Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Vacancy Announcement : Consultant for STE Fertilizer Subsidy

Project                          : SFF Subsidy Reform
Activity                         : Developing a Targeted Fertilizer Subsidy Policy
Estimated Period of Contract   : April to August 2016, up to 60 working days
Duty Station                             : Jakarta, Indonesia
 
 
Background
 
Around the world, including Indonesia, the Government provides social assistance programs, like subsidies, to provide goods at affordable price for the poor. Yet for many reasons, these initiatives failed to reach the intended beneficiaries. Corruption often impedes the delivery of subsidized goods and in many cases people who are not eligible end up receiving the subsidies. This might happen since those in charge of distributing subsidies may have discretion to redistribute subsidies to ineligible beneficiaries. In many cases, eligible beneficiaries simply do not know that they are eligible for the program in the first place. Price discrimination between subsidized goods and non-subsidizied goods have caused misuse and mistargeting of subsidies.
According to the 2016 national fiscal policy direction set by the Ministry of Finance for Indonesia’s fiscal sustainability, reforming non energy subsidies is one of the priorities. The focus area of non-energy subsidies will include, but not be limited, to reform fertilizer and food (rice for the poor or known as RASKIN) subsidies as budget for those two types of subsidies has been constantly increasing, was not well targeted to the poor and has limited the Indonesian Government’s fiscal space. During a ministerial meeting on April 15, 2015, the President gave a clear direction that fertilizer subsidy must be reformed and distributed directly to farmers who are categorized as poor or near-poor. Furthermore, as stated on the Financial Notes and State Budget 2016, direct fertilizer subsidy mechanism to target groups will be implemented gradually in 2016. The mechanism of targeted subsidies -either with cards, vouchers, discounts, or direct cash transfer- should be simple, should not be a burden for the farmers, and can be monitored. It is assumed, that targeted subsidies to small farmers are be more effective and efficient than providing subsidized fertilizer through SOEs, as direct subsidies allow farmers to optimize their input choices. This will also promote competition among fertilizer companies and contribute to raising the quality and availability of fertilizers. It is hoped that with no price disparity and fertilizer scarcity, farmers will be able to have fertilizer right on time.
GIZ through the Studien-und Fachkräftefonds (SFF) Subsidy Reform is supporting the Fiscal Policy Agency at the Ministry of Finance to conduct an in-depth study on targeted fertilizer subsidy. The objective of this study is to develop subsidy schemes which are targeted to the farmers which include good financial governance principles. Different instruments of targeted subsidies will be analyzed by taking into consideration the fiscal impacts, social impacts, and administrative requirements. Inputs from related stakeholders and best practices from other countries must be incorporated on this study. A clear definition of the target group must be set up by creating a consensus among different stakeholders.
In the end, expected outputs are:
a)     A comprehensive survey about the real beneficiaries of the current system of fertilizer subsidy
b)    Proposal for different options of targeted fertilizer subsidy with clear definition of the target group. This proposal should contain different scenarios to distribute direct subsidized fertilizer to targeted groups that include the costs of different options, incidence analysis, administrative requirements for implementaion, etc.
c)     Fiscal, macro economy, and social impact analysis of different options of direct fertilizer subsidy
d)    Integrated database to support the implementation of direct fertilizer subsidy
e)     Institutional roadmap on implementing direct fertilizer subsidy that developed in coordination with relevant insitutions.
 GIZ is seeking one qualified Indonesian candidate for the following position:
Short Term Expert (STE) for Fertilizer Subsidy Reform
A total of 60 days will be given to the STE who will be working between April to August 2016. The STE will work with the Public Finance team (sitting at the Ministry of Finance) and cooperate closely with the Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF).
A.    Responsibilities
  • Manage activities within SFF Subsidy Reform in accordance with the order and project goals and activities agreed with the partner, team agreements and/or agreements with the superior
  • Provide professional advice and input to the Ministry of Finance regarding subsidy policies (e.g. fertilizer subsidy and food subsidy) that in line with good financial governance principles
  • Provide advice in the area of public financial management reform and feeding back this input to the relevant stakeholders and decision makers.   
  • Assist the Team Leader of Public Finance/Financial Governance on project management
  • Ensure that the services provided by the activities assigned within the component are aligned with the partner’s needs
  • Integrate results and experience into teamwork and the work of all relevant groups
B.    Tasks
§  Guide and supervise selected third parties for assigned support measures and ensure the third parties are on track time-wise and content-wise
§  Monitors project progress, reviews reports and documents, determines bottlenecks and recommends alternative courses of management action to the Team Leader.
§  Monitors the development and implementation of programme plans and activities in close consultation with counterparts
§  Conceptualises, prepares and implements workshops, seminars, and other events on subjects that are related to the project’s field of activities
§  Manages and monitors the budget of assigned activities within the component in consultation with the component team leader
§  Develops and organises quality assurance and proposes necessary changes, improvements and initiatives
§  Participates in identifying needs for external support and advice, works on policy recommendations and develops a strategic approach
C.    Networking and cooperation
§  Maintain cooperation, regular contact and dialogue with BKF, relevant organisations, and other development partners
§  Assesses interests of different stakeholders and assures a close cooperation within the Ministry of Finance in all activities related to subsidy policies and public financial management reform and relations with other relevant stakeholders (e.g. Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, local governments, etc).
D.    Knowledge Management
§  Develops ready-to-use strategies, concepts and procedures for knowledge management.
§  Compiles information and results related to the programmes activities in the area of subsidy reform
§  Draws up reports and presentation documents and archives
§  Formulates appropriate input for different reports including annual programme reports, and contributes to the other reports required by the Team Leader, Programme Director and GIZ Head Office
§  Analyzes and documents lessons learnt together with partners and in close coordination with the knowledge manager at programme level.
E.    Other duties/additional tasks
§  Performs other duties and tasks at the request of the component team leader or Programme Director.
Required Qualifications, Competences, and Experiences
  • Master in an area that is related to the programme objectives, preferably Public Policy, Public Finance, Economic or comparable areas
  • 5 years’ professional experience, with at least 3 years’ professional experience in a comparable position related to Public Finance/Financial Governance
  • Good knowledge of subsidy policies and public finance reform in Indonesia
  • Proven experiences in working with the Government as well as working in a team, fulfilling tasks independently and writing a concise and clear documentation
  • Masters english fluently in written and oral
  • Very good working knowledge of ITC technologies (related software, phone, fax, email, the internet) and computer applications (e.g. MS Office)
  • Experiences working with German Development Cooperation is a value added.
Duty Station: Jakarta
Direct Supervisor: Team Leader Public Finance
The details of the assignment will be further discussed and agreed by the two parties.
 
Kindly send your comprehensive resume, salary expectation, and list of references tojamila.jamila@giz.de by 8 April 2016.
 
Please indicate your application by putting the following code in the subject line: STE-FSR
 
Only short-listed candidates will be notified.

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