CONSULTANCY

PUBLIC SECTOR BUDGET EXECUTION EXPERT

Location: Freetown, with occasional nationwide travel if required

Duration: Six months initially with extension based on performance and needs

Start Date:ASAP

PURPOSE

The purpose of this consultancy is to support relevant government officials to support the setting up of an efficient and effective budget execution and monitoring procedures of Sierra Leone Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST).

BACKGROUND

The policy and regulatory framework of the education sector in Sierra Leone is principally defined by four key documents: the Education Act (2004), the Local Government Act (2004), the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) III: An Agenda for Prosperity (2013-2018), and the Education Sector Plan (2014-2018). A number of more recent documents, particularly the Government White Paper on the Gbamanja Report (2010) and the revised National Education Policy (2010), as well as specific sub-sector policies, also have important implications for the education sector’s priorities and objectives.

Capacity development has been consistently identified in these key documents as one of the most critical factors for the progress of the sector towards effective programme implementation and the achievement of defined targets. In both the PRSP III and the Education Sector Plan in particular, capacity development has been included as a specific strategic priority and goal for the education sector.

In 2010/11 an Education Sector Capacity Development Strategy was developed with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) of Sierra Leone after an extensive research and participatory consultation process at national and district levels, and under the guidance of a Capacity Development Committee convened by the Education Development Partners Group. The Education Sector Capacity Development Strategy covers the short- and medium-term, outlining strategic actions to be undertaken over a period of five years. It was designed to provide a coordinated and coherent response to these concerns, through which the underlying capacity required to deliver on education policy objectives across the sector can be strengthened.

The aim of the Education Sector Capacity Development Strategy is to enhance Government of Sierra Leone and civil society stakeholder capacity to be able to:

  1. Make informed policies for the education sector.
  2. Plan and deliver education services.
  3. Ensure educational quality in ways that can identify and respond to change and drive improvement.

Its overall implementation will support the MEST and local councils to build their capacity to lead and manage improvements in the delivery of educational services through more effective decentralisation of the administration of basic education and more effective and efficient use of education resources.

Areas addressed by the strategy to achieve those aims include:

  1. The management of the substantial changes in organisational structures, working practices and individual approaches that the implementation of this Strategy will both require and facilitate at all levels in MEST and other sector stakeholders.
  2. The context and environment within which the Strategy has been developed and will, in the short-term, be implemented, outlining critical and sometimes unresolved issues that impact upon the education sector.
  3. The capacity issues that affect the whole of the education sector at both national and local levels.

For each of these areas the Strategy summarises critical capacity issues, identifies key strategic objectives and proposes a number of strategic actions that will enable the achievement of those objectives, along with time scales, dependencies, responsible bodies and inputs required.

RATIONALE

One of the strategic objectives identified in the Capacity Development Strategy is that the MEST staff at all levels have the capacity to plan, develop and deliver on educational budgets effectively.

Sierra Leone uses a Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) rolling budgetary process. MTEFs are a process that allows policy makers to weigh expenditure choices in the context of desired impacts, priorities and available resources. They aim to rationalise budget processes, predictability of funds and accountability and maintain the strategic priority in expenditure, for example to be pro-poor.

The MTEF is rolled-out on a three year budgeting framework, which sets sectoral budget planning for three years (current term 2013-2015). However, adherence to these figures is very challenging for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) due to high dependence on unpredictable national revenue collection and donor funding which make annual (or even quarterly) budget forecasting difficult. The Macro Fiscal Section now established within MoFED is taking steps to improve this situation by enhancing the credibility and reliability of revenue flow forecasts.

Budgets are released quarterly, but delays in approval of budget by parliaments and the corresponding delay in the quarterly releases of budgets has often have a knock-on effects on all planned activities and programmes.

In 2010 Ministry of Finance and Economic Development issued a directive to all Ministry Departments stating that underspent quarterly budget allocations will no longer be rolled over into the next quarter, thus putting pressure on the efficient and timely execution of budget plans by Ministry Departments. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development has introduced policy and budget hearings, with participation from Budget Oversight Institutions and civil society representatives, where each Ministry Department is required to present and defend their strategic plans and proposed plan of activities and budget for the year. The Integrated Financial Management Information system (IFMIS) continues to be rolled out across MDAs, including MEST, with ongoing support and capacity building by the Public Financial Management Reform Unit .A Financial Management Information System is also being rolled out across Local Councils to improve accountability, transparency and financial management at this level.

