CONSULTANCY FOR THE PUBLIC ENVIRONMENTAL EXPENDITURE REVIEW
INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANCY FOR THE PUBLIC ENVIRONMENTAL EXPENDITURE REVIEW
Location : Kigali, RWANDA
Application Deadline : 06-Aug-12
Additional Category Environment and Energy
Type of Contract : Individual Contract
Post Level : International Consultant
Languages Required :English French
Starting Date :(date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 03-Sep-2012
Duration of Initial Contract : 8 weeks
Expected Duration of Assignment : 60 days
Background
The current Poverty and Environment Initiative project is an extension of the successful Government of Rwanda - UNDP/UNEP Poverty and Environment Initiative Rwanda Project that has been implemented since December 2005.
The project aims to enhance the contribution of sound environmental management to poverty reduction, sustainable economic growth and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The project has recently commenced its third phase with a focus on longer term capacity development to more fully integrate environmental sustainability in development planning and investment at national, sector and decentralized levels in the context of EDPRS implementation and monitoring. Proposed investments would focus on deepening the gains from the previous phase. The current terms of reference seek to address one key area among the four outputs of the project focus and support for the 2012 – 2013 periods:
Support to the development of sustainable investment frameworks for successful environment and climate change mainstreaming. The broad specific approach will involve conducting a Public Environmental Expenditure Review (PEER). This will permit identification of budget allocation and expenditure to the facilitate tracking of the implementation of the cross sector strategy, green growth and climate resilience as well as environmental sustainability and the rational utilization of natural resources in support of sustainable growth and poverty reduction.
Thus, the assignment will undertake the process and specifically develop relevant tools towards improving budgeting in a way that influences sectors towards climate resilience, environmental sustainability and inclusive growth. The overall approach will entail conducting a comprehensive PEER which will primarily rely on sector engagement using sector specialists to analyse sector strategies for integration of environmental sustainability and climate resilient objectives, their costed environment and climate change priorities and/or budgets and their results frameworks in informing PEER. The PEER, therefore will be conducted to help evaluate the appropriateness in the use of funds in the environment sector and climate change sector. Trends and issues to be analysed will follow the major standard PER themes of; public allocation and expenditure trends, public expenditure composition, efficiency of public spending, poverty targeting of expenditure and public expenditure management
This will then benefit any future revisions of sector plans, the preparation of the sector MTEF/budgets and the accounting and auditing functions within MINECOFIN, MINIRENA, RNRA and REMA.
The analysis and recommendations are intended to demonstrate how GoR and donor resources are currently used, the functioning of the SWAp and the level of support to the sector in attracting funding and guiding resources allocation and expenditure and to recommend how to improve their usage. The exercise is not an audit, but a tool to enable MINIRENA, REMA and RNRA to improve prioritisation, efficiency and effectiveness of all public resources in the environment and climate change sector.
The review should be extensive and cover the period 2008-2012 i.e. EDPRS 1 period. A key aspect of the PEER is to carry out effective sector engagement that facilitates identification of sector priorities that integrate environmental sustainability in order to allow analysis of allocations, expenditures, efficiency of budget allocations, as well as the role played by stakeholders in the budget execution.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Public Environmental Expenditure Review:
The PEER should cover public expenditure for the environment, climate change and natural resources sector on an annual basis for the period 2008-2012. For this period, the environment sector encompassed all spending by MINELA/MINIFOM when the environment and natural resources was restructured into two Ministries and subsequently MINIRENA, when all the sub-sectors that constitute ENR were once again restructured under the same Ministry; all local administration expenditure at Province and District levels on environment related interventions, environment related spending under other ministries, and all donor projects under the environment sector. To the extent possible, and subject to data availability, the PER should include an economic analysis of the impact of investments in promoting sustainable environment and natural resources management and climate change, on human wellbeing at household level and overall contribution to national revenue.
The following description provides detailed elements of the PEER for the stated period.
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 in expenditure priorities given the environment sector within overall Government of Rwanda budget and comments on intra-sectoral allocations within the environment sector;
Analyse the effectiveness of expenditure allocation, disbursement and execution;
Outline reasons for any differences between approved budgets vs actual disbursements and expenditures;
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;
Provide a clear 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;
Conduct an analysis of the level of involvement of sectors key to environment such as those involved in rural cluster (MINALOC, MINAGRI, MINIRENA, MINICOM, MINECOFIN, MININFRA) in term of how they have been monitoring the budget allocation and execution for environmental activities and to what extent this has impacted on the sector objectives;
What kind of monitoring tools have been used for the environment and natural resources sector and what trends have been observed in their use? Discuss the lesson learnt from countries with similar challenges to inform PER in RWANDA.
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;
Identify and make key recommendations in improving public financial management and draft and action plan relating to the requirements for lines ministries. This should be provided in the form of a matrix of issues and suggested responsibilities.
Competencies
Key Competencies:
Strong interpersonal skills with ability to work under pressure and to establish and maintain effective work relationships with people of different backgrounds;
Ability to take initiative and to work independently, as well as part of a team;
Proven capacity to organize and facilitate workshops and meetings;
Excellent communication skills, reporting with ability to express ideas clearly, concisely and effectively, both orally and in writing;
Computer literacy in full Microsoft Office Package and web browser capability
Ready to travel extensively in rural areas and districts.
