PFM Specialist

Location: Adamawa.

Background:

The purpose of the five-year (2020-2025) “State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness” (“State2State”) Activity is to increase the accountability, transparency and effectiveness of selected state and local governments (LGAs) in Nigeria. This will be achieved by: strengthening governance systems (with a focus on public financial management [PFM] and procurement, as well as monitoring and evaluation) related to the delivery of services in key sectors (basic education, primary health care, and water, sanitation and hygiene [WASH]); increasing government responsiveness to citizen needs and priorities; and improving government and civil society capacity to manage conflict (through work on prevention, mitigation and reconciliation with the same sectoral partners, not stand-alone assistance to the police or judiciary). State2State will achieve this purpose by facilitating the strengthening of subnational governance systems in a sustainable manner, supporting the efforts of local reformers, and building on locally derived solutions including, to the extent possible, reforms already working in other parts of Nigeria.

Position Objectives:

The PFM Specialist is a technical staff member embedded at the state-level. S/he will provide support and leadership to PFM interventions and ensure relevant PFM interventions within the state, Adamawa in this case.

Responsibilities:

The PFM Specialist will provide technical assistance (TA) and advisory services in relation to the following PFM interventions within the state for which s/he is responsible:

1. Budget Planning, Administration and Execution:
   1. Planning and preparation of budgets that are comprehensive, realistic, credible, and clearly link policies with proposed expenditures;
2. Developing and implementing multi-year planning frameworks such as Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Medium-Term Sector Strategies (MTSS) in Education, Health, and WASH;
3. Developing annual procurement plans in key sectors of Education, Health, and WASH to foster greater transparency, reduce risk, and support service delivery efficiency.
4. Planning and management of procurement and expenditure processes to ensure that a higher portion of the budget is executed during the fiscal year; and
5. Monitoring adjustments and reporting on the achievement of the purposes for which the budget was approved, through timely in-year (monthly and quarterly) budget performance reports.
6. Budget Transparency:
   1. Developing systems to release draft budgets, approved budgets, and regular within-year (monthly or quarterly, not just annual) expenditure reports in a format conducive to public understanding and analysis; so that citizens can monitor not only what has been allocated but also what has actually been spent in the key sectors of Health, Education, and WASH.
7. Procurement:
   1. Supporting the state in the development or updating of Fiscal Responsibility and Public Procurement Manual and legislation with a focus on soft skills in the areas of policies and strategies for the effective implementation of these laws.
8. Auditing
   1. Assisting the Offices of Auditors General for State and Local Government to improve the quality and quantity of its performance and financial audits with a focus on Education, Health, and WASH spending/programs. This may require aligning state efforts with policies and reforms undertaken by the Auditor General of the Federation and other best practices promoted by International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).
9. Internal Controls
   1. Improving the quality and functioning of systems of internal controls in Central Internal Audit Control (CIAD) department/office, including the full adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and the National Chart of Accounts (NCOA). This is to ensure fewer opportunities for fraud, waste, and abuse of public funds, and a reduced chance of negative audit findings; and eventually promote appropriate use of funds leading to improved allocation and expenditure in key sectors of Health, Education, and WASH.
10. Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM)
    1. Increasing DRM, particularly tax revenues, through the development of Revenue Enhancement/Expansion Strategy, and appropriate policies and a roadmap for implementation of the Strategy; and
    2. Encouraging the State Governments and LGAs to spend a significant portion of these increased revenues on the target social service sectors of Education, Health, and WASH.
11. Monitoring and Evaluation
    1. Strengthening and improving the capacity of government (State and LGAs) to monitor and evaluate both their financial management, procurement and audit functions and the magnitude of impact of resulting improvements to service delivery.
    2. Conduct bi-annual PFM assessments across 7 pillars and 64 indicators using State2State PFM Assessment Tool and conduct other thematic assessments as required; prepare reports, identify gaps, and make recommendations.
12. Debt Management
13. Strengthening and improving the capacity of government (State Debt Management Agency/Department/Office/Unit) to analyze, report, publish, and improve the debt position of the State ensuring adherence to Debt Management and Fiscal Responsibility Laws, and using the Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA)-Debt Management Strategy (DMS), Arrears Clearance Framework (ACF), internal domestic expenditure arrears database, etc.;
14. Supporting in carrying out debt sustainability analysis; and
15. Supporting the monitoring debt position to ensure it is within debt sustainability limit.
16. Cash/Treasury Management
    1. Supporting in the development of annual budget profiles for the MDAs in the key sectors of Education, Health and WASH; and annual cash plan for the state;
17. Other responsibilities not explicitly detailed herein but relevant to the position.

With guidance from the Technical Director PFM, this role will mentor stakeholders. The role will collaborate on Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Assessment and PFM intervention design, and support implementation, and other activities as needed.

Reporting: The PFM Specialist will report, technically, to the Technical Director PFM [Abuja main office] and coordinate closely on a daily basis with the State Team Lead and the State Team as well as other State2State state teams, among others.

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as accounting, business, social sciences, law, development studies, etc. However, four (4) additional years of relevant international development experience can be substituted for the bachelor’s degree. Master’s preferred.
• At least nine (9) years of relevant professional experience. At least three (3) years of demonstrated experience in the successful implementation of international development activities, with preference given to democracy and governance activities under a USG instrument, or experience related to technical area of the position.
• Experience working in the PFM, democracy, and governance sector in Nigeria.
• Prior experience in overseeing the awarding and managing grants to local organizations to promote democracy and governance goals preferred.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills as well as good knowledge of the local language.