Overview : Purpose
To hire a consultant with specialized expertise and experience in public policy analysis, to train and mentor the analytical team in the Public Policy Secretariat (hereinafter: Secretariat) and upgrade their skills in public policy and modelling techniques.
Objective
To provide support to the Secretariat of the Republic of Serbia in developing the evidence based policy function and equip the analytical team of the Secretariat in conducting qualitative and quantitative research and analysis.
Background Information
The Public Policy Secretariat is a new Government institution, established in April 2014 by the Law on Ministries (Art. No.33). The Secretariat has been mandated to reform the strategic planning system and integrate strategic planning with policy and budgeting, upgrade the methodological framework for the analysis and development of public policies, oversee implementation of regulatory reform and analysis of effects of proposed legislation changes, coordinate these processes with Ministries and government institutions, etc.
The Secretariat is located under the Prime Minister’s office and reports directly to the Prime Minister and the Government of Serbia. Together with the General Secretariat, Ministry of Finance and Legislature Secretariat, Public Policy Secretariat forms the Centre of Government of the Republic of Serbia.
In the last ten years there has been limited progress in the area of strategic planning, mainly through the project initiatives funded by British, Norwegian and Swedish Governments and the EU, and channelled through the General Secretariat of the Government. A number of pilot ministries have been distributing detailed annual operational plans, including medium term projections, to the General Secretariat. Due to the limited capacity of the General Secretariat to follow up on these plans, and the fact that this procedure has not been enforced by the legislation change, the Ministries have abolished this practice.
More significant progress has been lacking due to the inertia and the lack of capacity in the public administration system, coupled with the absence of strategic priority setting from the top. The Public Policy Secretariat is developing the Action plan for implementation of Government programme to address the strategic priority setting. The Secretariat has defined four main strategic priorities for Serbia for the coming period: reduction of fiscal deficit/fiscal sustainability, increase in income/GDP, increase in employment and EU integration.
Based on those four strategic priorities, the Secretariat has agreed medium-term priorities and objectives with each Ministry. The Ministries are forwarding detailed plans to the Secretariat where they are specifying policy measures they will implement in order to achieve the agreed aims and estimated cost for each policy measure. The links with program budgets are currently being mapped, in order to enable the Secretariat to monitor and evaluate the progress in reaching the objectives agreed in priority areas.
In addition, the Secretariat has started developing analytical capacity necessary to undertake research and analysis necessary to inform the decision making process and to influence the policy debate within the Government. The Secretariat’s objective is to have a capable and skilful team of policy analysts who will specialize in their area of expertise based on specific sectors and cross-cutting issues and be able to complement already existing analytical structures in the Ministry of Finance, National Bank and others.
The analytical team would primarily be tasked with undertaking cost-benefits analysis of different policy options and would present to the Government policy recommendations based on strong evidence supported by statistical data collected from various sources. Systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of policy will be built into the policy making process, which has been lacking in Serbia in the past. This would require clear definition of success criteria and building means of evaluation into the policy making process from the outset.
The Secretariat will be expected to coordinate economic policy, as per EU Directives for chapter 17: Economic and Monetary Policy as well as provide constructive inputs for the Strategy documents, such as Fiscal Strategy and Pre-accession economic programme. In order to be able to contribute effectively, the Secretariat has to develop the capacity for macroeconomic modelling.
Description of Responsibilities
The expert will:
- Draft the plan for training/mentoring with timeline for its implementation and mapping specific curriculum modules to be delivered;
- Deliver training to the team of policy analysts that will enable them to undertake policy analysis based on evidence and statistical data, including cost-benefits analysis and other techniques and methods available;
- Deliver training in quantitative research methods;
- Deliver training in macroeconomic modelling: basic economic concepts behind macroeconomic models, formulating and building a macroeconomic model, analysing the model, interpretation of results, case studies, group discussions and simulation exercises;
- Provide online mentoring and coaching.
The consultant will be required to meet in Belgrade, at the Secretariat premises, with relevant Secretariat management and personnel to discuss the topics listed above.
