Consultancy to conduct a Public Environmental Expenditure Review (PEER)

The current Poverty and Environment Initiative project is an extension of the successful Government of Rwanda - UNDP/UNEP Poverty and Environment Initiative Rwanda Project that has been implemented since December 2005. The project aims to enhance the contribution of sound environmental management to poverty reduction, sustainable economic growth and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.  The project has recently commenced its third phase with a focus on longer term capacity development to more fully integrate environmental sustainability in development planning and investment at national, sector and decentralized levels in the context of EDPRS implementation and monitoring.  Proposed investments would focus on deepening the gains from the previous phase. The current terms of reference for this consultancy seek to address one key area among the four outputs of the project focus and support for the 2012 – 2013 period: Support to the development of sustainable investment frameworks for successful environment and climate change mainstreaming. The broad specific approach will involve conducting a Public Environmental Expenditure Review (PEER). This will permit identification of budget allocation and expenditure to facilitate tracking of the implementation of the cross sector strategy, green growth and climate resilience as well as environmental sustainability and the rational utilization of natural resources in support of sustainable growth and poverty reduction. Thus, the assignment will undertake the process and specifically develop relevant tools towards improving budgeting in a way that influences sectors towards climate resilience, environmental sustainability and inclusive growth.  The overall approach will entail conducting a comprehensive PEER which will primarily rely on sector engagement using sector specialists to analyse sector strategies for integration of environmental sustainability and climate resilient objectives, their costed environment and climate change priorities and/or budgets and their results frameworks in informing PEER. The PEER, therefore will be conducted to help evaluate the appropriateness in the use of funds in the environment sector and climate change sector. Trends and issues to be analysed will follow the major standard PER themes of; public allocation and expenditure trends, public expenditure composition, efficiency of public spending, poverty targeting of expenditure and public expenditure management This will then benefit any future revisions of sector plans, the preparation of the sector MTEF/budgets and the accounting and auditing functions within MINECOFIN, MINIRENA and REMA. The analysis and recommendations are intended to demonstrate how GoR and donor resources are currently used, the functioning of the SWAp and the level of support to the sector in attracting funding and guiding resources allocation and expenditure and to recommend how to improve their usage.  The exercise is not an audit, but a tool to enable MINIRENA and REMA to improve prioritisation, efficiency and effectiveness of all public resources in the environment and climate change sector. The review should be extensive and cover the period 2008-2012 i.e. EDPRS 1 period. A key aspect of the PEER is to carry out effective sector engagement that facilitates identification of sector priorities that integrate environmental sustainability in order to allow analysis of allocations, expenditures, efficiency of budget allocations, as well as the role played by stakeholders in the budget execution. The primary objectives of the current assignment are; “To conduct a Public Environment Expenditure Review (PEER) which will help to evaluate the environment and climate change mainstreaming and appropriateness in the use of funds in the environment and climate change sector and to articulate recommendations aimed at increasing efficiency of the country public spending in the ENR sector (Environment and climate change, Land, forestry, mining and water resources management). A key element of this consultancy is to provide capacity building support in policy analysis, planning and budgeting, budget tracking, public expenditure review and analysis, for staff in ministries that are in partnership with PEI by the international consultant. Thus, the focus will be to guide the sectors on the environmental and climate change mainstreaming and subsequent implementation of the EDPRS II. The success of the assignment will be measured by the level of engagement and involvement of sector specialists in the planning, budgeting and monitoring and evaluation departments in identification of environment and climate change mainstreaming entry points, the review and analysis of strategic plans for integration of environmental sustainability, the analytical reviews of strategic issues papers, the budgets including Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks (MTEFs) and the results frameworks including Joint Sector Reviews (JSRs). On this note, REMA would like to hire an International Consultant to conduct a Public Environment Expenditure Review (PEER).

