Background

Myanmar is at an historic stage. A new Constitution was adopted in May 2008 and elections were held in November 2010 with bi-elections in April 2012. Parliaments and governments have been formed at the national and region/state levels. A number of reforms have already been undertaken focusing on good governance, human rights and reaching cease-fire agreements in a number of conflict areas. These reforms are seen as positive steps, which have led to increasing engagement with the international community and allowed Executive Board of UNDP to lift mandate restrictions and to propose a fully-fledged UNDP country programme.

Under the current Constitution of Myanmar 2008 there are two levels of elected parliaments (Hluttaws) – at the Union (national) level and at the level of Regions and States (sub-national). There are 14 State and Regional Hluttaws, and the relationship between the regional parliaments and the national parliament continues to evolve. The Constitution of Myanmar provides that the sub-national parliaments have jurisdiction to pass legislation in certain sectors, but at the moment the capacity of these legislatures to discharge these functions is limited.

Noting the Government’s stated commitment to decentralization over time, and the important peace-building role that sub-national legislatures can play in the complex, multi-cultural context of Myanmar, it is imperative that support is provided to strengthen the capacity of sub-national MPs to effectively provide parliamentary functions to their states. The legislative, oversight and representative functions of the sub-national parliaments will also become more important as the decentralization and peace process moves forward. The Myanmar Parliamentary Union has also been established with speakers and deputy speakers of all levels of parliaments meeting two times each year to discuss issues. There are more opportunities for women to become involved at the sub-national level and this could provide a strategic opportunity to increase women’s representation and participation.

In 2013, the Government has already indicated that states and regions will get greater responsibility over their budgets. Budgets will not only need to be reviewed and passed by the legislatures, but expenditures will also need oversight. State/region parliaments are not required to establish Account Committees, but this will be important for the oversight function of state/regional budgets.

UNDP started working with state and regional parliaments in December 2013. Based on the interest from state and regional parliaments and the request made from the Union parliament the area of work has increased rapidly and during the first stage of the work with state and regional parliaments.

Background on UNDP Country Programme and Parliamentary Strengthening

In April 2013, a new three year UNDP Myanmar Country Action Plan (CPAP) was signed between the Government of Myanmar and UNDP. This CPAP presented a change in the way that UNDP worked in Myanmar. Previously UNDP was working under a restricted mandate and the new CPAP shifted UNDP from a programme focused on human development at the community level to a new programme with three pillars covering (i) Local Governance; (ii) Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Disaster Risk Reduction and (iii) Democratic Governance. The Pillar 3 covering Democratic Governance in turn contains four areas of complementary work (a) Development Effectiveness; (b) Parliamentary Strengthening; (c) Access to justice and (d) Public Administration.

The Parliament Strengthening started implementation of activities in April 2013. Together with the International Parliamentary Union (IPU), UNDP has engaged with the Union Assembly of Myanmar to identify areas where the capacity of the Union Assembly can be built in order for it to effectively discharge its constitutional mandate. Based on a series of assessment missions and discussions with senior political leaders in both the Pyithu Hluttaw and the Amyotha Hluttaw, UNDP and the IPU has develop a parliamentary strengthening component which includes a long-term, multi-faceted approach to capacity building. It covers capacity building for the Parliamentarians, the Parliamentary Administration as well as for the Regional/ State Parliaments.UNDP started working with state and regional parliaments in December 2013. Based on the interest from state and regional parliaments and the request made from the Union parliament the area of work increased rapidly and during the first stage of the work with state and regional parliaments. The interest for support from the state and regional parliaments has been overwhelming positive as their needs for support are pressing.

In order to cater to the need and seek to provide support to the state and regional parliaments UNDP has chosen a strategy of supporting strengthening the network between the state and regional parliaments in order to support better transfer of knowledge and experience between them. UNDP will focus its support around two parliaments, Sagaing and Mon, which has proven to be two of the most proactive parliaments and more exceptive to support for capacity development and change. These parliaments will again serve the purpose of models which can transfer knowledge and experience to other parliaments, Sagaing for Upper Myanmar and Mon for Lower Myanmar. In addition special focus will be given to the Parliament of Shan, as this state will be the one state where all of UNDP’s country programmes will be present because of its unique context.     

