Associate – Municipal Finance (15th FC PMU)

Location: Delhi, Duration: One year

Municipal finance reforms have been a core focus area for Janaagraha since its inception and the Municipal Finance Program is working towards solving one the most important problems being faced by Indian Cities: making them financially sustainable and accountable. We directly work with States and cities for engendering on-ground change through driving systemic reforms and further work towards translating these on-ground reform successes into usable “products” on Cityfinance to bring about “change-at-scale”. Over the years, we have worked with and supported government stakeholders at both central and state level across property tax, urban infrastructure financing, municipal accounting, among other areas.

Janaagraha’s current/recent past engagements include:

  • MoUs with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) on strengthening Municipal Finance
  • MoU with the Government of Odisha on a wide range of reforms – from accounting and audit to budget and treasury management and urban infrastructure financing.
  • Janaagraha has recently also worked with MoHUA to build and launch a dedicated portal – www.cityfinance.in – which serves as a national framework of standardized, timely and credible financial information on cities (ULBs), in addition to facilitating benchmarking, comparison and peer learning between cities (ULBs) on a range of financial and operating indicators
  • MoU with various knowledge partners on creating thought-leadership around municipal finance subjects like tax dispute resolution and building a digital ecosystem for tax collections and treasury management

We are looking for a competent professional to be a part of the 15th Finance Commission PMU in the Municipal Finance Program in a role that involves managing government engagements

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Manage the day-to-day activities and deliverables to MoHUA under the 15th Finance Commission Cell, and liaison with MoHUA and other teams for ensuring timely delivery on commitments under the 15th FC Cell
  • Provide assistance in preparation of formats for reports & other submissions by ULBs & States for 15th FC Grants 
  • Provide assistance in processing & verifying claims submitted by ULBs and recommending for grants 
  • Provide ongoing data analysis support, and cater to the day-to-day requests for required data and insights, by utilising information available on cityfinance portal 
  • Proactively ensure timely submission of monthly/quarterly dashboard and reports to MoHUA and other government stakeholders
  • Support in design, development, operation and maintenance of 15th FC module on cityfinance portal, including but not limited to workflows, relevant forms, interfaces & dashboards. 
  • Ensure compliance of the cityfinance portal to policies and guidelines issued by Government of India from time to time 
  • Monitor and report any escalation, internally and if required, to MoHUA, w.r.t. application and infrastructure of the cityfinance portal 
  • Co-ordinate with States & ULBs to provide clarification on query raised and resolve any technical issue in coordination with tech team
  • Support during the training sessions for States & ULBs for using cityfinance and undertake reforms in auditing/ accounting and property tax in coordination with program teams
  • Support in drawing up standards for quality and completeness of audited financial statements and SLB data required from the States & ULBs
  • Support in development of a framework and implementation of a national scoring and ranking of financial performance of ULBs,
  • Support in creating e-learning modules and content for capacity building of State & ULB officials at scale on the 15th FC grants module and other municipal finance areas
  • Support in the compilation of best practices in municipal finance from various States & ULBs
  • Support in developing and implementing plans for effective dissemination of financial & operational performance metrics, available on cityfinance, to relevant State & ULB officials, in consultation with MoHUA.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

  • Bachelor’s / Master’s degree in Urban Planning, Public Policy, Development Studies, or similar disciplines
  • 1-3 years of experience in working on government programmes / multi-stakeholder programmes and alliance-building processes in the area of urban governance, community / citizen participation, urban poor habitats, will be valuable

KEY COMPETENCIES

  • Proficiency in MS Office suite particularly Excel, Word and PowerPoint, with a working knowledge of analysis of data & visualization
  • Willingness to extend oneself to accomplish work objectives with tight deadlines, simultaneously pursuing excellence
  • Positive attitude, flexibility and ability to adapt to a dynamic work environment
  • S/he needs to be equipped to handle complex situations on the ground, and also to locate programmatic work within a larger systemic context.
  • Existing knowledge of/ability and willingness to grasp quickly, concepts of urban governance and municipal finance
  • Proficiency in MS Office suite particularly Excel, Word and PowerPoint, with a working knowledge of analysis of data & visualization

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Janaagraha is an equal opportunity employer and offers a highly dynamic and enabling work environment. We provide competitive remuneration commensurate with relevant experience skill-sets and background.

This position is based out of Delhi and will report to the Manager – Municipal Finance.

If interested, please write to us with your CV and a cover letter, along with a link to your updated LinkedIn profile at work@janaagraha.org with “Associate – Municipal Finance (15th FC PMU)” in the subject line.