Duties and Responsibilities

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT The primary objectives of the current assignment are; “To conduct a Public Environment Expenditure Review (PEER) which will help to evaluate the environment and climate change mainstreaming and appropriateness in the use of funds in the environment and climate change sector and to articulate recommendations aimed at increasing efficiency of the country public spending in the ENR sector (Environment and climate change, Land, forestry, mining and water resources management). A key element of this consultancy is to provide capacity building support in policy analysis, planning and budgeting, budget tracking, public expenditure review and analysis, for staff in ministries that are in partnership with PEI by the international consultant. Thus, the focus will be the EDPRS implementation period that commenced in 2008 that is scheduled for completion in December 2012 and how the lessons on environmental and climate change mainstreaming will inform the formulation of EDPRS II. The success of the assignment will be measured by the level of engagement and involvement of sector specialists in the planning, budgeting and monitoring and evaluation departments in identification of environment and climate change mainstreaming entry points, the review and analysis of strategic plans for integration of environmental sustainability, the analytical reviews of strategic issues papers, the budgets including Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks (MTEFs) and the results frameworks including Joint Sector Reviews (JSRs Public Environmental Expenditure Review  The PEER should cover public expenditure for the environment including climate change and natural resources sector on an annual basis for the period 2008-2012. For this period, the environment sector encompassed all spending by MINELA/MINIFOM when the environment and natural resources was restructured into two Ministries and subsequently MINIRENA, when all the sub-sectors that constitute ENR were once again restructured under the same Ministry; all local administration expenditure at Province and District levels on environment related interventions, environment related spending under other ministries, and all donor projects under the environment sector. To the extent possible, and subject to data availability, the PER should include an economic analysis of the impact of investments in promoting sustainable environment and natural resources management and climate change, on human wellbeing at household level.  The following description provides detailed elements of the PEER for the stated period. Overview of allocations and trends in public expenditure from all sources (domestic revenue and external funds)Overview of other environment sources and expenditure trends where data available – private sector, NGO, community, households Trends on prioritization of the environment sector within overall Government of Rwanda budget and comments on intra-sectoral allocations within the environment sector.  Clarify definitions of sector and sub-sectors used in analysis Analyse the effectiveness of expenditure allocation, disbursement and execution. Outline reasons for any differences between approved budgets vs actual disbursements and expenditures linking implications to progress in achieving policy objectives. Analyse input mix (including recurrent v capital, salary v non-salary, balance between management overheads and service delivery expenditure). Evaluate performance of Rwanda in relation to regional and international benchmarks.  Cross country comparison should be made wherever possible throughout the report.  Identify lessons from international best practice. Evaluate marginal social benefits vs marginal social costs on environment interventions in Rwanda where possible. Commentary and analysis on trends towards de-centralisation of funds. Analyse and comment on equity of allocations at local government level.  Evaluate current allocation formulas for de-centralised expenditures and provide suggestions on how this could be improved using available data. Comment on the progressiveness of government spending by level of environment. Evaluate efficiency of fund allocation with regard to the semi autonomous government agencies such as REMA and RNRA – have the establishment had a value added to the environment sector in terms of financing and execution. Support Capacity Building for MINECOFIN and for planning staff in key sectors to integrate environmentally sustainable natural resource use and climate change into national and key sector plans, budgets and monitoring and evaluation using PEER as an entry point. Provide guidance on the actual drafting process for the section on environment and natural resources as well as climate change mainstreaming for the EDRS II document drawing on lessons from sector engagement and PEER. Organise and hold training on Public Environmental Expenditure Review (PEER) for the government staff focusing on key sectors under PEI (MINALOC, MINAGRI, MINIRENA, MINICOM, MINECOFIN, MININFRA Forward-Looking Analysis and recommendations Highlight areas for efficiency savings.  Compare current and projected unit costs to other developing/SSA countries.  Identify possible areas for cost savings and improvement in efficiency with reference to best practice surveyed in other developing countries Identify implications of Government decentralisation plans for environment sector. Provide recommendations on pathway for future decentralisation of funds. METHODOLOGY AND REPORTING FRAMEWORK The appropriate methodology to be used will be suggested by the consultant in a proposal, but should, at the minimum, provide for adequate participation of key stakeholders in ministries and relevant public sector agencies, private sector especially service providers, and civil society representatives and at least four representative Districts for the five Provinces. It should ensure adequate consultation with different GoR Ministries/Agencies (at least: MINIRENA, MINAGRI, MINECOFIN, MINALOC) and decentralised levels (Provincial administration and district local authorities), donors and other development partners and end-users.  It should also include a significant element of quantitative analysis, evidence based findings and an emphasis on making clear recommendations based on thorough, objective analysis that have substantively relied on sector specific specialists. The suggested approach described above will broadly use the environment and natural resources sector working group and the sub-sectors of ENR as well as other sector working groups within the EDPRS context as the entry point for sector engagement and will involve participatory rapid appraisal of the planning and budget execution processes.  A comprehensive training will be carried out to ensure capacity building for the target institutions. The specific PEER training and capacity building should, at the minimum, include basic definitions and explanations of the terms used, statistical calculations, and assumptions used to derive the figures in the PEER report. The report will include details of relevant statistical figures, presented in formats that can be easily updated for future use/ reviews, preferably in a spreadsheet (MS Excel) or Database package (MS, This process should be closely followed up by relevant personnel in relevant Ministries including MINECOFIN and MINIRENA and REMA.   A clear definition of the environment and climate change sector is to be used in the analysis.  It must include ALL relevant budget lines in and outside of MINIRENA and REMA, including district budgets, other relevant sector ministries and agencies who are involved in the preparation, execution, monitoring of or reporting on public expenditures related to environment and natural resources as well as climate change. Thus, public financial management and accountability institutions such as the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) and agencies such as the Institute of Statistics and the external finance unit in MINECOFIN as well as Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) will be consulted for purposes of tracking environment and climate change expenditure. The PEER should be undertaken with strong collaboration between the GoR and the consultant(s), and efforts should be made to ensure ownership of the conclusions and recommendations by the GoR.  It is to be emphasised that capacity building for MINECOFIN, MINIRENA and REMA staff is a key element of the consultancy process and a contractual obligation. The final reports should include the following: Executive Summary A part from a comprehensive consultancy report, the International Consultant is requested to produce a clear and well written three to five page summary bringing out the main findings and recommendations from the report highlighting the level of sector engagement and involvement of sector specialists. This will guide the presentation for stakeholders workshop to validate the findings of the reports. Conclusion and Recommendations Prioritised list of recommendations and responsibilities with particular reference to how the sectors have been prepared to conduct ongoing PEER or capture environmental sustainability and climate change issues in sector specific PERs. Recommended action plan Annexes Definitions, assumptions and data sources Public Financial Management Action Plan Data Sources and references Reference Materials available: EICV I, II and III EDPRS ! (2008 – 2012) Joint budget sector review reports PEER report and Training and Reference Manual (2009) DELIVERABLES An inception report after 10 days Public Expenditure Report after at the end of the assignment 3-5 page summary report including major findings and recommendations Report for sector engagement with guidance tools for monitoring P – E indicators REMUNERATION AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS The successful consultant will start his/her assignment as soon as possible following the completion of the recruitment process.    Submissions will be accepted from Individual International Consultants only. The period of the assignment is 2 months working days spread over a 5 month period (June – October) and payment is based on deliverables: Inception report submission 20% Submission of information from Sectors and Districts 20% Sector engagement reporting and Draft PEER 40% Major findings and recommendations (3 to 5 pages) and Final PEER draft 20 SELECTION PROCESS Submissions will be evaluated in consideration of the Evaluation Criteria as   stated below Evaluation Criteria (Total of 100 points): Master’s degree in a relevant field such as Development Economics, Environment  Management, Environmental policy, Natural Resources Management, etc.; [20 points]; Minimum five years’ work experience in related fields such as Poverty Reduction Strategies, policies, Monitoring and Evaluation and strategic planning, including considerable experience dealing with policy makers at senior level [20 points]; Experience of at least three years of working with Ministries of planning and/or environment is highly desirable, especially knowledge of leading policy frameworks and new directions [30 points]; Experience of three years of conducting Public expenditure Review in developing countries [20 points]; Fluency in English or French and a working knowledge of one of the other language [10 points]. The minimum required score is 70%. The candidate with the highest score shall be invited for contract negotiations.

