UNDP Jobs - 109039- IC/025/22 - Senior Advisor on Public Services Deli

IC/025/22 - Senior Advisor on Public Services Delivery

Location :

Home-based with at least 4 visits to Uzbekistan and field visits to pilot regions, UZBEKISTAN

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Nov-2022

Application Deadline :

26-Sep-22 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

80 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

November 2022 – November 2023

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

"Improved Public Services Delivery and Enhanced Governance in Rural Uzbekistan" is a joint EU, UNDP and Ministry of Justice project. The overall goal of the project is to improve the quality of life of vulnerable population in rural areas – such as women, youth and children, the elderly and people with disabilities – by enhancing their access to public services, and the quality of their provision. Equally, the project aims to strengthen citizen participation in the decision-making processes at the local level and increase their access to information, effectively increasing the transparency of the local governance system.

Main objectives of the Project are:

enhance the capacity of government agencies in the Republic of Uzbekistan to improve the delivery of public services, by facilitating creation of an enabling environment for streamlining regulatory framework and relevant policies;
expand accessibility of streamlined public services through the decentralisation of service delivery and integration of public service delivery systems;
enable the necessary mechanisms to support such changes, and ensure their sustainability beyond the completion of this project.

In addition, the project aims to support the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in view of improving the performance and actual delivery of public services from the Public Service Centers (PSCs).

The Senior Advisor on Public Services Delivery (further Senior Advisor) is responsible to provide strategic guidance and overall technical advice on in the context of the administrative reform agenda of Uzbekistan, as well as to ensure effective implementation of all the components of the project, in close cooperation with the project team. The responsibility of the Senior Advisor is to ensure that the overall thematic/technical direction of the project is maintained, and flexibility adapted to meet the practical challenges faced during the implementation of the project.

Under coordination of Head of EG Cluster, with support of the Project Manager and Programme Coordinator, the Senior Advisor will ensure all necessary advisory support in order to smoothly implement the Program and also provide guidance on the implementation of the Projects' activities as well as sharing best practices and providing UNDP’s support in improving the efficiency and inclusiveness of public service delivery and bringing innovation in service delivery.

The Senior Advisor will also coach the national counterparts on all aspects of public service delivery and public administration reform, sequencing of interventions, monitoring and evaluation. He/she will also support formulation and implementation of work plans in cooperation with national counterparts, coordinate reporting against these work plans, providing substantive support to organization of all project activities, liaising with the key counterparts, contributing to an ongoing programme formulation exercise, monitoring and reporting to UNDP’s management on substantial progress and results achieved by the Project.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of Head of Cluster, with the support of Project Manager and Programme Coordinator, the Senior Advisor will perform the below duties and responsibilities:

Strategic guidance and technical advice, knowledge and experience transfer.

Provide strategic policy advice to IPSD team in the sphere of enhancement of the public service delivery in Uzbekistan and successful implementation of the provisions of National Strategy for the Modernization and Accelerated Development of the Public Service Delivery System for 2022-2026;
Provide technical inputs with regards to the implementation of overall project on the planned activities of the project to ensure that the project results are technically sound, coherence, and in accordance with the result framework;
Provide expertise to the analytical and other reports on improvement of the legal and regulatory framework for public service delivery in Uzbekistan, digitalization of processes and services, etc.;
Maintain professional knowledge of organizational change management by attending workshops and reviewing relevant documentation.
Supervise the work of consultants and sub-contractors ensuring quality of outputs along with the UNDP standards;
Assist in the preparation of draft ToRs for consultants and assure a quality of work and reports;
Support IPSD project team in the development of publications, information materials and analytical articles on local governance and decentralization in the international mass media (journals, newspapers, Internet, etc.);
Provide support in the development of case studies to be used during the trainings for the government agencies and other stakeholders;
Provide support in other related subjects upon request of the UNDP EG Cluster and Project Management.
Advise during the development of a Concept note and agenda for overall capacity development activities for the improvement of public services delivery system.
Prepare a Concept note and facilitate organization of a study tours to EU countries, during which members of Uzbek officials’ delegation will learn leading practices in PSD.
Provide inputs in Progress reports to donor and other stakeholders.

Provide advice on the implementation of innovative tools applicable in Uzbekistan.

Competencies

Excellent analytical and interpersonal skills including oral and written communication;
Demonstrated programme management skills including; results-based orientation, preparation of work plans, monitoring and evaluation and leading cross-cultural teams;
Previous experience working in transition environments would be advantage;
Previous experience in performing a similar role in UNDP would be an advantage.

Required Skills and Experience

I. Academic Qualifications:

Advanced degree (master's level, equivalent or higher) in Public Administration, Economics, Social/Political Sciences, Management, Law, International Affairs or related fields.

II. Years of experience:

At least 10 years of relevant professional experience performing a similar technical assistance role on public services delivery, digital transformation /e-governance;
At least 5 years in a senior position in an international development role in public administration, governance or public service reform;
Experience working at the highest level of government and understanding of related cultural norms of driving and facilitating change processes at the highest level of government, with a range of government of institutions with different perspectives;
Experience with training and development in particular in challenging and transitional environments.
Experience in Central Asia would be an advantage
Prior work experience with UNDP would be an advantage

III. Language requirements:

Fluency in written and spoken English. Knowledge of Uzbek or Russian would be an advantage

Application Process:

Interested candidates need to apply online at www.jobs.undp.org and upload requested documents in Part 4 of the Procurement Notice no later than September 26, 2022 (New York time). Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload a maximum one document. Your online application submission will be acknowledged to your email address provided in the application. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgment within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary.

Link to the application at the UNDP Job Site – https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=109039

(cut and paste into the browser address bar if the link does not work).

Your online application submission will be acknowledged to your email address provided in the application. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgment within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary.

You can review detailed Procurement Notice, Terms of Reference and download templates from the UNDP Procurement Notices Site following the link http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=95479. (cut and paste into the browser address bar if the link does not work).

Applications submitted via email, incomplete applications, or received after the closing date (September 26, 2022) may not be given consideration.

For more detailed information about UNDP Uzbekistan please visit our website at www.uundp.org/uzbekistan UNDP is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified female candidates, people with disabilities, and minorities are highly encouraged to apply. UNDP Balance in Manage Policy promotes the achievement of gender balance among its staff at all levels.

Requests for clarification must be sent in writing to pu.uz@undp.org, ensuring that the reference number above is included in the subject line. UNDP shall endeavor to provide such responses to clarifications in an expeditious manner, but any delay in such response shall not cause an obligation on the part of UNDP to extend the submission date of the Proposals, unless UNDP deems that such an extension is justified and necessary.