Background and Rationale
The devolution process as provided for under the Constitution of Kenya 2010 offers a great opportunity for County governments to improve the quality of life for previously marginalised areas. The constitution provides for the decentralisation of 14 dockets including service provision like education, water, health among others. The local population is now in a better position to influence budget allocations and utilization based on the local needs however the engagement process have largely remained by the elites and interest groups.
The devolution process has being operational 4 years now and there are already remarkable strides made in towards improved service delivery. Public investments in social services are now better targeted with some key services remaining at a national/centralized government. However, the decentralization has not passed the county level as envisaged to the ward level.
Despite the success in the decentralization process there been challenges. The competition for resources between diverse needs in an environment of historical marginalisation has been a challenge on allocations to the different critical sectors. Additionally, the capacities to identify and plan on the needs at the county level has also been challenged by lack of reliable county level baseline data to measure the strides been made. The previous district level planning has not been able to translate to reliable data source for the counties. In terms of capacities, there are challenges in attracting and retaining enough and competent staff to support planning and budgeting. This has led to hurdles in allocation and expenditure. As we go through the journey of engagement with the county government of Wajir clarity of existing gaps and way to overcome them shall be identified and other areas support will be mapped out.
The challenge facing the counties in terms of public expenditures have been highlighted by such institutions like the Controller of Budget and the Auditor General as regards public accountability. However, this tells just one dimension of the story. The other critical dimension that needs to be explored is whether counties are putting enough (commensurate to available resources) into the social sectors, whether these allocations are being spent on the most critical needs and as allocated and whether there are working monitoring and reporting frameworks at the county level to capture this.
The ALDEF is interested in supporting county government deliver its mandate by supporting capacities in planning and budgeting. ALDEF therefore intends to hire the services of a consultant(s) to conduct analysis of the key budget documents for the county government of Wajir in the financial years 2017/2018 and 2018/2019. The assessment should identify key areas of advocacy that ALDEF can use to influence policy makers in the planning and budgeting process. The specific scope of the assignment is captured in the section below.
Scope of Work and Deliverables**
Under the overall supervision of the Program Manager and working with the Project Officer, and with technical inputs from the Chief Executive Officer, the Consultant(s) will carry out analyses of the budget documents for the county government of Wajir. The level of detail expected from the assessment includes;
- Analyse the key post and pre budget documents namely: Budget Estimates, Enacted/Approved Budget, Finance Bill/Act, County Fiscal Strategy Paper, County Budget Review and Outlook Paper, Quarterly Implementation Reports, Audit Reports (2017-2018 and 2018/2019)
- Development of policy briefs on each separate analysis.
- Facilitation and presentation of the analysis reports for validation and other key workshops.
Duration (Estimated # of days or months) – 12 Months (Nonconsecutive days),
Timeline/Deadline: When and as the budget documents are made available
Required qualifications, desired competencies, technical background and experience
The Consultant should have the following qualifications and competencies
- Minimum Advanced degree in Economics, Financial Management, Public Policy or other relevant
field
- Over 5 years’ experience in policy analysis on public financial management
- Demonstrated experience of conducting tax or tax-related work with a good background in research and economic policy analysis
- Excellent knowledge of tax and economic policy-related issues in a developing world context
- Experience in budget and public expenditure analysis
- Proven skills in formulation of high quality reports and policy advocacy and lobby documents
vii. Analytical skills as evidenced by previous related assignments
How to apply:
Qualified candidates are requested to submit a cover letter and CV to [email protected] with subject line
“BUDGET DOCUMENTS CONSULTANT” by Close of Day 27th March 2017.
Interested consultants to indicate; ability, availability and all-inclusive daily rate/ fee for expected deliverables to undertake the terms of reference
Applications submitted without a fee/ rate will not be considered.
More Information
- Job City Nairobi
