Kenya: Consultant for Public Finance Management for Nutrition
Country: Kenya
Closing date: 30 Aug 2013
Background and Justification
The second Lancet Series in Nutrition launched in early June 2013 showed that the number of stunted children has been drastically reduced by around one-third among under-fives. However, stunting still affect 165 million children under five years of age globally.
Stunting causes irreversible physical and mental damage for children. It negatively affects school attendance and performance. This, in turn, can reduce later adult income-generation by as much as 22 per cent. Undernutrition reduces economic advancement by at least 8 per cent due to losses in productivity, poorer cognition and reduced schooling, according to The Lancet. The Copenhagen Consensus has consistently confirmed that taking action on under-nutrition is the single most important cost-effective means of advancing human wellbeing and should be the top priority for policy-makers and philanthropists. US$1 dollar invested in reducing chronic under-nutrition can result in a return of up to US$30 through improved health and education benefits.
The new Lancet Series re-emphasizes the centrality of nutrition in sustainable development; brings additional evidence and calculation of costs for ensuring nutrition-specific interventions for young children and women before and during pregnancy; sets forth the nutrition-sensitive strategies around agriculture, social safety nets, early childhood development and schooling; and frames the enabling environment for commitment, accountability and responsiveness around reducing undernutrition.
The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement galvanizes the coherence of global working groups for nutrition to support countries that have joined the SUN Movement and are committed to applying the SUN Framework and Road Map. There are currently 41 countries (28 from Africa) who have joined the SUN Movement. These countries are formulating platforms for multisectoral coordination and frameworks for country solutions to addressing undernutrition. A number of countries have developed or are finalizing their national costed plans. Some countries are in the process of decentralizing the implementation and need support for planning and budgeting at sub-national level. Others need support for costing their national plan. Most of all need support to develop a financial tracking system in order to monitor resources and guide resource mobilization.
In order to support countries’ needs in terms of costing and investment methodologies for their national nutrition plans, UNICEF in coordination with the SUN Secretariat are organizing a Workshop on Costing and Financial Tracking of Nutrition Investment that will bring together the global experts on costing and financial tracking to discuss best ways to support countries.
In this line, UNICEF’s Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) and Western and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO) are jointly looking for a qualified candidate and/or institution to bring to the Workshop a review of nutrition-relevant budgeting and investment tracking practices and methodologies anchored to country experiences to date.
Scope of Work
The consultant or consultancy is expected to achieve the following outcomes:
- A review on the state of art in tracking and reporting on nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive government and donor expenditures in 28 Sub-Saharan African countries participating in the SUN movement with a special attention on countries with costed national plans. The review should highlight adequacy and consistency in tracking of and reporting on how resources relevant for nutrition are budgeted, released and implemented, and compare the financial management of existing nutrition-relevant spending with financial tracking proposed for national or subnational plans identifying additional resource requirements.
- A discussion on the key options and tools for improved financial management and tracking for nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions and programmes with a special attention on the link between resources allocation, technical efficiency in budget performance and equitable outcomes. The paper should also highlight the advantages and limitations of different solutions and models.
- A summary report discussing how forward looking solutions could build on existing tools and methods for costing and tracking of health nutrition expenditures as well as other nutrition specific investments, and how reporting on these interventions could be joined with tracking and reporting of nutrition sensitive programmes (e.g. public health, water and sanitation, food security, social protection and education-related interventions).
- Recommendations on how strategic and operational plans for scaling up nutrition-relevant programmes should improve financial tracking and reporting in different contexts.
The tasks for the individual consultant include the following:
- Assist in identifying partners, institutions, organizations and technical experts who will be able to substantially contribute to the Workshop
- Assist in selecting countries with relevant experiences in financial tracking and assist those countries to present their experiences
- Prepare an overall review of different financial tracking systems and how they are best used by countries. This should include both nutrition-specific interventions and nutrition-sensitive development. The review will be used as a background document
- Lead the discussions during the Workshop to achieve the objectives and make recommendations to support countries
- Organize a core group of experts as a resource for country support on budgeting and financial tracking
- Contribute to drafting and finalizing (after consultation with stakeholders) the Workshop Report that will highlight the recommendations from the meeting.
Deliverables Duration
(Estimated # of days) Timeline
Review of country experiences and methodologies of investment tracking and public finance management 2 months 30 October
A report summarizing the different tools and methodologies available, a matrix of their comparative advantages and recommendations on best tools for specific purposes. 30 OctoberFinal Costing Workshop Report 0.5 month 30 November
Duration: 2.5 months.
Desired competencies, technical background and experience
a) Education
• Advanced university degree in economics, health economics, public finance or management • The candidate should have experience on collecting information from multiple sources, selecting the most reliable data sources, summarizing and preparing briefs for communication purposes
b) Work experience
• At least 10 years of professional experience in the areas of Public Financial Management, Nutrition Economics, Health Economics, Development Economics, Poverty Reduction and Aid Efficiency
• Good understanding of the development issues relating to nutrition security including application of REACH and SUN Movement
• Experience in working with IFIs, the UN/UNICEF, INGOs and other development agencies
• Good track record of working in nutrition, food security an advantage
c) Language
• Fluency in English, including writing and editing skills
• Fluency in Arabic, French or Portuguese would be an asset
d) Competencies
• Hands-on experience in public financial management and aid efficiency issues
• Knowledge of latest issues in nutrition and food security and relevant trends
• Communication skills with strong analytical and presentation skills
• Leadership, versatility, judgment, maturity, ability to work with a team, political and cultural sensitivity
• Good analytical, inter personal communication and advocacy skills.
• Computer and writing skills, including internet navigation and various office applications.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a multi-cultural environment and establish harmonious and effective working relationships, both within and outside the organization
• Flexibility to travel at short notice
e) Personal characteristics
• Proactive with the ability to focus on solutions.
• Good analytical skills.
• Good interpersonal skills.
Administrative issues
The incumbent will work under the guidance of the ESARO and WCARO Regional Nutrition Advisers and the ESARO Social Policy Adviser.
The UNICEF supervisor will provide technical support to the contracted consultant at key stages of the assignment which may include: appraisal of the technical work; review of the proposed detailed processes; review, fine tuning and finalization of the briefs, documents and communication; review and evaluate regular reports; and, overall guidance and accountability for the work.
The consultant is expected to meet with the UNICEF supervisor at reasonable intervals during this contract.
Conditions
Travel will be required during the Costing Workshop in Kenya on 12-14 November, 2013. All travel will be by the most economical fare and reimbursement is strictly as per UNICEF policy. UN DSA rates for subsistence and accommodation are applicable.
No office space or equipment will be provided from ESARO and the consultant is expected to provide his/her own equipment.
As per UNICEF DFAM policy, payment is made against approved deliverables. No advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional circumstances against bank guarantee, subject to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total contract value in cases where advance purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary.
The candidate selected will be governed by and subject to UNICEF’s General Terms and Conditions for individual contracts.
How to apply:
UNICEF Kenya Country Office
Email address: kenyahrvacancies@unicef.org
Please indicate Reference No. “ESARO/SSA/NUTR/2013/017” in the email subject.Interested candidates should also complete the Personal History (P11) form, which can be downloaded from the UNICEF Kenya website (http://www.unicef.org/kenya).
“QUALIFIED FEMALE CANDIDATES ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY”
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