Call for Consultant To produce a Performance Measurement Report of the Lebanese Court of Account

About TI-LB
Transparency International Lebanon – No Corruption (TI-LB) was established in 1999 with the aim of reducing rampant corruption in Lebanon, promoting the principles of transparency and accountability, establishing the rule of law and respecting the fundamental rights inaugurated in international laws and the Lebanese Constitution, by focusing on systematic improvement, building alliances, and encouraging civil society organizations to take measures towards transparency and accountability. TI-LB later became the national chapter of Transparency International.
TI-LB has worked to enhance transparency in the public and private sectors in Lebanon for more than a decade, by implementing a number of projects that ranged from contributing to the development to lobbying the anti-corruption laws (such as the draft law on the Right to Access to Information, the Whistleblowers Protection Law, the Asset and Interest Declaration and the Punishment of Illicit Enrichment Law, etc.), and the monitoring of parliamentary and municipal elections since 2009, in addition to other projects aimed at empowering youth and municipalities on issues related to good governance.
TI-LB was chosen as a member of the first Independent Oversight Board (IOB) for the Reform, Recovery and Reconstruction Framework (3RF), which was launched in response to the aftermath of the Beirut Port explosion.

Vision
A Lebanon with well governed, transparent and accountable institutions, free of corruption and built on the rule of law.

Mission 
To promote transparency and integrity as well as prevent and fight corruption through collaboration, advocacy and active engagement, in public, private and non-governmental organizations.

About the Project

Strengthening Accountability Networks among Civil Society is a project implemented by Transparency International in order to advance democratic accountability worldwide. Funded by the European Union, the project is being executed in 26 national chapters including Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Gambia, Palestine, Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Brazil, Honduras, Colombia, Guatemala, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Indonesia. Focusing on political integrity as an area of priority, the projects engage with civil society organizations and supreme audit institutions as main target stakeholders.  

In Lebanon, the democratic accountability problem is identified by the opacity and lack of accountability in budget formulation, execution, and oversight. This is deeply rooted by the absence of robust national budgeting process coupled with weak oversight of public funds - by civil society (vertical actors) and institutional checks and balances (horizontal) - and lack of transparency, enhancing risks of embezzlement, bribery and personal profit. This exacerbates the growing citizen mistrust in the Lebanese state, particularly in sectors mostly affected by poor budgeting and corruption such as energy and social affairs for example. 
In an attempt to address this problem, TI-Lebanon designed its intervention to improve the responsiveness of duty bearers by pushing for reform in the energy and social sectors, as well as encouraging greater participation in budgetary processes. For this purpose, three tracks of intervention are underway:
1.    Network building: 
a.    Establish national CSO taskforce to coordinate advocacy efforts on public financial management
b.    Train CSOs and investigative journalists on Public Participation in Budget Processes and the importance of Budget Reform
2.    Vertical accountability actions:
a.    Conduct Assessment of Public Participation in Budget Processes in the power and social affairs sectors
b.    Advocate for Public Participation in Budget Processes based on assessment findings
c.    Develop CSO budget monitoring tool to assess the use of funds in the energy and social affairs sectors
d.    Train CSOs and investigative journalists on Public Expenditure monitoring
e.    Monitor anti-corruption budget reforms in the energy and social affairs sectors 
f.    Advocate for the strengthening of governmental budgetary processes in the energy and social affairs sectors  
3.    Horizontal accountability actions:
a.    Train CSOs with INTOSAI’s Resource Guide for Civil Society Organizations 
b.    Develop a CSO monitoring tool of Oversight Institutions’ commitment to curbing corruption 
c.    Conduct monitoring of Oversight Institutions in their processing of corruption cases
d.    Build consensus and momentum among decision makers and oversight institutions on recommendations for improved policies and procedures. 
e.    Advocate for the enhancement of accountability through strengthening the role of Oversight Institutions.

Scope of work
In this context, TI-Lebanon is currently seeking to recruit an Expert to develop a performance measurement report of the Court of Accounts (COA), Lebanon’s Supreme Audit Institution (SAI). 

The International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) has developed a comprehensive Performance Measurement Framework (PMF) which focuses on 6 domains, including Independence and Legal Framework, Internal Governance and Ethics, Audit Quality and Reporting, Financial Management, Assets and Support Services, Human Resources and Training, and Communication and Stakeholder Management. 

Given the focus of TI-Lebanon on expanding the civic space for accountability throughout the implementation of the SANCUS project, the current assignment will focus on the first and last domain i.e. Independence and Legal Framework and Communication and Stakeholder Management. 

For this purpose, the Expert will be assigned to: 
1-    Complete a literature review on the existing SAI frameworks for engagement with Civil Society:
With the support of TI-LB and TI-S teams, the expert will tap into the various INTOSAI resources made available to advocate for more engagement between SAIs and Civil Society around the world. This will serve to define the international benchmarks before providing more contextualized analysis of the situation in Lebanon
2-    Undertake an assessment of the Independence and Legal Framework within which the Court of Account, focusing on dimensions outlined in the INTOSAI PMF guidelines:
a.    Its independence, based on appropriate and effective constitutional framework, financial independence/autonomy, organizational independence/autonomy, and independence of the Head of SAI and its officials.
b.    Its mandate, based on sufficiently board mandate, access to information, and right and obligation to report.
3-    Undertake an assessment of the Communication and Stakeholder Management of the COA, focusing dimensions outlined in the INTOSAI PMF guidelines:
a.    Communications with the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary, based on communications strategy, good practice regarding communication with the Legislature, good practice regarding communication with the Executive, and good practice regarding communication with the Judiciary, Prosecuting and Investigating Agencies.
b.    Communication with the Media, Citizens, and Civil Society Organizations, based on good practice regarding communication with the Media, and good practice regarding communication with Citizens, and Civil Society Organizations. 
4-    Develop recommendations for COA and other concerned stakeholders based on the findings, as well as based on effective practices of cooperation between SAIs and citizens to enhance public accountability, as well as the results of the efforts undertaken worldwide to mainstream citizen engagement in public financial management for better results. 
5-    Produce a consolidated report including the results of the above research and provide key takeaways for content adaptation into 6 visuals accompanying the report. 

In undertaking the assignment, the Expert is encouraged to couple desk-based research with key informant interviews, shedding light on key dimensions of the measurement exercise. 

Proposal Submission

1.    Required Competencies:
The Expert should have the following knowledge and experience:
•    Master Degree in Law, Public Administration, Public Policy, Public Budgeting, Economics, Political Economy or related fields 
•    A minimum of 5 years of experience in relevant work, including research and training
•    Relevant experience in the Civil Society Sector and Public Budget reforms in Lebanon 
•    Proven record of relevant work, relevant publications, previous trainings developed, etc.

2. Selection Criteria
•    Relevance to required competencies (including academic qualifications, professional experience and proven track record)
•    Relevance of proposed methodologies including desk-based and field data collection tools 
•    Reasonable financial proposal

•    Reasonable and actionable implementation plan and timeframe with identified milestones for delivery
•    Ability to mobilize required resources including team members, existing work and other resources
•    Willingness to co-design and work with TI-Lebanon team throughout the course of the monitoring tool development which should be factored into the implementation plan.