Budget and DRM Transparency Specialist

For the past 8 years, the EU-funded UNDP Public Finance Management (PFM) Pro PALOP-TL SAI programmes (2013-2017 and 2018-2022) successfully fostered and consolidated innovative tools and a solid Community of Practices (CoP) gathering more than 20 core economic governance state institutions and a similar number of CSO platforms in the 6 PALOP-TL countries (Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé e Príncipe, and Timor-Leste) to promote transparent and efficient PFM, budget oversight and economic governance. These programmes have been brokering CoPs that use south-south/triangular cooperation and peer-to-peer association between similar state and non-state institutions that have spurred a degree of coordinated policymaking on PFM transparency and accountability matters unmatched in most countries in the region. They have increased the quality and efficiency of policy dialogue, notably in countries with EU Budget Support operations, by providing critical, timely insider information, networks, and connection to oversight institutions.

The 3rd PFM Pro PALOP-TL SAI programme, the PALOP-TL Regional Economic Governance Programme – Boosting Public Finance Management Systems (PFMS) and Budget Oversight (Pro PALOP-TL – Phase III), aims to consolidate and scale up the gains and actions referred above to continue promoting transparent, accountable, gender responsive and open budgetary cycles, as well as to further strengthen parliament, the court of auditors, the executive institutions and citizens’ capacities to monitor how governments execute state budgets. Hence, the focus is now on promoting change and transformation in fiscal/tax transparency and domestic resource mobilisation, gender equal economies (EQUANOMICS), open and accountable PFMS, notably using digital technologies and promoting environmental sensitive initiatives. The programme will promote alignment with UNDP 2022-25 Strategic Plan directions of change, signature solutions and enablers, as well as with the EU Global Gateway axes on green (accelerating green transition for biodiversity) and digital transitions through its crosscutting issues.

Public Finance Management (PFM) is a crucial aspect of a country's development process. It involves the efficient allocation of resources, effective delivery of public services, and sound management of public finances to promote economic growth and reduce poverty. In many national development plans, consolidating PFM is emphasized to ensure transparency, accountability, and financial sustainability. Likewise, Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) refers to the process of generating funds from local resources within a country to finance its development goals and provide public goods and services. DRM encompasses various sources of revenue, such as taxes, tariffs, fees, and other forms of income that a government can use to finance its expenditures. It plays a crucial role in a country's economy and public finance management.
In this context, the programme’s 1st intervention domain focuses in supporting PALOP-TL Ministries of Finance and Tax Authorities to continue fostering transparency not only with regards to public budgets and expenditure, but also on domestic resource, as well as for improving national capacities for both budget transparency and domestic resource mobilization. The Ministries of Finances of most of the PALOP-TL countries have all taken steps to implement a programmatic approach and IPSAS (International Public Sector Accounting Standards) aligned public accounting systems for their state budgets, results-based budgeting/planning, and gender responsive budgets. They are at different stages of implementation, but all need to strengthen their respective capacities in this domain.

The public finance management (PFM) and domestic resource mobilization (DRM) capacities of the PALOP-TL countries are playing and will continue to play a crucial role in their economic growth and development. PFM capacities of the Ministries of Finance and the DRM capacities of tax revenue authorities in these countries provide a meaningful basis for peer-to-peer learning and south-south cooperation due to similarities in their legal frameworks, institutional culture, language, and historical/political bonds.
 

The Budget & DRM Transparency Specialist  will work under the direct supervision of the Pro PALOP-TL SAI (Phase III) Head of Partnerships and Chief Technical Advisor providing expert advice and technical support to PALOP-TL Ministries of Finance, Tax Authorities and other relevant state PFM institutions (Parliaments, Supreme Audit institutions, etc.), and all other PFM stakeholders, as deemed relevant. The Specialist will support and equip the project’s beneficiaries to internalize good practices and international standards for budget transparency and the global tax transparency agenda (focus on automatic exchange of information, country by country reporting, tax evasion and avoidance, and disclosure of tax information), as part of the activities and initiatives foreseen under the programme’s Output 1. These activities include, but are not limited to:

• Capacity development for Ministries of Finance/Plan and Tax Revenue Authorities (through an advanced studies program and a Masters Degree, tailored training, on the job technical assistance, working groups and peer support, south-south/triangular cooperation, etc.). This activity aims to support the relevant actors in producing and making available to the public the standard budget documents and to promote domestic resource mobilisation (via automatic exchange of information, country by country reporting, tax evasion and avoidance, and disclosure of tax information), in line with international standards. 
• Advocacy and sensitisation campaigns. This activity aims to promote advocacy and sensitisation initiatives focusing on tax efficiency for inclusive economic growth (Domestic Resource Mobilisation); budgetary transparency and open government initiatives and programmes. 
• Legal and institutional reforms. This activity aims to promote legal and institutional reforms for enhanced budget transparency, availability of disaggregated data (by sex, age, disability, etc,) and tax efficiency, through tailored technical assistance and south-south/triangular cooperation. 
• Digitalisation through the development and/or improvement of PFM e-governance systems.

He/she will be based in UNDP CO in São Tomé, São Tomé e Príncipe, but will cover all six beneficiary countries. He/she will devote 100% of his/her time to the programme.

UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. This is a recognition of interconnected nature of development risks & crises that the world is facing and that call for assembling of multidisciplinary teams for an integrated & systemic response. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across issues, units, functions, teams and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.
 

1.) Ensure capacity development for Ministries of Finance/Plan and Tax Revenue Authorities.

• Develop training materials for PALOP-TL Ministries of Finance and Tax Authorities (but also to other relevant PFM actors) on issues related with Budget Transparency; Budget Programming/Results-based Budgeting; Domestic Resource Mobilisation (focus on exchange of information, country by country reporting, tax evasion and avoidance, and disclosure of tax information); tax policy, compliance, and enforcement; revenue forecasting, tax audits, and taxpayer services; fiscal transparency and open data digital online platforms; among others.
• Organize and facilitate trainings (in-person and online) for PALOP-TL Ministries of Finance and Tax Authorities (but also to other relevant PFM actors) on issues related with Budget Transparency; Budget Programming/Results-based Budgeting; Domestic Resource Mobilisation (focus on exchange of information, country by country reporting, tax evasion and avoidance, and disclosure of tax information); tax policy, compliance, and enforcement; revenue forecasting, tax audits, and taxpayer services; fiscal transparency and open data digital online platforms; among others.
• Identify opportunities for south-south cooperation with other countries with good practices in Budget Transparency, Programme Budgeting/Results-based Budgeting, Domestic Resource Mobilisation.
• Facilitate and support the building of Communities of Practice of Ministries of Finance and Tax Authorities focusing on Budget Transparency, Programme Budgeting/Results-based Budgeting, and Domestic Resource Mobilisation.
• Provide expert advice and technical support to Pro PALOP-TL SAI (Phase III) / ISCTE-IUL|IPPS academic courses in areas of relevant expertise in benefice of the project beneficiaries, particularly PALOP-TL Ministries of Finance and Tax Authorities.
• Provide expert advice and technical support for Pro PALOP-TL SAI (Phase III) participation and contributions to UNDP Sustainable Finance Hub / Tax for SDGs initiatives in relevant areas of expertise in benefice of the project beneficiaries, particularly PALOP-TL Ministries of Finance and Tax Authorities.
• Monitor global tax policy and administration developments, conclude, and summarise the tax policy trends, and assess key areas of impact on the business, especially for the 2 pillars, tax transparency, public Country-by-Country Reports (CBCR), Cooperative Compliance and other related tax administration trends.

2.)    Provision of Expert advice and technical support for advocacy and sensitisation campaigns in PALOP-TL countries.

• Advise and support PALOP-TL Ministries of Finance and Tax Authorities to design content and strategies to carryout advocacy, sensitisation and outreach campaigns (in-person and online/digital) focusing on tax efficiency for inclusive economic growth (Domestic Resource Mobilisation); budgetary transparency and open government initiatives and programmes.
• Engage with key Pro PALOP-TL SAI (Phase III) stakeholders, particularly PALOP-TL Ministries of Finances and Tax Authorities, but also private sector actors, civil society and international organizations, to build consensus on tax reforms.
• Facilitate dialogue and collaboration among Pro PALOP-TL SAI (Phase III) stakeholders referred above to promote transparent and effective tax systems.
• Identify potential synergies with UNDP Sustainable Financial Hub / Tax for SDGs Initiative and other partners working on Budget and Tax Transparency.
• Contribute to the Pro PALOP-TL SAI (Phase III) / RTP AFRICA Podcast.
• Contribute for communications outputs, including annual reports, newsletters, videos, digital platforms engagement, amongst others, in the areas of expertise.
• Liaise with the Pro PALOP-TL SAI (Phase III) management unit to provide graphic design, communications and visibility guidance, web and social media design services to PALOP-TL Ministries of Finance and Tax Authorities.

