Public financial management expert

Background

Public expenditure reviews (PERs), involve the analysis of allocation and management of public expenditures and may cover all government expenditure or focus on a few priority sectors such as agriculture, water, infrastructure, etc. Information gathered from PERs is used to provide key guidance to strategic planning and budget preparation and to identify ways in which to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of resource allocations. Increasingly, PER processes are applied to expenditure management systems and institutions, since institutional framework, organizational capacity, and everyday expenditure management practice of government determines the allocation and management of public expenditures.

Climate change has become a pressing priority in Bangladesh and has been incorporated into the draft national Perspective Plan and the draft Sixth Five Year Plan. The government has prepared a Bangladesh Climate Strategy and Action Plan.

This CPEIR will be a key building block for Bangladesh to develop a climate fiscal framework – which would assess the demand and supply for climate funds and the sources of funds available from domestic and external sources. The concept of a climate fiscal framework was discussed with the key government agencies (National Planning Commission, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Environment) and development partners (ADB, DFID, SIDA, UNDP and the World Bank) during a mission by the multi-donor Capacity Development for Development Effectiveness (CDDE) Facility in March 2011, and it was seen to be a key priority.

By reviewing current climate expenditures from both domestic and external sources of finance and identifying ways in which climate related expenditures can be tracked through time, the CPEIR will be a key building block for developing a comprehensive climate fiscal framework. Through time as the CPEIR methodology and approach is improved, a CPEIR will serve as a tool to enable Government of Bangladesh (GoB) to improve prioritization, efficiency and effectiveness of all public resources in support of climate adaptation and mitigation.

Some of the work is already underway with a review by the Planning Commission of the Annual Development Plan to assess climate risks for a selection of projects from water resources, agriculture, transport and rural development (this work is being carried out with technical support from BIDS from May – August). The CPEIR would use this information and scale it up to present a more indicative picture for both the development and non-development budget expenditures – and identify methodologies to institutionalize such an approach as the government has for gender budgeting.

The CPEIR will need to review both the financial management systems as well as the institutional arrangements for allocating and spending climate related expenditures. Given the requirement for a multi-sectoral response to climate change, this first CPEIR in Bangladesh should be seen as an initial contribution to a dialogue across ministries and stakeholders in the longer process of developing a comprehensive fiscal framework. As such as part of the inception to the review a dialogue will be held under the auspices of the Planning Commission involving Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Environment, selected line ministries and key development partners. Following completion of the draft outputs to the assignment another dialogue across these institutions will also be held.

The CPEIR methodology and piloting will be one of the first such exercises done in any country – and will place Bangladesh in a leadership position in the climate finance debate. So far there has been some initial work by the OECD on methodologies for tracking climate expenditure and some very preliminary country work on tracking systems such as in Cambodia. The CPEIR can also draw important lessons from gender responsive budgeting drawing from the ‘Gender Budgeting Report’on ten Ministry/Divisions placed before the Bangladesh Parliament in 2011.

The Bangladesh CPEIR will therefore provide important lesson learning opportunities for other countries and for international processes on climate finance including efforts under the Busan High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness to develop a climate finance quality standard and the design of the Green Climate Fund. The results of the CPEIR exercise can be shared at an international meeting in Bangkok in September 2011 on climate finance and development effectiveness.

The CPEIR will require a qualified team of consultants (national and international) to undertake the activities outline.

Duties and responsibilities

Scope of work:
The national consultant will report directly to the Ministry of Finance with oversight provided by the Planning Commission (General Economics Division) and the Ministry of Environment and Forest providing substantive input.

The CPEIR should cover relevant on an annual basis for a selected period. For this period, climate expenditure will be reviewed including all relevant spending by Ministries, local administrations and donor projects on both climate adaptation (including disaster risk reduction) and climate mitigation. The following broad areas should be explored in the CPEIR:

Methodology for Assessing Climate related expenditure
- Consider conceptually what climate change expenditure actually is, within an international and Bangladesh context, prior to determining whether historical expenditure can be meaningfully identified and measured within the Integrated Budget and Accounting System (IBAS) reporting systems.
- Assess how the existing expenditure framework can provide for an analysis of total climate budget resource availability and the costing of continuing and new activities by spending ministries.
- To what extent, if any, has climate change expenditure been defined within IBAS and MTBF budget/accounts codes
- In the context of the MTBF and IBAS systems and GoB information needs, consider possible budget/accounts codes categorization between, with consideration to;
 - Mitigation and adaptation expenditure
- Capital and revenue
- Any other categorization which can support control
- Clarify what, from a PFM perspective, distinguishes climate change expenditure from any other category of traditional capital or revenue expenditure which are already defined within the GoB Classification Chart system (new area of expenditure, unpredictable, requires new funding instruments and/or modalities, anticipated size?) What are the unique PFM risks, systems and control or financial reporting requirements?

