rapporteur continue continues to limit government’s ability to respond to building community resilience, economic recovery and development. Further, the resultant marginalization of this country in terms of development assistance represented by a diminished donor base is a huge challenge to most development interventions. In general the country continues to experience, high levels of poverty, youth unemployment, food insufficiency, low levels of education and limited capacity of public institutions and systems. In such a complex and politically sensitive development context, it’s imperative that the UNDP Eritrea CO strategically positions its self to take advantage of the emerging opportunities for programming, while at the same time managing the high expectations without compromising its established partnership with Government as a capable and impartial partner.

The Ministry of Finance of the Government of State of Eritrea is one of the important executive organs of the Government.It is mandated to mobilize, control and administer the country’s financial resources and act as a custodian of Government property. At present the organizational structure of the Ministry consists of the Minister’s office and five functional departments. The five departments are:

Administration and Finance Department (AFD);
Budget and Fiscal Planning Department (BFPD);
Treasury Department (TD);
Inland Revenue Department (IRD);
Customs Department (CD).

The vision of the ministry is to become a driving force for socio economic development in the country.

The project

The Ministry of Finance has undergone various stages of reforms in tandem with emerging requirements to upgrade and strengthen the capacity and the operations of its departments. Despite these, the ministry has many technical gaps that need further support in order to enhance its capacity to effectively and efficiently manage the country’s financial resources.

Hence, this project is designed to support the MoF and achieve the following, among others, key objectives:

Improve the annual recurrent and development budget processing system and expanding to accommodate medium term budget processing;
Strengthen treasury operations system including disbursement, , accounting and reporting of government transactions;
Upgrade and integrate Treasury systems and link it with budget and fiscal planning systems and/or work towards having IFMIS;
Develop new Public/Government property administration system and properly record, track and report public property.

Duties and Responsibilities

This assignment will be field based work in Asmara for a period of 4 months.

This assignment will have the following scope of work:

Review the existing Budget Processing Systems and identify gaps;
Design a framework to upgrade the Budget Processing System;
Develop a framework to accommodate Medium Term Budget Processing System;
Review all the existing Treasury system and identify gaps;
Develop a framework to upgrade and integrate all treasury Systems;
Design a framework to link Budget Processing System with the integrated Treasury Systems and/or work towards having IFMIS;
Propose/recommend a framework to Develop a system to record, track and report public/Government property

Expected outputs:

Reports:

Budget and Fiscal Planning Department Review Report;
Treasury Department Review Report;
Explore the possibility of migrating existing systems to IFMIS Review Report.

Framework:

Upgrading Budget Processing system and accommodating Medium Term Budget;
Upgrading and integrating Treasury systems.

Systems:

Propose/Recommend an action plan for Upgraded Budget Processing System (annual and medium term);
Propose/Recommend an action plan for Upgraded and integrated Treasury Systems;
Propose/Recommend an action plan for Public/Government Property recording, tracking and reporting system;
Propose/Recommend an action plan to develop an Integrated Budget and Treasury systems and/or work towards having IFMIS.

(For detaisl please refer the attached TOR).

Competencies

Core Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Functional Competencies:

Substantial knowledge of the Budget and Fiscal Planning;
Substantial experience in developing budget and fiscal planning documents and strategies;
Substantial experience in generating dialogue and consultation process in areas burdened with legacy of annual recurrent and development budget processing system;
Teaching experience in annual and recurrent and development budget process system;
A collaborative work style;
Excellent communication skills.

Leadership

Serves as a role model that other people want to follow, is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives, does not accept the status quo;
Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

Client Orientation

Ability to establish and maintain productive relations with clients, identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions, keeps clients informed of progress and setbacks in the project, meets timelines for delivery of products or services to clients.

Communication

Capable of writing clearly and concisely and excellent oral communication skills;
Exhibits interest having two way communications, demonstrates openness and sharing information and keeping people informed.

Team work

Work collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals;
Solicits inputs from colleagues and is willing to learn from others;
Places team agenda before personal agenda;
Supports and acts in accordance with final group decision.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced degree and/or professional qualification in economics, accounting or public finance with good background and understanding in systems analysis and development.

Experience:

At least 10 years of professional experience in developing systems for government finance accounting, , budgeting in MoF or equivalent institutions;
Experience in designing chart of accounts, preparing procedures manual, preparing public sector financial statements;
Experience in the development and implementing IT Systems for financial management at central government or major institutional level;
Extensive experience in public sector financial management;
Experience in the design, implementation, management and operation of government accounting, budget and financial management system in a developing country environment;
Experience in the management and operation of modern computerized financial system in a government budgeting and accounting environment.

Language:

Fluency in English.