REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
Junior Consultancy on Finance and Communication Expert
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
Statistics Department (ECST)
Avenue Joseph Anoma
01 B.P. 1387
Abidjan 01
Cote d’ivoire
Email : [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
I BACKGROUND :
The goal of the Statistics Department (ECST) of African Development Bank (AfDB) is to position the institution as the leader and partner of choice for statistical development work in Africa. To that end, its activities focus on: (i) responding to the ever-increasing demand for good statistics to facilitate the design of effective policies and programs and to serve as a tool for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of development results geared towards fostering more inclusive and transformative growth in African; (ii) providing technical and financial support to African countries to meet the data needs for the AfDB’s High 5s agenda, as well as the post-2015 SDGs agenda; and (iii) paying a close attention to post-conflict and transitional states, which need targeted and customized support for statistical capacity building.
The activities of the recruiting division, the Economic and the Social Statistics Division (ECST.1), focus on providing technical and financial support to AfDB’s Regional Member countries (RMCs) in generating data to inform the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development results of policies and strategies. Activities include but are not limited to :
- Managing and disseminating data for the AfDB’s High 5 and SDGs agenda in RMCs through the Africa Information Highway (AIH) initiative, which aims at revolutionizing data management and dissemination in Africa and serves as a central repository and hub for easy access to real-time development data on African countries ;
- Coordinating the One Bank Data System, once set up, to ensure quality and consistency of the data that inform the Results Measurement Framework ;
- Providing support to RMCs on conducting surveys and generating poverty profiles of RMCs to inform the design and implementation of national poverty reduction strategies ;
- Providing systematic statistical support for country programming and project cycle activities ;
- Building partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and engage at the appropriate levels to coordinate the Bank’s statistical activities to enable consistent monitoring and evaluation of the Bank’s strategic goals ;
- Leading the process of tracking economic and social development on the continent and generating projections of macroeconomic indicators for RMCs for the purpose of informing the African Economic Outlook process and other flagship publications of the Bank ;
- Providing the Bank and member countries with comparative research analysis, socioeconomic data and projections of the most widely used socio-economic parameters relating to Africa’s economy and Bank Group operations.
More specifically, the recruited consultant will participate in the implementation of a project jointly funded by the Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and executed by the Bank in twelve pilot countries. The general objective of this project is to enhance the sustainability, coordination, gender balanced youth engagement, institutionalization and capabilities of national and regional statistical systems to promote transparency and accountability across Africa through sustainable provision of shared services. The specific objective of the project is to make more quality data available to the users and to spur innovation and youth engagement. These services help country statistical systems improve their data management and dissemination while establishing a systematic process to identify and support African innovation to solve for data gaps within the national statistical system. In turn, this is intended to facilitate the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of national, regional and international development goals, particularly the SDGs as they relate to Africa through a central open comparative system as recommended by the SHaSA II (Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa).
II SCOPE OF CONSULTANT’S WORK :
The consultant will primarily be tasked with assisting with monitoring the BMGF grant management and ensuring all transactions are executed in accordance with Bank rules and regulations and the project’s grant agreement. S/He will also be assisting for developing a communication plan for the Statistics Department. The consultant, in collaboration with the AfDB Communication Unit, will propose an effective communication plan, and other duties in this line that may be deemed necessary to increase the visibility of the Department’s activities and its products.
III EXPECTED DELIVERABLES :
The consultant will be responsible for completing the following activities :
- Assist in monitoring the BMGF grant to ensure the funds are appropriately utilized, and assist in the budget preparation and validation processes ;
- Ensure that all financial and administrative transactions are carried out according to Bank requirements ;
- Ensure the procurement procedures for disbursement of the BMGF project funds are in line with the bank rules ;
- Collect all proofs and prepare regular financial reports and balances ;
- Assist in preparing and executing payments to services providers selected to carry out activities under the BMGF project ;
- Provide inputs and contribute to drafting progress reports for the overall project implementation ;
- Assist in the monitoring of the division’s budgets to ensure the funds are appropriately utilized, and assist in the budget preparation process ;
- Assist in monitoring country progress towards achieving the goals identified by the project ;
- Serve as the principal liaison between ECST1 and the Communication Department ;
- Assist in organizing workshops and other large-scale events conducted under the BMGF project and by the division ;
- Fulfill any other duties as requested by Task manager and ECST management.
IV The Statistics Department (ECST) invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested Consultants shall provide information on their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to undertake this Assignment (documents, reference to similar services, experience in similar assignments, etc.).
- The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Procurement Policy for Recruitment of Corporate Consultants. Please, note that interest expressed by a Consultant does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include him/her in the shortlist.
- The estimated duration of services is twelve months (12) and the estimated starting date is 19th April 2021.
VII. Interested Individual Consultants may obtain further information at the address below during the Bank’s working hours: from 08:00 to 17:00 Hours, Abidjan Local Time. Expression of interest must be received at address not later than 9 April 2021 at 15:00 hours Abidjan local time, and specifically mentioning : Junior Consultancy on Finance and Communication Expert.
For Attention of Mrs. Rose-Marie Adingra
Statistics Department (ECST)
Avenue Joseph Anoma
01 B.P. 1387
Abidjan 01
Côte d’Ivoire
Phone: (+225) 20 26 46 34
E-mail: [email protected]
Requests for clarifications may be sent to: [email protected]
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SHORT LIST
A shortlist of three to six individual consultants will be established at the end the request of expressions of interest. The consultants on the shortlist will be judged on the following criteria on the basis of their updated resume.
| Level of education in general |
20% |
| Educational level compared to the field of mission |
20% |
| Years of experience in general |
20% |
| Number of years of experience relevant to the mission |
40% |
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Junior Consultancy on Finance and Communication Expert.
