Institutional Contractor to Generate Evidence on Child Related Investments and Propose... Tender

Procurement Summary

Country : Albania

Summary : Institutional Contractor to Generate Evidence on Child Related Investments and Propose a Methodology to Tag Child Budget Allocations in National Financial Systems

Deadline : 25 Nov 2022

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Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 74182488

Document Ref. No. : LRPS-2022-9179295

Financier : United Nations Secretariat

Purchaser Ownership : Public

Tender Value : Refer Document

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Request for proposals are invited for Institutional Contractor to Generate Evidence on Child Related Investments and Propose a Methodology to Tag Child Budget Allocations in National Financial Systems and Frameworks of Coherent and Effective Child Investments.

Coherent and effective child investments
UNICEF TERMS OF REFERENCE TOR-ALBA-2022-048
Institutional contractor to generate evidence on child related investments and propose a methodology to tag child
budget allocations in national financial systems and frameworks of
Coherent and effective child investments.
BACKGROUND OF THE ASSIGNMENT
Until 2019, Albania had remained committed to strengthening macroeconomic stability, and the country-s fiscal
system was considered as moderately prepared for developing a functioning market economy. Both the Economic
Reform Programme 2019-2021 and the renewed Public Finance Management Strategy 2019-2022 echo the
Albanian Government-s commitment to an ambitious fiscal consolidation path to tackle vulnerabilities stemming
from high public debt. The economic growth rate of Albania has been steady until 2019. The fiscal framework had
targeted a total fiscal deficit of 1.9 per cent of GDP for 2019; 1.2 per cent of GDP in 2020; and 0.5 per cent in 2021.
This promising outlook was disrupted by two consecutive crises: the devastating earthquake of November 2019 and
COVID-19 and the lockdown measures imposed. Still Albania managed to weather the shocks and experienced a
strong rebound in 2022. According to the latest IMF staff concluding statement, Albanian economy has maintained
positive momentum this year despite the shock to the global economy from Russia-s war in Ukraine. As of October
2022, IMF claims that the #economy is expected to grow by 3.7 percent in 2022, though projected to slow to around
2 percent in 2023, reflecting tighter financial conditions, the slowdown in Europe, and the necessary withdrawal of
policy support, (fn-01: https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2022/10/10/ms101022-Albania). The outlook is subject
to considerable uncertainty and risks are tilted to the downside. International food and energy prices could further
increase. Higher and more persistent inflation could further weigh on real income and weaken growth prospects.
Drastic tightening in global financial conditions could hamper Albania-s access to financing. The economy is also
vulnerable to unfavorable weather conditions and reversal in the rise of real estate prices. Against this landscape,
social spending and adequate budget allocations for children are seriously threatened.
The last years have marked no major changes in the level of public investments for children. Social
sectors#education, health and social protection#make up the largest share of public expenditure as a percentage
of the total government budget. However, the allocations are not comparable to international standards for an upper
middle-income country and fail to provide the adequate human, technical and financial resources needed for
improved services for children and for access to those services, (fn-02: Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy
Support for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Albania (2018)).
OPPORTUNITIES TO REFLECT ON THE BUDGETS FOR CHILDREN AND TRANSPARENCY
According to the latest Open Budget Survey for 2021, Albania scores 52 for transparency which is higher than the
WB countries. The Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA), (fn-03: - https://pefa.org/node/481)
assessment also highlights that public investment management decisions are adversely affected by weaknesses in
project selection, combined with incomplete data and poor monitoring systems undermine the effectiveness and
efficiency of public investment. When it comes to policy-based fiscal strategy and budgeting, same PEFA report
highlights: "The medium-term prospective is well embedded in the processes for macro-fiscal planning and
budgeting. The technical aspects of the budget preparation process are well developed, however strategic focus of
the budget is reduced by deviations from the existing calendar, weak links to the sector strategies and the
Parliament-s limited focus on the Medium-Term Budget Program (MTBP)."
Children rights can be directly or indirectly, positively or negatively, affected by public budget-related decision. The
committee of the Rights of the Child underlines that: #legislation, policies and programmes cannot be implemented
