POST: International Consultant

Position title: International Consultant on conducting an assessment
of Tajikistan’s Public Financial Management (PFM) System
Project: UNCU
Duty Station: Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Duration: Short term assignment
Type of the contract: Special Service Agreement (output-based)
Deadline for applications: 21 January 2010
Instruction for submission of applications: Please fill out an Application form for SC/SSA positions posted on www.undp.tj by following the job vacancies link from this webpage. Please note that no other type of application form will be considered for such positions, other than the one found at the link specified above.
Background
1.In September 2005 the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) formally released a harmonized Framework for Cash Transfers to Implementing Partners (hereinafter called as “the Framework”) which is attached as Annex 2 for easy reference. This framework applies to the UNDG’s member Agencies (herein called “Agencies”), including specialized Agencies that choose to adopt it. It calls for an upfront assessment of the programme country’s public financial management system (macro assessment) and similar assessments of Implementing Partners’ financial management capacity (micro assessment).
2.The purposes of the assessments are:

2.1Capacity development objective: The macro assessment will support the Agencies and the Government to identify strengths and weaknesses in the country’s PFM and areas for capacity building by the Government and other partners.
2.2Financial management objective: The macro assessment (in combination with the micro assessments of Implementing Partners) will assist in the establishment of appropriate cash transfer modalities, procedures, and assurance activities to be applied by the Agencies. It will establish the capacity of the Supreme Audit Institution to undertake audits of cash transfers provided to “low risk” Implementing Partners.

3.Within this context, the Agencies in Tajikistan (i.e. UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, WFP, UNIFEM, UNAIDS, UNODC, WHO, FAO and UNHCR) plan to undertake a macro assessment of Tajikistan’s financial management system, in order to enable them to take appropriate decisions on Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfer (HACT) modalities, procedures and assurance activities for their programmes/projects during the next programmes cycles ranging from 2010 to 2015. The cash transfer modalities are planned to be effective between January and June 2010. Any cash transfer modalities already practiced may continue the same or change, based on the results of the micro assessments.
Scope
4.The macro assessment will be a desk review of any of the assessments recently completed, based entirely on PFM-related work conducted by development partners. Examples of such reports include:

Assessments by the World Bank
Country Financial Accountability Assessment. CFAAs vary in format and presentation.
Public Expenditure Review. It analyzes a country’s fiscal position, expenditure policies, and public expenditure management systems.
Country Procurement Assessment Review. It reviews public procurement institutions and practices.
Institutional and Governance Review. It reviews the quality of accountability, policy-making, and service delivery institutions.
Capacity Assessments of Heavily Indebted Poor Country PFM. (Done jointly with IMF). Assessments cover some of the same issues as a CFAA.

Assessments by Other Institutions
Fiscal Transparency Review. IMF. It uses the code of good practices on fiscal transparency adopted by the IMF in 1998.
Diagnostic Study of Accounting and Auditing. Asian Development Bank.
Ex-ante audits of PFM systems undertaken by the EC.
Assessments by CIDA, DFID, EU, ADB and other Agencies.

5.In order to ensure that the review is of maximum usefulness and relevance, the above assessment reports should be as recent as possible, but not more than two years old.

6.The review will cover areas of the national budget development and execution process; the functioning of the public sector accounting and internal control mechanisms; audit and oversight; and financial recording systems and staff qualifications.

7.Should further clarification or verification be required to substantiate the review, responsible officials of relevant government agencies will be contacted. The Ministry of Finance, Financial Review Control Department, Treasury and the National Bank of Tajikistan will be among those government authorities for this clarification/verification exercise, but will not be restricted to these authorities..

Methodology
8.The consulting entity (hereinafter called as “the consultant”) will begin with the collection of existing PFM review reports and will also consider the Agencies’ own experience and knowledge of the PFM. The consultant will review the existing documentation and Agencies’ experience to address the issues raised in the checklist in this annex.

9.The consultant will work in close collaboration with the HACT technical working group (consisting of staff from Agencies) established by UN Resident Coordinator (UNRC), to gather data from the government authorities or for arranging of meetings with government officials, and any other assistance the consultant may need to accomplish the tasks assigned.

10.The consultant will give special attention to PFM aspects and issues that relate to the management and utilization of official development assistance in general and technical assistance in particular.

11.The consultant will prepare a draft report on the results of the macro assessment, based on the HACT Framework. The UNRC’s office will share the draft report with all HACT working group members on cash transfer modality and relevant development partners. The UNRC’s office will thereafter organize a meeting for the consultant to introduce the draft report to representatives of the Government and UN Agencies and validate its results with the latter.

12.The consultant will thereafter finalize the macro assessment report and the UNRC’s office with share it with all working group members on cash transfer modality and relevant development partners.

Deliverable
13.The consultant report will be about 4 pages (excluding annexes) and conclude with a completed table of the risk areas (see Annex 1). The report should include the following main elements:

Objective of the review and statement of process and participating institutions
Summary of findings—to address each of the issues identified in checklist
Any key risks the PFM poses to the functioning of the cash transfer framework
Assessment of Supreme Audit Institution’s capacity to undertake required audits
Suggested opportunities for capacity building and harmonization of financial management procedures (if any)
Bibliography of information sources used in the assessment
Annex - the completed checklist

Duration of assignment

14.The macro assessment is estimated to take 2-3 weeks.

Qualifications of Consultant
15.The assessment will be conducted by an international consultant, familiar with the region and the working languages of the government of Tajikistan. The consultant is expected to have the following major qualifications and competencies:

Independent of the Government of Tajikistan and should have prior experience advising on the PFM. Preference will be given to international consultants who have prior experience in Tajikistan or any of the Central Asian countries.
Experience and expertise in reviewing public financial management systems such as consultants who have worked on preparing a CFAA or other similar reports
Familiar with international organizations, particularly UN Agencies, their financial management policies/practices and assistance projects
Broad understanding governance and accountability issues
Ability to identify and collect reports on the PFM
Knowledge of Persian and/or Russian is required
Excellent written and oral communication skills in English
Guided by the expertise of the independent and suitably qualified consultant, the Agencies and government will conduct an open and transparent review of the findings of the macro assessment.

Since UNDP Tajikistan currently has a majority of male employees, we strongly encourage qualified female applicants for this position. UNDP seeks to ensure that male and female employees are given equal career opportunities and that staff members are able to keep an appropriate balance between work and private life.

Apply online to this position at: http://www.undp.tj/va/?turn_on=account&action=apply&ID=668