1.    Objectives of the activity

1.1.  Overall objective

To design a sustainable, fully costed institutional, governance and operational framework for the establishment and operationalisation of Statistics Lesotho and the other institutional bodies in accordance with the proposed Statistics Bill.

1.2.  Specific objectives

The consulting team will:

1.      Design the organisational structure of Statistics Lesotho, including headquarters and functional units.

2.      Define staffing requirements, job profiles/descriptions, and skill mix of the proposed organisational structure of Statistics Lesotho.

3.      Propose the structure, mandate, and governance arrangements of the Statistics Council.

4.      Design NSS coordination structures (technical committees, sector working groups, data coordination mechanisms) and their respective key terms of reference

5.      Conduct a full costing of: (i) transition from BOS to Statistics Lesotho; (ii) recurrent operational costs; (iii) governance structures (Council and committees); and (iv) capacity building and systems requirements.

6.      Benchmark institutional arrangements with a few selected statistics offices in the region

7.      Propose implementation scenarios (e.g., minimum viable structure vs optimal structure).

8.      Identify legal, administrative, and financial prerequisites for implementation.

9.      Develop a phased implementation roadmap for the operationalisation of Statistics Lesotho following the enactment of the Statistics Act.

2.    Scope of Work

The assignment will cover the following areas:

Institutional benchmarking

The consulting team will benchmark 2–3 selected National Statistical Offices (NSOs), including potentially Botswana, Uganda, Zambia, Rwanda, Kenya, Namibia and/or Zimbabwe, based on the relevance of their institutional arrangements and recent reform experience to Lesotho. The benchmarking will be undertaken through desk reviews and virtual exchanges and will inform the proposed institutional design, governance arrangements, staffing model, financing and NSS coordination mechanisms.

Separately, a targeted study visit will be organised for a four-member BOS/MFDP delegation to one or two NSOs selected based on their relevance to the reform options being considered. The delegation will comprise three senior BOS representatives—the Director a.i., the Chief Statistician responsible for coordination, and the Chief Statistician responsible for field organisation—and the MFDP legal officer responsible for the Statistics Bill.

The study visit will focus on practical implementation issues and will complement the consultants’ comparative analysis rather than replicate it.

Institutional design, including:

-          Organisational structure

-          Institutional innovations and lessons applicable to Lesotho

-          Governance arrangements

-          Staffing establishment

-          Regional offices

-          Functional review

-          Reporting lines

Transition planning, including:

-          Migration from BOS to Statistics Lesotho

-          Change management

-          Communication strategy

-          Implementation roadmap

-          Implementation of the Statistics Act

-          Implementation of the NSDS

Costing, including:

-          Recurrent budget

-          Investment costs

-          Staffing

-          ICT

-          Offices and other infrastructure (e.g. logistics, etc.)

-          Statistics Council

-          Committees

-          Regional offices

-          Five-year financing strategy

Throughout, the focus will remain on simplified, implementable and cost-effective models suitable for Lesotho's institutional and fiscal context.

3.    Methodology

The consulting team will apply a mixed methodology, including:

-          Desk review of the Statistics Bill, related policy documents, and other relevant institutional and legal frameworks.

-          Comparative analysis and benchmarking with selected National Statistical Offices (NSOs). The consulting team will conduct the comparative benchmarking through desk reviews and virtual exchanges with 2–3 selected NSOs, assessing organisational structures, governance arrangements, staffing models, financing, NSS coordination, institutional independence and lessons from recent reforms. This will be complemented by a targeted study visit by a small BOS/MFDP delegation to two particularly relevant NSOs to obtain first-hand practical insights into the implementation of institutional and governance arrangements. Stakeholder consultations with the BOS, the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), line ministries and departments (MDAs), Parliament, development partners, and other relevant stakeholders to validate findings and gather inputs.

-          Institutional mapping and functional analysis, including the assessment of roles, mandates, organisational arrangements, and institutional capacities.

-          Cost modelling and development of implementation scenarios for the proposed institutional reforms.

-          Facilitation of a validation workshop with key stakeholders to present findings, discuss recommendations, and build consensus.

4.    Detailed Tasks

1)      Review

-          Statistics Bill

-          NSS Peer Review report

-          NSDS II, including previous NSDS mid-term and final evaluation reports

-          BOS organisational structure and human resource/establishment records

-          Public Service regulations and grading structure

-          Other relevant government policy and legal documents.

2)      Benchmark analysis

The consulting team will undertake the benchmark analysis through desk reviews and virtual exchanges, covering:

-          Governance

-          Staffing

-          Financing, including securing sustainable financing from government

-          Statistics councils

-          Coordination mechanisms

-          Organisational structures

-          (Digital) NSO Infrastructure  

-          Data quality control mechanisms

-          Data sharing mechanisms in the NSS

The consulting will incorporate relevant findings from the study visit into the comparative institutional analysis and recommendations.