The methodology would be peer reviewed by both in country stakeholders and an international peer review team consisting of interested development agencies (eg UNDP, UNEP, AsDB, OECD and World Bank).

Analysis of Current Expenditure and Trends

Based on methodology identified, estimate allocations and trends in climate related public expenditure from all sources (domestic revenue and external funds);
Based on methodology identified, estimate other climate related sources and expenditure trends where data available (private sector, NGO, …);
Based on methodology identified, estimate trends in priority given to the climate area within overall GoB budget and comments on intra-sectoral allocations. Clarify definitions of sector and sub-sectors used in analysis;
Analyze and comment on allocations at local government level.
Provide a commentary on the progress and trends of government spending on climate;
Develop an analysis on the level of involvement of sectors key to the climate such as those in the rural cluster in terms of how they have been monitoring budget allocation and execution

Forward-Looking Analysis and recommendations

- Identify implications of Government budget allocation including spending by sectors and decentralization plans for climate expenditure
- Identify key recommendations in improving climate related public financial management and draft an action plan relating to the requirements for line ministries. This should be provided in the form of a matrix of issues and suggested responsibilities;
- Monitoring and progress controls, including reporting requirements, formats, frequency, etc.

Methodology and Reporting Framework:

During the Assignment, the appropriate methodology to be used will be suggested by the team of Consultants and will include:

- Adequate participation of key stakeholders in ministries and relevant public sector agencies, private sector especially service providers, and civil society representatives;
- Adequate consultation with different GoB Ministries/Agencies and decentralized levels, donors and other development partners and end-user;
- A significant element of quantitative analysis, evidence based findings and an emphasis on making clear recommendations based on thorough, objective analysis;
- A clear definition of climate related expenditure is to be used in the analysis;
- All relevant budget lines in the various Ministries, including district budgets, other relevant agencies who are involved in the preparation, execution, monitoring of or reporting on public expenditures related to the climate;
- Visit of, public financial management and accountability institutions such as the Ministry of Finance;
- The CPEIR should be undertaken with strong collaboration between the GoB and the consultant(s), and efforts should be made to ensure ownership of the conclusions and recommendations by the GoB. It is to be emphasized that capacity building for local consultants and GoB staff is a key element of the consultancy process and a contractual obligation;

The final reports should include the following:

- Executive summary: A part from a comprehensive consultancy report will constitute the major output of the consultancy, a clear and well written three to five page summary bringing out the main findings and recommendations from the report.
- Conclusion and Recommendations: Prioritized list of recommendations and responsibilities and provide recommended action plan;
- Annexes: shall include definitions, assumptions and data sources and provide Public Financial Management Action Plan;
- Recommendations for CPER Training and further methodological developments

Monitoring and progress controls:

The consultancy will be monitored by three members’ team from aforesaid three ministries along with PECM project and will include:

Adequate participation of key stakeholders in ministries and relevant public sector agencies, private sector especially service providers, and civil society representatives; Adequate consultation with different GoB Ministries/Agencies and decentralized levels, donors and other development partners and end-user; A significant element of quantitative analysis, evidence based findings and an emphasis on making clear recommendations based on thorough, objective analysis;

Competencies:

- Fluency in English and Bangla. Strong interpersonal skills with ability to work under pressure and to establish and maintain effective work relationships with people of different backgrounds;
- Knowledge and experience of PFM at a high level in Bangladesh
- 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 oral and written communication skills, reporting with ability to express ideas clearly, concisely and effectively, both orally and in writing;

Required skills and experience:

I. Academic Qualifications:
Masters degree in a relevant field such as Accountancy, Finance, Economics, Development Economics from a recognized University.

II. Years of experience:
Minimum of ten (10) years work experience in related fields such as Public Financial Management.