Mid Level Public Financial Management Consultant

Job Description

The Indo-Pacific Opportunity Program (IPOP) is a 4-year, regional activity in the Indo-Pacific region designed to address the Public Financial Management (PFM) objectives under the Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS). It aims to create inclusive and sustainable economic growth, encourage regional cooperation, promote good governance, and improve the management of institutions. IPOP will focus on improving the macroeconomic policy and trade environment in the target countries. It also aims to strengthen democratic institutions to oversee PFM and implement sustainable infrastructure projects. IPOP is designed to contribute to four intermediate results:

• Improve trade and investment policy and capacity;
• Strengthen ability to implement sustainable and high-quality infrastructure projects
• Improve macroeconomic and fiscal policy; and
• Strengthen democratic systems to oversee PFM

Under IPOP, the Pacific Island Countries (PIC) PFM Activity will provide USAID with the technical advisory services needed to conduct a Needs/Gap assessment in the Pacific Island countries with a primary focus on Fiji and Papua New Guinea. This will include, among others, a political economy analysis; key gender and inclusive development considerations; stakeholder consultations with government, civil society, and private sector actors; donor mapping to identify PFM training and technical assistance needs; and identification of key economic trends and PFM gaps covering a wide range of PFM issues including budget planning, execution, formulation, reporting, macro-fiscal management, public procurement, fiscal transparency and public investment management, among others.

In addition, the process will also involve co-creation work planning with USAID and country governments, which will result in the development of a workplan that includes targeted training, advisory, and mentoring activities.

The Activity will also implement specific targeted technical assistance activities in Papa New Guinea and Fiji, as determined by the outcome of the co-creation work planning process or as determined by USAID. Activities will include delivering tailored training, mentoring and capacity building workshops. The modality of the technical assistance and capacity building will include, among others, developing assessment reports on specific PFM areas; developing tailored training modules; conducting trainings, workshops, and focus group discussions; holding public private dialogue on key issues that require consensus building; and providing follow-on advisory services to counterparts in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and potential other host government counterparts in PIC region.

The Mid-Level PFM Consultant will:

• Conduct consultations with counterparts on technical assistance activities’ design and implementation with counterparts and project stakeholders in close coordination with the project director.
• Develop tailored training materials for Fijian and Papua New Guinean government agencies, civil society, and the private sector. Topics will stem from the Needs/Gap Assessment Report and Co-creation Work Planning.
• Provide technical assistance to strengthen national budget planning. Illustrative capacity building and technical assistance activities may include strengthening budget formulation, budget planning, budget execution, program-based budgeting, expenditure management, effective design of infrastructure projects, public procurement reforms, strengthening medium-term budget, macroeconomic and fiscal framework.
• Develop and deliver pre-tests and post-tests for any and all trainings so as to measure trainees’ learning and improvement.
• Deliver training-of-trainers (TOT) capacity building programs to the government training officers.
• Advise staff trained through TOT and enable the trainers to deliver trainings in the future, thus ensuring sustainability.
• Respond to short-term demand-driven flexible activities which could include on-the-job mentoring for government staff, drafting key processes, formulating or improving operating procedures and implementation manuals, developing tools, delivering workshops, and conducting focus group discussions.
• Provide guidance to CCN consultants on the technical inputs needed for the training, capacity building, and technical assistance activities.
• Any other task as agreed with the Team Leader and Project Director

• Develop training modules and training completion reports
• Conduct workshops, focus group discussions and round tables (as needed).
• Deliver Activity Completion Reports (Months 6, 8, and 10) for all trainings, technical assistance activities, workshops. After receiving feedback from the Team Leader and Project Director, finalize Activity Completion Reports (Months 7, 9, and 11))

The Mid-Level PFM Consultant will report to the Team Leader and work in close collaboration with the Senior Level PFM Consultant.

Qualification Requirements

• Master’s degree in international affairs, economics, business, statistics, public policy, or a related field.
• A minimum of seven (7) years of experience with a master’s degree or five (5) years of experience with a PhD. The candidate must have experience supporting the public sector with PFM reforms and practices.
• Proven skills and experience in areas such as: budgeting, procurement, treasury functions, infrastructure financing, and medium-term frameworks.
• Excellent communication (written and oral), presentation, management, and interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated professional experience developing and delivering training modules, technical assistance activities, and workshops to government authorities such as Ministries of Finance and Ministries of Economy, as well as civil society organizations and private sector stakeholders.
• Experience writing and editing assessments and reports for USAID and other donors.
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy, as well as excellent organizational skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and professionally with remote and in-person co-workers.
• Excellent computer skills and proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (e.g., PowerPoint, Word, and Excel) as well as various integrated financial management information systems (IFMIS).
• Fluent in written and spoken English.

The period of performance will be from June 2022 – May 2023. The total level of effort will be 110 days.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, protected veteran status or other status protected by applicable law.

About the Organization

DevTech Systems, Inc. (DevTech) is an international consulting firm and small business dedicated to development, with over 37 years of experience providing advisory services and technical assistance to government, private sector, and civil society stakeholders in more than 100 countries. We are a data driven organization that specializes in informing policy making by delivering focused data-driven evidence-based analysis products and services. DevTech core practice areas include: Economic and Data analysis, Monitoring and Evaluation, Education and Youth Development, Gender and Inclusive Development, and Public Financial Management.