Competencies

Functional Competencies: Professionalism Communication Teamwork Planning &Organization Accountability Corporate Competencies: Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards; Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP; Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability Treats all people fairly without favoritism; Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education MSc in Economics,with at least 5 years of practical  experience with public expenditure review; experience with ENR sector public expenditure review would be a distinct  advantage and/or Masters degree in a relevant field such as Development Economics, Environment Management, Environmental policy, Natural Resources Management, etc.; Experience Minimum five years work experience in related fields such as Poverty Reduction Strategies, policies, Monitoring and Evaluation and strategic planning including considerable experience dealing with policy makers at senior level; Proven understanding of ongoing processes such as EDPRS and DDPs; Experience in poverty focused data analysis and management of environment and climate change issues; Experience in institutional coordination and harmonisation; Language Requirements Fluency in English and/or French (preferably both). Submission requirements The application shall include: A motivation letter expressing suitability for the assignment; Curriculum Vitae of the consultant with the required supporting documents (Copies of Academic qualifications); List of previous work, contractual responsibility and successful completion of at least 5 similar services; Methodology that demonstrates a clear understanding of the Terms of Reference, relevance to the assignment needs and a work schedule that responds to REMA’s proposed assignment timeframe A detailed work plan and a financial proposal that will facilitate contract negotiations. Address for submission: All applications to be clearly marked “Consultancy to conduct a Public Environmental Expenditure Review (PEER)” and Addressed to: The Director General of REMA Inyota House, near UK Embassy Boulevard de l’Umuganda P.O.Box 7436 Kacyiru-Kigali,  Other Details: Late applications shall not be considered The deadline for the submission of applications shall be on 25/03/2013 at 14h00;- Terms of Reference (ToRs) of the above mentioned consultancy can be collected at REMA’s reception or on REMA’s website (www.rema.gov.rw); Your documents shall be valid for a period of 90 days from the date of Submission; Online applications shall not be accepted Enquiries regarding this consultancy may be addressed in writing to:  etushabe@rema.gov.rw and fredsabirwa@yahoo.com

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