Municipal Finance Consultant

MINISTRY OF INTERIOR, FEDERAL AFFAIRS AND RECONCILIATION

 Galmudug

TOR for Municipal Finance Consultant

Title: Municipal Finance Consultant

Duration of the assignment: 2 Months

Duty station: Galmudug (Adado/Dhusamareeb),

Supervisor: Director General of Galmudug Ministries of Interior

1.      BACKGROUND

The Joint Programme on Strengthening Local Governance and Decentralized Service Delivery (Dowladkaab programme) is a five-year initiative by UNDP, UNICEF, and UN-HABITAT funded through the Somalia Joint Fund to further strengthen local governments in effectively responding to the needs and rights of all people as rights-holders as well as amplifying the voices of communities, with a focus on women, youth, and marginalized groups to hold their local leaders accountable. Dowladkaab Programme works with local, state, and federal levels of government to create an enabling environment for inclusive and sustainable governance systems at the district level, advancing responsive basic social service delivery, enhancing state legitimacy and rebuilding trust.

Dowladkaab programme emphasizes local ownership and a modular approach to governance, demonstrating a sequenced and coordinated implementation modality. In close collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Interior, Federal Affairs, and Reconciliation (MoIFAR), Dowladkaab Programme will utilize key governmental structures to enhance coordination and capacity across government levels and clarifying roles and responsibilities of federal, state and local tiers of government as duty-bearers. Strengthening districts’ core functions by engaging people in local planning, public finance management and budgeting will better resource local governments to deliver equitable, inclusive, and accountable services. The programme focuses on critical issues such as fiscal decentralization, planning, and public finance management to improve taxation, revenue management, and inter-governmental fiscal transfers to increase the use of own-source-revenue in service delivery. Empowering people as rights-holders, including access to social accountability mechanisms will build trust and support for local governments, driving sustainable, people-oriented development. The programme also creates more livable, and resilient districts through proper urban planning that can assist districts to withstand the challenges of urbanization and climate related shocks.

Furthermore, the programme will focus on capacity development of the local governments and elected councilors when they are selected. This phase, the program implementation modality, is different from the phase of the JPLG, as this time designed to be more focus and impact-oriented. In addition to that, the programme will identify and keep a balance both new and previous districts for intervention and identify synergies with other local governance initiatives. Within the framework of Dowladkaab, UN-Habitat is mandated to strengthen the public finance management of the districts by instituting effective tax administration and expenditure management, financial management systems, and internal control mechanisms. Towards unlocking the potential of the private sector, UN-Habitat is supporting public authorities in structuring local economic development and institutionalizing public-private partnerships. On the other hand, UN-Habitat is also responsible for building district capacities in infrastructure development. To enable this, districts’ capacities in undertaking infrastructure prioritization exercises and feasibility studies or assessments are essential interventions of the programme.

With these interventions, UN-Habitat contributes to the Dowladkaab Programme endeavor to transform from a traditional development funding into a catalyst for capacity development programs, unlocking development financing streams that enable local governments to mobilize resources for sustainable and inclusive public service delivery. The Dowladkaab Programme was launched in August 2024 and will start officially in September. The program serves as a center on community needs and aspires for collaborative, participatory development and lasting change at the local level.

In this context, UN-Habitat is entering into a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Interior and Local Government (MoILG) to enhance the capacity of the Adado local government in delivering public services in alignment with local government laws and program goals, which are currently focused on achieving measurable impact. As part of this agreement, a comprehensive assessment will be conducted, emphasizing the finance and public works departments. This assessment aims to ascertain the current situation on the ground, thereby

informing and supporting the forthcoming interventions by Dowladkaab..

2.      OVERALL OBJECTIVE

The overall objective of this exercise is to enhance the operational capabilities of the Adado local government’s Finance and Public Works departments, enabling them to more effectively fulfill their responsibilities with a focus on raising adequate revenues, managing its expenditure, and thereby enabling it to finance the delivery of basic municipal services.