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, Public Finance, 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 in in budgetary PER processl;
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).
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.
For more info please visit:http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=31550
Location : Kigali, RWANDA
Application Deadline : 06-Aug-12
Additional Category Environment and Energy
Type of Contract : Individual Contract
Post Level : International Consultant
Languages Required :English French
Starting Date :(date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 03-Sep-2012
Duration of Initial Contract : 8 weeks
Expected Duration of Assignment : 60 days
Background
The current Poverty and Environment Initiative project is an extension of the successful Government of Rwanda - UNDP/UNEP Poverty and Environment Initiative Rwanda Project that has been implemented since December 2005.
The project aims to enhance the contribution of sound environmental management to poverty reduction, sustainable economic growth and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The project has recently commenced its third phase with a focus on longer term capacity development to more fully integrate environmental sustainability in development planning and investment at national, sector and decentralized levels in the context of EDPRS implementation and monitoring. Proposed investments would focus on deepening the gains from the previous phase. The current terms of reference seek to address one key area among the four outputs of the project focus and support for the 2012 – 2013 periods:
Support to the development of sustainable investment frameworks for successful environment and climate change mainstreaming. The broad specific approach will involve conducting a Public Environmental Expenditure Review (PEER). This will permit identification of budget allocation and expenditure to the facilitate tracking of the implementation of the cross sector strategy, green growth and climate resilience as well as environmental sustainability and the rational utilization of natural resources in support of sustainable growth and poverty reduction.
Thus, the assignment will undertake the process and specifically develop relevant tools towards improving budgeting in a way that influences sectors towards climate resilience, environmental sustainability and inclusive growth. The overall approach will entail conducting a comprehensive PEER which will primarily rely on sector engagement using sector specialists to analyse sector strategies for integration of environmental sustainability and climate resilient objectives, their costed environment and climate change priorities and/or budgets and their results frameworks in informing PEER. The PEER, therefore will be conducted to help evaluate the appropriateness in the use of funds in the environment sector and climate change sector. Trends and issues to be analysed will follow the major standard PER themes of; public allocation and expenditure trends, public expenditure composition, efficiency of public spending, poverty targeting of expenditure and public expenditure management
This will then benefit any future revisions of sector plans, the preparation of the sector MTEF/budgets and the accounting and auditing functions within MINECOFIN, MINIRENA, RNRA and REMA.
The analysis and recommendations are intended to demonstrate how GoR and donor resources are currently used, the functioning of the SWAp and the level of support to the sector in attracting funding and guiding resources allocation and expenditure and to recommend how to improve their usage. The exercise is not an audit, but a tool to enable MINIRENA, REMA and RNRA to improve prioritisation, efficiency and effectiveness of all public resources in the environment and climate change sector.
The review should be extensive and cover the period 2008-2012 i.e. EDPRS 1 period. A key aspect of the PEER is to carry out effective sector engagement that facilitates identification of sector priorities that integrate environmental sustainability in order to allow analysis of allocations, expenditures, efficiency of budget allocations, as well as the role played by stakeholders in the budget execution.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Public Environmental Expenditure Review:
The PEER should cover public expenditure for the environment, climate change and natural resources sector on an annual basis for the period 2008-2012. For this period, the environment sector encompassed all spending by MINELA/MINIFOM when the environment and natural resources was restructured into two Ministries and subsequently MINIRENA, when all the sub-sectors that constitute ENR were once again restructured under the same Ministry; all local administration expenditure at Province and District levels on environment related interventions, environment related spending under other ministries, and all donor projects under the environment sector. To the extent possible, and subject to data availability, the PER should include an economic analysis of the impact of investments in promoting sustainable environment and natural resources management and climate change, on human wellbeing at household level and overall contribution to national revenue.
The following description provides detailed elements of the PEER for the stated period.
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 in expenditure priorities given the environment sector within overall Government of Rwanda budget and comments on intra-sectoral allocations within the environment sector;
Analyse the effectiveness of expenditure allocation, disbursement and execution;
Outline reasons for any differences between approved budgets vs actual disbursements and expenditures;
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;
Provide a clear 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;
Conduct an analysis of the level of involvement of sectors key to environment such as those involved in rural cluster (MINALOC, MINAGRI, MINIRENA, MINICOM, MINECOFIN, MININFRA) in term of how they have been monitoring the budget allocation and execution for environmental activities and to what extent this has impacted on the sector objectives;
What kind of monitoring tools have been used for the environment and natural resources sector and what trends have been observed in their use? Discuss the lesson learnt from countries with similar challenges to inform PER in RWANDA.
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;
Identify and make key recommendations in improving public financial management and draft and action plan relating to the requirements for lines ministries. This should be provided in the form of a matrix of issues and suggested responsibilities.
Competencies
Key Competencies:
Strong interpersonal skills with ability to work under pressure and to establish and maintain effective work relationships with people of different backgrounds;
Ability to take initiative and to work independently, as well as part of a team;
Proven capacity to organize and facilitate workshops and meetings;
Excellent communication skills, reporting with ability to express ideas clearly, concisely and effectively, both orally and in writing;
Computer literacy in full Microsoft Office Package and web browser capability
Ready to travel extensively in rural areas and districts.
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, Public Finance, 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 in in budgetary PER processl;
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).
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.
For more info please visit:http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=31550
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