National Individual Consultancy on Budget Process Analysis for Children

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. UNICEF Viet Nam is one of more than 190 offices of the United Nations Children’s Fund globally and part of the United Nations system in Viet Nam working in close collaboration with all UN agencies in the country. Guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF has a universal mandate to promote and protect the rights of all children, everywhere – especially those hardest to serve and most at risk. UNICEF’s mission in Viet Nam is to make sure every child in the country is healthy, educated and safe from harm, therefore having the best start in life and a fair chance to reach her or his full potential and benefit from the country’s prosperity. We believe children have a right to live in a more equitable society, where their voices are heard and needs met as a matter of priority in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. More information on what we do in Viet Nam is available at https://www.unicef.org/vietnam/ Background and Justification Although Viet Nam has gained significant achievements in socio-economic development, many unfinished agenda on children persist, including under 5 malnutrition especially stunting, clean water and sanitation, quality education for all children, child protection and other emerging issues such as climate change, natural disasters, urbanization and migration that are impacting the lives of vulnerable children disproportionately. Investing in children is crucial for improving human capital and sustainable development of the country. The 2016 Law on Children clearly obliges the Government to ensure the provision of sufficient resources for implementing children related objectives and targets under the socio-economic development plans and budget allocation process. Prioritisation of child-related issues in the planning and budgeting process is critical as children account for one third of the population. Preliminary analysis of the budget for children has shown limitations and challenges in the planning and budgeting process such as: i) lack of disaggregated data on budget for children across sectors; ii) ;ack of specific criteria for budget allocation for children; iii) budgeting is still based on inputs, not on outputs, outcomes or performance-based; and iv) there is still a separation and a limited connection between capital expenditure and recurrent expenditure. The elected bodies (the National Assembly of Viet Nam and People’s Councils) plays an important role in deciding goals, targets, policies, key tasks for national and sub-national long term and annual socio-economic development. It is also in charge of supreme oversight and budget allocation decision making of the compliance with the Constitution, laws and resolutions of the National Assembly and supreme oversight of most important activities of state agencies and titles voted and approved by the National Assembly. Specifically, the National Assembly, through its committees, will conduct the verification, endorsement and monitoring of socio-economic development plans and budget allocation decision-making through the implementation of the budget process. Key audiences: In the above context, this study is for government agencies, UNICEF and other concerned development partners to fully understand the budgetary process of Viet Nam related to the allocation, use and reporting of state budgets for children at both central and local levels, so that they could support and advice the NA and related agencies to ensure more efficient and appropriate allocation and use of budgets to better implement children's rights in Viet Nam. Purpose, Objectives & Scope Objective: This analysis aims to document and analyse possible gaps in the budgetary process that hinder the effective, equitable and adequate budget allocation for realizing children rights in Viet Nam. This is done through an analysis and presentation of (i) key actors and processes for strategic and well-coordinated allocation and use of budget across sectors at both national and sub-national levels; and (ii) the role of the elected bodies (the National Assembly and People’s Councils) throughout the whole process. Based on the analysis of the current budget process, the report will propose specific recommendations for policy changes to ensure how the budgetary process could be more effective, equitable and adequate for better implementation of children's rights and how the oversight function of the elected bodies could be strengthened throughout this process. Scope: The report will present the budget process with specific steps (with timelines), roles and responsibilities of related stakeholders, contents and criteria for each step. The process will also illustrate the budget allocations of ministries, from the central to local levels and in each locality, the advantages as well as institutional difficulties/bottlenecks and challenges (including mandates and coordination) in implementing budgetary n process for children (based on the 2015 State Budget Law). This analysis will cover the review of good practices in the budgetary processes of other countries to make recommendations for Viet Nam. Final expected results: A brief report (not exceeding 20 pages in both English and Vietnamese) clearly shows the budget process related to children in Vietnam at central and sub-national levels and meeting the above-mentioned objective. The report will be disseminated through both virtual and face-to-face channels and events with all relevant stakeholders including different committees of the National Assembly (including the Committee for Social Affairs, Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children), ministries (Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Ministry of Education and Training, Ministry of Health), provinces and international and local NGOs working for promoting children’s rights. The rationale for Consultancy: This study requires an in-depth understanding and analysis of the government internal processes on budget and finance. In addition, it requires time and prior experiences to gather explicit data related to budget on children. Due to these requirements, support from national consultant(s) would be useful to conduct it in a timely manner. Deliverables and timelines

No	Activity	Deliverable	Number of days	July	Aug	Sept
1.	Develop an inception report for this analysis	Availability of the inception report for the assignment which clearly presents the assignment’s objectives, methodology, and a detailed workplan with specific timelines.	3 days in July
2.	Collect information, analyse and prepare report	Availability of first draft report	19 in July and August
3.	Finalise the report based on the comments and inputs from UNICEF and Committee for Financial and Budgetary Affairs (CFBA) and related committees of the NA through consultation meetings	Availability of the final report (in both English and Vietnamese), a ppt presentation of 10 slides and a two pager (summarising the key findings and recommendations of the final full report)	3 days in September
Total number of days			25 days

Management and Reporting The assignment will be undertaken under the supervision of the Chief of Social Policy and Governance Programme (SPG) with the support of the Social Policy and Governance. UNICEF Viet Nam’s focal point will ensure that this assignment will be consulted and technical guided by the Committee of Financial and Budgetary Affairs/National Assembly. Performance indicators for evaluation

Quality of deliverables meet the standards set by UNICEF and specifications outlined in the contract.
Deliverables are submitted in a timely manner as indicated in the contract.
Technical assistance delivered in a contextualized and tactful manner, drawing on the inputs of the partners.
Performance evaluation will be completed at the end of the assignment

Full TOR

Vacancy Notice for Budgetary Process Analysis.docx Qualification/Specialized Knowledge and Experience This assignment requires the recruitment of a qualified national consultant by UNICEF with the following requirements: Qualifications and Experience

Ph.D. level or at least a master's degree in economics, finance or other related fields.
Over 15 years of work experience in the field of public finance management.
Experience in conducting research and advising the Government on public finance management with great team work and flexibility to capture and reflect the diverse views of different stakeholders including UNICEF and relevant committee of NA throughout the whole exercise.

Knowledge and Skills

Understanding of public finance for children or children's rights is an advantage.
Excellent analytical & research skills in the area of public finance management.

Communication

Excellent communication and writing skills (in both Vietnamese and English).

Assessment criteria For evaluation and selection method, the Cumulative Analysis Method (weight combined score method) shall be used for this recruitment: Qualification and working experience of national consultant a) Technical Qualification (max. 100 points) weight 70 %

Qualifications and Experience (40 points)
Knowledge and Skills (35 points)
Competencies (25 points)

b) Financial Proposal (max. 100 points) weight 30 % The maximum number of points shall be allotted to the lowest Financial Proposal that is opened/evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum 70 points score in the technical evaluation. Other Financial Proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price. The Contract shall be awarded to candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores, subject to the satisfactory result of the verification interview [if needed.] Submission of applications Interested candidates are kindly requested to apply and upload the following documents to the assigned requisition in UNICEF Vacancies: http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/

Letter of interest and confirmation of availability;
Technical proposal which clearly explains the outline on how to deliver the tasks and deliverables (preferably less than 2 pages);
Performance evaluation reports or references of similar consultancy assignments (if available)
Financial proposal: All-inclusive lump-sum cost including consultancy fee, travel and accommodation cost for this assignment as per work assignment.
CV/P11 form (UN Personal History Form)

View our competency framework at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Remarks: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. Application close: Jul 08 2020 SE Asia Standard Time More Information and Application details.

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