Request for expressions of interest for individual consultant for Consultancy Services in Finance and Administration – Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Request for expressions of interest for individual consultant for Consultancy Services in Finance and Administration – Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

 

 

1. The African Development Bank hereby invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in the following Assignment: Consultancy Services in Finance and Administration;
2. The services to be provided under the Assignment include: providing financial, accounting and administrative expertise in support of the Technical Assistance (TA) delivery program on agricultural statistics for RMCs, and assuming responsibilities for planning and implementation of workshops, process payments and consistently liaising with external partners who are recipients of Trust Funds.

The Technical Assistance (TA) provided to RMCs on agricultural statistics uses the following delivery model: (i) organizing regional and national training of country experts in several areas of agricultural statistics, (ii) supporting the implementation of activities at country level (direct/bilateral technical assistance to targeted RMCs). This model requires making available the needed resources for recruitments of international and national consultants. It requires the necessary capacity to disburse funds and monitoring expenditure and related justifications, supporting backstopping missions and workshops in RMCs. This is done using Bank administrative budget, SCB-4 Grant as well as Trust Funds, hence the need to monitor very closely their management.

3. The Statistics Department of the African Development Bank invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested Consultants shall provide information on their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to undertake this Assignment (A cover letter and CV clearly indicating reference to similar services, experience in similar assignments, etc.);
4. The eligibility criteria and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Procurement Policy for Recruitment of Corporate Consultants. Please, note that interest expressed by a Consultant does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include him/her in the shortlist;
5. The estimated duration of services is 6 Months and the estimated starting date is 1^st July Place of assignment will be at the Bank’s Headquarters in Abidjan;
6. Interested Individual Consultants may obtain further information at the address below during the Bank’s working hours: Between 8:00 and 17:00 hours local time;
7. Expressions of interest must be received at the address below no later than 25^th June 2019 at 17:00 hours local time and specifically mentioning: Consultancy Services in Finance and Administration.

 Statistics Department (ECST) Avenue Joseph Anoma

01 B.P. 1387 Abidjan 01 Côte d’Ivoire

Attention: Ms Fetema DEME (F.Deme@afdb.org) and a.nzi@afdb.org, with copy to: V.Ngendakumana@afdb.org.

8. Any questions and requests for clarifications may be sent to: Vincent NGENDAKUMANA (v.ngendakumana@afdb.org).

Evaluation criteria :

9. The following criteria with the corresponding weights shall be considered in the selection of the candidate:

CRITERIA		WEIGHT
General  qualifications  and  adequacy  for  the  proposed		30
Assignment
Similar experience in the area of expertise of the Assignment		55
as described in the Terms of Reference
Experience with the Bank or other international donors		10
Language proficiency		5

Terms of Reference for a Long Term Finance and Administration Consultant :

 

 

1. Background :

Agriculture is the main stay of most African countries. Majority of households depend on agriculture for employment and as a source of livelihood. This makes development of agricultural statistics a critical matter for the African Development Bank. The Bank has been providing support to its Regional Member Countries (RMCs) on various statistical domains, including on agricultural statistics, within its Statistical Capacity Building (SCB). The key objectives of the Agricultural statistics program of the Bank are inter alia, to build the capacity of African countries to generate timely and reliable data needed to inform national agricultural and rural development policies in Africa as well as the Bank’s Feed Africa agenda, SDGs and Africa’s Agenda 2063.

The Agricultural Statistics Program of the Bank is based on three pillars that require all countries in Africa to:

• Produce a Minimum Set of Core Agriculture Data (MSCD) in all RMCs;
• Integrate agriculture into the national statistical systems in order to meet the data requirements for agricultural and rural development policies and decision making; and
• Build the foundation for sustainable National Agricultural Statistical Systems (NASS).

The Technical Assistance (TA) provided to RMCs on agricultural statistics uses the following delivery model: (i) organizing regional and national training of country experts in several areas of agricultural statistics, (ii) supporting the implementation of activities at country level (direct/bilateral technical assistance to targeted RMCs). This model requires making available the needed resources for recruitments of international and national consultants. It requires the necessary capacity to disburse funds and monitoring expenditure and related justifications, supporting backstopping missions and workshops in RMCs

This is done using Bank administrative budget, SCB-4 Grant as well as Trust Funds, hence the need to monitor very closely their management. Towards this end, the Bank wishes to recruit a consultant to work within the AfDB Statistics Department to support financial and administration activities of TA delivery to agricultural statistics to RMCs.

 

2. Activities :

The Finance and Administration Consultant will work under the general supervision of the Manager, Statistical Capacity Building Division, and technical supervision of the Task Manager for Agricultural Statistics, and shall provide financial, accounting and administrative expertise in support to the TA delivery program on agricultural statistics for RMCs. The consultant shall also assume responsibilities for planning and implementation of workshops, process payments and consistently liaise with external partners who are recipients of Trust Funds.

Specifically, in liaison with the Task Manager for Agricultural Statistics, the Finance and

Administration Consultant is expected to undertake the following key activities:

Finance tasks :

• Prepare and consolidate financial reports for all implemented activities;
• Prepare reports on the financial status for the Management attention;
• Assist with the organization, budgeting, expenditure reports and other matters related to regional, sub-regional and national workshops;
• Process, track, monitor, and report on the use of funds transferred to RMCs;
• Track expenditures using the sub-system of the Bank (SAP);
• Represent the Program in meetings with other departments on financial issues;
• Process payments; and
• Attend to any other financial and budget issues as may be required by the Management.

Administrative tasks :

• Process contracts/recruitments, (advertisement, selection process, prepare contracts, Dacon forms, others related administrative tasks, etc.);
• Ensure that consultants adhere to terms and conditions of their Contracts while undertaking their assignments, and that in compliance with the related Terms of Reference, that and mission reports and evaluation reports of the consultants are submitted;
• Develop and implement efficient systems to ensure that missions and activities reports of the consultants are submitted;
• Monitor the payment of consultants, as well as their leave days;
• Submit monthly reports on consultant reports, salaries and leave days;
• Assist with the planning and processing of TA backstopping missions; and
• Assist with any other administrative assignment/task as may be required by the Management (Office back up and support to the Management, etc.).

Other Tasks :

The Management may also call on the consultant to assist on any other assignments/tasks as may be required. This may include the following, but not limited to: compilation of needed date and/or background documents to carry out planned activities, etc.

 

3. Qualifications of the Consultant :

The incumbents should have expertise in administration, budget and finance organization and management, with a special focus on project related to statistics project:

• A Master degree in administration, business, finance and/or accounting;
• A minimum of 10 years relevant experience;
• Competence in the use of Bank standard software, and ability to help organize data and information retrieval systems; knowledge of SAP is desirable;
• Excellent knowledge of the AfDB financial and administrative reporting systems;
• Excellent interpersonal skills in liaising with colleagues and with sister institutions as well as with national statisticians working at country level (NSO);
• Excellent ability to make presentations and participate to international conferences;
• Ability to write reports and complete tasks on a timely basis; and
• Excellent working knowledge of English or French with a good knowledge of the other one.

4. Duration of the Assignment :

The services of the incumbent will be retained for a period of 6 months, renewable based on satisfactory performance.

 

5. Duty station of the consultants :

The Consultants shall work at AfDB HQs, in Abidjan, and will be entitled to any travel/mission needed for his/her respective fulfilment of the duties, particularly to countries for the delivery of TA, and attending meetings/workshops as needed.

 

6. Reporting :

The consultant will be required to prepare and submit monthly reports outlining activities undertaken during the assignment and a comprehensive consultancy report at end of the contract.