However, education financing is inadequate for all needs; within the overall financial constraints of the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL), the total amounts allocated to the education sector from central government are unlikely to be increased dramatically in the near future.

On the other hand, current allocations to the education sector are under-utilised due to a combination of factors including: unpredictable GoSL revenues, poor financial planning and review of plans as budgets change, ad hoc budget priorities, delays in financial processes due to the lack of qualified and competent personnel, and inadequate information and knowledge at all levels.

Efforts need to be focused on increasing the efficiency of both the financial processes and the use of finances within the education sector to make best use of the available resources.

A core problem is the lack of adequately trained financial personnel at all levels, which hampers the capacity of MEST and local government to deliver on their education financial systems and responsibilities.

There is lack of adequately trained and qualified people available for the post of financial officers’ and bursars’ positions in DEOs and schools.

The role of District Budget Oversight Committees (DBOCs), who report to the Budget Bureau in MoFED, is crucial to improving the accountability and financial monitoring of Local Councils, but DBOCs’ capacities, activities and effectiveness are highly variable across districts.

The relationship between Local Councils and chiefdoms in receiving and managing local revenues, and their willingness to allocate revenue funds to education, is inconsistent across districts.

The capacity for gender budgeting at all levels of government remains limited, and the initiatives identified in the National Gender Strategic Plan (NGSP) 2010-2013 to enhance this are yet to be fully realised, including: training on gender budgeting and accountability for focal points, planners, Local Councils and DBOCs; gender-responsive budgeting committees at national, regional and district levels; and gender allocation budget tracking in all MDAs.

Awareness, understanding and monitoring of financial disbursement and liquidation processes (fee subsidies, grants, Junior Secondary School girl fee subsidies, etc.) among responsible staff at all levels are weak.

By addressing the above issue, it will be possible to obtain more efficient and effective sectorial execution. This needs to be paired with inputs from donors, and their involvement in the budget execution process through constant consultation, to identify the basic conditions and standards required for their support to the sector. This is expected to have an impact on donors’ confidence in channelling their fund through sector budget support.

UNICEF, as part of country programme and workplan agreed with the Ministry of Education Science and Technology seeks a consultant to support the implementation of the Capacity Development Strategy in the following area:

MEST staff at all levels have the capacity to plan, develop and deliver on educational budgets effectively and the education system has the capacity to monitor performance and supervise quality improvement at all levels for more effective learning in the classroom (CDS-SO7 and SO9:). Technical Assistance for the development of budget execution and a monitoring system for the sector

This is only one component of a larger programme that includes additional technical support to indirectly increase effectiveness of the learning that children experience in school through better management and leadership at all levels of the system. The results to be achieved through the relevant interventions, their relationship with the Capacity Development Strategy Objectives (SO) and the technical cooperation contracts are as follows:

  1. MEST is able to plan and manage its own human resources and structures, and systems and roles are in place to address effectively the emerging operational challenges and anomalies of decentralization in the education sector (CDS-SO2and SO6)[1]. Technical Assistance for the establishment of an annual Human Resources planning process for the Ministry of Education for more efficient organizational management in the context of decentralization.
  2. MEST has timely necessary relevant and reliable current education data and evidence to inform its own work and that of other education sector stakeholders for more effective evidence based policy and resource allocations to schools, which has an impact on learning processes in the classroom (CDS-SO5:)[2]. Technical Assistance for the establishment of a decentralized integrated Education Management Information System.
  3. MEST has efficient procurement systems for effective education delivery including the selection, procurement and distribution of textbooks and Teaching Learning Materials (TLM) to ensure that basic education material needs at classroom level are met and risks to transparency and accountability are mitigated (CDS-SO10:) through Technical Assistance for procurement policy and quality assurance system in the education sector.

SCOPE AND FOCUS

The consultancy will stretch over an initial period of 6 monthswith possible extension based on performance. The consultant will work, under UNICEF supervision, with the Ministry of Education and in consultation with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED) and the Local Government Finance Department (LGFD), District Education Offices (DEOs) and Local Councils (LCs) representatives to:

  1. Conduct a detailed review of budget planning, execution and monitoring procedures at all levels in MEST to identify constraints, barriers and opportunities and incorporating a gender audit within this review (with Human Resource Management Office – HRMO - support on methodology), to result in the development of a MEST Gender Action Plan (as specified in the Civil Service Reform Programme II) to strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of gender-related activities such as the Girl Child Education Programme in Junior Secondary School.
  2. Coach relevant MEST actors to establish procedures for timely preparation of the MTEF budget in MEST, based on evidence from educational data with integration of gender-sensitive budgeting approaches into the MTEF preparation procedures
  3. Prepare, in consultation with MEST, guidelines that set out the operational procedures and processes (e.g. which forms to fill in, when, by whom and submitted to whom) that are required by DEOs, Local Councils and schools in order to carry out relevant financial policies and legislature.
  4. Provide on task capacity development support to MEST, such as coaching of individuals.

