National Consultant ��������� Policy

Background
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, UN Women, is the global champion for gender equality, working to develop and uphold standards and create an environment in which every woman and girl can exercise her human rights and live up to her full potential. We are trusted partners for advocates and decision-makers from all walks of life, and a leader in the effort to achieve gender equality.
In September 2015 Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with 192 United Nations Member States, committed to implement Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030). Seventeen development areas have been declared as universal goals of the 2030 Agenda and all member countries are now part of the new Global 2030 Agenda: The Sustainable Development Goals with 17 goals and 169 targets to measure the progress. Based on lessons from MDGs, governments need to systemically translate their high-level policy priorities into budget decisions and deliver via domestic budget processes.
Countries and governments can respond to broad sustainable development agenda in different ways. Many aspects of health, poverty, education, security, environment, governance, and economic development are addressed in national policy, planning, budgeting, and accountability frameworks. Those may be linked to SDGs, but such linkage may not be explicit or well-articulated. The SDGs bring into governance systems a more comprehensive, structured, and measurable dimension to assess public policies. The SDGs also aim to help countries improve cooperation between ministries, and therefore design and build more coherent public policies. With SDGs explicitly being present in the national policy agenda, countries ensure a more coherent approach to national governance practices.
Based on the situation analysis regarding sustainable development in Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly within the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina���������s accession to the European Union and based on extensive bi-annual consultations (2018-20ld with representatives from institutions at all levels of government and socio-economic stakeholders, three pathways of sustainable development, and their accompanying accelerators, drivers and targets were identified. These three pathways are: 1) Good Governance and Public Sector Management; 2) Smart Growth; 3) Society of Equal Opportunities. Furthermore, two horizontal themes were determined as well, namely i) Human Capital for the Future and ii) the ���������Leave no one behind��������� principle. Subsequently, the governments at all levels engaged in the process of defining their priorities, measures, and activities to provide their contribution for achieving Agenda 2030.
Within the pathway ���������Good governance and public sector management��������� that aims to create an accountable, transparent, efficient, and effective public sector and ensure rule of law, specific priorities include enhancing the process of policy design and coordination, delivering better services for citizens and business commun resource management, public enterprise reforms, reducing corruption, and ensuring a more functional judiciary system. As the 2030 Agenda gains more attention and in line with the growing need to align policies, strategies, and research with the SDGs, the Ministry of Finance of Canton Sarajevo expressed its commitment to enhance efficiency, quality and cost effectiveness based on the above pathway. Furthermore, as gender equality (SGD 5) has been among the several policy gaps identified in underrepresented SDG targets, a particular focus should be dedicated to this aspect. Finally, since SDG informed, and gender responsive strategic budgeting is central to these processes – recognizing the crucial role of budgets in implementing public policy ��������� budget needs and resources for implementing necessary changes will be addressed as well.
Under the supervision of the UN Women Governance and Leadership Coordinator, and overall supervision of the UN Women Representative, in close collaboration with the Ministrinance of Canton Sarajevo, the consultant will be responsible for providing support to strengthen governance in the Ministry of Finance of Sarajevo Canton by identifying SDGs in policies, strategies and plans of the Ministry of Finance of Sarajevo Canton and by integrating SDG targets into budget formulation and reporting processes.
Duties and Responsibilities
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this consultancy is to strengthen governance in the Ministry of Finance of Sarajevo Canton by identifying contributions to implementation of SDGs in policies, strategies and plans of the Ministry of Finance of Sarajevo Canton and by integrating SDGs targets into budget formulation and reporting processes.
SCOPE OF WORK
The consultancy should provide an overview of the SDG context in the Ministry of Finance of Sarajevo Canton in a wider country-context, considering the existing documents and reports on the subject (mainly but not exclusively the SDG framework for BiH), and the challenges caused by immediate and secondary impacts of Covid-19 (based on Covid-19 socio-economic impact assessment). In terms of country���������s PFM/Budgeting system context, the consultant should identify major challenges and opportunities in aligning of Ministry���������s budget resources with specific SDG targets and the leading role the ministry could have in advancing SDGs with line ministries in Sarajevo Canton.
To this end, the consultant should review the existing policy objectives and commitments that are articulated in a variety of national and sectoral strategies and plans, as well as commitments to international agreements, and link their relevance to the specific context of the Ministry of Finance of Canton Sarajevo and SDG. In particular, the consultancy should comprise but not be limited to:
Review the existing strategies and plans at the Ministry of Finance of Canton Sarajevo through a gender lens against the SGD framework; Mapping of budget lines linked with SDG; Identification of key stakeholders and identification of priorities through s with key stakeholders for context-adapted and inclusive SDGs that are both achievable and ambitious; Comparison of the review (at point 1.) against prioritized SDGs and targets (at point 3.) to identify gaps and provide recommendations for necessary change; Identification of priorities, measures, and activities in compliance with the Ministry of Finance of Canton Sarajevo competencies that contribute to implementation of Agenda 2030, with a particular focus on SDG 5; Formulation of strategy incorporating recommendations and insights from the above steps into strategies and plans; matching SDG commitments with resources and capacities by ensuring gender responsiveness; Identification of key challenges in integrating SDG targets into budgets and propose set of tools that are most applicable for the specific context of the Ministry of Finance of Canton Sarajevo for integrating SDGs into budgeting.