3.)    Provision of Expert advice and technical support for legal and institutional reforms.

• Provide expert advice and technical support to PALOP-TL Ministries of Finance and Tax Authorities, as well as other PFM institutions, to draft proposals for legal framework and institutional reform on issues related with Budget Transparency; Budget Programming/Results-based Budgeting; Domestic Resource Mobilisation (focus on exchange of information, country by country reporting, tax evasion and avoidance, and disclosure of tax information); tax policy, compliance, and enforcement; revenue forecasting, tax audits, and taxpayer services; fiscal transparency and open data digital online platforms; among others.
• Identify opportunities for south-south cooperation with other countries/CSOs with successful legal reforms (good practices) in the domains referred above, amongst others.
• Conduct policy analysis and provide recommendations for improving budgetary and tax legislation and regulatory frameworks.

4.)    Provision of Expert advice and technical support for digitalisation in PFMS Digitalisation through the development and/or improvement of PFM e-governance systems.

• Provide expert advice and technical assistance to PALOP-TL Ministries of Finance and Tax Authorities on best practices and international standards for fiscal and domestic resource mobilisation transparency IMS (digital / informatic management systems).
• Map best practices and identify opportunities for south-south triangular cooperation with countries that have successfully adopted fiscal and domestic resource mobilisation transparency IMS (digital / informatic management systems).

5.)    Draft papers, case studies, policy briefs, and other publications focusing on the scope of his/her work in the PALOP-TL.

• Draft one working paper and/or policy brief quarterly on matters related to Budget Transparency; Budget Programming/Results-based Budgeting; Domestic Resource Mobilisation (focus on exchange of information, country by country reporting, tax evasion and avoidance, and disclosure of tax information); tax policy, compliance, and enforcement; revenue forecasting, tax audits, and taxpayer services; fiscal transparency and open data digital online platforms; among others.
• Contribute for the project publications, handbooks and progress reports, as well as for the project’s contributions to other partners’ publications, international articles/papers and corporate UNDP Policy briefs/papers in the relevant field of expertise.
• Prepare an annual narrative report focused on the activities carried out under output 1 of the Pro PALOP-TL SAI (Phase III) with a focus not only on the activities carried out in all PALOP-TL countries, but also on the overall impact of the project’s interventions.
• Collaborate on evidence collection and lessons-learned from PALOP-TL countries’ experiences, including promoting best practice sharing and peer learning through case-studies.
• Provide expert advice and technical support to Pro PALOP-TL SAI (Phase III) / ISCTE-IUL|IPPS academic courses in areas of relevant expertise.
• Collaborate on knowledge management between various Pro PALOP-TL SAI (Phase III) stakeholders.
• Provide expert advice and technical support for Pro PALOP-TL SAI (Phase III) participation and contributions to UNDP Sustainable Finance Hub / Tax for SDGs initiatives in relevant areas of expertise.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: the incumbent will not have supervisory/managerial responsibilities.
 

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies: 

• Digital & Innovation: Data analysis: Ability to extract, analyse and visualize data (including  Real-Time Data) to form meaningful insights and aid effective decision making.
• Digital ecosystems: Knowledge of how they work, understanding of the opportunities and challenges for governments and 
  society.
• Business Direction & Strategy: Systems thinking: Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.
• Business Management: Portfolio Management: Ability to select, prioritise and control the organizations programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity; ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimising return on investment.
• Business Development: Knowledge Generation: Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for content, or responsive to a stated need.
• Knowledge Facilitation: Ability to animate individuals and communities of contributors to participate and share, particularly externally.
• Programme and Policy: SDG Finance: Public Sector Finance (Tax and domestic resource mobilization, public financial management and public expenditure).