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
Statistics Department (ECST)
Avenue Joseph Anoma
01 B.P. 1387
Abidjan 01
Côte d’ivoire
Email : [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
I BACKGROUND :
The goal of the Statistics Department (ECST) of African Development Bank (AfDB) is to position the institution as the leader and partner of choice for statistical development work in Africa. To that end, its activities focus on: (i) responding to the ever-increasing demand for good statistics to facilitate the design of effective policies and programs and to serve as a tool for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of development results geared towards fostering more inclusive and transformative growth in African; (ii) providing technical and financial support to African countries to meet the data needs for the AfDB’s High 5s agenda, as well as the post-2015 SDGs agenda; and (iii) paying a close attention to post-conflict and transitional states, which need targeted and customized support for statistical capacity building.
The activities of the recruiting division, the Economic and the Social Statistics Division (ECST.1), focus on providing technical and financial support to AfDB’s Regional Member countries (RMCs) in generating data to inform the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development results of policies and strategies. Activities include but are not limited to :
- Managing and disseminating data for the AfDB’s High 5 and SDGs agenda in RMCs through the Africa Information Highway (AIH) initiative, which aims at revolutionizing data management and dissemination in Africa and serves as a central repository and hub for easy access to real-time development data on African countries ;
- Coordinating the One Bank Data System, once set up, to ensure quality and consistency of the data that inform the Results Measurement Framework ;
- Providing support to RMCs on conducting surveys and generating poverty profiles of RMCs to inform the design and implementation of national poverty reduction strategies ;
- Providing systematic statistical support for country programming and project cycle activities ;
- Building partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and engage at the appropriate levels to coordinate the Bank’s statistical activities to enable consistent monitoring and evaluation of the Bank’s strategic goals ;
- Leading the process of tracking economic and social development on the continent and generating projections of macroeconomic indicators for RMCs for the purpose of informing the African Economic Outlook process and other flagship publications of the Bank ;
- Providing the Bank and member countries with comparative research analysis, socioeconomic data and projections of the most widely used socio-economic parameters relating to Africa’s economy and Bank Group operations.
More specifically, the recruited consultant will participate in the implementation of a project jointly funded by the Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and executed by the Bank in twelve pilot countries. The general objective of this project is to enhance the sustainability, coordination, gender balanced youth engagement, institutionalization and capabilities of national and regional statistical systems to promote transparency and accountability across Africa through sustainable provision of shared services. The specific objective of the project is to make more quality data available to the users and to spur innovation and youth engagement. These services help country statistical systems improve their data management and dissemination while establishing a systematic process to identify and support African innovation to solve for data gaps within the national statistical system. In turn, this is intended to facilitate the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of national, regional and international development goals, particularly the SDGs as they relate to Africa through a central open comparative system as recommended by the SHaSA II (Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa).
II SCOPE OF CONSULTANT’S WORK :
The consultant will primarily be tasked with assisting with monitoring the BMGF grant management and ensuring all transactions are executed in accordance with Bank rules and regulations and the project’s grant agreement. S/He will also be assisting for developing a communication plan for the Statistics Department. The consultant, in collaboration with the AfDB Communication Unit, will propose an effective communication plan, and other duties in this line that may be deemed necessary to increase the visibility of the Department’s activities and its products.
III EXPECTED DELIVERABLES :
The consultant will be responsible for completing the following activities :
- Assist in monitoring the BMGF grant to ensure the funds are appropriately utilized, and assist in the budget preparation and validation processes;
- Ensure that all financial and administrative transactions are carried out according to Bank requirements;
- Ensure the procurement procedures for disbursement of the BMGF project funds are in line with the bank rules;
- Collect all proofs and prepare regular financial reports and balances,
- Assist in preparing and executing payments to services providers selected to carry out activities under the BMGF project;
- Provide inputs and contribute to drafting progress reports for the overall project implementation;
- Assist in the monitoring of the division’s budgets to ensure the funds are appropriately utilized, and assist in the budget preparation process;
- Assist in monitoring country progress towards achieving the goals identified by the project;
- Serve as the principal liaison between ECST1 and the Communication Department.
- Assist in organizing workshops and other large-scale events conducted under the BMGF project and by the division.
- Fulfill any other duties as requested by Task manager and ECST management.
IV GENERAL QUALIFICATIONS AND SUITABILITY FOR THE TASK :
- At least a Master’s/post graduate degree in a finance or economic ;
- Two (2) to five (5) years relevant professional experience ;
- Experience un supporting statistical projects in Africa ;
- Competence in the use of standard software and finance packages used in the Bank (Microsoft Office packages, knowledge of SAP an advantage) ;
- Ability to communicate effectively in English, with a good working knowledge of French ;
- Ability to write reports and complete tasks on a timely basis ;
- Excellent interpersonal and coordination skills in liaising with colleagues ;
- Ability to work in both a team environment and, in specific areas, with a considerable degree of independence ;7
- Experience of working in a developing country environment, preferably in Africa ;
- Experience of working with a regional or international development institution, preferably in Africa ;
- Ease of working in a collaborative style and with good interpersonal skills; ability to work in a multicultural environment and ability to establish effective working leadership with a team.
Language : The candidate should have an excellent knowledge of written and spoken English and/or French; and, a good working knowledge of the other language.
Reporting : The Consultant will be required to prepare and submit activity progress reports as appropriate and a Consultancy Report for the period of the consultancy.
VII. Duration of assignment :
The services of the incumbent will be required for a maximum period of 12 months
VIII. Missions :
The Consultant would be entitled to any travel/mission needed for his/her fulfilment of the duties, particularly to RMCs for providing support in communication, and attending meetings/workshops as needed.