Background

Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia” Project is designed to strengthen the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia (NA) in its fundamentally enhanced role within the governance system in carrying out critical functions of law-making, oversight, and representation. With a long-term goal of improving the overall effectiveness of the Parliament as a policy-making institution, the Project is designed to support the newly elected NA to take advantage of the modern governance tools and mechanisms that are focusing on improved quality, transparency and inclusiveness of parliamentary operations and enhanced parliamentary capacity for gender-responsive policymaking.

The Project expected outcomes are:

1. Quality of legislative oversight and policymaking is improved
2. Increased transparency and accountability of the NA
3. Legislative responsiveness, inclusivity and participatory approach is embedded in MP's work

As digital revolution is transforming the world at unprecedented speed, digital technologies proved essential for institutional continuity and demand by people in terms of connecting and exchanging information. The MAP Project recognized the need to develop tools for increased accountability and transparency of the NA. Hence, the Project is set to provide technical support to the National Assembly in terms developing an overarching Strategic approach to digital transformation.

UNDP Armenia hereby seeks the services of an international expert specialised in parliamentary digital transformation to develop a three-pronged Strategy for the NA; short-term, mid-term and long-term strategy comprising roadmaps and action plans. The International expert with work in close collaboration with the national expert.

Duties and Responsibilities

The expert will act under the overall supervision of UNDP MAP Project CTA and in close consultation with the NA digital transformation working group to develop a comprehensive and innovative digital transformation strategy which includes the following activities.

Specific duties:

• Develop a comprehensive Digital Transformation Strategy of the National Assembly of the Assess the existing technical capabilities of NA, review all analysis, approaches, roadmaps and compile a comprehensive Strategy on “digital transformation” for the comprising:
  • Assessment of the existing technical capabilities of the NA
  • Review and analysis of all research and analytical papers so far produced by the MAP Project to the NA on IT, Digital and Business Continuity to be built into the Strategy. Conduct additional research and interviews with the new leadership/digital transformation working group of the NA.
  • Develop a short-, mid- and long-term approaches for a strategic development of digitally transformed parliament based on the latest global trends having incorporated some of the most advanced lessons learnt for parliaments.
  • Develop digital transformation roadmaps to outline the investments and initiatives to implement the strategy and align with the annual budget planning process and capital works program divided through the following inputs as follows:
    1. People, workforce, and culture roadmap will be designed to guide the evolution of our digital workforce (focus also on the development of digital skills of the people)
    2. Information management roadmap to guide the way information will be collected, stored, managed, secured, preserved, and shared throughout its lifecycle
    3. Digital publishing and content roadmap to guide improvements to the Parliament’s digital publishing and content delivery environments
    4. Core parliamentary business systems roadmap to guide modernisation of specialist systems supporting the operations of Parliament
    5. Corporate systems roadmap to provide a plan for the evolution of systems that support the broad range of enabling services provided by the parliamentary departments
    6. Infrastructure and supporting technology roadmaps to enable enhanced management of the existing technology asset portfolio and plan for changes to infrastructure, networks, and devices.

• Develop an action plan aligned with strategy and roadmap, based on the ongoing ICT processes in NA, namely the development of the web-portal, design of the e-Parliament system, cybersecurity assessment, hardware enhancements of the data center and peripheral network.
• Represent and define an agreed understanding of digital direction and priorities in support of the Parliament’s business toward smart, confident use of technology and information to drive improvements.
• Capture driving modernization inputs to establish the Parliament as an exemplar of good governance, strong public participation openness, efficiency, and accountability.
• The following outline shall serve as reference point:
  • Executive Summary
  • Introduction
  • Digital Transformation Vision
  • Strategic goals and objectives
  • Principles of development of digital services
  • Key focus areas of digital transformation
  • Background and Current Status
  • Laws and regulatory documents
  • Current IT Infrastructure
  • Existing Information systems and analysis
  • Focus Area 1: Business Continuity of the NA and Digital Foresight
    • Digital Foresight
    • Business Continuity modalities
    • Transfer to digital deliberation
  • Focus Area 2: Enhancements of Web Portal and Digital Communication tools
  • Focus Area 3: Public Participation: Digital Tools for Consultations on oversight and legislative drafting and Outreach
  • Focus Area 4: Development and Implementation of E-Parliament system
  • Focus Area 5: Development and Implementation of New Information Systems
    • Empowerment of IT infrastructure and business continuity operation
    • Enhancing the IT Infrastructure capacity of the NA
    • Ensuring the business continuity and disaster recovery
    • Cybersecurity
  • Leadership and governance
  • Funding Options
  • Implementation Roadmap and Action Plan
  • Monitoring and Evaluation

Expected deliverables:    

Payment mode:

Payment will be conducted in one instalment upon completion of the tasks under each output and approval of deliverables by UNDP MAP. 

Competencies

• Cultural and political awareness, diplomatic skills, ability to adapt and ability to work independently and take responsibility for delivering results;
• Ability to write clearly and concisely in English for print and online publications
• Excellent research, analytical, reporting and writing skills;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work;
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines;
• Proficiency in the use of office IT applications and internet in conducting research;
• Outstanding communication, project management and organizational skills;
• Excellent presentation and facilitation skills.
• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Positive, constructive attitude to work;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Capacity to interact with senior officials and elected Members and credibly influence senior decision makers;
• Strong analytical, negotiation and communication skills, including ability to produce high quality practical advisory reports and knowledge products;
• Demonstrated practical knowledge and experience in the field of parliamentary assistance;
• Effective and timely delivery of agreed outputs in a high-pressure work environment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: 

• MA in IT, research, development, political sciences, and similar fields. PhD would be an asset.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of the senior level working experience in the design, elaboration, management, and implementation of National Digital and/or ICT related strategies with specific experience in drafting 1-2 such documents as main author
• At least 10 years of experience in working with parliaments.
• First-hand experience of working with parliaments to make use of technology to support core parliamentary functions, preferably in three or more countries
• Successful experience in planning and leading large-scale research projects
• Experience and deep knowledge of current issues about the latest issued regarding the innovations and transformation of parliaments and technology
• Participation in global reports with UNDP, IPU etc. and presentation of new concepts at global conferences is an asset.
• Contribution/input into global reports on parliaments and technology is an asset
• Published journal articles on parliaments and technology is an asset including experience in designing survey instruments and analysing survey data
• Deep knowledge of parliamentarians’ use of digital technologies and parliamentary innovation processes
• Experience in soliciting and managing input from experts and project partners
• Previous related experience working with UNDP is an asset.

Languages:  

• Excellent reading and writing proficiency in the English language is required.