Objective 1 Lead

Project Description

Deloitte Consulting is implementing a five-year project whose purpose is to provide technical assistance and strengthen Public Financial Management (PFM) functions, performance, and accountability of targeted agencies at the federal, provincial, and local levels of government, and to provide targeted assistance to the Government of Nepal (GON) aimed at strengthening national PFM institutions and systems to sustainably advance PFM. Deloitte is seeking qualified candidates to fill the role of Objective 2 Lead to be based in Kathmandu, Nepal. This is a five-year program; however, the position is currently for one year with opportunity of renewal. 

Position Description

The Objective 1 Lead is responsible for strengthening PFM functions, performance, and accountability and the provincial and local levels of governments. S/he will serve as a Senior PFM Expert providing strategic oversight of all Objective 1 activities, and will work alongside the GoN and stakeholders to achieve the project’s intended outcomes. The position reports directly to the Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) and s/he will be responsible for achieving the following results:

• 45 laws, policies, regulations, or standards of public institutions formally proposed, adopted, or implemented
• 150 local governments have increased their own-resource revenue
• 4,500 people trained on financial management systems
• 240 PFM institutions, governments, and agencies adopted improved financial management systems
• 30 local governments have improved gender-responsive budgeting
• 4 new coordination mechanisms for coordination among different governments
• 500 people trained on financial management systems
• PFM institutions, governments and agencies adopting improved financial management systems
• Standardizing training modules in the PFM disciplines for 3 levels of staff across 3 tiers of government
• Establish Interagency working group between key PFM stakeholders (Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA), Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), Ministry of Finance (MOF), Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Secretariat, Public Procurement Monitoring Office (PPMO), Office of Auditory General (OAG), and two provinces)

This is a full-time position (40 hours per week).

Position Responsibilities

Strengthen Budget Planning, Preparation, and Expenditure Management

• Develop training curricula on accounting and financial reporting along with planning, budgeting, execution, internal control and audits, and procurement/contract management
• Build on existing training curricula for provincial government (PGs) and local government (LGs) and develop modules for senior managers as well as modules directed to the ward level
• Work to develop the capacity of the Provincial Center for Good Governance (PCGGs) to deliver and disseminate the trainings across multiple PGs and LGs
• Work with the PG and LG budgeting offices to develop norms, facilitate more realistic expenditure estimation and budgeting, and integrate gender-responsive budgeting
• Develop sustainable, Nepali-led mechanisms to train planning and budget officers, accountants, technical staff, on how to roll out and apply guidelines to improve utilization of budgetary resources and quality of capital expenditure
• Develop short-term and long-term investment plans, as well as support PGs and LGs to incorporate better medium-term perspectives in planning and budgeting
• Incorporate gender in medium-term planning and budgeting through the use of appropriate prioritization criteria and the routine measurement of targeted results
• Assist Provincial Ministry of Economic Affairs/Line Ministries as well as elected representatives at the local level, to institute mechanisms for citizen engagement
• Train PG and LG budget officers on how to use criteria-based approaches to select projects, based on the National Project Bank guidelines of National Planning Commission (NPC)
• Work alongside the National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission (NNRFC) to address issues around estimating revenue potential and expenditure need of the SNGs and costing methodologies
• Build on prior United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-PFMSP efforts with the NNRFC to rollout a structure methodology for equitable costing of services that treats similar PGs or LGs equally

Support Gender-Responsive Budgeting Policies and Guidelines

• Review existing policies, guidelines and opportunities to identify existing GRB requirements and current shortcomings in PG and LG targets
• Identify appropriate standards, develop improvement opportunities to move beyond budget classification, build the evidence base for gender responsiveness, integrate leading regional and international practices, and provide recommendations for advancing gender responsiveness at the PG and LG levels
• Develop a multi-year approach that promotes effective gender-responsive budgeting mechanisms that incorporate women/gender issues as key decision criteria in determining resource allocation
• Build on USAID-PFMSP’s prior work with the federal MOF to establish standard GRB metrics across all levels of GON

Strengthen Revenue Generation Capacity

• Support target LGs to implement Revenue Enhancement Action Plans (REAPs) that pilot new revenue sources and new revelue collection processes
• Support improved collection accounting and revenue forecasting
• Use Collaboration, Learning, and Adaptation (CLA) to disseminate results and lessons learned from these REAP pilots to other LGs to replicate success
• Support PGs to conduct analyses of taxes and fees that hold the highest prospects for improvement as well as explore and pursue other sustainable non-tax/fee sources of revenue in collaboration with other tiers of government and NNRFC revenue sources
• Support LGs to map their natural resource assets and build capacity for managing the use of these assets for revenue generations
• Develop and support the implementation of frameworks for inclusive consultation in the raising of revenue from natural resources
• Support intergovernmental cooperation where natural resource assets cross multiple jurisdictions
• Strengthen mechanisms for recording and accounting divisible revenue, including supporting LGs to capture revenue in the Sub-National Treasury Regulatory Application (SuTRA) system through real time integration of SuTR with PG systems, and strengthen PG and LG capacity to process divisible funds, including creating simplified methods for applying appropriate formulas

Strengthen Procurement and Contract Management Systems

• Resolve current frustrations in deploying the Federal Procurement Act at the provincial and local government levels
• Collaborate with the PPMO to develop a simplified set of PG and LG procedures and processes meaning from the federal Procurement Act
• Provide support in preparing master and annual procurement plans, identifying and streamlining cumbersome procurement procedures, and implementing competitive bidding processes

Strengthen Public Sector Accounting, Audit, and Evaluation Systems

• Strengthen the accounting, audit, and evaluation systems of PGs and LGs in order to address the inadequate internal control mechanisms including: poor reporting frameworks for fiscal oversight and accountability, weak internal auditing systems, and low audit compliance
• Help draft internal control and audit manuals that operationalize stronger internal control and audit systems
• Conduct a review of all software currently used by LGs and PGs

Enhance Intergovernmental Coordination

• Support Inter-Provincial Councils in the two provinces on matters related to PFM and the Provincial PFM Coordination Committee to more clearly delineate each level of government’s role across common sectors
• Improve communication protocols among federal, provincial, and local governments
• Support PGs and LGs in joint investment planning by strengthening the Inter-Governmental Fiscal Council
• Explore setting up a Local Government PFM Coordination Forum
• Support LGs to develop inter-municipal/LG arrangements to increase service delivery efficiency

Others

• Lead the annual work planning process for the Objective, in coordination with the COP, DCOP, and technical specialists supporting the Objective
• Contributing to the cross-cutting activities in the relevant technical areas, including inputs for all communications related to Objective 1, drafting inputs for USAID contractual reporting, and selecting the indicators and setting the targets for the MEL plan that will measure progress under the Objective
• Work directly with the other Objective Lead to develop and implement strategies that enable cross-functional support to achieve program objectives
• Cultivate and manage relationships with GoN, NGOs, and other relevant stakeholders

Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressively responsible work experience in fields related to public financial management
• Master’s degree in international development, business, finance, economics, or related field of study
• Demonstrated experience engaging with government leaders and strengthening national laws, policies, procedures, and standards
• Proven experience delivering trainings and institutionalizing capacity building programs
• Strong writing and oral presentation skills and ability to speak, read, and write English and Nepali fluently