3)      Design Statistics Lesotho, including:

-          Office of the Statistician General

-          Deputy Statistician (s) General

-          Technical directorates

-          Regional offices, with a clear mandate and workflow with the headquarters

-          ICT / Digital infrastructure

-          Methodology

-          Communication

-          Corporate services

-          Data integration and Data Innovation Lab

-          Legal and statistical governance function

4)      Design of the Statistics Council

-          Composition

-          Terms of reference, mandate, and role

-          Committees

-          Secretariat

-          Role of NSO

-          Meeting frequency

-          The link structure between the NSO, council and the different coordination structures

-          Role of the regions or lower administration in the council

5)      Design of coordination committees

-          NSS Coordination Committee

-          Sector working groups

-          Administrative Data Committee

-          Innovation and Research Committee

-          Data Users Committee

-          Management of data quality and statistical advocacy

-          The coordination mechanism between the different committees

-          Frequency of meetings of the committees

6)      Preparation of the staffing establishment

-          Every post description

-          Grade

-          Functions

-          Qualifications

7)      Preparation of the costing

-          Human resources

-          Regional offices

-          ICT/digital infrastructure

-          Office equipment

-          Statistics Council

-          NSS committees

-          Vehicles and logistics

-          Capacity development

-          Transition costs

-          Communication and branding

-          Operational expenditure

-          Capital expenditure

-          Five-year financing scenarios

8)      Present the proposed institutional architecture and costing options

Present to the Technical Working Group for preliminary review and refinement, before stakeholder validation.

9)      Validation workshop

Facilitate a validation workshop with key stakeholders and incorporate feedback into final deliverables.

1.1.  Responsibility of the experts

The assignment will be undertaken by a team of 3 consultants, with the following responsibilities:

2.    Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The consulting team will deliver:

1.      Inception report, including methodology and benchmarking framework.

2.      Comparative institutional review of 2–3 selected NSOs, incorporating findings from desk reviews and virtual exchanges conducted by the consulting team and, where relevant, practical lessons from the BOS/MFDP study visit, with recommendations for adaptation to the Lesotho context. .

3.      Institutional design report, including organogram of Statistics Lesotho; Statistics Council; NSS coordination committees; regional structures (if applicable); staffing establishment; job families and competency framework.

4.      Draft Organisation and Operations Manual, including mandates; functions; reporting relationships; standard operating arrangements; internal coordination mechanisms.

5.      Transition and change management strategy for the migration from BOS to Statistics Lesotho.

6.      Comprehensive costing report, including staffing costs; Council and committee costs; regional offices; ICT and infrastructure; capacity development; transition costs; operational costs; capital investment; three implementation scenarios; five-year budget projections; assumptions used; costing methodology; sensitivity analysis; and inflation assumptions.

7.      Excel costing model allowing BOS and the Ministry of Finance to update assumptions and generate alternative costing scenarios, including: an assumptions sheet; human resource costing; operational costs; capital costs; Council costs; committee costs; regional offices; a dashboard; and automatic five-year projections.

8.      Validation workshop and revised reports.

9.      Final report and implementation roadmap, with phased recommendations for the first five years of Statistics Lesotho.

3.    Duration

The benchmarking activities will be organised in a manner that does not delay the overall assignment or the parliamentary process. The consultants’ desk reviews and virtual exchanges will be conducted as part of the main assignment. The BOS/MFDP study visit will be limited to five working days and is planned for October 2026, with the five-day programme scheduled for 5–9 October 2026.

4.    Reporting arrangements

The consultants shall work under the overall supervision of the Bureau of Statistics through its Director, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning and the Equitable Lesotho Project.

All deliverables shall be reviewed and validated by the Technical Working Group established for the assignment.

The Team Leader shall be responsible for ensuring the consistency and quality of all deliverables and shall act as the sole interface between the consulting team and the BOS/Project Management Team.

5.     Comparative Benchmarking Framework

The comparative review will primarily draw on the institutional models of 2 to 3 NSOs selected because they represent recent and relevant experiences of statistical reforms in countries with institutional contexts comparable to Lesotho. The final selection will be made by the consulting team in consultation with BOS and MFDP, taking into account the specific institutional questions arising from the Statistics Bill.

The consultants will undertake the comparative review through desk research and virtual exchanges. Separately, two NSOs will be identified for a targeted BOS/MFDP study visit, based on their relevance to the reform options and the practical value of first-hand learning.

Potential benchmarking countries

The countries below constitute a pool of potential comparators. The consulting team will select 2–3 NSOs for the comparative review, while one or two NSOs may subsequently be selected for the BOS/MFDP study visit. The two selections do not need to be identical.