3.      RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the supervision of Director General, the Municipal Finance consultant is responsible for the functions related to the municipal of this AoC. In particular, the consultant is tasked to:

• Convene an induction meeting with the local government’s leadership to establish a shared understanding of the assignment and the expected outcomes.
• Developed a detailed methodology to undertake the assignment, with a specific emphasis on three aspects (A) Existing budgeting procedures and practices (B) Revenue raising capacities in terms of what revenue streams stipulated in the local government, which are active, not active, and overexploited ones, including cost of collections and enforcement issues (C) Expenditure control mechanisms in place.
• Submit an inception report detailing the approach, methodology and an outline of the proposed final
• Perform a thorough examination of current laws, policies, bylaws, and regulatory frameworks that are relevant to municipal finance. These include but are not limited to State local government law, local government fiscal policy, local government financial management manual, guide to local taxation and district participatory planning and finance guide (DBFG).
• Conduct a key informant interviews and consultation meetings with relevant officials and personnel of the local government, Ministry of Interior and Local Government and Ministry of Finance, to enhance data gathering and employ triangulation methods to strengthen the findings and provide an informed proposal of interventions.
• Suggest programmatic and practical recommendations for the local government to optimize its revenue generation capabilities and enhance its expenditure management.
• Propose areas of assistance for the programme and provide advice on how to provide this assistance in a sustainable and cost-effective way.
• Report the findings to the district administration for validation and to solicit their
• Produce final assessment report in English and submit to the MoILG and UN-Habitat for review and
• Perform other related duties as

COMPETENCIES

1.  Professionalism:

• Knowledge and understanding of basic theories, concepts and approaches relevant to local governance, displacement and urbanization.
• Have conceptual analytical and evaluative skills to conduct independent research and analysis,
• Familiar with various research sources, including electronic sources on the internet, intranet and other
• Ability to conduct, process and apply spatial- and socio-economic data and reflect critically on their usage for production of analytical maps and planning proposals.
• Have spatial sense and ability to think
• Able to manage assigned work in professional manner, g. structured, forward looking, in time.

• Shows pride in work and in achievements; and also, persistence when faced with difficult problems or
• Service oriented and loyal to

2.  Communication:

• Speaks and writes clearly and
• Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds
• Can adjust communication style to various situations, for example presentation, planning discussion, inter-ministerial working group.
• Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people

3.  Teamwork:

• Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational
• Willing to learn from
• Places team agenda before personal
• Supports and acts in accordance with decisions, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own
• Shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team

4.  Planning & Organizing:

• Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies and
• Identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for time contingencies; adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.
• Report in time when challenges occur that hamper accomplishment of assigned tasks; foreseeing risks and allowing for contingencies when preparing work plans and project timelines.
• Maintain a close collaboration to project partners (service-oriented) and UN-

QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business administration, public financial management, municipal finance or related fields.
• A Masters degree is in these fields is highly

Work Experience

• Minimum 5 years of relevant prior experience within the financial management, particularly, with public institutions at subnational level.
• Excellent English language and communication skills – negotiation, networking, influencing, public speaking and facilitating workshops at different levels.
• Proven experience in undertaking systems analysis, reviews and assessments including diagnostic assessments in complex public institutions.
• Strong research and analytical capacity using various primary and secondary data collection tools, reviews, analysis and presentations
• Ability to triangulate data from various instruments and sources to provide a rigorous and insightful
• Excellent representation and networking skills

• Ability to work under pressure, deliver quality results, and maintain consistency in an environment with heightened insecurity.
• Ability to meet performance expectations in an insecure, psychologically stressful, and culturally diverse environment with considerable physical hardships.
• Demonstrates transparency, credibility, openness, and a high level of
• Approaches tasks from a process viewpoint and effectively employs accountability and measurement systems to improve efficiency and quality.

Language

• Strong written and oral skills in both Somali and English are a

Eligibility

• Female candidates are highly encouraged to

5. Reporting Line

The Consultant will report to the Director General – DG of the Ministry of Interior, Federal Affairs and Reconciliation – MOIFAR of the Federal Member State (Galmudug).

Applications with Subject heading: “Municipal Finance Consultant” should be sent to: hr.moifar.gms@gmail. And CC: dg@moifar.gm.so not later than 02 January 2025.