Title of Consultancy: Regional Donor Reporting Quality Assurance Exercise, 2015
UNICEFWCARO
TERMES OF REFERENCE
Title of Consultancy: Regional Donor Reporting Quality Assurance Exercise, 2015
Duty Station: Dakar – Senegal, WCARO (Working Remotely – Home based)
Region: WCAR
Level: P4
Planned Duration of Consultancy: 45 days (from October to December 2015)
Contract Type: Consultancy - SSA Individual Contract
Closing Date: 02 December 2015
Submitted by: PME Section
1. Background and Justification
The purpose of the assignment is to support UNICEF WCARO PME Section and the Office of the Deputy Regional Director to conduct an independent regional donor reporting Quality Assurance exercise.
UNICEF’s Programme Budget Income in West and Central Africa region (which includes twenty four Country Offices and one Regional Office) has increased from a total amount of $ 391 million in 2013 to $ 1.107 billion in 2014, then to 527 million in 2015 (as of early August) (see table 1 below). This represents an increase in each specific categories of resources (i.e. Regular Resources, Other Resources Regular and Other Resources Emergency). In 2014 and 2015 respectively, around 53% and 45% of resources mobilized for Emergency programmes have been dedicated to the Ebola outbreak.
Table 1: WCAR Programme budget Income per Fund category 2013 - 2015[1]Fund category / Income
2013 / 2014 / 2015 / Total
Other Resources - Emergency / 182,085,284 / 411,243,358 / 202,575,778 / 795,904,419
Other Resources - Regular / 209,245,628 / 689,941,076 / 323,201,491 / 1,222,388,196
Regular Resources / -105,572 / 5,698,264 / 1,093,538 / 6,686,230
Total Programme budget / 391,225,339 / 1,106,882,698 / 526,870,808 / 2,024,978,845
UNICEF WCAR has continued to increase its overall income from Governments (bilateral), Multilateral (Inter-Governmental organizations and Inter-Organizational Arrangements) and National Committees. During the period of 2013-early August 2015, 56% of WCAR resources have been mobilized from Governments, 28% from multilateral donors and 12% from national committees (see chart below).
The higher level of income received by UNICEF in the last year shows the trust resource partners have in UNICEF to advance the rights of every child. At the same time, the tight economic conditions in developed countries are resulting in stricter conditionalities and in an increasing demands for high quality of donor reports. Therefore, if UNICEF wants to continue to receive funds from donors and achieve results for children it should constantly invest to assure that the donor reports are of high quality and meet donors’ expectations.
In addition, the Office of Internal Audit recommended that all Regional Offices should exercise a greater role in oversight and quality assurance to ensure other resources funds are used by the Regional Office and Country Offices in line with donor conditions and proposals. Therefore, UNICEF WCARO has decided to conduct an independent donor reporting quality assurance exercise of selected donor reports submitted by the Country Offices and by the Regional Office during the period January 2014 – June 2015. Similar exercises was conducted in 2009/2010 and 2011/2012.
During the period January 2014 – June 2015, UNICEF West and Central Africa Region has reported on a total of 360 grants, of which 91 from Governments, 99 from National Committees and 158 from Multilaterals (Intergovernmental Organization and Inter-organizational arrangement) and 12 coming from private sector fundraising at country level and/or NGOs. Out of the 360 grants, 46% were related to emergency and 54% were non-emergency related. (See table 2 below)
WCAR Final donor reports status (January 2014 – June 2015)[2]Donor category / Fund type / Sent Late / Sent on Time / Grand Total
Field Offices PSFR / Other Resources - Emergency / 1 / 1
Other Resources - Regular / 2 / 2
Total / 1 / 2 / 3
Governments / Other Resources - Emergency / 4 / 42 / 46
Other Resources - Regular / 3 / 42 / 45
Total / 7 / 84 / 91
Inter-Governmental Organizations / Other Resources - Emergency / 11 / 16 / 27
Other Resources - Regular / 1 / 2 / 3
Total / 12 / 18 / 30
Inter-Organizational Arrangements / Other Resources - Emergency / 11 / 76 / 87
Other Resources - Regular / 4 / 37 / 41
Total / 15 / 113 / 128
National Committees / Other Resources - Emergency / 1 / 4 / 5
Other Resources - Regular / 12 / 82 / 94
Total / 13 / 86 / 99
Non-Governmental Organization / Other Resources - Regular / 4 / 5 / 9
Total / 4 / 5 / 9
Grand Total / 52 / 308 / 360
2. Purpose and Objective
The objective of the exercise is to evaluate the quality of selected donor reports submitted by the country offices and the regional office during the period January 2014 – June 2015. In addition, this exercise is to provide constructive feedback to the Country Offices and to the Regional Office to improve their future quality of donor reports and contribution management. Furthermore, this exercise aims at improving the overall capacity of Country Offices and Regional Office in writing donor reports and identify area for further improvements in the area of “Donor Reporting and Contribution Management”. Following this regional exercise, Country offices will be encouraged to undertake donors’ reports quality assurance at country level.
