UNDP Jobs - 60742- J-PASS Project Officer - (Open to Ghanaian Nationa

J-PASS Project Officer - (Open to Ghanaian Nationals Only)

Location :

Accra, GHANA

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

01-Jan-2016

Application Deadline :

22-Oct-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

SB-5

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 year (renewable)

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

Ghana, in the past two decades has made significant strides in deepening its democratic governance by the holding of six successful elections in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012, with two peaceful transfers of power from one political party to another. The country has systematically rolled out a relatively resilient decentralization process since 1988 and in recent years rolled out a national peace architecture to cement peace building as part of its democratic governance process. However, like every country, Ghana faces its unique challenges: enhancement of representation and participation, conflict of roles between and among the arms of government and governance institutions; inadequate participation of non-state actors in governance processes; low representation of women, youth and other marginalized groups in local governance; existence of critical conflict drivers such as chieftaincy, land and natural resources, ethnic, religious and socio-cultural disputes; lack of harmonization and coordination of the peace mechanism; and a high perception of corruption in the public sector.

In Ghana, political parties have a long and proud history and are well-established, structurally coherent and relatively mature. However, political parties have become one of the most mistrusted institutions of democracy in Ghana. Barely 50% of Ghanaians trusted political parties “somewhat” or “a lot” (AfroBarometer 2012). Despite public mistrust, and Ghana is by no means unique in this regard, political parties rarely benefit from deliberate efforts to improve their performance. Ironically, much more assistance goes towards building civil society and state capacities – none of whom are elected to govern nations. Improved political governance was therefore identified in the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF, 2012-16) for Ghana as one of 11 vital outcomes needed to increase and sustain the country’s development.

The Joint Party Support and Strengthening (J-PASS) project builds on previous UNDP initiatives to promote increased public confidence and participation in elections, promote increased trust in political parties and in election results, and promote increased participation of women and youth in decision making processes in political party democracy. J-PASS recognizes that internal democracy, gender equality and election results monitoring are key to improving public and political party confidence, with particular focus for the 2016 elections. J-PASS Project is situated under the ambit of the UNDP Governance Programme and the Project team will be based in UNDP Ghana Office. The project will be implemented with the five parties (CPP, NDC, NPP, PNC, PPP) participating as equals. This is a 2.5 year project.

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Project Manager, the Project Officer shall support formulation, management and evaluation of project activities relating to J-PASS Project. The Project Officer works in close collaboration with the UNDP Governance Team, CO, Programme and Operations teams and Development Partners with overall supervisor of the Project Manager.

Duties and Responsibilities

Policy advice on governance with focus on political parties, elections reform and representation and participation in governance process:

Provision of policy advice to the UNDP and Political Parties on issues relating to the inclusion of women, deepening of internal democracy as well as youth and women empowerment;
Engagement with national actors to strengthen political parties through capacity building;
Engagement with key stakeholders such as the UN System, Media, Civil Society and Political Parties for the review and implementation of governance reforms.

Provides strategic policy advice on project coordination for the implementation of the J-PASS project on Strengthening Political Parties:

Provision of policy advice to national partners in the area of strengthening political parties in Ghana;
Facilitation of project formulation and development, including the implementation of existing strategic and cross-cutting project;
Provide policy advice to UNDP and the Political Parties on the role of Political Parties in elections, governance and developments in Ghana;
Provide strategic input on the link and dichotomy between political parties as agents of political power and political parties are policy makers.

Establishes and maintains strategic partnerships development and resource mobilization focusing on achievement of the following results:

Support the Mangers in coordinating and managing partners and in mobilizing resources for J-PASS. That also includes ensuring timely donor reporting where necessary.

Perform other task assigned from time by the Project Manager.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism;
Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards.

Functional Competencies:

Has knowledge in the area of governance, the operation of political parties and elections;
Promotes knowledge management and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;
In-depth practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues;
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;
Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices inside and outside the office;
Ability to lead strategic planning, change processes, results based management (RBM) and reporting;
Ability to lead formulation, oversight of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
Ability to lead effectively, mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills;
Outstanding coordination skills, with ability to handle multiple activities concurrently, work under pressure, and to tight deadlines;
Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills excellent interpersonal skills, able to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced University Degree in preferably in Political Science, Law, International or Social Studies, Development Studies or any other related field;
Master degree (backed up with post masters practical experience ) in these field is an advantage;

Experience:

Minimum of five (5) years of cross-cutting experience at the national level in providing technical/advisory services on such areas as governance, gender, women’s empowerment, youth development, participatory policies and the related fields;
Hands-on experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of development projects is an asset;
Previous experience working in Ghana or African sub region on elections, governance or related issues and knowledge of UN or international development procedures will be an advantage.

Language Skills:

Fluent in English.