Individual National Consultant – Public Finance and Budget Expert

The consultant will support the Ministry of Finance in Nepal to prepare the federal Citizens Budget, providing technical assistance for consultations, sectoral analysis, and quality assurance to ensure timely publication of a clear and useful budget document for citizens. The role involves leading a technical assistance team, simplifying budget information for non-technical audiences, and facilitating stakeholder engagement.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical assistance team and collaborate with the Ministry of Finance to ensure timely completion and quality standards for the Open Budget Survey recognition of the Citizens Budget.
• Draft and finalize the template for the Citizens Budget for fiscal year 2026/27.
• Simplify revenue, expenditure, deficit, and financing information including federalism-related allocations for non-technical audiences.
• Interpret budget allocations with ministries and explain implications for key sectors such as health, education, social protection, and infrastructure.
• Highlight distributional impacts on different population groups and include estimated beneficiaries and service delivery points where data is available.
• Ensure content reflects Nepal’s federal governance context and intergovernmental responsibilities.
• Support identification of pro-poor, gender-responsive, climate-responsive, and federalism-related allocations.
• Support identification of children-focused allocations in sectoral budgets including health, education, and social protection.
• Show alignment of the annual budget with national policies and provide sector-specific key messages for inclusion in the Citizens Budget.
• Facilitate organization of consultations, work sessions, and workshops with key stakeholders including CSOs and sectoral ministries.
• Support finalization of the Citizens Budget draft in line with the approved template and validate figures and narratives for consistency with official documents.
• Review drafts from graphic designers and translators to ensure accuracy of language, data, and representation.
• Draft standard operating procedures for the Citizens Budget.
• Prepare inception report including work plan, draft template, and progress on Citizens Budget Committee formation.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in Management, Public Finance, Economics, Public Policy, Development Studies or related fields.
• At least 10 years of professional experience in public financial management (PFM), budget analysis, or accountability reforms.
• Familiarity with Nepal’s PFM framework, including key documents such as Budget Speech, Red Book, Economic Survey, Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability.
• Proven experience working on Government of Nepal’s budget documents and systems in the federal context, particularly related to government financial systems and treasury management.
• Demonstrated experience in preparing or contributing to fiscal transparency initiatives or reforms.
• Experience working or collaborating with government institutions, development partners (e.g., World Bank, UN agencies), and multi-stakeholder processes.
• Excellent command of spoken and written Nepali for effective communication with government stakeholders.
• Strong working proficiency in English (spoken and written).
• Proven experience of involvement with key national strategy setting works related to PFM, accountability, taxation.
• Ability to interpret complex fiscal data and translate it into clear, citizen-friendly content.
• Strong analytical and synthesis skills to connect budget allocations with policy priorities and development outcomes.
• Excellent facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills, including experience organizing workshops and consultations.
• Proven ability to develop templates, guidelines, and standard operating procedures for governments related to public finance.
• Ability to ensure quality assurance, including validating consistency of data across official documents and outputs.
• Desirable: Understanding of fiscal transparency and accountability standards, including international good practices (e.g., Open Budget Survey, IMF Fiscal Transparency Code).
• Desirable: Knowledge of pro-poor, gender-responsive, climate-responsive, and inclusive budgeting.

Skills

• Public Financial Management
• Budget Analysis
• Accountability Reforms
• Nepal PFM Framework
• Government Budget Documents
• Treasury Management
• Fiscal Transparency Initiatives
• Government Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Fiscal Data Interpretation
• Budget Policy Analysis
• Multi-Stakeholder Facilitation
• Workshop Organization
• Template Development
• Guideline Development
• Standard Operating Procedures Implementation
• Quality Assurance
• Data Validation
• Citizens Budget Preparation
• Sectoral Analysis

Languages

Nepali, English