Egypt MESR: Senior Policy and/or Economic Experts

Job Description

SCOPE OF WORK

USAID Macro-Economic Stabilization and Reform (MESR)

Position: Senior Policy and/or Economic Experts

Period of Performance On/About (From – To)

April 25, 2019

June 25, 2019

Maximum Level of Effort

30 working days

Base of Operations

Cairo, Egypt

position reports to

MESR Chief of Party and Senior Advisor

Project Background:

The USAID-funded Macro-Economic Stabilization and Reform (MESR) Activity will provide technical assistance, capacity building, and training to relevant stakeholders and counterparts in order to promote macroeconomic stability by improving the process of capital expenditure planning, control and monitoring; upgrading the effectiveness of public financial management; and developing skills for expanding public private dialogue to promote better policy and regulatory reforms addressing macroeconomic imbalances. Stakeholders and counterparts include the Egyptian Ministry of Finance (MOF), the Ministry of Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform (MPMAR), business associations, other private sector representatives, as well as other governmental agencies and international organizations working in the area of macroeconomic stabilization.

Purpose:

In September 2015, the Government of Egypt (GOE) joined the other members of the United Nations General Assembly countries and adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which represent the foundation for the Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt’s Vision 2030 (SDS:2030). Since then, the GOE has been working through the Ministry of Planning Monitoring and Administrative Reform (MPMAR) to ensure that key SDS goals are met.

The USAID Macro-Economic Stabilization and Reform (MESR) Project supports MPMAR to achieve the SDS: Egypt Vision 2030 goals primarily through its Objective 1 “Improved public investment planning, implementation, and monitoring to enhance the productivity of public capital assets and the efficiency and effectiveness of public services”.

Considered a living document, the adopted SDS:2030 is subject to continuous revisions through a viable integrated process. Early in 2018, MPMAR decided to revisit the SDS:2030. This decision was driven by multiple factors, including: the need to better align the SDS:2030 with the UN SDGs and their indicators published in March 2016; the need to take into consideration the changing structure of the Egyptian economy given the recent launch of the reform and stabilization program in 2016; the need to ensure that the strategy is aligned with Africa’s 2063 agenda; and finally the need to accommodate urgent issues such as population increase, water scarcity, etc within the Egyptian context.

The Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) in MPMAR is leading the revision process. This process includes different parallel steps; starting with more than 60 orientation and educational workshops to raise the awareness of SDGs and calling on ministries and other government entities to form working groups/units focusing on sustainable development. The SDU provided technical support to those working groups/units in each government entity to develop working papers on how to streamline sustainable development in their development plans and programs, and how to develop their own performance indicators. These working papers were revised by a group of experts assigned by the SDU and the MESR activity. This team of experts produced a compiled version of these working papers at the national level.

The MPMAR also created a Reviewing Committee for SDS:2030. The principal task of this committee was to identify gaps in the current version of the SDS:2030. The SDU and MESR assigned experts to work on the identified gaps by developing position papers.

Simultaneously, an update of the ‘governance and transparency’ pillar and a revision of the ‘Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)’ mechanism of the SDS was undertaken by a group of MPMAR’s specialized in-house experts and staff. MPMAR has conducted an updated proposal for the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms based on international standards and methodologies.

The SDU will next assign the compilation of the current SDS:2030 position papers, the national level paper, the updated M&E mechanism and the updated governance and transparency pillar to a Compilation Committee. The Committee will include a group of experts to work on drafting the Updated SDS:2030. The draft will be the subject of a consultative process through dialogues including representatives of the public-sector partners, the private sector, as well as different groups of the community (youth, NGOs, etc.).

Finally, a proofreading and formatting process of the final version of the updated SDS will be conducted by professional editors.

The SDU and the MESR activity are cooperating to assign the team of experts to the Compilation Committee in order to develop the updated SDS:2030.

Responsibilities of Senior Policy and/or Economic Experts:

• Work as part of a team on integrating the content of the current SDS:2030, the national paper and position papers, the updated M&E mechanism and the updated governance and transparency pillar, as well as review other needed documents and studies in the first version of the updated SDS:2030.
• Propose, strategic goals, policies, programs, reforms and national indicators that should be included in the final version of the strategy.
• Moderate, with other team members, the public consultation dialogues and incorporate their output in the final version of the updated SDS:2030.
• Supervise the proofreading and formatting process and verify the final edits of the updated SDS.

Deliverables:

No.

Deliverable

Deadline

1

First draft of the updated SDS:2030, which will form the basis for the national consultations.

15 May 2019

2

Second draft of the Updated SDS:2030 after incorporating the output of the consultation process.

25 May 2019

3

Final draft of the updated SDS:2030 after verifying the final edits resulting from the proofreading and formatting process.

10 June 2019

4

PowerPoint presentation on the updated SDS:2030 to be presented to the Cabinet of Ministers.

15 June 2019

Experts Competences:

• Ph.D. in Economics, Public Policy, or in any of the specializations that are relevant to topics included in the SDS.
• At least 20 years of professional experience in one or more of the above-mentioned development areas.
• Experience working with the Government of Egypt on policy reforms related to one or more of the above-mentioned development areas.
• Excellent reporting and writing skills.
• Team working ability

Location and Reporting:

The Experts will be based in Cairo, Egypt and will closely work and coordinate with MESR Chief of Party and Senior Advisor.

About the Organization

DAI delivers development. We do it in many of the world's most demanding environments, by integrating a broad range of disciplines. Over 40 years, our employee owners have built a forward-looking company — one that combines innovative thinking, deep technical knowledge, and professional project management. We approach our work with passion, analytical rigor, and open minds. By freely sharing what we learn, we have built a reputation as thought leaders who translate good ideas into action and action into results. Our global team of 1,500 development professionals welcomes each opportunity to solve a new problem, no matter how difficult. That's how DAI has earned the trust of the clients, partners, and people who work alongside us all over the world. DAI Advancing Human Prosperity SM