Terms of Reference for Consultancy
SOCIAL WELFARE[1] FOR CHILDREN in ALBANIA
PUBLIC EXPENDITURE REVIEW
UNICEF Albania wishes to commission a comprehensive analysis of the Social Welfare budget for children in Albania at national, regional and local level. The aim is to get a clear picture of public spending in social welfare, and to establish past, current and future trends and policy priorities. The findings and recommendations of this study will feed directly the policy analysis of the National Plan of Action (NPA) implementation and national platforms policy dialogue with the Governments of Albania and other stakeholders working with children.
I. Background
A large proportion of children in Albania continue to live in poverty with many deprived of basic necessities like food, water, proper health care or appropriate housing. Children experience poverty differently from other members of society and this is largely due to the differences in the causes and effects. There has been increased acknowledgement of the importance to address poverty, vulnerability and the wellbeing of children. This is because growing up in poverty can be damaging to children’s physical, emotional and spiritual development, furthermore child poverty and vulnerability have far-reaching and short and long-run adverse impacts (Roelen and Sabates-Wheeler 2011). Children living in poverty are more likely to grow up to become poor adults.
Although there is no yet an official definition of “child exclusion”, children’s social exclusion is assessed by taking into consideration the impact of economic aid on their opportunities for education, quality health care, recreation, development and participation on an equal footing with other children. The national study, Reforming Economic Aid: from Survival to Investment in Poverty Reduction[2], shows that about 23 percent of families with children up to 18 years old live below the line of absolute poverty, with ten percent living below the line of extreme poverty. Twenty-six percent of families with children up to 18 years of age, as well as 28 percent of children, benefit from monthly cash aid, but fifty-seven percent of children in families in receipt of Economic Aid are unable to meet any of the five needs considered to be fundamental.
Over the past years social welfare policies have gained substantial attention as a development measure and is increasingly being considered as part of the response to child poverty and vulnerability. Allocations for social welfare are generally made in the national budgets and through them to regional/local budgets (conditioned funds[3]). However, there is also the opportunity to increase social welfare funds at regional/local level through unconditioned funds. It is therefore vital that citizens individually and in groups understand government budgets, and have access to information and processes.
The suggested TORs aim to provide valuable inputs to nurture the environment towards meeting the Recommendation 16 of the CRC Report of October 2012, in which the “Committee urges the State party to:
(a) Conduct a comprehensive assessment of budget needs of children and allocate adequate budgetary resources in accordance with article 4 of the Convention for the implementation of the rights of children and in particular to increase the budget allocated to social sectors, including to the education sector and address the disparities on the basis of indicators related to children’s rights;
(b) Utilize a child-rights approach in the elaboration of the State budget by implementing a tracking system for the allocation and the use of resources for children throughout the budget, thus providing visibility to the investment on children and use this tracking system for impact assessments on how investments in any sector may serve “the best interests of the child”, while ensuring that the differential impact of such investment on girls and boys is measured;
(c) Ensure transparent and participatory budgeting through public dialogue, especially with children and for proper accountability by local authorities”.[4]
II. Purpose & scope of the consultancy
The purpose of this consultancy is to assess public expenditure on social welfare targeted at children through a budget analysis. The review period will cover fiscal years 2011/2012 up to 2014/15 – with a particular focus on the 2013/14 budget. By looking closely at the level of resource allocation to children within the social welfare sector, audience will have a clear picture of policy priorities in social welfare for children (past and present) and understand to what extent the levels and patterns of budget allocations are conducive to meet sector targets.
The objective is also to compare trends in allocation within a regional/local perspective, paying particular attention to the suggested territory reform, [5] which has been identified as one of the key priorities of the government program of 2013-2017 and aims to the improvement of the quality of local public services through the increase of their efficiency, as well as the access of the citizens to the local public services. The improvement of the services also has to be associated with the increase of resources in general and financial ones in particular for the local government units, an aim that goes along with the principles of decentralization of the power and the local autonomy defined by the Constitution of the country and by the European Charter of the Local Self-Government.
In addition, the recommendations will indicate ways in which the budget can be made more responsive to current social welfare needs for children. The consultancy and its findings will also promote dialogue on how to increase effectiveness, equity and efficiency of social welfare expenditure.
The overall purpose of the study is: To conduct a budget analysis at all three levels of government and public administration, focused on assessing the (potential or effective) contribution of decentralization to making the social welfare budget more effective, efficient, relevant for children, starting with children most vulnerable.
III. Objectives & Activities
The description and analysis of Social Welfare Expenditures for Children (PER[6]) for the last three years 2011-2014(expectations) has to reveal:
(i) The composition of social welfare expenditures in the budget allocation and budget implementation (expenditure realization and actual spending), per sectors as per explanations of the footnote 1.
(ii) the sources of funds and basis for utilization (for decentralized levels, conditional and un-conditional from the central budget, as well as the regional resources, and locally-raised resources, including taxation, fees, as well as public debt and external grants, where it applies),
(iii) the flow of funds;
(iv) The budget processes (including planning and link with development objectives and macroeconomic framework, processes and timeliness for allocation to decentralized levels, resource and expenditure management, reporting and oversight).
The consultant has to look at the past, current and future trend of social welfare for children share within the national budget (both in percentage and real terms). It has to provide comprehensive responses to the following issues:
ü How much priority is given to social welfare for children when compared with other sectors?
ü What is the rate of expenditures, comparing budget allocations for social welfare with actual budget performance (looking at releases and actual expenditures)?
ü What is the rate of social welfare expenditures as a percentage of GDP?
ü What is the composition of the social welfare budget, respectively by the nature of expenditure (total, recurrent, investment, development), and by governance level (national, sub- national level)?