UNDP will seek to work with the state and regional parliaments in close coordination with its Local Governance Programme, which focuses mainly on the administration of the state and regions. In this regard activities supporting the state and regional parliaments will be complimentary and provide further capacity for the state and regional parliaments to discharge their function of overseeing and representing the people. UNDP will also provide capacity building activities linked to activities implemented through the Union Parliament (national level) in order to take advantage of the activities implemented at this level.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Programme Specialist Parliament and acting in close coordination with the Programme Analyst Parliament (NOB) and international consultants specialized on sub-national parliament, the Programme Specialist provides management, coordination and implementation in the programme area of the Parliamentary Support Project at the sub-national level:

Design and Development of the Sub-national Parliamentary Component:

• Contributes to implementing the overall strategic vision of sub-national parliamentary strengthening activities to support the overarching objectives of the Country Programme;
• Assist in developing strategic vision for sub-national parliamentary activities in strengthening national and local capacities;
• Strengthen linkages and support coherence of activities with the whole Parliamentary Strengthening component; 
• Explore and build linkages to other parts of the Country Programme of UNDP especially in relation to ongoing work in regards to local governance, civil society and media;
• Ensures the integration of cross-cutting issues, such as gender, HIV/AIDS, peace building, human rights and ICT, into the design, monitoring and evaluation of the Parliamentary Strengthening component;
• Support activities and information gathering on the sub-national level in regards to the national and sub-national elections in 2015;
• Together with programme counterparts, identify new areas of support and facilitate implementation of new initiatives.

Management and Implementation of Sub-national Parliamentary Component:

• Development of annual workplan for the sub-national parliamentary strengthening component;
• Oversee day to day implementation of the sub-national parliamentary strengthening component activities;
• Analyze and monitor progress and advise on timely corrective actions for proper delivery;
• Manage the delivery of the workplan and its outputs through consultants, contractors and NGOs, including developing terms of reference, participating in procurement, selection and hiring, and overseeing their delivery to ensure high quality outputs;  
• Manages all programmatic activities under the sub-national parliamentary strengthening component;
• Manages and supervises national officers, international and local consultants under the sub-national parliamentary support component;
• Responsible for budgeting of Sub-national Parliamentary Support Activities;
• Participates in internal control mechanisms for adherence to UNDP rules and regulations in contracts, assets, procurement, recruitment, etc. as required;
• Contributes to wider Democratic Governance programme management processes and team cohesion;
• Ensure the effective application of RBM tools, elaboration and implementation of coherent work plans, project and programme documents, preparation of compelling proposals and achievement of results;
• Ensure compliance of operation with UNDP rules and regulations.

Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Ensure that monitoring and evaluation data for the Sub-national Parliamentary Strengthening Output are delivered in a timely manner and in an appropriate format;
• Conducts regular monitoring and evaluation visits and participation in Programme Board and/or Steering Committee meetings;
• Contribute to quarterly, mid-year and annual reporting;
• Contribute to the identification of risks and issues and updating of risk logs in ATLAS;
• Oversee partner reporting and where necessary help them to improve in line with UNDP and project reporting standards;
• Provide timely inputs to donor reports on implementation, the achievement of outputs as well as contribute to reporting on progress towards outcomes and impact.

Knowledge Management:

• In conjunction with Programme Specialist, prepares and quality controls knowledge products of the Sub-national Parliamentary Support Project output;
• Promote information sharing and coordination with UN agencies where relevant of Sub-national Parliamentary activities;
• Develops partnerships with other agencies providing support to sub-national parliaments;
• Ensures that UNDP and wider international best practice and lesson learning is fed into programmatic and strategic development of the parliamentary strengthening component in UNDP Myanmar.

Impact of Results

Achievement of the above key results will contribute to the successful implementation of the country programme, particularly the Parliamentary Strengthening component under Democratic Governance programme.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents;
• Building support and political acumen;
• Building staff competence,  creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
• Building and promoting effective teams;
• Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
• Creating an emotionally intelligent organization;
• Leveraging conflict in the interests of UNDP & setting standards.

Functional Competencies:

Advocacy/Advancing A Policy-Oriented Agenda:
Analysis and creation of messages and strategies

• Creates effective advocacy strategies;
• Performs analysis of political situations and scenarios, and contributes to the formulation of institutional responses.