Duties, responsibilities and key milestones
The consultant is responsible for the following deliverables:
- Deliverable 1: Training curriculum developed, deadline: 08.12.2014.
- Deliverable 2: Training/mentoring on evidence based policy making delivered, deadline: 10.12.2014. to 19.12.2014.
- Deliverable 3: Training/mentoring on quantitative methods delivered Training/mentoring on macroeconomic modelling delivered, deadline:26.01.2015. to 06.02.2015.
- Deliverable 4: Online mentoring and coaching delivered to the analytical team, deadline: by 12.02.2015.
- Deliverable 5: Short report on the training delivered and recommendation on further policy analysis development needs, deadline: by 13.02.2015.
All deliverables will have to be quality reviewed and approved or accepted by the Public Finance Portfolio Manager and UNDP Governance officer, in consultations with the Director of the Secretariat.
Competencies:
- Excellent research and analytical skills;
- Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
- Evidence of ability to express ideas clearly; to work independently and in teams;
- Reliability and timeliness in keeping deadlines and delivering high quality products;
- Ability to transfer knowledge and experience to others;
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
- Demonstrates integrity by modelling ethical standards.
Qualifications:
- Advanced university degree (PhD) in the field of economics, statistics, mathematics or related field;
- Minimum five years of practical experience in policy making and policy analysis in either Government institution, think-tank, university policy or research centre or other institution involved in high level policy making and analysis;
- Minimum three years of experience in delivering training in evidence based policy making, quantitative analysis and macroeconomic modelling or related field;
- Expert knowledge on how to apply macroeconomic modelling to policy development;
- Broad understanding and knowledge of the context of policy making in Serbia;
- Fluency in English. Good command of Serbian desirable.
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Application Procedure:
Qualified and interested candidates are asked to submit their applications via UNDP Web site: UNDP in Serbia under section “Jobs” no later than 27 November 2014.
Applications should include:
Additional Information:
- Individual Contract (IC) will be applicable for individual consultants applying in their own capacity. If the applicant is employed by any legal entity, IC would be issued upon submission of Consent letter from the employer acknowledging the engagement with UNDP. Template of General Conditions on IC could be found on: http://www.undp.org.rs/download/ic/Confirmation.docx.
- Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) will be applicable for applicants employed by any legal entity. Template of RLA with General Terms and Conditions could be found on: http://www.undp.org.rs/download/RLA%20with%20General%20Terms%20and%20Conditions.doc. In the case of engagement of Civil servants under IC contract modality a no-objection letter should be provided by the Government entity. The ‘no-objection’ letter must also state that the employer formally certifies that their employees are allowed to receive short-term consultancy assignment from another entity without being on “leave-without-pay” status (if applicable), and include any conditions and restrictions on granting such permission, if any. If the previous is not applicable ‘leave-without-pay’ confirmation should be submitted.
Engagement of Government Officials and Employees
- Government Officials or Employees are civil servants of UN Member States. As such, if they will be engaged by UNDP under an IC which they will be signing in their individual capacity (i.e., engagement is not done through RLA signed by their Government employer), the following conditions must be met prior to the award of contract:
(i) A “No-objection” letter in respect of the individual is received from the Government employing him/her, and; (ii) The individual must provide an official documentation from his/her employer formally certifying his or her status as being on “official leave without pay” for the duration of the IC.
The above requirements are also applicable to Government-owned and controlled enterprises and well as other semi/partially or fully owned Government entities, whether or not the Government ownership is of majority or minority status.
UNDP recognizes the possibility that there are situations when the Government entity employing the individual that UNDP wishes to engage is one that allows its employees to receive external short-term consultancy assignments (including but not limited to research institutions, state-owned colleges/universities, etc.), whereby a status of “on-leave-without-pay” is not required. Under such circumstance, the individual entering into an IC with UNDP must still provide a “No-objection” letter from the Government employing him/her. The “no objection” letter required under (i) above must also state that the employer formally certifies that their employees are allowed to receive short-term consultancy assignment from another entity without being on “leave-without-pay” status, and include any conditions and restrictions on granting such permission, if any. The said document may be obtained by, and put on record of, UNDP, in lieu of the document (ii) listed above.
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