UNCDF Jobs - 85959- Re-advertisement: National Consultancy for Investm

Re-advertisement: National Consultancy for Investment and Financial Management Specialist to Support Implementation of Local Acceleration Program (LAP)

Advertised on behalf of

UNCDF

Location :

GHANA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

12-Jul-19 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, in support of households, localities and small enterprises that are underserved, where development needs are greatest and where resources are scarcest. UNCDF develops and tests out these financial models to mobilize and recycle domestic resources to meet local needs and which raise investor confidence in these local economies so that they can become centres of growth. UNCDF also works with local governments, promoting financial and fiscal accountability to its citizens through local development funds, performance-based grant systems, structured project finance, and by strengthening local revenue streams. It additionally, supports accountable planning, budgeting, and decision-making at the local level, recognizing the importance of having decisions about resources being made locally, and those resources being spent or invested locally.

Cities Alliance is the global partnership supporting cities to deliver sustainable development. As global populations and urban economies expand, managing cities and providing opportunities for all citizens is essential to national prosperity, international progress, and stability. Cities Alliance works with cities to promote long-term programmatic approaches that support national and local governments to develop appropriate policy frameworks, strengthen local skills and capacity, undertake strategic city planning, and facilitate investment.? Cities Alliance is unique and diverse global membership of over 30 full and Associate members, comprising of National Governments, Multilateral Institutions, Associations of Local Governments, International Non-Governmental Organizations and Private Sector and Foundations Universities and Knowledge Networks.

UNCDF is engaging with Cities Alliance on a joint program called Local Acceleration through Partnerships (LAP[1]). This LAP partnership is targeting two cities in Ghana namely- Cape Coast and Swedru.

The Local Acceleration through Partnerships (LAP) programme builds on the first phase of the Joint Work Programme (JWP) on Equitable Economic Growth in Cities implemented in 2016-2018. The Joint Work Programme (JWP) supported by Cities Alliance responded to the equitable economic growth challenge in cities and focused on supporting equitable access to public goods and services by all citizens and formal and informal businesses in urban areas through the production of global knowledge products, facilitation of policy dialogues, and the support of city-level diagnostics and policy recommendations. The LAP complements the JWP by focusing on financing public goods and services that contribute to equitable economic growth. It was developed by Cities Alliance as a joint venture with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). LAP is a 12 months’ technical assistance programme to be implemented in Cape Coast and Swedru Municipalities of Ghana. The results, tools will be applied to the other secondary cities as well.

LAP is expected to: a) identify major drivers of revenues and expenditures at the city level including borrowing capacities with the objective of improved understanding of challenges and potential areas of opportunities in improving leverage, and b) set up a facilitated dialogue with domestic and international private sector representatives at the city level on investment requirements and opportunities. The results of this engagement at the city level will inform a national validation and dialogue forum. All the engagements at the city and national level will inform a global knowledge product resulting from LAP, which provides a field-tested guideline for investments in secondary cities in Africa to achieve equitable economic growth.

LAP Goal: Improved access to public goods and services for better growth and productivity in secondary cities through the provision of alternative financing mechanisms. The program will; (i) identify major drivers of revenues and expenditures at the city level including borrowing capacities with the objective of improved understanding of challenges and potential areas of opportunities in improving leverage (Debt Strategy and Auditors Report) and (ii) set up a facilitated dialogue with domestic and international private sector representatives at the city level on investment requirements and opportunities.

Program Objectives:

To enable secondary Cities in Ghana (Cape Coat and Swedru) to plan and mobilize for their investment and borrowing needs to create critical public services that foster equitable economic growth domestically;
To stimulate that local and national dialogues around financing critical public services via public and private resources.
To identify specific infrastructures susceptible to be funded by funded by private ressources

To act as a learning opportunity for JWP members (including UNCDF itself) to hone and adjust their programmatic intervention in support of inclusive and equitable economic growth in the target countries.

[1] The program is called LEAP (Local Economic Acceleration Program) in Uganda

THIS IS A RE-ADVERTISEMENT. ONLY NATIONALS OF GHANA AND THOSE WITH LOCAL EXPERIENCE IN GHANA ARE INVITED TO APPLY. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS HAVE CHANGED. THOSE WITH THE RELEVANT EXPERIENCE ARE INVITED TO RE-APPLY.

Duties and Responsibilities

UNCDF is, therefore, seeking for services of an experienced consultant to undertake the delivery of the LAP program:

Objectives of the Consultancy:

Support UNCDF and partners implement the Local Economic Acceleration Program (LAP) in Ghana.

Key Activities and Tasks:

Implementation of the Local Economic Acceleration Partnerships (LAPs) in Cape Coast and Swedru

The Key tasks here include:

Scoping mission to Cape Coast and Swedru;
Organise LAP launch events for Cape Coast and Swedru and other National stakeholders;
Development of a Financial Review method including a diagnostic tool and a financial model to analyse the city’s financial resources, expenditure trends, operating results, and liquidity position; Production of balance sheets for the last available year and 5 years ago
Organise field missions and undertake participatory financial review for the secondary while transferring skills to stakeholders;
Drafting of the report on the city financial capacity to invest into public services that includes gender analysis and data;
Organize a Validation and Action Planning Workshop for stakeholders in Cape Coast and Swedru.

