National Consultant -Analysis of Government Budget and Financing of Social Protection at United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

Job Description

• Explore whether and how government can sustainably increase the sources and levels of financing for SP based on analysis of current government allocations and their stated commitments to SP in the medium-term development frameworks.
• Assess the adequacy of current budget allocation for SP programmes in relation to their coverage, size of the targets population and benchmarks from comparable countries using the relevant analytical tools.
• Assess the administrative efficiency of priority programmes (LEAP, School feeding, NHIS exemptions, Capitation Grant, and Labour Intensive Public Works) using suitable analytical tools.
• Support the dissemination of the analysis to the target audience i.e. Presidential advisor on the SDGs, MoF, MGCSP and Parliamentary select committees on Poverty, Gender & Social Protection target audience using the most suitable channels.
• Tasks To be Completed Â

Under the supervision of the UNICEF Social Protection Specialist, the selected national expert will work closely with the Social Protection team to conduct the following:

• Hold inception meetings with MoF, MGCSP, MDAs implementing SP programmes and UNICEF SP unit and review the methodology for the assignment including the analytical framework, additional data required, and the timelines for execution.
• Use the Fiscal Space Diamond to assess the relative contributions of current funding sources for SP and to identify the pathways for increasing financing for SP to meet government medium term commitments.
• Compute the size of the budget gap for the priority SP programmes based on the current coverage, target population and current benefit levels.
• Analyze government budget allocation and sources of funds to SP broad categories and programmes from 2015 to 2018 based on the SP budget tracking tool and compare to relevant benchmarks in sub-Saharan African(SSA) and lower middle-income countries (LMICs).
• Collect relevant administrative data from priority SP programmes and analyze the trends and composition of administrative efficiencies over the period 2015 to 2018
• Analyze and prepare a final analytical report that incorporates all components of the assignment with clear recommendations for government action.
• Prepare a 2-page Policy Brief and 15-20 slides Power Point presentation based on the combined analysis of the sufficiency and efficiency of SP budgets with graphs, pictures, charts and accompanying speaker notes.
• Methodology
• The Consultant will submit a revised detailed methodology after the inception meetings as part of the inception report. The methodology should include desk review of SP policy, government medium term development plans relating to SP, data from the SP budget tracking tool, operations manuals, and annual reports of the priority SP programmes.
• It will also include the collection of administrative data from key SP programmes, budget allocation for SP programmes missing in the SP budget tracking tool and conducting interviews with representatives from key SP programmes and the relevant MDAs.
• The consultant will be expected to identify suitable indicators for assessing the administrative efficiency of the SP programmes and adopt the analytical framework of the Fiscal Space Diamond to assess the relative contributions of current funding sources for SP and to identify the pathways.
• Supervision and reporting arrangement
• The Consultant will be expected to review all relevant existing materials, interview and gather additional data from identified SP programmes and work with the SP Unit of UNICEF to plan and agree on the methodology and detailed outline of the analytical report.
• The Consultant will be required to submit a revised detailed outline and methodology for the undertaking the assignment after initial discussion meetings with UNICEF.
• The Consultant will be required to report on the progress on each deliverable through e-mail and update meetings. Regular consultations should take place between the national expert and the SP team to review each deliverable before it is submitted.
• Payment and Payment Schedule
• The consultant(s) will be paid upon satisfactory submission of deliverables as listed above.
• Deliverable Percentage Amount(USD)
• Revised detailed outline of the report and methodology of the assignment. 20%
• A draft 10-page report on the relative contribution of the various sources of financing SP, an estimate of the gap and pathways for filling this gap to guide a detailed fiscal space analysis for SP 20%
• A comparative analysis of the administrative efficiency of the priority SP programmes with peers in similar operational context. 20%
• A final 30-40-page analytical report on SP budget allocation and options for increasing financing for the sector suitable graphs, pictures and accompanying annexes
•  20%
• A 15-20-page Power Point presentation with adequate graphs and supporting speaker notes 20%

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Advanced degree in Social Sciences, Economics, or Public-Sector Economics or related fields.
• At least 10 years of relevant professional work experience in undertaking analysis of budgetary allocations, conducting fiscal space analysis and performance assessment of Social protection programmes working with Universities, Research Institutes, Government organizations, NGOs, or other international organizations.
• Excellent knowledge of Public Finance Management/ Public finance for children.
• A minimum of 5 years academic and professional experience with the social protection sector in Ghana.
• A track record of high quality publications or analytical reports on social protection and other poverty reduction interventions.
• ÂProven skills and experience in preparing policy briefs, and other advocacy materials for level government functionaries such as policy makers, academic institutions and CSOs.

Interested candidates should apply on-line to the link provided and indicate their professional fees in Ghana Cedis per day. In addition to the CV/Resume, candidates should attach a two-page note on how he/she intends to effectively accomplish this assignment within 78 working days in the five-month period.

View our competency framework required for the post http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf