Summary
Date Posted: Monday, September 13, 2021 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
Baseline Survey for: Beyond the Numbers: Making the Budget Work for the People (Ref: EuropeAid/170415/DD/ACT/ZM)
1.0 Background
The EU Delegation has approved a grant to Oxfam and partners (Zambia Council for Social Development (ZCSD) and Non-Governmental Gender Organisations’ Coordinating Council (NGOCC) for a project entitled, “Beyond the numbers: Making the budget work for the people”. The proposed project aims to convene diverse civic space (Non-State) actors and citizen groups to seek accountability of duty-bearers on budget development and implementation by building their capacity and facilitating opportunities for them. The project contributes to the EU’s Support to Effectiveness and Transparency in Management of Public resources (EFFECT) programme. The overall objective of the EFFECT programme is to contribute to the sustainable and inclusive economic growth through increased mobilisation and effective use of domestic resources. The specific objective is to improve accountability, transparency and effectiveness in management of public resources and increase domestic revenue mobilisation.

1.1 Project Description:
Despite having a rich natural resource base with potential to spur socio-economic growth, Zambia is struggling to reduce poverty and tackle existing inequalities. Zambia has a gender inequality index of 0.540 placing it at 134 out of 162 countries (UNDP HDR 2020). Furthermore, Zambia is the most underperforming in terms of women participation in political office in the South African region with 18% of female representation at parliamentary level (far below the region’s average of 25%). The health sector has positively improved with Zambia’s life expectancy now being at 63.9 and in terms of education, Zambia has an average of 11.5 years in school (HDR 2020).

Participation of citizens in the budgeting process has been underscored as an important aspect in development (Berner, 2001). However, Zambia still follows an elitist and exclusive way of budgeting since most of the citizens’ participation is limited to few Lusaka based CSOs. There are low levels of uptake and ownership particularly at sub-national and local level and lack of interest and skills of local communities to influence what they want to see in the budget. Participation of key stakeholders through partnerships is minimal and thus common Zambians are unable to engage in a structured matter. The budget has traditionally been considered the exclusive domain of technocrats, economists, and accountants (Policy Forum, 2009). Furthermore, many official processes such as the preparations of annual government priorities, release of budget guidelines and ceilings by the Ministry of Finance, dates and deadlines for budget preparations or the requirement of citizens participation are closed to the general public (Ibid).

An analysis of the budget implementation process (Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research, ZIPAR) revealed that planned allocations do not usually translate in actual disbursement and expenditure. These disparities are due to weak oversight and the inability of sub-national structures to fulfil the needs of their constituencies. These issues and consistent advocacy from various CSOs prompted the government to develop a new planning and budgeting legislation, the National Planning and Budgeting Act No. 1 of 2020. However, majority of the anticipated improvements (e.g. integrated planning aiming at dismantling silos) will achieve limited results unless measures are taken to stimulate demand and active participation of citizens. Furthermore, there are important steps to be taken to operationalise the new law such as the development of relevant policy and mechanisms for implementation that require engagement and advocacy from a wide range of stakeholders.
Overall Objective of the action: The Overall Objective of the action is to promote greater accountability and better public service delivery through increased capacity and engagement of citizens and civil society in the formulation, enactment, implementation, and oversight of Zambia’s national budget.

The Specific Objectives of the Action:
Specific objective 1: Generate interest and increased access and understanding of citizens and citizen groups on the significance of budget formulation and implementation for local development.
Specific objective 2: Increased influence of CSOs in budget analysis, tracking and oversight. Specific objective 3: The needs and feedback of Civil Society Actors (including citizen groups and CSOs) is accepted by duty bearers.
Oxfam therefore, calls for applications from experienced and qualified individuals or consulting films to conduct a baseline study for the project.

2.0 Objective Of The Baseline
The overall purpose of the assignment is to provide an information base against which to monitor and assess the project’s progress and effectiveness during implementation and after the project is completed. The benchmark information to be generated by the baseline study, will be used to assess possible scope for and impacts of the project. For this, a set of indicators were identified at proposal development; therefore, the second component of this assignment is to refine the indicators identified at proposal development to ensure they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound (SMART)

Specific Objectives
1. Validate and improve where necessary the indicators in the project proposal log-frame particularly at the following levels: (i) Impact, (ii) Specific Objective and(iii) Outcome- by the stand of Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound (SMART). Collect and provide baseline information for all validated indicators.
2. Where necessary, interrogate and improve the Log-frame by reviewing, developing, and adding (or removing) measurable and realistic indicators to ensure they are update to date with the political economy
3. Establish priority policy areas/issues – Provide programmatic recommendations on what needs to be considered priority in project implementation based on the data analysis conducted in this study

3.0 Methodology
The methodology to be used by the consultant(s) should be participatory, gender-sensitive approach which includes both qualitative and quantitative study. Below are some of the processes to be done by the consultant:
1. Document Review: Review of the project proposal, log frame, narratives, and any other relevant project documents.
2. Inception Phase: Key output is the inception report which will include a detailed approach to the baseline, including the data collection tools. The inception report will be discussed and approved before commencement of data collection.
3. Data Collection: Consultant(s) will also collect primary quantitative and qualitative data relevant to the project based on approved tools ensuring that they are adequate to collect baseline data based on the results framework (any changes to the data collection process in the field must be approved by Oxfam before effecting it)
i) Proposed Sample Design: The sample for the project should be cross sectional starting from the Macro to the Meso being the targeted districts. The sampling frame ought to be done in consultation with Oxfam.
ii) Implementing the survey: Based on the sample frame, the consultant will develop plans of implementing the survey. The consultant will be accountable for all field operations.
4. Data analysis/reporting: based on primary data and secondary data collected, the Consultant(s) will analyze data and come up with a draft report based on the agreed template. The consultant is expected to submit cleaned data together with the final report.
5. Finalization: Presentation of baseline report findings. After addressing first comments, the consultant is expected to present the report to a team of reviewers who will certify the final report.

4.0 Responsibilities of Consultants
The consultants will be primarily responsible for:
• Development/design of the study including tools and methodology
• Share study design including process, methodology and tools with the Oxfam
• Get feedback and finalize study design
• Pre-test tools, orient, train and lead study team
• Clean data set and ensure that they are interactive for use.
• Analyze data and prepare draft report.
• Update baseline values for the project indicators in the logframe
• Present baseline findings and and then submit final report
• Ensure safeguarding policy is adhered to by his/her team throughout the contract period.
• And any other duties relevant to the study

5.0 Responsibilities of Oxfam
Within its policies and practices, Oxfam’s primary responsibility is to help the consultants achieve the objective of the TOR. Specifically, Oxfam, will be responsible for:-
• Preparing detailed TOR and hire consultant
• Highlighting core inputs to study design and design of the tools
• Monitoring, and evaluating the study through providing feedbacks and ensure effectiveness of the study implementation.
• Coordinating with partner NGOs to ensure adequate support is provided at national and district level
• Giving inputs/feedback to draft and final report
• Releasing budget as per the agreed budget disbursement schedule.
• Orient consultant on safeguarding policy
• Orient consultant on COVID-19 declaration and acknowledgement

6.0 Deliverables
The following deliverables are expected under this TOR:
• Inception report (Detailed baseline framework detailing design and implementation plan that is agreeable with Oxfam and partners in Zambia)
• Data collection tools developed/used by consultants made available to Oxfam for future use.
• Baseline final report in both three hard copies and e-copy(not more than 50 pages excluding annexes)
• Complete cleaned dataset that supported both quantitative and qualitative study on Flash Drive and or as email attachment.
• PowerPoint presentation summarising the baseline study
• Updated project log frame based on the baseline findings(annexed).

7.0 Eligibility Criteria
The consultant/team should have experience in qualitative and quantitative research, clear understanding of Public finance management/governance/budgeting/ research approaches, technical expertise in using complex data design to support mixed methods analysis and ability to use survey software such as STATA and Sampling approaches for better requirement capture of the study. The consultant must have a minimum of a Master’s degree in in Social Sciences from an accredited institution in any of the field of pure or applied Economics, Accounting and Finance, Public Administration, Education, Gender and Law with a minimum of 5 years’ proven experience of conducting similar assignments in Zambia or SADC.

8.0 Work Schedule
Oxfam expects the consultant to finish within 30 working days from the day of signing the contract (Specific dates to be agreed with the successful consultant). Failure to adhere to timelines is a violation of a contract and it may lead to termination of contract.

9.0 Supervision and Management
Oxfam will supervise the process, specifically the Monitoring, Evaluation and Accountability and Learning (MEAL)/ Program Quality team. The consultant is expected to work and interact with PQ/MEAL on a continuous basis.

10.0 Ethics and Safe Guarding
Oxfam has a zero-tolerance policy towards inaction against sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse. Oxfam’s ethics for safeguarding will be emphasized and remain mandatory throughout the process of the undertaking of the mapping study. Engagements and support will aim to create and maintain safe, equitable, and inclusive culture where all those who work for and with Oxfam as well as those in the communities where Oxfam operates are treated with dignity and their rights and voices are heard and respected.
Selected consultants will be expected to read, sign, and adhere to the Oxfam Code of Conduct for no Oxfam staff and follow Oxfam’s Ethical Content Guidelines

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 60

Level of Education: Postgraduate Degree

{module 312}

Job application procedure
Interested consultant (s) should submit technical and financial proposal (not more than 20 pages excluding annexes-failure to adhere to this may lead to disqualification), detailing how they will undertake the assignment. Attach up-to-date CVs of the core team as annexes.
Proposals should be submitted to the email address below in electronic form ONLY and must be clearly indicated ‘BASELINE SURVEY FOR: BEYOND THE NUMBERS: MAKING THE BUDGET WORK FOR THE PEOPLE (Ref:EuropeAid/170415/DD/ACT/ZM)’ by 17:00 hours local time on 23rd September 2021
All correspondence for the consultancy should be addressed to: HR through the email below:
HRZambia@oxfam.org.uk

All Jobs

QUICK ALERT SUBSCRIPTION

{module 316}