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23 Mar 2022

PFM and Evaluation Specialist at Crown Agents

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Company: Crown Agents
Location: Ethiopia
State: Ethiopia
Job type: Full-Time
Job category: Project Management Jobs in Ethiopia

Job Description

Crown Agents is an international development organisation that works with leaders across the globe to accelerate self-sufficiency and prosperity. We offer supply chain, fund management, programme design and evaluation, training, institutional efficiency and revenue generation expertise.

Project Background

The Supporting Ethiopia’s Transition (SET) Programme was designed to pilot targeted interventions to support the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) in priority areas for democratic transition, testing our commitment to reform and appetite for donor engagement. This would support Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) to identify new areas of programming to support governance reform in Ethiopia, while also responding to immediate needs. In a recent addendum to the Business Case, the SET programme identified Public Financial Management (PFM) as a key area of institutional reform. In February 2021, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) wrote to the World Bank requesting technical assistance to support the preparation of a new PFM Reform Strategy.

The World Bank undertook the 2019 Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment for the federal Government of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa city administration and five regional sates (2018-2020) with the support of the European Union, UNICEF, Irish Aid, The British Embassy in Addis Ababa (BE) and UN Women. In addition, the Ethiopia PEFA Climate Report is almost finalized and due to be published. The PEFA Secretariat, together with the World Bank, BE and the EU have held discussions with the Government of Ethiopia Ministry of Finance (MoF) to support the preparation of a new PFM Reform Strategy through piloting the application of the PEFA Handbook, Volume IV: Using PEFA to Support Public Financial Management Improvement. The mission will commence from FY 2022 and the PFM reform priorities, actions identified technical assistance needs identified during this exercise will be used by GoE authorities to inform dialogue with donors and other external stakeholders.

The PEFA Secretariat’s methodology in providing assistance under Volume IV supports the government in reviewing the findings of the PEFA assessments. However, more support is needed to help the GoE in prioritizing actions to address weaknesses identified in the PEFA assessment, and in guiding the process to develop the GoE’s new PFM Reform Strategy. Under the SET programme, the BE has set aside resources to provide strategic support to PFM reform to the Government of Ethiopia, and has agreed that supporting the preparation of a prioritized strategy and action plan is key to defining and supporting the implementation future PFM reform.

Project Deliverables include:

Two outputs that support improved PFM in GoE:

Output 1: A new GoE PFM Reform Strategy and corresponding engagement including workshops (will be delivered alongside other partners’ support, such as the World Bank, PFM Donor Working Group (DWG) and PEFA Secretariat); and
Output 2: A Theory of Change that identifies strategic PFM reforms that would benefit from UK support where FCDO Ethiopia has a comparative advantage (which will identify potential technical assistance options for the UK to support (both policy and programmatic) that meet GoE’s next generation of PFM reform priorities).

Purpose and Scope of Job

The expert will develop a Theory of Change for PFM reform in Ethiopia which assists the Government to identify the key PFM reform areas (out of the strategy) that would benefit from UK support with clear justifications (i.e. where the UK has a comparative advantage and what is technically and politically feasible).

Position in programme

Reports to: Team Leader and Project Manager

Responsible for: Output 2 of the project

Duties and Responsibilities

Operational management and strategic direction

Contribute to the strategic direction of the programme through regular reporting on progress of MEL interventions, to the TL and PM, through formal and informal project coordination mechanisms
Carry out tasks as requested by the Project Leader
Make field visits as required

Leadership and management of personnel

Participate in regular team and project management meetings, to ensure ongoing alignment of work under its components with the wider programme
Provide guidance and support to the other team members
Develop strong working relationships with CA Team Leader, Programme Manager and others on programme delivery and operational issues.

External relationship management

Proactively build and maintain positive, productive working relationships with stakeholders
Represent Crown Agents and the programme with a high degree of professionalism

Monitoring and reporting

Actively contribute to ongoing monitoring and learning on the programme, ensuring collection of data from interventions, and holding component leads accountable for the timely data collection for monitoring and reporting on project performance
Working with and through the Component Leads, maintain up-to-date knowledge of political economy developments relevant to the programme, feeding these back to the TL and PM on an ongoing basis
Actively consider gender, equality and inclusion impacts of all interventions, to ensure the ‘Do No Harm’ requirement is met as a minimum, and that interventions are contributing to increasing gender equality wherever possible
Provide a weekly email update on the programme activities and relevant developments to both the client and Crown Agents

Technical delivery

Detailed MEL framework
Determine suitable monitoring arrangements for all actions in the project’s workplan
Consider how and when progress will be evaluated
Agree on suitable reflection points
Document MEL framework
Review of development partner PFM programming, plans and capabilities in Ethiopia
Desk review of DP PFM programme documents
Consultations with DPs active on PFM in Ethiopia
Drafting of concise note on findings, including perceived comparative advantage of BE
Incorporation of BE feedback and finalisation
Analysis of Ethiopia’s new PFM strategy
Mapping of strategy actions against results of 2.1 to identify gaps in support
Presentation of findings to BE
Incorporation of BE feedback and finalisation
Theory of change development
Brainstorming workshop
Drafting of theory of change
Presentation of theory of change to BE
Incorporation of BE feedback and finalisation

Indicative LoE: 4 to 6 months, (remotely/in Addis Ababa). This may be extended depending on GoE’s readiness and other stakeholders’ timelines.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential Skills and Knowledge

Strong leadership, management and communication skills, including of experienced technical specialists
Proven ability to navigate complex political situations and effectively manage senior government relationships (able to work alongside key stakeholders to deliver support to the GoE)
Expert technical understanding of MEL in developing country governments, specifically in relation to PFM

Personal Qualities

Highly driven
Politically astute
Flexible and responsive
Professionally credible
Culturally sensitive
Loyal and committed to the project

Experience

Minimum Ten (10) years professional experience in the field of PFM and reform particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa
Minimum Five (5) years of experience in Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning (MEAL) related work
Proven experience in developing development policies and strategies for reform programs
Solid knowledge of Theory of Change
Mastery of basic software (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access).

Qualification(s)

Fluent written and spoken French English
Hold at least a master’s degree in Economics, Management, Finance and Control or other relevant discipline

Method of Application

Submit your CV and Application on Company Website : Click Here

Closing Date : 22 April. 2022