ACTIVITIES

Specifically, technical assistance will be required to conduct the following activities in close collaboration with MEST, MOFED, LGFD and other relevant stakeholders including the Public Service Commission:

  1. Conduct a specific risk analysis for the successful implementation of this consultancy and device contingency strategy and control measures to mitigate the risks identified (during the inception period).
  2. Develop a workplan for the consultancy which (i) defines roles and sets routines that support Ministry of Education leadership and ownership of the implementation; (ii) explores and provides strategies for the consideration of linkages, interdependencies and prioritisation of consultancy specific activities in relation to any other events occurring as part of the Capacity Development Strategy implementation; (ii) lists indicators that support the measurement of change that is expected to take place as a result of the implementation of the strategy (during the inception period).
  3. Lead the establishment of timely and transparent budget execution procedures by, providing capacity development support and on the job coaching, skills development and, amongst others,
  4. Reviewing the current methodology used by MEST in producing strategic plans within the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), assess it in the context of its appropriateness for the Government of Sierra Leone in relation to its Education Sector Plan and propose improvements to the methodology.
  5. Examining the process of preparation at DEO level and central level within the MTEF framework and in relation to existing educational data.
  6. Assessing the adequacy of expenditure controls at the cash and the commitment level.
  7. Identifying key priorities for strengthening institutional financial management and implementation capacity of MEST within the framework of the Education Sector Plan.
  8. Establishing a MTEF review mechanism, enabling MEST senior policy makers and directors to discuss and build consensus about MEST resource envelope.
  9. Providing high quality inputs to the HR competency framework development process of and professional development plan in terms of budget execution and control.
  10. Other relevant activities as identified at inception.

METHODOLOGY

It is expected that the methodology will include amongst others:

  1. Desk reviews of existing relevant literature and where necessary interview key stakeholders from MEST and other MDAs and Development Partners and Donors.
  2. Attendance in working group and individual meetings.
  3. On-task training, mentoring and coaching.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

By the end of the assignment the following deliverables will have been submitted:

1.Inception Report - outlining proposed workplan for the consultancy, risk analysis and indicators.

2.Review Report including:

  1. Critical analysis of the system to improve budget preparation and execution, highlighting areas of intervention to ensure basic conditions and standards required to grant donor support to the sector that will contribute to increased confidence from donors to channel their funding through budget support.
  2. Analysis of the capacity constraints in MEST.
  3. Professional development support requirements to input in the needs assessment and professional development plan to be developed by MEST.

3.Time-bound work plans for MEST to enable them implement their activities within the budgetary year including a MTEF review mechanism schedule.

4.Monthly Progress Reports including updates on briefings, discussions, reports or documents required during the course of the assignment - to be submitted to the Capacity Development Steering Committee.

ACCOUNTABILITY

The work will be contract managed by UNICEF, the consultant will report to the Chief of Education at UNICEF.

EXPERTISE REQUIRED

Qualifications and experience required:

1.Higher degree in Economics, Public Financial Management, Finance or other related fields.

2.At least ten years’ relevant international experience, including evidence of successful experience in advising and coaching government officials.

3.Knowledge and experience in fiscal policy, budget management and budget execution in developing countries.

4.Strong knowledge and understanding of decentralization and educational reform and the relationship between decentralization and educational reform.

5.Knowledge of monitoring of education systems.

6.Knowledge and experience in gender budgeting.

7.Experience in African countries, particularly in West Africa, is preferable.

CONDITIONS OF WORK

The consultant will report to UNICEF in relation to all contractual issues.Briefing meetings will be arranged as necessary and will be held either within the Ministry of Education.

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[1] The CDS SO code determines which Strategic Objective of the Education Sector Capacity Development Strategy this result is in line with. In this case it is Strategic Objective 2 and 3 (CDS-SO2 and SO3).

[2]This specific element of the CDS will also contribute to the following output: “By August 2016 qualitative and quantitative data is available on learning, schools, teachers and pupils” which is shared with ISIS Programme component 5 and component 6.