UNDP Jobs - 48335- Policy Advisor for Oecusse Economic Zone for Socia

Policy Advisor for Oecusse Economic Zone for Social Market Economy (ZEESM)

Location :

Dili, Timor Leste

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

01-Sep-2014

Application Deadline :

06-Aug-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-5

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 year

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

1 year with possible extention

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Timor-Leste has been making steady progress towards socio-economic growth, but challenges abound. The Government has articulated its developmental vision through a National Development Strategy, demonstrated clear political commitment to social protection and is embarking on a range of governance and public finance reforms. However, high poverty rate (almost 50%), double digit inflation especially food inflation that directly impacts the poor, high dependency rates resulting from the demographic profile, high youth unemployment and institutional structures and systems that need to be strengthened. These challenges are visible in Oecusse district, an enclave nestled within Western Timor province of Indonesia and with an estimated population of 70,000. Oecusse’s developmental challenges are deepened due to its geographical location, weak and very basic institutional base and low public investments in services, making efficient governance difficult at best.

The constitution RDTL provides a provision of special status to Oecusse, stating that it shall be ‘governed by a special administrative policy and economic regime’ (Article 71, Clause 2) and a law on Oecusse has recently been passed by the National Parliament.

UNDP has been providing Policy advice to the Special Economic Zone for Social Market Economy (ZEESM) Office since its establishment and has developed a program to support ZEESM conceive, establish and support governance and sustainable and innovative development structures and systems in Oecusse. The framework for UNDP’s support to Oecusse ZEESM is built around two components: (i) governance (ii) sustainable and innovative development. Thus, as part of the roll out process of ZEESM there is a need to formulate policies and provide high quality advice to support priority areas that have clear and strong forward linkages to the ZEESM. The proposed assistance is aligned with the priorities of the Fifth Constitutional Government as articulated under Timor-Leste Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030 to establish special zones of social market economy to transform the lives of the people of Oecussi with an integrated approach to sustainable, social and economic development.

The Senior Policy Advisor will work under the overall guidance and direction of Country Director and the Chairman of ZEESM and the day to day supervision of the Chief Operating Officer as well as work closely with the Head of Governance unit to manage the project. Duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

Advise on the institutional, policy, legal and fiscal arrangements for the establishment, operations and sustainability of ZEESM;
Provide high quality and senior- level advice, advocacy and inputs in the governance, economic and innovative development thematic areas of the project; and
Ensure the capacity building is transferred

Lead the technical and policy work of the governance, economic, sustainable and innovative development under the project:

Providing quality policy advice to the Chairman of ZEESM and the Chief Operating Officer (COO), on relevant thematic issues;
In line with the Chairman’s priorities, engage with government institutions, private sector, development partners and civil society in relation to all the responsibilities mentioned in this TOR, keeping the Chairman and COO fully informed of discussions;
Identify and disseminate strategic perspectives on emerging governance and economic issues;
Work closely with and provide advisory inputs to relevant Ministries, Agencies and local administration in relation to the strategic project activities;
Work closely with national, regional and international research institutions to support and promote research on governance, economic planning and policy innovations in the ZEESM;
Work closely with development partners in line with the Chairman’s priorities;
Identify and analyze legal and governance issues facing Oecusse and Atauro specifically and Timor-Leste in general and submit recommendations accordingly;
Conduct research on legal issues and recommend adequate strategies to reach development in all areas concerned and keep up to date on governance research carried out by the Governance Advisory Council;
Develop a Policy Papers and Proposals as determined by the Chairman of ZEESM and in line with ZEESM priorities; and
Develop a Staff Exchange and Secondments Program and skills building programs for ZEESM.

Advise the Chairman and COO on managing the technical inputs for the projects, including:

Periodic briefs to the Chairman ZEESM and the Chief Operating Officer ZEESM on governance, economic development, institutional and legal matters;
Providing technical supervision of the work of consultants working on governance, economic, social and sustainable development issues;
Assisting in the recruitment of consultants and technical staff under the project;
Define work processes (information flow; responsibilities; reporting etc.) for consultants hired under the project.

