| Overview : Pacific Islands countries (PICs) boast “big ocean” economies, with young and mobile populations and highly resilient and adaptative societies. Past and recent investments have however fallen short of developing diverse economies offering inclusive services and opportunities, resilient to external shocks and the increasing pace of climate disasters. While the scale of Pacific economies does not allow them to respond to all these challenges alone, public investment and revenues would gain from empowered officials accountable to keep basic service delivery and development priorities in mind while driving fiscal decisions. For this reason, the “Accountable Public Finances to serve Pacific people – Vaka Pasifika” project (hereafter Vaka Pasifika project) builds on the results of the “Strengthening Public Finance Management and Governance in the Pacific” (PFM) project implemented between 2018 and 2022. The proposed overarching goal of this project is to strengthen the governance mechanisms enabling Pacific countries to deliver public services that are better calibrated to meet specific needs of the people. Its specific focus will be to ensure scarce Pacific resources are better managed and the resource base available for achieving national development goals will be increased. To achieve this goal, PIC economies require stable and reliable institutions (both formal and informal) implementing the right mix of creativity and rigor informed by on the ground realities. The Project will contribute to this vision by (a) supporting oversight institutions and decision makers (broadly understood) to define and implement their priorities through leadership, institutional capacity strengthening, lessons sharing and trialing locally-led innovations and (b) enhancing responsiveness of service delivery and public finance management by developing institutional mechanisms for engagement and openness and strengthening civil society capacity. This Project recognizes that across the region there is an increasing web of independent accountability institutions and actors which have some role to play in ensuring that PFM processes are accountable, transparent and people-centred. A number of PICs have Ombudsman, and a growing number have set up Independent Commissions Against Corruption. Fiji and Samoa have stand-alone national human rights institution, Palau has a Special Prosecutor with a specific anti-corruption mandate and Solomon Islands, PNG and Tuvalu have Leadership Code Commissions. All of these institutions can play a role in promoting accountability for public money, to different extents. Also relevant are civil society organisations, the media, the Church and religious groups, as well as customary institutions in holding leaders to account. Starting from this acknowledgement, the project seeks a consultant/team of consultants to 1) explore different local understandings, meanings and practices of accountability, oversight and related concepts; 2) map the various national institutions and actors that are involved in promoting PFM accountability, their roles, interests and relationships, how they currently coordinate their efforts; and 3) what can be done to support them to collaborate to promote accountability, and as appropriate, to address corruption in a politically savvy manner. The assessments will include recommendations for consideration linked to the outcome of the research, notably on the actors which might benefit from engaging on project activities. This first set of research will then shape a partnership to ensure that the project’s work on coalitions and networks is documented – following action research or other sets of methodologies. Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications to the link provided . - Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability for the duration of the assignment using the template provided in Annex II.
- CV indicating all experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
- Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex II (in USD)
- Proposal on approach and methodology (2-pages max).
Note: Successful individual will be required to provide proof of medical insurance coverage before commencement of contract for the duration of the assignment. Incomplete, joint proposals and proposals sent to the wrong mailing address will not be accepted and only candidates for whom there is further interest will be contacted. Individuals interested in this consultancy should apply and will be reviewed based on their own individual capacity. The successful individual may sign an Individual Contract with UNDP or request his/her employer to sign a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) on their behalf by indicating this in the Offerors letter to Confirming Interest and Availability using Annex II. - Annex I - Individual IC General Terms and Conditions
- Annex II – Offeror’s Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual IC, including Financial Proposal Template
Kindly use the link to apply online : https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=108110 | 
