PCAsia is seeking an active and motivated candidate for Technical Consultant to work with a high profile and dynamic organization.
PARLIAMENTARY CENTRE OF ASIA
The Parliamentary Centre of Asia (PCAsia), established in early 2021 in Phnom Penh, is the successor of the Parliamentary Institute of Cambodia (PIC) founded in 2011, a transition that reflects an expansion of activities with Parliaments across Southeast Asia. The mandate of PCAsia is therefore to contribute to the strengthening of Southeast Asian Parliaments through capacity building of their staff, based on the demands or requests of each Parliament within a framework of south-south and north-south cooperation. It draws on the expertise of national, regional, and international partners (Parliaments and research centres).
ROLE OF DEPARTMENT
The training of Parliamentary staff is at the core of PCAsia’s mission, and the Capacity Development (CD) department is responsible for carrying out the majority of this work. CD handles curriculum and syllabus design for many training programmes, and its staff provides practical training according to their respective expertise for most of the training programmes. With the transition to blended learning and learning by distance, CD staff increasingly plays a facilitation role, working with external experts to design and deliver content suitable for digital platforms, then working with trainees to complete the related assignments.
Other responsibilities include researching, mentoring and quality control of research products produced by the trained parliamentary researchers, and providing quality control and technical advice with regard to newly-trained parliamentary staff members when back working in their institutions in applying their newly-acquired skills.
PCAsia Programme on Fiscal Analysis Capacity Training on Sustainable Finance and Policy Costing (FACT-4)
This specialised training has been formulated upon the request of parliamentary staff attending previous fiscal analysis training courses of PCAsia as well as the current agenda of PBOs in the region. The training goal is to contribute to improve legislative and oversight functions of the parliament over existing and proposed national policies when it comes to fiscal matter and resource allocation toward sustainable development. The aim is to equip participants with skills and technical knowledge to analyse the financial consequences of proposed or existing policies.
By enhancing their capacity, participating parliamentary staff will be able to perform analysis of a proposed policy, its financial viability, implications of the proposal, and possible financial risks. All these can contribute to a more transparent policy making process. The improved capacity of the technical staff can also enable them to provide parliamentarians with more comprehensive understanding of the financial feasibility of policy options, leading to well-informed decision-making that promotes economic growth, addresses environmental challenges and supports more inclusive development.
The six-month training consists of three modules: (i) Module 1: Foundation of Budget Analysis, running from July to September; (ii) Module 2: Sustainable financing and Climate finance – September to October; and (iii) Module 3: Policy costing (specific sector) – November to End of 2024.
POSITION DESCRIPTION
The FACT programme is looking for competent individual/firm/organisation to design and deliver the training module 3 on “Policy Costing”, tailored to meet the needs of parliamentary work of the AIPA Members. The programme requires a consultant with substantial expertise and experience in the field.
The main purpose is to train AIPA parliamentary staff on how to do social policy costing. The expectation is that the participants will be able to perform and document the analysis of the proposed policy, its financial viability, implications of the proposal and possible financial risks upon completion of the training. It is advised that the training should cover key principles of policy costing which include: (1) Framework to guide policy costing, (2) Different approaches and methodologies in costing to capture the changes to key financial indicators if a policy is implemented (net fiscal impact of a policy change), (3) Different costs to capture (direct fiscal costs or general equilibrium behaviour and dynamic scoring) (3) Hands-on exercise(s) to conduct cost estimation of proposed legislation, policies, sensitive/reliability analysis and writing a costing report (minutes).
MAIN TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES / SCOPE OF WORK
The consultant is expected to contribute to the FACT-4 training programme, particularly its Module 3 on Policy Costing (Total duration 20 days including the preparation, training delivery, coaching, review and post-assessment). The detailed tasks are as follow:
- Design the training curriculum and syllabus for the policy costing module, considering AIPA Member parliamentary contexts. These documents should highlight the course description, the rationale, objectives, training sequences, pedagogical approach and assessment framework.
- Develop training material illustrating framework, approaches, methodologies and steps to conduct policy costing applicable to AIPA parliamentary contexts. The material should also elaborate: (1) Which policy to cost, (2) Model (including baseline and simulation models) and data sources and requirements, (3) Which costs to capture, (4) Assumptions, uncertainties, and factors affecting the reliability of the cost estimates, and (5) The way to effectively communicate the results to parliamentarians including via the costing report/minutes.
- Draft the report outline that help guide the participants to properly document the hands-on exercise on policy costing of proposed legislation and policies.
- Deliver the training of Module 3 of the FACT-4 training programme on the proposed schedule
- Provide practical capacity training, technical coaching/mentoring and peer-review for trainees to produce policy costing reports, applying hand-on exercise simulating cost estimation of proposed legislations.
DELIVERABLES
- Training curriculum, course syllabus and schedule, pre- and post-test.
- Training materials including slide preparations, practical exercises, relevant reading material, and text book, etc. Delivery date: w4-Oct-2024
- Delivery of the training module 3 in 10 sessions or 30 hours
- Report outlines for costing exercise of proposed legislations and policies. Delivery date: w1-Nov-2024
- Technical coaching/mentoring sessions for each country’s participants with regard to the preparation of assigned costing exercise. Delivery date: w3-Nov to w1-Dec-2024
- Review the draft of policy costing exercise prepared by the participants. Delivery date: w2-w3-Dec-2024
- Provide training assessment report highlighting the result of the trainings, trainees’ performances, challenges, lesson learnt, and recommendations for future training design. Delivery date: w4-Dec-2024
TIMEFRAME
- The training on Module-3 of the FACT-4 is tentatively planned to take place between the first to fourth week of November, 2024.
- Service delivery – A combination of face-to-face and remote delivery for both training and coaching with a total of 20 person/days input (might include one visit to Phnom Penh if possible)
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCES
Essential
- A Master’s degree or higher in economics, public finance, public policy, international development, or other related fields
- At least 15 years of professional experience in public financial management, fiscal policy, policy analysis, or public sector policy and legislation
- Professional experience in programme costing techniques/methodologies, cost/benefit analysis, budget forecasting including an analysis of the expenditure programme using a calculation model, and documenting costing results that is understandable to policy makers/parliamentarians
- Proven experiences in the formation/establishment and/or implementation of a Parliamentary Budget Office and its support services. Experience in designing and administering training courses, and in providing analysis, consultation, coaching and mentoring on national budgets and PBO related topics
- Professional experience in research writing using quantitative data analysis and statistical modelling and programmes such as STATA, SPSS or others
- Strong spoken and written English.
Desirable
- Previous experience working in a Ministry of Finance or international organisations in the areas of national budgeting or macroeconomic policy
- Understanding of economics, social issues, and the parliamentary context in AIPA member countries, particularly Cambodia, Lao PDR, Indonesia, the Philippines, and/or Thailand would be an advantage
- Academic or professional membership in regional or international PBO networks.
APPLICATION INFORMATION
Interested applicants should send a cover letter and CV to [email protected] and indicates a with “Technical Consultant” for the PCAsia in the subject line and daily/hourly rate expectation in the email. The application deadline is 18 August 2024. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
At PCAsia, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. PCAsia recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and national origin. People from minority groups, indigenous groups, and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply.
PCAsia has a zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse, including any kind of harassment and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, be treated and undergo confidence reference and background checks.