Provide mentoring and coaching:

Mentoring and coaching staff members up to a level of competency equivalent to an entry level Policy Advisor;
Involve staff extensively in work of the unit, exposing them to increasing levels of responsibility, substance and independence;
Coach/mentor staff as necessary;
Develop a formal training plan based on an assessment of competency levels and training needs;
Provide staff with the knowledge, skills and behaviors needed to grow on the job;
Supervise the production of written work; and
Set capacity building goals and indicators over a twenty-four month period, which will be agreed with the staff and the COO, and monitor achievement on a bi-annual basis (individual performance evaluations).

Impact of Results

The provision of holistic supervision under the overall guidance and direction of the Chairman of ZEESM, the Advisor will work on day to day supervision of the Chief Operating Officer which will enhance oversight capacity of the ZEESM. Sustainability is further enhanced through developing a formal training plan, mentoring and coaching to ZEESM staff and getting approval on annual work plan; drafting the concept note on Strategic planning and action plan; developing the work plan link to the ZEESM long-term strategy of ZEESM.

The gradual transfer of technical skills to Timorese counterparts, will gradually lessen dependence of the ZEESM Policy Advisor on international expertise, and further strengthen national ownership of the development process.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

Ability for knowledge transfer on strategic planning, swot analysis, action plans and the concept of change management;
Capacity to interact with senior officials and credibly influence senior decision makers in UNDP Programme countries and other international development organizations;
Strong analytical, negotiation and communication skills, including ability to produce high quality practical advisory reports and knowledge products, represent the organization and present global policies, norms and tools.

Leadership:

Demonstrated ability to think strategically and to provide credible leadership;
Demonstrated intellectual leadership and ability to integrate knowledge with broader strategic overview and cooperate vision;
Managerial/leadership experience and decision-making skills with track record of mature judgments;
Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of development experience;
Knowledge and expertise/recognized expert in practice area;
Proven ability to lead a practice area and drive for results;
Demonstrated ability to be accountable for practice’s global policies.

Managing Relationships:

Demonstrated well developed people management and organizational management skills;
Ability to manage teams, creating an enabling environment, mentoring and developing staff;
Negotiating and networking skills with strong partnerships in academia, technical organizations and as a recognized expert in the practice area;
Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills;
Resource mobilization and partnering skills and the ability to accept accountability for management of large volume of financial resources.

Managing Complexity:

Substantive knowledge and understanding of development cooperation with the ability to support the practice architecture of UNDP and inter-disciplinary issues;
Demonstrated substantive leadership and ability to integrate knowledge with broader strategic, policy and operational objectives;
A sound global network of institutional and individual contracts.

Knowledge Management and Learning:

Ability to strongly promote and build knowledge products;
Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;
Seeks and applies knowledge, information and best practices from within and outside of UNDP;
Provides constructive coaching and feedback.

Judgment/Decision-Making:

Mature judgment and initiative;
Proven ability to provide strategic direction in practice area;
Independent judgment and discretion in advising on handling major policy issues and challenges, uses diplomacy and tact to achieve results.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters degree in Public Policy and Administration or relevant field.

Experience:

Ten (10) years of experience in international policy advice and/or capacity development activities;
Professional experience on Strategic Planning and Management with development programmes;
Strong project management experience and expertise and proven track record in managing teams and complex logistics;
Professional and/or academic experience in one or more of the areas of the practice/thematic area;
Excellent computer/information systems skills and analysis and to produce quantitative and qualitative reports;
Experience in working in UNDP Country Offices, especially in providing Policy advisory area;
Understanding of Timor-Leste context will be advantage.

Language:

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations.
For this post, fluency in English (both oral and written) is required;
Knowledge of Portuguese or Tetum is highly desirable.