Social Protection Consultant (Public Finance for Children)

Establish a partnership with the Ministry of Finance, analyse national budget from the perspective of children, undertake policy discussions, and support a national consultant in implementing the OSS.

Background and Justification

Owing to growing emergencies in the changing world, low income countries are experiencing dramatic down-turn in development financing for children. Given this changed scenario, domestic resource mobilization, increased investment in children and the effective use of the resources have become a central agenda globally to realize children's rights to survival, development, protection and participation. While domestic investment in children and the quality of expenditure has been the key issue, weak public financial management characterized by the limited participation, non-transparency, weak accountability, poor quality (spending on wrong goods, wrong people) and inadequate allocation at national and sub-national levels has been a grave concern in low- and middle-income countries including Lesotho. Research shows that realization of child rights is linked to the quality of public financial management. Gauthier and Ahmed (2012) finds that the quality and size of spending of government budget is a universal prerequisite for reducing child poverty and exclusion. Thus, the Third International Conference on Financing for Development – the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) – recognizing the prominence of the quality public finance management for towards the realization of child outcomes that are strongly linked to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), calls for urgent actions to tackle the challenges that are faced by the countries in the region.

The Kingdom of Lesotho is a small least developed mountainous landlocked country within South Africa with about 2 million population. About 57 per cent of the population live below the national poverty line. The country is considered a low human development country given its rank at 158 out of 186 countries on the UN Human Development ranking.

Of the total population, more than 41 per cent are children under 18 years of age. A large number of them are deprived of the opportunities to grow up with full potential. According to the Child Poverty Study 2011, 40 per cent of the children were living in income poverty and 52 per cent in multidimensional poverty – deprivation of health, nutrition, education, water, sanitation, shelter and information-with 33 per cent in severe deprivation.

Evidence says that the poverty and deprivations experienced by the children today will have irreversible effects on their future capabilities and, in turn, a country's future prospects. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) obligates governments to realize children's economic, social, civil, political and cultural rights to the maximum extent of their available resources. Development practitioners and economists argue that investment in children is the investment in a country's future. The Lesotho of tomorrow will be shaped by the children of today. Lesotho's Vision 2020 envisions a united and prosperous Lesotho with peace and justice, a stable democracy, a healthy human resource base and a strong economic foundation. So, whether the country will be able to realize the Vision 2020 depends highly on whether the children of this country are growing with full potential. Thus, the reduction of child poverty and exclusion requires urgent actions.

As mentioned earlier, efficient and effective public finance management is a prerequisite for reducing child poverty and exclusion. Transparency, for example, helps countries have budgets that are credible and reliable. Credible and reliable budgets support effective delivery of public services to reduce deprivation and achieve macroeconomic stability. Other evidence shows that budget transparency lowers government borrowing costs due to macro-fiscal disclosure and corruption costs; and increase electoral accountability of politicians. Thus, to reduce child poverty and exclusion, Lesotho's public finance management needs to be strengthened to increase participation, transparency, accountability, quality and size of allocation in social sectors, particularly in programmes for children.

UNICEF as part of its global mandate intends to support national and sub-national Government of Lesotho to enhance, participation, transparency, accountability, quality and size of investment in social protection. Thus, UNICEF intends to recruit a high caliber national consultant to support UNICEF's budget work and advocacy to enhance, participation, transparency, accountability, quality and size of investment in children.

1. Purpose and Objectives

Establish a partnership with the Ministry of Finance, analyse national budget from the perspective of children, undertake policy discussions, and support a national consultant in implementing the OSS.

• Description of assignment

1. Supervisor: The consultant will work closely with the officials of the Ministry of Finance and other social sector Ministries for collecting and analyzing budgets; and is reportable to the Chief of Social Policy, UNICEF, Lesotho.
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• Budget

The level of payment will be determined by relevant expertise of candidates, in accordance with the UNICEF rules and procedures. Payments will be made monthly upon submission and acceptance of the specified deliverables and submission of invoices. Payment of travel and accommodation allowances will be made in line with the respective UNICEF rules and regulations.

Upon signing of the consultancy, the consultant upon discussion with the Supervisor prepare a payment plan linking the deliverables and agree on the payment plan.

• Qualifications

Master's degree from a reputed national or international university in Economics, Development Economics, Public Finance, Development studies or other relevant subjects.

Specialized knowledge and work experience required for the assignment:

• Five (5) years of professional experience in Public Finance Management;
• Knowledge on Lesotho's Medium Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF);
• Experience in budget preparation and budget analysis;
• Knowledge on social budgeting and social sector policies;
• Experience in organizing workshops/ seminars with government and non-government bodies;
• Experience in development project management;
• Experience in DP's fund management procedure;
• Excellent networking and coordination skills; and
• Excellent analytical skills, report writing and oral presentation abilities.