Background
Purpose
UNDP BiH seeks to recruit a parliamentary cooperation officer to support the work of the BiH Parliament in defining and establishing anticorruption methods and practices in their work. The incumbent will support the organization of the anticorruption training for the BiH parliamentarians in the area of anticorruption and will assist UNDP in liaising with the relevant parliamentarian commissions and administration. S/he will liaise with the BiH Parliament and GOPAC in fostering mutual cooperation and collaboration.
Objective
The objective of this assignment is to support project partners and stakeholders in establishment of the parliamentarian anticorruption practices and implementation of the international standards and norms in this regard. This post will contribute to wider understanding of the role of the legislative power institutions, such as BiH Parliament, in the overall anticorruption governance model and will support.
Background Information
Corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina is widespread, represents a sensitive issue and hinders country’s capacity to ensure democratic governance, harming primarily its electoral process, rule of law capacity and bureaucratic efficiency, whilst creating ineffective institutions. As a horizontal issue it touches numerous fields and requires widespread engagement primarily focusing on people’s mindsets, integrity and moral values, but also efficient and simple mechanisms leading to concrete, tangible results. Moreover, a specific burden to tackling corruption in BiH is its complex administrative structure comprising of several layers of government (state, entity, cantonal, municipal), frequently paralyzed by the decision-makers, inadequate physical infrastructure and professional capacities. All these aspects are detectable and cause obstacles to implementation of more effective anti-corruption policies.
The European Commission (EC) has sharpened its focus on the fight against corruption in the enlargement countries in recent years and it will continue to give high priority to the monitoring of anti-corruption policies, with an emphasis on results and sustainability, from the early stages of accession preparations to the very end of the process as it was the case throughout Croatia’s accession process.
Given current situation, BiH is not able to respond in an effective and systematic manner to such requirements. Though small steps are being made they are far from adequate and consistent. An example is the recently setup Anti-Corruption Agency which is a prevention and coordination body non-comparable to similarly named agencies in the region. For those reasons tackling corruption in BiH does not necessarily involve creating new structures, replicating various international models, but rather strengthening the existing institutional capacities be it by developing their professional abilities, internal communication, decision-making, adjudication channels and making them more cost-effective and responsive whilst at the same time sustainable.
UNDP, through its Regional Centre and numerous Country Offices in the region implements anti corruption activities in cooperation with national institutions and local NGOs. The range of activities and projects vary from those supporting the development of legal framework to those tackling corruption in sectors or through innovation and citizens’ engagement. A series of initiatives are being implemented to strengthen institutional accountability, transparency and integrity. Thus, UNDP BiH aside from having a strong tradition of promoting political consensus, especially in politically sensitive issues such as transitional justice and war crimes processing in BiH, as well as its traditional focus on supporting efficient, responsive, transparent and accountable public administrations has an extensive recourse to wide ranging expertise in the field of anti-corruption.
With that in mind, Project “Strengthening Capacities and Key Institutions mandated with fighting Corruption in BiH” (SCAC BiH), interim phase, will concentrate on streamlining anti-corruption UNDP's activities in BiH, strengthening capacities of AC Agency, parliamentarian capacities to review audit reports and detect various kinds of mismanagement and where applicable identify corruptive practices.
Duties and Responsibilities
Scope of work
The posts requires daily cooperation with UNDP team and project partners in order to achieve
targets as defined in the deliverables section. The scope of work includes liaison with BiH Parliament
and GOPAC in order to align the practices of the BiH Parliament with international initiatives. The
incumbent will be responsible to collaborate with anticorruption experts in development of the
training curriculum for the parliamentarians and audit institutions in BiH. It will be expected that the
holder of the position identified the most suitable partner for a study trip.
Deliverables and timelines
Consultants is responsible for the following deliverables:
- Organize induction training for the newly elected members of the Anti-Corruption Committee for monitoring the work of APIK - 15 December 2015
- Liaise with the BiH Parliament on anti-corruption initiatives and interventions - 15 February 2016
- Coordinate the establishment of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) practices in the BiH Parliament - 15 March 2016
- Collaborate with anticorruption experts in development of the training curriculum for the training of the parliamentarians in the area of anticorruption - 15 April 2016
- Organize 3 sets of two-days training sessions for the parliamentarians on audit reports and corruption - 01 June 2016
- Support organization of the study trip for partner institutions - 01 July 2016
Presence will be requested in the UNDP premises on weekly basis.
Competencies
a. Corporate Responsibility and Teamwork:
- Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
- Plans, prioritizes and delivers tasks on time;
- Strives for and promotes excellence in performance continually;
- Participates effectively in a team-based, information-sharing environment, collaborating and cooperating with others;
- Generates ideas and seizes opportunities to support corporate strategic objectives.
b. People Skills:
- Demonstrated ability to work harmoniously with persons of different national and cultural backgrounds;
- Recognizes and responds appropriately to the ideas, interests, and concerns of others;
- Builds trust and engenders morale by displaying open, transparent and credible behavior;
- Respects individual/cultural differences; utilizes diversity to foster teamwork;
- Ensures others’ understanding of, involvement in, and adaptation to a change process.
c. Partnering and Networking:
- Communicates sensitively and effectively across different constituencies;
- Ability to work as a member of a team as well as work autonomously.
d. Results-Orientation:
- Plans and procedures quality results to meet established goals.
e. Communication:
- Technical writing skills, formulates written information clearly and persuasively;
- Strong communication skills;
- Shares information openly with co-workers and partners while using discretion to protect confidences;
- Presents information in a clear and articulate manner.
f. Job Knowledge and Expertise:
- Strong analytical skills;
- Knowledge on anticorruption theory and practice;
- Knowledge and experience on anticorruption international standards;
- Knowledge of the work of the parliaments;
- Demonstrates substantive and technical knowledge to meet responsibilities and post requirements;
- Executes day-to-day tasks systematically and efficiently;
- Initiative and sound judgment.
Required Skills and Experience
- Advanced university degree in law, criminology, international relations, diplomacy or similar social science;
- Minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in democratic governance;
- Experience in cooperation with the legislative power/parliaments;
- Experience in anticorruption arena would be considered an advantage;
- Experience in developing written assessments, critical analysis and post-disaster recover assessment;
- Proven analytical skills.
- English and local language;
Applicants are required to submit completed and signed UNDP Personal History Form (downloadable from http://www.ba.undp.org/content/bosnia_and_herzegovina/en/home/operations/jobs.html) online through this website.