ü What are the most significant trends in social welfare spending and shifts in priority expenditures?
ü Has government spending patterns on social welfare changed overtime? Which are the key budget drivers?
ü Are spending levels and patterns in line with stated policy priorities? (sector/subsector)
ü To which extend current social welfare budget levels are adequate to meet stated policy priorities and objectives?
ü Do sector/sub-sector allocations reflect the priority areas of the National Plan of Action for Children (NPA) 2012-2015?
ü Are budgetary provisions (inputs) sufficient to achieve expected outputs and outcomes as defined in the budget?
ü What are the main revenue channels for the social welfare sector?
IV. Methodology:
The review has to use several methods of data gathering in order to have the complete information for drawing credible quantitative and qualitative findings and mapping the situation of public expenditures in Albania. Desk review methodology, stakeholders’ opinion survey, and structured interviews with key informants and documented focus group discussions might be combined to capture information on users’ access to welfare services and how the trend depends on the progress of the fiscal decentralization in different local governance areas.
A more precise methodology of the exercise will be finalized and agreed upon with the selected consultant(s), as a first task of the assignment.
V. Intended users of the product (the results of the consultancy work)
Government of Albania, Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth (MoSWY) and the State Agency for Child Rights Protection (SAPRC) are the primarily interested stakeholder, which are going to use the policy paper to adopt a harmonized approach dealing with policies that realize the rights of the children.
UNICEF supports this undertaking as part of the Annual Work plan signed with the SAPRC in 2014.
The products of the consultancy will serve as tools to adopt some standards to improve allocation of public budgets and strengthen effectiveness of social budgeting for children at national and local level.
Civil society and citizens will use the results of the research work. In Albania there are many indications about the delays and sometimes failure of decentralization policy in different regions of the country, especially in the most excluded areas. This evaluation will endeavor to have an effect in increasing opportunities in children’s access to social welfare services if some improvements of the policy of fiscal decentralization are going to take place.
VI. Implementation Plan
The selected agency will be contracted to implement the task and submit the deliverables respecting the deadlines below:
Tasks/Deliverables / Responsible / Timeline /1. Preparatory phase
Approval of TORs / UNICEF / June 30
Advertisement of the call for proposal / UNICEF / July 3
Application deadline / UNICEF / July 18
Identification of implementing agency / UNICEF / July 25
Design and approval of the contract / UNICEF/Implementing agency / August 1
II. Implementation phase
Agreement on the methodology and detailed plan of action / Impl.Agency & UNICEF / August 10
Draft content of the report / Impl. Agency & UNICEF / August 31
Draft Report / Impl. Agency / October 30
Final report / Impl. Agency / November 30
Finalization of the contract / Implementing agency / December 15
All the deliverables must be submitted in English to the responsible Officer in UNICEF Albania Country Office for technical clearance and approval of further fee disbursements.
VII. Expected Outputs
ü Technical document which provides guidelines on how to produce efficient and effective strategic policy interventions to achieve sustainable impacts on the realization of child rights in harmonization with NPA 2012-2015, CRC recommendations as well as EU Albania progress report.
ü Policy document composed of two parts:
o First part analyses and evaluates budget processes at national, regional and local level lead to greater (a) effectiveness (b) efficiency and (c) equity in expenditures, and to better outcomes for children. Conclusions and recommendations derived from this part of analysis will serve to raise awareness of stakeholders to allocate more resources for children.
o Second part evaluates to what extend the territory reform contributes to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of resources allocated to children’s welfare policies at regional and local level. Conclusions and Recommendations derived from part of analysis will serve to address planning and budgeting challenges for social welfare for children and mainstream child rights in the Social Inclusion policy document.
A specific attention has to be given by the consultant to identify and prioritize budget reforms for the near and longer term which could enhance budget effectiveness for responding to children’s needs. This could include, in particular, recommendations for closing gaps related to clarify of roles and responsibility of various stakeholders at all levels of government, as well as processes for coordination across levels of government and across sectors, which are linked to the budget processes.
VIII. Key reference documents:
ü CRC recommendations of October 2012;
ü EU Progress Report Albania, 2013;
ü National Plan of Action for Children 2012-2015;
ü Annual Public Budgets 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014.
ü Children’s Social inclusion Policies and financing in Albania, UNICEF, 2010;
ü Other documents describing the status of public finance in Albania (some of these will be provided by UNICEF Albania Country Office).
IX. Selection criteria
UNICEF will hire an agency based on the submission of successful proposals in response to an advertised call for proposal through an open bidding procedure as per UNICEF rules and regulations. The applicants will be asked to submit to UNICEF (as per deadlines presented in the next section of the ToR) a package of documents:
ü A letter of interest;
ü Proof of technical expertise in the matter and in public policies in general (internet links to previously produced reports of similar nature must be provided);
ü Proof of networking experience and access to government institutions, especially with Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth; Ministry of Education and Health;
ü Description of the organization’s mandate and research focus (with a link to web-site);
ü CVs of key experts;
ü Budget proposal, expressed in ALL and VAT excluded;
ü A draft outline of suggested methodology;
ü Detailed list of sub-activities foreseen to reach the objectives as per the TORs.
After a careful assessment of the proposals, UNICEF will select the most appropriate agency based on the following criteria:
ü Technical and human capacities to reach the objectives and the goal (25 points);
ü Methodology and Relevance of the proposed activities (45 points);
ü Reasonability of the cost of proposed activities (20 points);
ü Networking and relevance of past experience of the organization (10 points).
X. Submission of applications
The required documents and budget proposal must be sent via mail in sealed envelopes to UNICEF Albania, Str. Skenderbej, Volkswagen Building, 3rd floor, to the attention of “Operation Sections”.