Background

Support to elections and electoral reform remains a critical element of the UN’s mandate and UNDP’s democratic governance work supporting country efforts to strengthen their democratic institutions, helping to establish effective and accountable governance systems that are responsive to the needs of ordinary citizens.

In Liberia, UNDP has a long standing program of support to elections that goes back to the historic 2005 elections, the first in the immediate post-war period and maintained support to the second successful one in 2011. It has provided support to the National Elections Commission (NEC) throughout this period, helping to build its institutional capacity to preside over the critical democratic agenda. 

The current program of support to the NEC has been in place since June 2010 and was instrumental for the credible conduct of the 2011 electoral events (new voter registration, Referendum, Legislative elections and 2 rounds of Presidential elections). In addition to the generally positive outcomes of the electoral cycle and a thorough review of the process, its giving strong indication that continued engagement with the NEC is beneficial not only for the conduct of peaceful and credible elections in the future, but also to electoral reform in general as part of the deepening of democratic governance in Liberia.

UNDP is well positioned to extend its services to further strengthening the democratic process in Liberia by providing targeted and strategic assistance to the 2014 special senatorial elections operation. Taking this into account, UNDP election project supports the NEC training and procedures section in implementation of the training programs and re-profiling training strategy for the 2014 senatorial elections.

The training and procedures consultant, under the direct supervision of the acting chief technical advisor, will work in close collaboration with the NEC, UNDP and government officials to successfully design, develop and deliver trainings related to the 2014 special senatorial election.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Assist the NEC in managing and coordinating the planning of the Training and Procedures section;
• Manage the development of the procedural framework including procedures on the nomination of candidates, accreditation of electoral observers and party agents, voter registration, polling and counting;
• Manage the development and production of manuals and forms for all procedures;
• Assist the NEC in fulfilling the training needs of the NEC including producing training materials and developing and implementing training strategies and programs for all electoral operations;
• Manage the coordination of briefings and develop briefing packs on operational issues for new recruits and observer organizations;
• Ensure all procedures and training materials developed and distributed by the section conform to the legal framework and NEC policies;
• Provide periodic status reports to the acting chief technical advisor on the development of procedures, strategies and plans for training and progress with the implementation of these plans;
• Carry out any other electoral tasks at the request of the acting chief technical advisor.

Deliverables

It is expected that the consultant will work closely with the NEC training and Procedures section to manage the development of the electoral procedural framework and assist in fulfilling the training needs including producing training materials and briefing packages.

The key deliverables under this consultancy assignment include:

• Work closely with the NEC relevant staff to draft procedures and training materials for the different phases of the 2014 special senatorial elections;
• Assist the NEC in fulfilling the training strategies and programs for electoral operations including producing training curriculum materials, materials packing and distribution lists, monitoring plan and briefing packages;
  Submit report on the activities implemented;
• Assist NEC training and procedures section in preparation and implementation of the training cascade for the special senatorial elections;
• Submit final report with set of recommendation on the process of implementation for further improvement of the NEC training and procedures section.
  

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of elections program;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Excellent planning, interpersonal and communication skills;
• Must be able to work effectively in a politically sensitive environment and exercise discretion, impartiality and neutrality;
• Proven ability to plan and ensure targets are met.

Required Skills and Experience

• Minimum 10 years of relevant and progressively responsible professional experience in training of election administration;
• Must be BRIDGE fully accredited facilitator and have experience in running the Election Administration trainings based on BRIDGE interactive methodology (HYBRIDGE);
• Technical writing experience in drafting procedural manuals on nomination, polling and counting procedures and the Guide for Trainers;
• Experience of conducting Training of Trainers courses;  
• Experience and ability to work under pressure and within limited timeframes;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, Corel Draw and other software).

Language Requirements:

• Excellent written and spoken English.

Criteria for Shortlisting:

• Relevance of Education/ Degree - 15 points;
• Years & Relevance of Experience - 50 points;
• Regional Experience - 15 points;
• Adequacy of Competencies for the Assignment - 20 points.  

NB:

Only shortlisted candidates will be forwarded the UNDP Procurement Notice.