Supporting a National high-level policy dialogue on alternative financing for local governments and investments in local governments:

Organise and lead the national level LAP scoping mission to ensure LAP endorsement and the format for the National high-policy dialogue. This mission should among others focus on Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development ; Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Ministry of Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, It should also engage private sector partners, civil society organizations, development partners such as the World Bank, DFID, USAID, AFD, SECO, KfW, GIZ, etc as well as relevant UN agencies (UN-Habitat, UNDP, UNICEF, FAO, etc);
Development of a diagnostic tool on national level enablers for local investments focusing on the existing system of intergovernmental transfers to local governments; own source revenue situation; fiscal space and tax administration flexibility; legal and political risks associated with the national revenue-sharing system; mandated capital and operating expenditures and the potential for financing such expenditures including through user charges, fees and other types of revenues. The diagnostic tool should cater for perspectives of inclusion related to Gender Equality and/or Women’s Empowerment;
Drafting of the report on ‘Investing into Secondary Cities in Ghana - Opportunities and Challenges’;
Organization of National Forum and presentation of the results to validate the report on “Investing into Secondary Cities in Ghana” and a framework document to recommend follow-up actions and, as relevant, monitoring measures to improve dialogue between the Campaign Cities CA and interested private sector parties, e.g. national chamber of commerce.

These activities have been detailed under scope and deliverables section of the TORs.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates commitment to the UN’s mission, vision and values;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability; and
Ability to maintain effective rapport with different kinds of people.

Functional Competencies:

Demonstrated adequate technical experience and know-how to undertake the necessary trainings, coordination and policy development;
Ability to lead capacity building and planning teams coordinate and work in multifaceted and cross-cutting environments;

Profound understanding of Sub national investment, project financing and the capital markets in Africa.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in Finance, Investment, Economics, Public Administration, Business Administration, Local Development, or a related Development field. A first-level university degree in combination with ten additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree

Experience:

5+ years of professional experience in local economic development, decentralisation and related development field;
Experience working in Ghana;
Experience working with UNCDF/UN agencies in local development, local investment, decentralisation, municipal finance, policy or program support. Previous experience working with UN agencies as a consultant, volunteer, or intern is highly desirable;
Extensive experience in development of local government policies, municipal financial models, managing authoring, coordinating, editing and publishing print publications;
Knowledge of the UNCDF approach to Local Development Finance and Municipal Finance;
Knowledge of a gender field related to equitable economic growth such as Gender Economics;
Experience in project management at the sub-national and national level is preferred.

Language requirements:

Fluency in written and spoken English.

Scope of work and methodology:

UNCDF intends to engage a local consultant to conduct this assignment at National Level and for the Municipalities of Cape Coast and Swedru. The products will not only inform national policies but will contribute to global knowledge products that will be shared with other countries. The consultant will work in close collaboration with the relevant Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) and the 2 local governments above in bid to transfer skills for ease of replication of methodology to other secondary cities in Ghana. The Gender experts at UNCDF, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations will support peer review of the products and tools for gender responsiveness. The scope of this work will be customized and will involve direct engagement with municipal officials and records for a detailed diagnostic for each municipality with respect to its capacity for sound fiduciary management and creditworthiness. This should involve hands on technical assessment with view to transfer skills.

Work arrangements:

Institutional Arrangement:

The Consultant will work under the guidance of the UNCDF Technical Specialist based in Ghana and the Regional Technical Advisor based in Senegal and in close coordination with Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Ministry of Works and Housing, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation. Regular meetings with the UNCDF Regional Office and Cities Alliance and members of the JWP Sounding Board will be undertaken to monitor progress and address any issues or concerns. The UNCDF Regional office is the first line of approval and the primary screening and quality control authority for each deliverable. The consultant is expected to work with other stakeholders as detailed in the tasks and activities above. The consultant will be directly responsible for each deliverable as detailed above. The project will not be able to provide any facilities, support personnel, or support services.

Duration of the Work:

Deliverables are to be provided over a 06-month period, for a maximum of 160 days in line with agreed work plan. Effective from day of contract signing.

Duty Station:

Ghana, with field travel as required. The consultant is required where necessary give to the Country Technical Specialist and to the Regional Technical Advisor biweekly updates.

Price proposal and schedule of payments:

The pricing option for this proposal must be expressed in the form of a daily fee. The daily fee must be “all inclusive” and an IC Time Sheet must be submitted by the consultant, duly approved by the supervisor, which shall serve as the basis of the payment of the fee. The Fees shall be paid in regular instalments upon successful completion and certification of tasks and deliverables as indicated in this Terms of Reference Payment will be based on the consultant submitting detailed reports or other deliverables against an agreed work plan.

Travel: Travel may be required and will be compensated according to UN polices.

Provision of Monitoring, Progress Controls & Payments:

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Regional Technical Advisor;
Payment will be made on periodical basis in accordance with number of days worked and upon satisfactorily achieved deliverables. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the direct supervisor;

Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

Submission of Application:

The candidate is required to submit an electronic application directly uploaded on the UNDP jobs website with all the requirements as listed here below.

Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability;
Personal CV 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
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 (Annex II of the Letter of Confirmation of Interest). If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNCDF under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNCDF.

Interested applicants should submit applications through uploading of all their required documentation in one single pdf document on this website only.