Review of Internal Unicef'Operations (Consultancy)

Review of Internal operations of UNICEF Cameroon

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Purpose of the Assignment:

The role of UNICEF Operations Section is to safeguard the financial resources entrusted to UNICEF for maintaining the financial and administrative systems and procedures to ensure efficient, cost-effective and transparent utilization of these resources. The Section is divided into five units ( Administrative, Finance, Human Resources, Procurement and Supply and ICT) that carry out accounting and financial reporting, facilities management and administration, supply and logistics activities, Information and Technology and Communication; staff development and Human Resources. The Operations Section works in close collaboration with the zone offices (Bertoua and Maroua).

With the implementation of several organizational improvement initiatives, including the introduction of the Global Shared Service Center with new work approaches, UNICEF's financial and administrative management operating environment, both internal and external, has changed substantially. The extent and significance of these changes allows Operations section a unique opportunity to take stock of the current process in place and review its SOP and streamline its processes as well as review its compliance to the established rules and procedures.

The purpose of the assignment is to review the country office's standard operating procedures, workflows, and SOPs to ensure that the office is best equipped and compliant with the related UNICEF Global rules and regulations.

The specific objectives are:

1) Review the adequacy and effectiveness of the UNICEF Cameroon's current operations processes to support management of the country programme and operations:

2) Review the adequacy and effectiveness of controls and processes in operations functions (Administration, Human Resources, Finances, Supply) and particularly in the following areas:

3) Financial Management (segregation of duties, bank/cash management, cash transfer financial management (DCT and HACT), payroll, financial reporting and filing of financial documents and records).

4) Review all Express union financial transactions and carry out an financial reconciliation 

5) Compliance to procedures in travel, payment, entitlements of staff, bank reconciliation

6) Procurement and Contracting (Consultant and individual contractor procurement – workflow, contract management and evaluation; goods and services procurement – planning, solicitation, identification and vendor management; tendering/bidding and evaluation of bids, CRC, institutional contract management, contract closures, evaluations).

7) Logistics and Inventory Management (physical count, reconciling, asset records and management, PSB, damages and losses; in-country logistics, transportation; warehouse management; vehicle management).

 8) Human Resources Management (review documentation of the HR administration, overtime calculation and leave records and leave documentation, and review the process in plan as well as develop SOPs that are required to ensure clarity and accountability.

9) Premises Management (lease agreements and MoUs where appropriate, relevant documentation and approvals, premises management).

10) Travel Management (including travel of consultants and counterparts), travel authorization, Security Clearance, calculation of international and domestic travel and staff travel entitlements.

 11) Vehicle management : review vehicle logs, overtime, maintenance of vehicles, compliance to SOP – review vehicle management related contracts

Assignment Tasks

Expected Deliverables

The consultancy will be realized through:

• Desk-review of existing information concerning established, SOPs in place for each of the unit and both Bertoua and Maroua Offices.
• Review of the documents and transactions from the last internal audit conducted to the office till the date of the consultation in all the operations units and Bertoua and Maroua offices (Admin, Finance, HR and Supply and Procurement) including review of the supporting documents of each transaction, and filing.
• Review of internal control mechanism and segregation of duties within these sections and Bertoua and Maroua offices and for the transaction review
• Review compliance to SOP, UNICEF procedures and make recommendations to streamlining the processes in place.
• Conduct a financial reconciliation of all Express Union financial transactions.   

 Details of how the work should be delivered:

1. The consultant is to hand-in a report that considers:

• Streamlining and simplification opportunities to be taken into consideration
• Processing time taken for the transactions reviewed if in compliance with the SOP timeframe
• Segregation of duties

• Specific and actionable recommendations to enhance office compliance with the overall UNICEF internal processes and procedures and UNICEF Global procedures.

The report is to be treated as a confidential document with the sole purpose to enhance the office's managerial performance.

Performance indicators for evaluation of results:

• Quantity of work (addressing all the areas of the current ToR);
• Quality of work (Quality of the report and documents developed);
• Responsibility (timeliness of submission and accuracy of reports and information requested by UNICEF; consistency in reporting);
• Feedback from UNICEF Country Office Management

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

• Audit background within a recognized audit firm
• Experience in simplification and streamlining of operations processes
• Ability to express clearly and concisely ideas and concepts in writing and orally
• Research, analyze, evaluate and synthesize information
• Work well under pressure and manage conflicting priorities
• Demonstrated ability to work in a multi-cultural environment and establish harmonious and effective working relations within the organization
• Fluency in English and French

CRITERIA FOR AVALUATION

A minimum of 70 points is required after technical evaluation to be considered for financial evaluation.

NOTE FOR CONSULTANTS AND INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTORS:

Please indicate your ability and availability to undertake the terms of reference above by submitting a financial offer along with your technical proposal, which contains the following information:

• Fee in USD for services to be provided – based on the deliverables mentioned in the Terms of Reference
• Wherever possible, indicate the itemized cost of the travel (air tickets etc.) if an international consultation, and subsistence costs for your stay in the country.

 Applications submitted without a Financial will not be considered.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.