Results-Based Programme Development and Management:
Contributing to results through provision of information

• Provides information for linkages across programme activities to help identify critical points of integration;
• Provides information and documentation on specific stages of projects/programme implementation;
• Provides background information to identify opportunities for project development and helps drafting proposals;
• Participates in the formulation of project proposals.

Building Strategic Partnerships:
Identifying and building partnerships

• Effectively networks with partners seizing opportunities to build strategic alliances relevant to UNDP’s mandate and strategic agenda;
• Identifies needs and interventions for capacity building of counterparts, clients and potential partners;
• Promotes UNDP’s agenda in inter-agency meetings.

Developing new approaches:
Innovation and Marketing New Approaches

• Seeks a broad range of perspectives in developing project proposals;
• Identifies new approaches and promotes their use in other situations;
• Creates an environment that fosters innovation and innovative thinking;
• Makes the case for innovative ideas from the team with own supervisor.

Resource Mobilization:
Implementing resource mobilization strategies

• Analyzes information on potential bilateral donors and national counterparts to recommend a strategic approach
• Identifies and compiles lessons learned
• Develops a resource mobilization strategy at the country level

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing:
Developing tools and mechanisms

• Makes the case for innovative ideas documenting successes and building them into the design of new approaches;
• Identifies new approaches and strategies that promote the use of tools and mechanisms.

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise:
In-depth knowledge of the subject-matter

• Understands more advanced aspects of primary area of specialization as well as the fundamental concepts of related disciplines;
• Keeps abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself professionally;
• Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
• Demonstrates comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the current guidelines and project management tools and utilizes these regularly in work assignments.

Global Leadership and Advocacy for UNDP’s Goals:
Analysis and creation of messages and strategies

• Performed analysis of political situations and scenarios, and contributes to the formulation of institutional responses;
• Uses the opportunity to bring forward and disseminate materials for global advocacy work and adapts it for use at country level.

Client Orientation:
Contributing to positive outcomes for the client

• Anticipates client needs;
• Works towards creating an enabling environment for a smooth relationship between the clients and service provider;
• Demonstrates understanding of client’s perspective;
• Solicits feedback on service provision and quality.

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise: In-depth knowledge of the subject-matter:

• Understands more advanced aspects of primary area of specialization (Parliamentary Strengthening) as well as the fundamental concepts of related disciplines (Elections, Political Party Strengthening; Political Economy Analysis);
• Keeps abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself professionally;
• Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
• Demonstrates comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the current guidelines and project management tools and utilizes these regularly in work assignments.

Management and Leadership:

• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and responds positively to constructive feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrates excellent presentation skills;
• Excellent computer skills, and applications for report and project planning;
• Excellent organizational skills and proven ability to deliver projects within assigned deadlines;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Excellent interpersonal skills and objectivity;
• Experience working collaboratively in a team structure in a multicultural environment.

Communications and Networking skills:

• Excellent oral communication skills and conflict resolution competency to manage inter-group dynamics and mediate conflicting interests of varied actors;
• Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize project outputs and relevant findings for the preparation of quality project reports;
• Maturity and confidence in dealing with senior and high ranking members of national and international institutions, parliament, government and non-government institutions;
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work in a multicultural, multinational, multi-stakeholder setting and demonstrable ability to motivate people and work in a team setting;
• Substantial level of self-organization, being methodical, have ability to set priorities and pay attention to detail.

Knowledge Management and Learning:

• Promotes knowledge management and a learning environment through leadership and personal example;
• Support to the improvement of capacity of Programme staff and their understanding of UNDP rules and processes, including reporting, procurement, contracting, and management of Letters of Agreement;
• Organization of trainings for the operations/ projects staff on programme issues;
• Experience in capacity development and facilitating positive transformational change.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Business Administration, Public Administration, Economics, Political Sciences, Social Sciences or related field.

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in a governance related field and/or parliamentary work;
• At least 2 year experience of working on parliamentary issues;
• Experience in working with sub-national parliament is a distinct asset;
• Proven project cycle management experience, preferably within UNDP or another UN agency, with sound knowledge and experience in all aspects of project cycle (design, implementation, monitoring & evaluation);
• Prior experience of governance work in Myanmar, South-East Asia and/or countries in transition would be an asset;
• Strong interpersonal and written and oral communication skills;
• Ability to work well in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams.

Language:

• Excellent command of written and spoken English.