The Budget Advocacy Network (BAN) comprises a group of 7 leading Civil Society organizations in Sierra Leone working to promote participation, transparency, and accountability and in the national budget process in Sierra Leone.

The network intends to carry out a study on the operations of the District Budget Oversight Committees established under the Budget and accountability Act of 2004. The study aims at determining the overall operational context of District Budget Oversight Committees (DBOCs) in terms of what the Act provides and what is done in practice to enable BAN support their work.

Objectives

1. Investigate the composition, role and operational context of DBOCs in the three BAN operational districts (Kono, Bombali and Western Area Rural District)

2. Identify ways of bringing community concerns into the budget process and the level of accountability of DBOCs to their constituents

3. Explore the oversight role of DBOCs and opportunities of building synergy with other budget oversight/ budget monitoring structures such as the Parliamentary Accounts Committee, Local councils and IMTs.

4. Review the information flow/ communication channels that exist between the Ministry of Finance and DBOCs on central government allocations to local councils and budget information from district councils to DBOCs and IMTs.

5. Determine DBOCs reporting/ accountability processes and the efficacy of their intermediary role between government and communities concerning budget preparation, allocations and services to their districts

6. Investigate the general capacity of DBOCs and how effective they are in terms of fulfilling their constitutional mandate of promoting budget oversight and civic engagement with the budget processes at the national and district levels.

BAN invites eligible individuals to express their interest in providing services to carry out the above assignment

Interested individuals must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the services, availability, general understanding of the subject matter, manner of approach, detail time schedule, cost etc. A two page CVs should be provided to show their relevant experience, description of similar assignments and experience in similar conditions.

The consultant services are expected to span not more than four weeks and is expected to start in March 2010. The consultant will be selected based on an assessment of the this EOI by BAN