without sufficient financial resources being mobilized, allocated and spent in an accountable, effective, efficient,
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equitable, participatory, transparent and sustainable manner”, (fn-04: UNCRC General Comment No. 19 (2016) on
public budgeting for the realization of children-s rights (art. 4)).
Children rights should be prioritized at both national and sub-national levels, as required by the Convention of the
Rights of the Child. Adequate budget processes that consider children rights, contribute not only to realize those
rights, but they also impact on future economic growth, sustainable and inclusive development, and social
cohesion.
Understanding how to make children visible in the government budget processes, and the steps to take to preserve
or increase child-specific investments is key to ensure policies work for children. To this end, UNICEF Albania
Country office is looking to engage a team of consultants who will undertake a review of child specific budget
allocations and expenditure, understand how budget planning policies and processes are informed by strategic
planning.
OBJECTIVES, PURPOSE AND ExPECTED RESULTS
The ultimate goal of the consultancy is to contribute to strengthening the effectiveness of public budget allocations
and expenditure on children and fostering links between policy/program planning and budget planning, particularly
in the context of more equitable outcomes for children. The direct outcomes of the assignment are:
i) generate evidence about the extent to which budget allocations and expenditures at national and subnational
level are aligned to child-focused policy commitments.
ii) propose a methodology for a standardized system which would identify (possibly tag) and monitor child related
investments across the different PFM systems in Albania.
The evidence and the methodology which will be discussed and validated by the key national players in PFM, will
lay an effective basis for future advocacy and work to improve prioritization of child rights within budgetary planning
and implementation processes.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ASSIGNMENT AND TASKS
The team contracted for the assignment will have to undertake the following tasks to achieve both expected
outcomes:
- Assess to what extent the government is fulfilling its financial commitments by comparing the budget allocation
intended for children across the various sectors and programmes to the actual expenditure in these sectors. Map
child related targets in the national policies and programmes for identifying, aggregating, and reporting financial
transactions in the budget preparation, execution, accounting and auditing programmes. Possibly identify
international child related targets and adequate budget allocations which need to be considered in the national
policies/budgets.
- Map previous expenditures and current budget allocations for children identifying: the budget programme,
institutions in charge, spending units, etc. Identify the total size and composition of budget provisions for children.
Identify direct and indirect allocations/expenditure for children.
- Review and analyse how ad-hoc/unplanned/immediate changes in annual budget allocations to respond to
emerging needs or crisis/emergencies (i.e., earthquake, or COVID29) do affect child related investments.
The results of the analysis will be used to make recommendations for systematically propose a methodology for a
standardized system which would identify (possibly tag) and monitor child related investments across the different
PFM systems in Albania.
- Review the planning and budget tools available to track child related investments throughout the public finance
management cycle.
- Identify what could be the entry points to track and make public allocations for children in Albania. Identify if and which budgetary allocations could be subject to child #tagging” including by functional classifiers across the various
government programmes.
- Recommend strategies to strengthen capacities of governmental budget units in addressing children-s priorities in
the planning and budgeting process, as well as in the expenditure monitoring system, which could be used to make
public child related investments during budget reviewing and approval processes.
- While developing the guidelines, include activities to strengthen the capacities of the government budget units in
properly addressing children rights in programme and performance budgeting
DELIVERABLES
DELIVERABLE 1.
Consultancy inception report - 3 weeks from signature of the contract.
The inception report should include a clear methodology, a workplan, including a clear statement on how the key
PFM stakeholders will be involved.
DELIVERABLE 2.
Interim presentation on the work - 2 months after signature of the contract
The consultants should prepare for a presentation to UNICEF team to report on the progress and show some
preliminary insights and findings. The presen

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