National PUBLIC FINANCE consultant to support preparedness of the national social protection in Romania to shocks (Home-Based) 50 working days, Bucharest, Romania

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, protection. 

How can you make a difference? 

Scope of Work:

In a context where the number, severity, complexity, and duration of crises have been on the rise and overburdening national and humanitarian response systems, the potential role of social protection in addressing the needs of shock affected population is increasingly recognised. Since it is now widely recognised that poor people are more vulnerable and most affected by shock events with long-lasting negative impacts (Hallegatte et al., 2017), routine poverty-targeted social protection programmes are effective in support and resilience building. Moreover, social protection systems can be leveraged during emergencies with potential for a quicker, more predictable, sustainable, and efficient response (O’Brien et al, 2018; OPM, 2017). 

As other countries in the Europe and Central Asia region, Romania is vulnerable to natural disasters, especially earthquakes, floods, droughts, and extreme weather, as well as to displacements due to political conflicts. Moreover, the country has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the cost-of-living crisis, which have tested the resilience of its economy and exacerbated the structural vulnerabilities, especially in terms of poverty and disparities in economic opportunity. The level of maturity of national social protection systems in the region makes the use social protection programmes or their underlying institutions and systems a relevant option for national governments and their partners for a more rapid, cost effective, inclusive, and harmonised response to meet needs of those affected by such shocks.

The World Bank and UNICEF in Romania commissioned two complementary assessments of the national social protection system in 2023. The purpose of the assessments was to review the capacity of Romania’s social protection system to prevent, reduce and respond adequately to disaster-related shocks, and map cash assistance programmes targeted at Romanian residents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and at the population displaced by the war in Ukraine.  The assessment reports provided policy recommendations to make the national social protection system in Romania adaptive and responsive to shocks and promote a more predictable, sustainable, and efficient response during crises. Policy recommendations covered three major areas of technical support to the national systems in Romania:

• Enhancing policy coherence, institutional capacity, and cross-sector collaboration
• Enhancing social protection and disaster risk data management
• Enhancing social protection programmes and delivery systems

The assessment reports can be accessed here:

• Towards Adaptive Social Protection in Romania (English)
• Shock-responsive social protection in Romania

Overall, it was recommended that all financial support programmes (regular and temporary) to people affected by shocks are delivered using social protection system’s administrative/delivery channels and the regular social protection benefit programmes are made disaster sensitive and shock responsive.  In the event the social protection system is not ready to immediately enrol the population affected by shocks, e.g., in case of a large scale crisis, maximum efforts must be exerted to piggyback on social protection systems by using the social protection data management systems,  delivering emergency support through existing social assistance and social security payment systems and using the social protection information management systems to register additional beneficiaries of emergency response programme and enable coordination/data sharing with other sector information management systems

UNICEF and the Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity agreed to follow-up on policy recommendations of the recent assessments and to undertake measures for strengthening the national social protection system’s preparedness and adaptability to shocks. 

To support the above, UNICEF will contract a team of consultants who will work together to provide technical support to the government: a) an international consultant with solid experience and profound knowledge on pre-arranged financing for disasters and shock-responsive social protection as a team leader; b) a national consultant on social protection and c) a national consultant on public finance. The consultants will fulfil their part of the general scope of the technical support to the government that is framed according to the three common objectives:

The technical support assignment focuses on social protection system strengthening and on promoting the use of social protection system in situations of covariate shocks. The assignment is driven by the fact that Romania has a mature social protection system and has the experience of using the national social protection system in emergency situations. Considering the above, the assignment will support key stakeholders in Romania in generating evidence on existing gaps and in implementing measures to provide cash assistance to the population affected by shocks through the national social protection system.

Overall, the idea is two-fold: a) supporting vertical expansion – the top-ups (one-off or regular), extended duration of social protection programmes or increased frequency of payments of the selected social protection benefit programmes; and b) supporting expansion of the existing Emergency Aid programme to cover the needs of people affected by covariate shocks, those who are not enrolled in the existing social protection programmes.

The assignment will be organized under the supervision of UNICEF’s Social Policy Specialist, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity (MLSS) and other stakeholders, including the Department on Emergency Situations (DSU) under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of European Investments and Projects, the World Bank, other UN and humanitarian agencies, and civil society organizations.

This term of reference describes the scope of work for the national public finance consultant who is expected to implement the following activities within the general objectives of the technical support.

Objective 1.  Preparing the groundwork for using the national social protection system in situations of covariate shocks.  

The national public finance consultant will contribute to undertaking evidence generation interventions such as budget reviews, cost analyses and development of pre-arranged financing strategy for disaster response. In particular, the consultant will fulfill the following tasks:

• Map the funds allocated and utilized for disaster response, from all sources, including the EU funds, in recent years (e.g., three or five-year period), disaggregated by disaster type and by managing institutions both at national and sub-national levels.
• Contribute to the review of the existing disaster-financing strategies and policies and support the development of a pre-arranged financing strategy for the use of social protection system in situations of covariate shocks.

Objective 2.  Supporting expansion of existing social protection benefits in situations of covariate shocks.

Beneficiaries of existing social protection programmes can receive additional cash support via vertical expansion of social protection benefits – the top-ups (one-off or regular), extended duration of social protection programmes or increased frequency of payments of the selected social protection benefit programmes, to address their emerged needs in situation of covariate shocks. For this to happen, the public finance consultant is expected to fulfil the following tasks:

• Review the legislation and existing operating procedures of the selected social protection programmes, in particular the budgeting mechanisms and flows.
• Estimate the cost of vertical expansion of social protection benefit programmes based on risk analyses and forecast scenarios (e.g., in a situation of an earthquake that leaves 500,000 people without homes).

Objective 3. Supporting the use of the Emergency Aid programme in situations of covariate shocks.

The only social assistance programme purposively designed for shock response is the Emergency Aid programme, a one-off lump sum on demand allowance for exceptional circumstances. The Emergency Aid is granted to individuals and families in situations of need due to natural disasters, fires, accidents, or other serious health affecting events or other circumstances that may lead to the risk of poverty or social exclusion. The Emergency Aid is managed at both local and central level. The support might be granted from the state budget at the proposal of the MLSS or from local authorities through the local budget. While currently mostly applied in response to idiosyncratic shocks, the Emergency Aid programme has the potential to support larger population in case of covariate shocks.

The difference in the approach of vertical expansion of existing social protection benefit programmes and using the Emergency Aid in situations of covariate shocks is that the Emergency Aid can cover the population affected by shocks who are not enrolled in the social protection benefit programmes. The consultant will undertake the following tasks:

• Review the legislation and existing operating procedures of the Emergency Aid programme, in particular the budgeting mechanisms and flows.
• Estimate the cost of using the Emergency Aid programme in situations of covariate shocks based on risk analyses and forecast scenarios (e.g., in a situation of an earthquake that leaves 500,000 people without homes).

Within this assignment, under coordination of UNICEF’s Social Policy Specialist and in cooperation with national social protection consultant and international consultant, the public finance consultant should liaise with all relevant stakeholders who relate to the national social protection system and with emergency response in Romania. The consultant will present the draft assignment deliverables to the MLSS, and the inter-agency technical task force established by the government.

It is suggested that both primary and secondary data collection methods will be utilized for this assignment. In this respect, the consultant is expected to implement at least two data collection tools – desk review & data analyses and key informant interviews. If necessary, the consultant can propose other tools that are relevant for implementation of the assignment.

Desk review and data analysis:

A rigorous desk review process is expected, covering all existing documentation and financial data (including those provided by UNICEF) and all relevant legislation and financing legislation and policies, both at national and at EU level. The desk review and data analyses process should serve as a basis for consultations with relevant stakeholders.

Key-informant interviews:

Key respondents to be approached for primary data collection may include:

• Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of European Projects and Investments, Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests etc.
• Sub-national public authorities: county and local governments

The above list is indicative and should be further adapted by the consultant during the assignment. Group interviews may be organized for better coordination among stakeholders.

DELIVERABLES

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

• Advanced University (Master) degree in public finance, economics, public administration, social policies or a related field.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• Minimum 3 years of experience on public finance management and costing of social sector policies
• Experience in undertaking research/studies, data collection and analyses related to public finance management and emergency response.
• Good knowledge of public finance management system in Romania,
• Good knowledge of EU’s funding policies and instruments,
• Excellent organisational and analytical skills,
• Computer skills, including Internet navigation and various office applications.
• Experience in engaging with governments, international organizations, and civil society entities
• Familiarity with the UN & EU agenda.
• Familiarity with UNICEF’s mandate and programmes is an advantage.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex topics on public finance.
• Analytical thinking and strategic planning skills, ability to facilitate, consult and negotiate with a broad range of government and non-government partners.
• Fluency in English and Romanian
• Strong report writing and presentation skills

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

Remarks:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.