Vacancy: Consultancy Assignment for Hands on Support to Ensure  Timely Submission of Financial Report 124 views

Terms of Reference (ToR)

Consultancy Assignment for Hands on Support to Ensure  Timely Submission of Financial Report

The Livelihood Recovery of Micro Entrepreneurs in

Central Sulawesi Project (MEP) 2

Project/Programme Title: Livelihood Recovery of Micro Entrepreneurs in Central Sulawesi

Location: Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia

Project/Programme Number: 4663

Name of Partner Organisation: Muhammadiyah Disaster Management Center (MDMC)

1. Introduction/Background

On 28 September 2018, a series of strong earthquakes struck the Central Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. The strongest of these earthquakes was measured at 7.4 magnitude, with an epicentre in the Donggala district. The earthquake triggered a tsunami whose waves reached up to seven meters in some areas, striking Talise beach in Palu and many coastal areas in Donggala. The earthquakes also led to liquefaction on farm and urban land and several landslides. According to the latest overall figures from the Government, the death toll has reached 4.340, including 667 people who have been declared missing as well as 1.061 bodies that were unidentifiable. An overall number of 167’262 persons (52’306 HH) are still located either in IDP camps or in common shelter barracks built by the Government or individual shelters built by NGOs.

2. Purpose

The consultancy assignment shall look into the practice of day-to-day management of the project finances, procurement and administration, identify the challenges that may cause late submission of financial report, find solutions to the identified challenges and guide the finance team. Draft new or revised Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), draft memo(s), draft inputs for revisions to the Field Financial and Administration Guidelines and hands on support shall be provided. Timely submission of the financial report, transparent, accountable and timely procurement as well as better work-advance and settlement practices shall be the main deliverable of this consultancy assignment.

3. Objective

The consultancy assignment has three four objectives:

1. To study/review the practice of day-to-day management of the project finances, procurement and administration, including but not limited to cash advance management, procurement activities and book keeping activities.
2. To understand the challenges being faced by the Operations Manager (Solidar Suisse) Finance Manager, finance officer, procurement/logistics officer, administration officer as well as the community facilitators and business facilitators (MDMC). Based on the review and the assessment of challenges, provide recommendations and hands on support to improve the practice of day-to-day management of the project finances, procurement and administration that will result in timely financial report, transparent, accountable and timely procurement activities.

• To draft new or revised Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), draft memo(s) and or draft revisions to the Field Financial and Administration Guidelines. These documents will be used to develop relevant policies for MDMC and Solidar Suisse.

4. Scope of Work

The scope of the consultancy assignment shall cover all the operational activities that happened since July 1, 2020-October 2021 and other relevant information of the Livelihood Recovery of Micro Entrepreneurs in Central Sulawesi Project 2 (MEP 2), project duration: 1 July 2020 – 31 April 2022). When the time allows and if relevant, operational activities under DiRiReCS and ERWES 2 projects shall also be included.

The consultancy assignment focus on the technical aspects of the operational management, especially the financial reporting, procurement and administration activities. It will include at least the following topics: (1) management of cash advance and its settlement, (2) procurement of goods and services, (3) day-to-day book keeping activities, (4) submission of financial report by MDMC’s Finance Manager  to Solidar Suisse’s Operations Manager 5) Review of the financial transactions by the Finance Manager of Solidar Suisse, (6) spot checking  and (7) troubleshooting and approval processes.

5. Approach and Methods

The consultancy assignment consists of several phases:

Contract and initial (Skype/Microsoft Team/Zoom) meeting: Contract is signed and a discussion on the assignment takes place. First documents, including but not limited to the Field Financial and Administration Guidelines, memos and SOPs (if any), sample of work advance documents, etc will be provided to the consultant/team of consultants.

Desk Review: The consultant/ team of consultants study(ies) all necessary documents; analyse the financial reports and the supporting documents, the memos and partnership agreement by considering the good practice in Indonesia.

Field work and Data Collection: The consultant/ team of consultants meet with the Operations Manager (Solidar Suisse), finance Manager, finance officer, procurement/logistics officer, administration officer as well as the community facilitators and business facilitators (MDMC). Based on the field work and data collection, the consultant/ team of consultants will identify the challenges that might have caused late submission of financial report and find solutions to the identified challenges.

Draft new or revised Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), draft memo(s) and or inputs for the draft revisions to the Field Financial and Administration Guidelines (FFAG) shall be provided. Timely submission of the financial report, transparent, accountable and timely procurement as well as better work-advance and settlement practices shall be delivered by the consultant/ team of consultants. Based on the assessment, the consultant/ team of consultants shall find solutions to the identified challenges.

Presentation: Presentation of solutions to the identified challenges and draft new or revised Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), draft memo(s) and or draft revisions to the Field Financial and Administration Guidelines shall be conducted by the consultant/ team of consultants.

Follow-up and Hands on Support: The consultant/ team of consultants shall provide in person and/or remote hands on support for one month, 1-2 hours contact/exchange daily.

6. Timetable

A total of 15 working days is currently estimated for this assignment (2 days for desk review, 6 days for field visit (including feedback workshop – of which 5 days are foreseen for meeting/discussion with the Operations Manager (Solidar Suisse), finance Manager, finance officer, procurement/logistics officer, administration officer as well as the community facilitators and business facilitators (MDMC)), 1 day for preparation and implementation of feedback workshop, the remaining 3 days shall be planned for drafting/revising the SOPs and/or memos and inputs to the FFAG, 3 days backstopping services for hands on support and guidance).

7. The Consultant/Team of Consultants

The client can be an individual consultant or a team of consultants national consultant/team of consultants

Key Qualifications in the team should be:

• Bachelor degree in accounting, business administration, NGO manangement or other relevant fields. Master degree and/or professional certification would be a plus.
• A minimum of 10 years’ experience and expertise in the field/sector of social work, especially humanitarian aid, would be preferred.
• If the contractor is a team, the team leader will have experience in accounting and/or operational management as an employee or consultants in the last five years. If the contractor is an individual, s/he will have to qualify as the team leader.
• If the consultants are a team, the team member(s) has/ have accounting and/or operational management experience as an employee or consultants in the relevant field at least for 3 years.
• Knowledge on NGO work with focus on topics such as livelihoods and microenterprise recovery.
• Working experience in Central Sulawesi would be a plus but not required
• Experience in providing consultancy services in finance management information system, especially banana accounting or other equivalent software is required.
• Excellent oral and written English skills (state other language too, if applicable)

8. Deliverables

The consultant(s) is responsible to produce and share the following deliverables:

• 10-15 consultancy report
• Draft new/revised SOPs and/or memos and inputs to the FFAG
• Timely financial report Jan 2022 which must be submitted by 5.2

9. Submission of Bid