4. Methodology and Technical Approach
The scope of the exercise is divided into three phases:
Phase I – Inception Report - Data analysis and development of sampling criteria and assessment tools (in consultation with UNICEF WCARO, PFP and PPD), including:
(a) Analysis of key data related to contribution trends over 2012-2015 and of final progress reports submitted between January 2014 and June 2015 (data tables to be provided by WCARO) and review of UNICEF corporate guidance, tools and best practices on donor reporting and quality assessments of donor reporting, including:
a. UNICEF Programme, Policy and Procedures e-Manual – Section 4.8 Contribution Management, and specifically Section 4.8.4 Donor Reporting as well as UNDG RBM Handbook (part 6)
b. Public Partnership Division (PPD) Resources on Donor Reporting available on UNICEF Intranet here, including:
i. Independent Consultant Study: A Quality Assessment of UNICEF’s Government Donor Report, December 5, 2012 and its Annexes (including scoring criteria)
ii. Guidance and Checklist for Preparation, Review and Clearance of Donor Reports (August 2013)
c. Private Fundraising and Partnership (PFP) Division Guidelines for NatCom reporting through the use of NatCom Donor Toolkit as well as through individual proposals (see PFP Guidance Note on Contribution Management and to the standard template on National Committee Standard Progress and Final Reports
(b) A stratified, purposive sampling methodology for the selection of 50 donor reports submittedduring the period 1 January 2014 – 30 June 2015 by Offices in the West and Central Africa region, taking into consideration the following criteria:
i. Top donors in the region: 25 reports from top 5 bilaterals (5 each), 13 reports from top 5 multilateral donors[3] (3 each) and 6 from the top 6 UNICEF National Committees[4] (1 each) and 1 from Non-Governmental Organisations (top donor);
ii. Fund type: a mix of Development (ORR) and Emergency (ORE) reports, in line with donor monies for each category;
iii. Geographic balance (max 2 reports per CO);
iv. Sectoral balance for ORR funds (at least one report per SP outcome area)
Only reports for grants greater than 100.000 USD will be considered.
(c) A scoring tool and methodology (including a quality assurance criteria and checklists) to assess the quality of donor reports, in line with existing guidance, documentation and best practices available globally (based on the review of corporate guidance and tools).
Phase II – Collection and analysis of donor reports
Consultant to review and assess all reports based on agreed quality assurance criteria and checklists. A one page comment summary will be prepared for each donor report based on an agreed template.
Phase III – A Regional Summary Report highlighting the main findings, including an overall analysis of strengths and weaknesses of donor reporting and suggested actions to improve quality.
3. Activities, Tasks, Outputs and Deliverables
As indicated above, tangible and measurable outputs of the work assignment (e.g. end products) include:
· Inception Report to include:
o Data analysis on key contribution trends and reports submitted in the region
o A sampling methodology, a scoring tool and criteria, and a template to provide written comments on each report
· Read and assess the reports
· Provide one-page written comments for each report reviewed (based on an agreed format)
· Provide an overall analysis of key strengths and weaknesses and a set of recommendations to improve the quality of donor reports across the WCA region
Key deliverables are:
· An inception report
· Preparation of country reports (one page comments for each report reviewed)
· A synthesis report presenting the analysis, key findings and recommendations.
· A powerpoint presentation of the synthesis report
6. Management, Organization and Timeframe
The consultant will work under the supervision of Regional Planning Specialist who will be responsible for the overall coordination of the consultancy. It is expected to have regular follow up meetings between the consultant and his supervisor (at least once every week) to discuss work progress and any needed adjustment.
The HQ PPD division, the regional partnership specialist, the regional Vision specialist and the regional budget manager will be involved in the whole process and be consulted as needed.
The expected deliverables will be submitted following to the below timeframe
Deliverables / Duration (# of days)Inception report presenting the methodology and plan of action for donor reporting review / 3 days
Review and analysis of 50 donor reports / 25 days
Preparation of country reports / 12 days
Preparation of synthesis report / 5 days
7. Budget and Remuneration
Total working days for the consultancy: 45 days planned from January 1st to end of March 2016
Fees: to be established based on the best value-for-money offer
Payment schedule: 30% after submission of inception report and 70% after submission of the final regional summary report and PowerPoint Presentation.
8. Qualifications and Specialized Knowledge/experience required
Education:
- Advanced university degree in Economics or related social science.
Skills and Experience:
- At least 8 years’ experience in programme management, with a focus on areas of donor relations and assessment of donor reports
- High competency in analytical review and report writing
- Fluency in English and French necessary
- Knowledge of UNICEF policies and strategies and experience of working with UNICEF an asset
- Proven analytical and conceptual skills
Other competencies:
- Communication
- Working with People,
- Drive for Results
- Analyzing
- Applying Technical Expertise
10. Conditions of Work
Working remotely (home based). No equipment will be provided to the consultant.
UNICEF recourse in case of unsatisfactory performance:
Payment will only be made for work satisfactorily completed and accepted by UNICEF.
UNICEF West and Central Africa Country Offices are located in the following countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde (UN Joint Office), Central African Republic, Chad, DR Congo, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sao tome & Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo.
If you are qualified and interested in the position and meet the requirements, please submit proposed daily professional fee and forward your application with updated curriculum vitae and UN Personal History Form (available at www.unicef.org/employ), with “the title of the position as the subject’’, via email to [email protected] and by 02 December 2015.
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.
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[1] Source: Income Analysis cube as of 5th August 2015
[2] Donor Reports schedule analysis cube – Final Progress and Utilization reports
[3] Inter-Governmental Organizations and Inter-Organizational Arrangements
[4] Reports on funding received from the private sector and from NGOs is not included.