Background

UNDP's Democratic Governance Group (DGG) is focusing on enhancing the capacity of the state to make it more responsive, capable, and inclusive. The genuine participation of all citizens in political processes is a cornerstone of democratic governance. UNDP fosters inclusive participation and civic engagement, placing high priority on under-represented segments of society such as the poor, women, indigenous peoples and minorities. Vibrant and vigorous democracies are developed and sustained through inclusive participation, which also advances achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The presence of an effective parliamentary institution is strongly correlated with the existence of a viable democracy and an open society. Parliaments are fundamental to representing the people’s will, establishing the rule of law, protecting human rights, overseeing transparent governance processes, and ensuring compliance with international obligations. UNDP provides technical assistance to more than 70 parliaments around the world in their efforts to: build the capacity of legislators and technical staff; promote institutional reform, political dialogue and conflict prevention ; strengthen parliaments' relationships with the executive and judiciary branches of government and with civil society; improve access to parliamentary information for the population and the media, and enhance the effectiveness of women’s role and participation among parliaments through internal reforms and exchanges.

UNDP’s parliamentary development portfolio comprises activities rooted at the global, regional and national levels. Strategic support to national parliaments, promoting inclusive and participative political institutions and engaging parliaments on key MDG’s and crisis prevention issues are at the core of UNDP’s activities, with a dedicated focus on women and youth. At the regional level, UNDP supports parliamentary working groups to develop new avenues for dialogue on sensitive topics and agree on regional benchmarks. Globally, web-based social networks invite the exchange of information and ideas. Two cutting-edge tools are iKNOW Politics (www.iknowpolitics.org) for the political empowerment of women and Agora (www.agora-parl.org), the portal for parliamentary development. UNDP also works with its partners to develop regional and global benchmarks for democratic parliaments and to create cutting-edge knowledge products on parliamentary development.

To respond to recent developments in the Arab States region, AGORA launched a completely renewed Portal in July 2013 and is now available in English, French and Arabic. It also reviewed some of its core areas of knowledge to ensure the information and materials provided are cutting edge and remain relevant, and meet the growing needs and requests from the Arab States region. Beyond this, the AGORA team is implementing a new communication strategy designed to increase the outreach of the project, and to build and strengthen relationships with new and existing partners. To this end, the AGORA team would like to engage a Parliamentary Development Officer with a particular focus on the Middle East and North Africa Region.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

Facilitator on Arab States:

  • Manage AGORA’s activities and knowledge products on the role of parliaments in transition to democracy, renewable energy, the post-2015 development agenda and women political participation;
  • Conduct research, capture and document case studies, good practices and emerging trends from the Arab region on parliamentry development subjects and share them on AGORA to strengthen the parliamentary development community of practice;
  • Facilitate the knowledge component of French/Arab versions of the AGORA website (including, but not exhaustive: populating library, facilitating the exchange of knowledge, creating new groups according to demands, to act as AGORA French/Arab speaking facilitator and to contribute to all UNDP projects related knowledge management component).

Support the implementation of the resource mobilization strategy:

  • Maintain close relationships with the AGORA partners and Implementing Board;
  • Assist the Knowledge Manager in enlarging the partnership by mapping and reaching out to potential new partners particularly in the MENA region and the BRICs;
  • Research and prepare concept notes and proposals for donors to leverage additional resources.

Communication and knowledge management

  • Support the implementation of the communication and outreach strategy, including a monthly newsletter (6) and Arab Digest (6) dedicated to focus areas in Arab States. Particular focus on outreach to parliaments, Think tanks, regional centers and Civil Society Organizations in Middle East and North Africa Region.
  • Support the development and implementation of an e-learning course and pilot toolkit; and oversee the production of the Arab e-learning course;
  • AGORA Arabic/French liaison officer (facilitate knowledge exchange, develop trainance modules; publish video testimonials);
  • Provide daily updates in the Arabic/French News and Interact sections;
  • Support the Knowledge Manager in providing technical backstopping and substantive support to UNDP to country offices and AGORA partners by conducting research and collecting knowledge materials.

Expected deliverables:

  • Daily updates on parliamentary development in the MENA region published on the portal and social media;
  • Respond to needs and requests from visitors, members and partners in the Arab speaking world;
  • Draft six ‘monthly newsletters‘ for AGORA;
  • Draft six monthly digests on parliamentary and political institutions in the Arab States;
  • Ensure that all indicators for the Arabic/French Portal as outlined in the workplan are met;
  • Keep full translation of AGORA into Arabic and French up to date;
  • Develop communications as required and 1 presentation of AGORA at forums/workshops in Arabic. 

Competencies

Core Values / Guiding Principles

 Integrity

  • Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UNDP in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

 Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity

  • Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff;
  • Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.  

 Corporate Competencies

  • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards;
  •  Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP and the UN;
  •  Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  •  Treats all people fairly without favoritism.  

Functional Competencies

 Technical/Functional

  • Substantive knowledge and understanding of parliamentary development as well as democratic governance more broadly;
  • Sound understanding of  transition to democracy, HIV, the post-2015 development agenda and women political participation, in particular with regards to parliamentary engagement and action;
  •  Ability to carry out research independently, to contribute to the formulation of policies, procedures and guidelines;
  • Solid IT skills: proficient use of MS Office required; experience using data analysis programs- SPSS is considered an asset.

 Management and Leadership:

  • Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  •  Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;
  •  Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
  •  Leads teams effectively and shows mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills;
  •  Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills.

Knowledge Management and Learning

  • Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;
  • Ability to conduct advocacy, and to support the development of programme communications strategies for sharing good practices and successful strategies;
  • Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Advanced University Degree (Masters) in Political Sciences, Law, International Relations or related field.
Experience:
  • At least 5 years of experience in an international context and in the Arab region in specific, on governance and on parliamentary development issues, within UNDP or with a partner organization of AGORA;
  • Proven experience working on issues pertaining to parliaments and transition to democracy, HIV, development policies, and gender;
  • Computer proficiency, including strong knowledge of MS Office products (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), Front Page, Adobe In-Design; SPSS and Access.
Language Requirements:
  • Fluency in Arabic, French and English. Other UN languages are considered an asset.
Application Submission Process:

Please submit the following to demonstrate your interest and qualifications:

Price proposal (All inclusive daily fee)
  • Interested individuals are kindly requested to submit an all-inclusive daily consultancy fee. The applicable cost for travel from home to duty station (most economical route) will be provided for by UNDP.
Personal CV and/or P11
  • Interested individuals must submit their applications online through UNDP Online Recruitment System. Correspondence (either in hard or soft format) will not be considered until the advance stage of the selection process. Applicants are encouraged to fill and sign a P11 Form and submit it on the online application, although regular CVs are also acceptable. The P11 Form can be obtained at http://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.
Application Evaluation Process

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the Cumulative Analysis methodology [weighted scoring method], where the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
  • Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
  • Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
Technical Criteria weight; [70%].
Financial Criteria weight; [30%].

The following criteria will be used in Technical Evaluation:
  • Demonstrates proven achievements and substantive knowledge and understanding of parliamentary development as well as more broadly, inclusive participation;
  • Proven ability to carry out research, to contribute to the formulation of policies, procedures and guidelines;
  • Fluent in Arabic and English and French.
Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 70% of the obtainable points of 100 points in technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Note:

UNDP is applying fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Individual Consultants as well as their price proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores.

UNDP retains the right to contact references directly.

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.