UNDP Jobs - 58661- Institutional Development Specialist

Institutional Development Specialist - UNDP/LOTFA Project

Location :

Kabul, AFGHANISTAN

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

11-Aug-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-3

Duration of Initial Contract :

One year with possibility of extension

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

UNDP Afghanistan works to achieve transformation change that will lead to freedom from poverty and insecurity for every afghan, young or old, man or woman.

UNDP assists in the achievement of Afghanistan’s own priorities outlined in the Afghanistan National Development Strategy and National Priority Programmes, as well as international development frameworks such as the Millennium Development Goals, the New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States, and other global agreements in which Afghanistan participates.

In partnership with the Government, the United Nations system, the donor community and other development stakeholders, UNDP contributes to institutional development efforts and strengthens the capacity of national partners through projects and interventions in the areas of democratic governance, rule of law and security, women empowerment and gender, sustainable management of natural resources and climate change adaptation, resilience to natural and man-made chocks and disasters.

UNDP Afghanistan is committed to the highest standards of transparency and accountability and works in close coordination with the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan and the UN system as a whole to maximize the impact of its development efforts on the ground.

Background

The Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA) is a Programme implemented by the Government of Afghanistan through the Ministry of Interior Affairs (MOIA) with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan, and with funding from 17 bi-and multilateral donors. The Programme was established in 2002 to provide a funding channel for the international community to support the establishment of the ANP (Afghan National Police), particularly through the transfer of funding for ANP and prison guard salaries.

In 2011 the project expanded to include the provision of policy advice and capacity development support in the areas of institutional development of the MOIA; prison and police professionalization, and improvement of police service delivery. A new phase of the Programme containing two separate projects under a joint governance arrangement will be launched to be implemented in three phases between 1 July 2015 to 31 December 2016.

Project 1 will continue to support capacity development of the MOIA in order to ensure that the MOIA independently manages the function - human resources, finance and ICT - related to payroll operations to enable the transition of payroll management functions to the MOIA by 31 December 2016.

Project 2 will focus on police professionalization and on institutional development of the MOIA through two components. Component 1 supports the training of the ANP and the professionalization in civil policing by introducing best practices and international standards in community oriented policing, human rights standards and gender equality. Component 2 improves the MOIA´s capacity for reform and assist in building accountable and efficient management and oversight capacities.

LOTFA, which is the largest project supported by UNDP globally, is located the Ministry of Interior Affairs in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The position

Under the overall and direct supervision of the Chief Technical Advisor for the Institutional Development Component, the Institutional Development Specialist is responsible for carrying out the functions and tasks as per this Terms of Reference (ToR). The incumbent of this position works in close collaboration and daily contact with the project partners in implementation of all tasks and activities of the ToR. All tasks will have to be conducted promptly and according to the project implementation plans. A key objective of this position is to systematically and effectively transfer technical knowledge to, and to build capacity of, the partner organizations and the individual counterparts in these organizations. The results of the knowledge transfer and capacity-building activities constitute the main criteria of performance assessment for this position.

The capacity-building activities depend on the area of work and may entail – but are not restricted – to the following:

Undertake research to identify best practices;
Help to locate and access knowledge and expertise;
Provide prompt and high-standard technical inputs to partner institutions;
Proactively initiate and stimulate dialogue around technical issues with staff in partner organizations.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Institutional Development Specialist will support the Chief Technical Advisor in the LOTFA project component for Institutional Reform and Development to provide high quality capacity development and institutional strengthening support to the Ministry of Interior Affairs, with a focus on providing technical support to deliver expert advice in support of building the capacities of the Ministry officials and staff, and the organization in general, in particular, by:

Acting as the resource person for capacity building activities undertaking liaison with key stakeholders on technical issues in support of the project;
Responsible for providing technical inputs in monitoring, reporting and evaluation of all institutional reform and development activities in the MOIA;
Facilitating knowledge sharing and management.

The Institutional Development Specialist will facilitate the work of the international consultants recruited by the project and contribute to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and reporting of all project activities related to institutional reform and development, focusing on the achievement of the following results:

Design and Implementation:

Provide technical input to the development of annual work plans for the Project component and oversee the preparation of documentation in support of AWPs accordingly (including letters of agreement, budgets, TORs, and schedules of payment);
Support the delivery of the work plan and its outputs through consultants, contractors and partners;
Analyze and monitor progress with implementation of activities and advise the CTA on timely corrective actions for proper project delivery;
Together with project counterparts, work under the CTA to identify new areas of support and facilitate implementation of new initiatives;
Ensure, in close consultation with the CTA, 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:

Work closely with the UNDP Project M&E Specialist to ensure that Monitoring and Evaluation data for Project component are delivered in a timely manner and in an appropriate format;
Oversee the contribution to weekly, bi-monthly, quarterly, mid-year, annual and any other reporting;
Contribute to the identification of risks and issues and updating of risk logs in ATLAS.

Reporting:

Oversee national partner reporting, as relevant, 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;
Promote information sharing and coordination with other components and UNDP projects.

Provide robust strategic and technical advice to build the capacities of the MOIA focusing on the achievement of the following results:

Design, coordinate and/or deliver tailored institutional development initiatives, together with the CTA and project consultants;
Develop interventions to strengthen key departments of the MOIA and particularly those which have a link to issues which are prioritized by the project;
Design and implement activities to strengthen the accountability functions of the MOIA, especially through the Office of the Inspector General;
Provide technical assistance to the MOIA on issues within the subject area, as required.

Ensure coordination and liaison for institutional reform and development:

Integrate with the UNDP Rule of Law team to ensure technical coordination of relevant support to the MOIA;
Engage in liaison with other international partners and key stakeholders involved in institutional reform and development of the MOIA;
Coordinate with other parts of the Governance and Rule of Law Units of the Country Office;
Create partnerships with civil society actors and higher education institutions to help create capacity building networks.

Ensure facilitation of knowledge building and management focusing on achievement of the following results:

Identify and synthesize best practices and lessons learned directly linked to project country goals and activities;
Make contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice including corporate communications repositories;
Contribute to design appropriate learning strategies for counterparts.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Advocacy/Advancing A Policy-Oriented Agenda:

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:

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:

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.

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.

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

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;
Effective presentation and report-writing skills; strong analytical and strategic skills as well as good written and oral communications skills.

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise:

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.

Client Orientation:

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.

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;
Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning;
Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member;
Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in public management or public administration, public policy, law, political science, governance or related social science fields.

Experience:

Minimum 5 years of experience in programming and providing technical assistance, preferably in governance and in crisis contexts;
3 years of those, experience should be working with public sector institutions in reform processes; preferably in a post conflict country context;
Experience in capacity building would be an asset;
Experience in security institutions development processes in developing country contexts is desirable;
Work experience in Afghanistan will be an asset and/or elsewhere in the region will be advantageous.

Language:

Fluent written and spoken English;
Knowledge of Dari or Pashtu is an advantage.

Application:

Interested and qualified international candidates should apply on-line through the UNDP Jobs site at UNDP Afghanistan Vacancy Announcement and please ensure that to fill up and upload Personal History Form-P.11 which is available at UNDP Personal History Form (P.11 Form);
Incomplete applications or applications received after the closing date will not be given consideration. Please note that only applicants who are short-listed will be contacted;
For more detailed information about UNDP Afghanistan please visit our website at www.undp.org.af.
Successful candidates must be prepared to start work within 6 weeks of the offer of appointment;
Qualified female candidates are highly encouraged to apply.