The consultant should undertake a gender responsive approach in addressing this task which entails developing appropriate methodologies for data collection, monitoring and evaluation. The findings of the consultancy can also serve as a guidance to monitor and report on SDGs/Agenda 2030, in line with BIH governments��������� commitments to establish a functional system for long-term coordination of implementation as well as monitoring and reporting on Agenda 2030.
DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME
The consultant will be expected to submit the following deliverables within the indicative timeframe:
Deliverables
Indicative Days
Timeline and due dates
1.
Workplan and methodology submitted to UN Women and the Ministry of Finance of Canton Sarajevo for review, and finalized following approval
4
22 FEB 2022
2.
Desk review of existing strategies and plans in the Ministry of Finance of Canton Sarajevo applying a gender lens against the SDG framework, with recommendations for improvement, submitted to UN Women and the Ministry of Finance of Canton Sarajevo for review, and finalized following approval
10
7 MAR 2022
3.
Strategy for implemen of Agenda 2030 that contains priorities, measures, activities and recommendations in priority sectors based on the findings from desk review and consultations with key stakeholders, focused on matching SDG commitments with resources and capacities and ensuring gender responsiveness, submitted to UN Women and the Ministry of Finance of Canton Sarajevo for review, and finalized following approval
20
15 APR 2022
4.
List of key challenges in integrating SDGs into public financing and budgeting and proposed way forward for the specific context of the Ministry of Finance of Canton Sarajevo, submitted to UN Women and the Ministry of Finance of Canton Sarajevo for review, and finalized following approval
10
6 MAY 2022
5.
List of key messages for social media content and final report on findings, conclusions and suggestions for follow-up, submitted to UN Women and the Ministry of Finance of Canton Sarajevo for review, and finalized following approval
6
20 MAY 2022
Total
50
31 MAY 2022
The consultancy will last 50 days in the period from 15 February 2022 to 31 May 2022. The assignment will not require presence on UN Women premises but will require consultant���������s presence in Sarajevo for any consultations with the Ministry of Finance of Canton Sarajevo.
REPORTING
All deliverables should be submitted to the UN Women Governance and Leadership Coordinator in BHS. The final deliverable should be completed by 20 May 2022. Approval time required to review the deliverables before authorizing payments is 7 days.
Competencies
CORE VALUES:
Respect for Diversity; Integrity; Professionalism;
CORE COMPETENCIES:
Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues; Accountability; Creative Problem Solving; Effective Communication; Inclusive Collaboration; Stakeholder Engagement; Leading by Example;
Functional Competencies:
Knowledge Management and Learning
Shares knowledge and experience; Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside UN Women; Development and Operational Effectiveness; Demonstrxcellent written and oral communication skills; Communicates sensitively, effectively and creatively across different constituencies; Demonstrates very good understanding of and experience in communications and outreach/advocacy; Ability to perform a variety of standard specialized and non-specialized tasks and work processes that are fully documented, researched, recorded and reported; Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve operational problems; Uses Information Technology effectively as a tool and resource.
Leadership and Self-Management
Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback; Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude; Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure; Proven networking skills and ability to generate interest in UN Women���������s mandate; Identifies opportunities and builds strong partnerships with clients and partners;
Required Skills and Experience
Academicfications:
Master���������s degree in economics, public finance or other relevant field. Bachelor���������s degree in economics, public finance or other relevant field is acceptable in lieu of a master���������s degree with additional 2 years of experience.
Work Experience:
At least 5 years of working and/or research experience in the field of public finance, budget review and public expenditure review; At least 2 years of research experience in the field of public finance management reform at country level on integrating SDGs and/or gender in budgeting processes, performance monitoring and evaluation and reporting of budgeting; Demonstrated ability to engage in strategic analysis, and in-depth sectoral analysis (at least 2 such studies produced); Excellent writing skills required, as demonstrated by previous high-quality research/analytical reports on relevant topics; Previous experience of work in similar context with government and/or public institution; Knowledge of Agenda 2030 and/or interest in gender ierience with international organizations and/or UN System is an asset;
Language requirement:
Proficiency in written and oral English and proficiency in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian;
Other skills:
Good computer skills in Windows environment, knowledge of internet communication and command of MS Office applications (Word, Excel, Power Point), Zoom and MS Teams.