Finance Expert. Проведення оцінювання спроможності АРР у сфері закупівель та управління фінансами

Location: Ukraine, UCORD’s pilot oblasts

Expected start date: 17 July 2023

Duration of Assignment: July – October 2023

Number of working days: up to 50

1. Context

Ukraine’s Cohesion and Regional Development Project, UCORD is a technical assistance project supported by Switzerland through the Swiss Cooperation Office in Ukraine (SDC) and implemented by the consultancy company NIRAS Sweden AB.

UCORD aims at citizens, businesses and public authorities to contribute and equally benefit from recovery actions and coherent regional development that fosters improved quality of life, resilience, peace and social cohesion in Ukraine. The project will work in 4 pilot oblasts of Ukraine: Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Ternopil, Vinnytsia oblasts as the starting points, targeting capacity development and awareness raising initiatives spread through the whole country. UCORD consists of the three components:

Component 1 embeds the regional policy development in Ukraine through supporting and strengthening the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in pilot oblasts. More about the role of RDAs as per the Ukarinian legislation is presented in the Annex 1 herewith.

Component 2 seeks to improve public services delivery in WASAW (water supply, sanitation and waste management) sector with a focus on environment.

Component 3 aims at construction social cohesion through culture, dialogue and creative industries.

Within Component 1 it is foreseen to provide support to the Reginal Development Agencies (RDAs) from 4 pilot oblasts (Sumy, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil) in their institutional strengthening and transforming their organisational structures. For this UCORD will address the vision of the RDAs, their purpose and role in regional development, governance arrangements, main functions, priorities, organisational arrangements and staffing and financial requirements. UCORD aims to ensure the pilot RDAs have the necessary policies and manuals of procedures in place to guide all their actions and decisions. It is also planned to support the RDAs to develop business plans, which will be their operational answer to the regional and local recovery plans and strategies, their primary focus for the medium term, and other actions identified as a priority for developing their oblasts. It is also planned to support the pilot RDAs in developing their communication strategy for both internal and external communication. The described support is planned to be provided within 4-months interim period. During this period UCORD will be able to establish the level of RDAs cohesion, whether they are capable to build partnership with UCORD and among themselves, whether RDAs are ready to share their knowledge and experience; how effective RDAs are in creating commong understanding with their  advisory boards and partners.

2. Objective of the Assignment

The assessment will be performed with reference to international best practices under thorough supervision from the international expert (External Assessment Team Coordinator) and based on the developed Guideline for the Organisational Assessment of the Regional Development Agencies in Ukraine (Guideline).

The financial assessment will also serve the dual purpose of supporting the RDAs’ improvement efforts and providing crucial insights for the due diligence process for UCORD to evaluate the financial health, viability, and risk profile of the agencies prior to investing core funding to RDAs.

The Finance expert is expected to: a) conduct a Qualitative Organizational Measurements – comprehensive assessment of the financial management function within every of the four pilot RDAs to evaluate their effectiveness, efficiency, and alignment with best practices in finance management of RDAs or similar organisations from EU countries. The assessment will be conducted based on the RDA Organizational Assessment Guidelines methodology and self-assessment tools (questionnaires/tests provided in the Guideline), bilateral and group on-line meetings (planned by the Finance expert) for understanding, researching and documenting financial policies findings. The Finance expert will update and finalise the assessment tool to ensure a systematic and comprehensive approach across all 4 RDAs – the tool will be approved by UCORD prior to utilisation; b) identify strengths, weaknesses, gaps, and opportunities for improvement in the RDAs’ finance management policies, procedures, controls and reporting; c) provide actionable recommendations to enhance the financial management function’s performance, alignment with organizational goals, and overall effectiveness; d) prepare a relevant section to the Organisational Assessment Report for each pilot RDA e) develop RDAs Capacity Building Programme to address the identified gaps and recommendations, including training, mentoring and coaching sessions, as well as policy revision, to build the capabilities of RDAs in finance management; f) provide insights and analysis to become part of the due diligence processes for UCORD’s future core funding of RDAs.

3. Methodology and Scope of Work

a)the Finance expert will undergo a briefing session by the External Assessment Team Coordinator on organisational assessment steps, b) the Finance expert will get acquainted with the provided Guideline, including the Organisational Assessment Plan, c) the Finance expert should review relevant financial and procurement policies, procedures, documentation, financial statements and reports from RDAs, including the way financial resources are monitored, in which way the procurement is conducted and how the procurement decisions are taken, d) the Finance expert in cooperation with 4 pilot RDAs will conduct interviews with finance staff, senior management, and a representative sample of RDAs employees to define efficiency, transparency and functionality of the existing financial and procurement set-ups and policies, e) the Finance expert should analyze the collected data and provide a clear assessment of the current state of the financial management, highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement, f) the Finance expert should provide due diligence analysis and insights for UCORD to evaluate the financial health, viability, and risk profile of the RDAs.

These activities will be done under the supervision of the External Assessment Team Coordinator who will ensure that the conclusions formulated for each RDA by the external assessment experts are conclusive and correlated among them.

While working over the financial management capacity assessment of 4 pilot RDAs, the Finance expert will cover all finance and procurement-related areas of the RDAs, including but not limited to:

• Financial planning and budgeting
• Financial reporting (including documentary processes to capture and maintain accurate financial records) and analysis
• Internal controls and risk management
• Procurement and contract management
• Grants and projects financial management
• Financial integrity, compliance and reporting
• Audit and financial monitoring

The assessment should consider and cover all financial management levels, including senior management, finance managers, and accounting staff (if applicable).

4. Required deliverables

• Workplan:
  Prepare a workplan to guide the delivery of this assignment

• Finance and Procurement section to the Organisational Assessment Report:
  Prepare a comprehensive report detailing the findings, analysis, gaps and recommendations of the financial management assessment.

• Presentation:
  Deliver a comprehensive presentation of the assessment findings and recommendations to the pilot RDAs, the Supervisory Board, and UCORD

• Capacity Building Programme:
  Training Modules: Develop customized training modules to address the identified gaps and enhance the skills and knowledge of RDAs staff.
  Coaching and Mentoring: Provide coaching and mentoring support to the relevant RDAs staff to reinforce learning and facilitate implementation.
  Policy Revision: Review and revise finance and procurement policies and procedures to align with the identified recommendations, Ukrainian legislation as well as best practices available in RDAs or similar organisations from EU countries.

5. Qualifications

The Finance expert should have:

• Proven experience in conducting financial assessments for development agencies or similar organizations
• At least 10 years of proven experience in finance management, compliance, and procurement
• Profound knowledge on best practices of finance management in the RDAs or similar organisations from EU countries
• Strong analytical, communication, and report-writing skills to effectively deliver the assessment findings and recommendations
• Experience in designing and delivering training programs, coaching initiatives, and policy development
• Knowledge of English is an asset

6. Reporting

All outputs should be delivered in Ukrainian.

The Finance expert reports to UCORD Deputy Project Leader & Regional Development Adviser and maintains regular communication throughout the assessment process. The Finance expert will provide progress updates and seek clarification or guidance, as needed, to ensure the assessment meets the RDAs expectations. The Finance expert will work closely with External Assessment Team Coordinator to ensure that the conclusions formulated for each RDA by the Finance expert and other external assessment experts are conclusive and correlated among each other.

Interested candidates can submit their application by sending CV outlining the relevant expertise and experience to [email protected] up to July 2, 2023

Only short-listed candidates will be notified.