UNDP Jobs - 60826- Inclusive Political Processes (IPP) Consultant

Inclusive Political Processes (IPP) Consultant

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

44 Days

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

UNDP’s Strategic Plan (2014 -2017) maintains a strong focus on democratic governance. One of the key pillars within the Strategic Plan is to continue to build and strengthen inclusive and democratic governance systems that can deliver sustainable solutions to poverty, inequality, and exclusion. The Strategic Plan puts an emphasis on supporting inclusive political processes to deliver sustainable development gains for the nation and respond to citizen’s expectations for voice, development and accountability. Outcome 2 particularly focuses on the performance and accountability of democratic systems to citizens. i.e.: “Citizen expectations’ for voice, development, the rule of law and accountability are met by stronger systems of democratic governance”. The Strategic Plan specifically mandates UNDP to support constitutional processes, parliamentary development and electoral management bodies, with a focus on anti-corruption, human rights, and dialogue processes for effective and transparent engagement of civil society; - as well as strengthening legal and regulatory frameworks to fight discrimination, address emerging issues such as environmental and electoral justice. Outcome 4 stresses the importance of increasing women’s participation, including in political decision-making to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment.

In support of Strategic Plan vision, UNDP has developed a holistic and integrated global approach to provide policy and programmatic support to country offices around Inclusive Political Processes. UNDP’s approach to achieving this outcome reflects a social contract approach, as it addresses both sides of the state-society relationship, with an output on inclusive political processes bringing together constitutional support, political party assistance, electoral cycle assistance, and parliamentary development for the first time in both crisis and non-crisis settings.

The Inclusive Political Processes (IPP) team works to promote resilient state society relations, focusing on:

Institutional development – UNDP works to build the capacities of legislatures, electoral management bodies and constitution-making bodies;
Civil society development – UNDP works with a range of civil society actors, including CSOs, women, young people and minorities, to develop their capacities both to act as intermediaries in political advocacy and representation and to directly engage in political processes; and
Individual capacity development and accompaniment – UNDP works with political and civil society actors to develop their process skills (e.g. UNDP works with civil society partners on advocacy and politicians and MPs on dialogue), substantive knowledge (e.g. on gender equality, women, peace and security, poverty reduction) and procedural skills (e.g. assisting MPs to work more effectively under particular rules of procedure).

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Inclusive Political Processes Team Leader, the IPP Consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables:

Support the development, production and or dissemination of IPP knowledge tools and publications (i.e.: reviewing, editing, formatting/layout of final versions, printing), including:
The second Global Parliamentary Report on oversight and accountability;
Political Party Assistance Strategy Note;
Guidelines on Engaging with Faith-based Organizations (FBOs) and Religious Leaders;
Global Good Practices in Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Constitutions;
Mapping of UNDP’s work on civic engagement;
UNDP’s corporate strategy on Inclusive Political Processes;
Parliamentary guide on LGBTI issues and advocacy.

Mechanisms for utilizing legislative bodies (cross party women’s caucuses, and parliamentary committees and groups to promote gender equality) (15 days):

Support preparations for the launch and dissemination of the above-mentioned IPP knowledge products including through the organization of ‘brown bags’ and webinars on new knowledge products to support capacity building of staff and partners in relevant areas (4 days).
Support IPP’s interaction with UNDP’s Civil Society Advisory Committee (3 days).
Support the update of tracking tools and toolkits (e.g. electoral calendar matrix, electoral project matrix, online toolkit on electoral assistance) (3 days).
Assist the IPP team in conducting research on certain thematic areas (i.e.: ‘costs of elections’; ‘out-of-country voting’; ‘ID management’; ‘gender, political processes and peacebuilding’) or on certain countries; and reporting of UNDP results in IPP (4 days).
Complete drafting tasks, in particular with regard to policy briefs, fact sheets, blog posts and reporting on various topics related to IPP including the development of region-specific briefs based on the global mapping of UNDP’s work on civic engagement (4 days).
Support the IPP team communication, advocacy and resource mobilization efforts including the development of IPP flyers, Fast Facts, and other promotional material (4 days).
Support administration of IPP Team’s work (attend team meetings, draft minutes of meetings, prepare background documents, consolidate IPP inputs for the Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster Newsletter, update the IPP team travel and leave plans, etc.) (3 days).
Capture innovation and emerging trends related to inclusive political processes and institutions; support the collection of data, lessons learned, good practices and case studies (4 days).

Competencies

Core Values and 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:

Knowledge and understanding of inclusive political processes and institutions, particularly parliamentary, constitution-making and electoral processes, women’s political participation and civic engagement with an emphasis on the provision of coordinated support and management of strategic programmes to advance IPP;
Ability to carry out research, to contribute to the formulation of policies, procedures and guidelines.

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:

Master’s Degree in Law or Social Science (International relations, International Development studies, Human rights and/or gender studies).

Experience:

Minimum of three years of relevant experience on issues of inclusive political processes and development, including: parliamentary development, constitution-making support, civic engagement particularly in political processes, women’s political empowerment, participation & leadership;
Experience in conducting research, writing and supporting the implementation of IPP-related activities at global and regional levels;
Experience in knowledge management (including lay-out and printing of UNDP reports);
Experience working with UNDP or within the UN system would be an asset.

Language:

Excellent written and spoken English;
Working knowledge of a second UN language is an asset.