UNDP Jobs - 71894- Communications Intern, Public Administration

Communications Intern, Public Administration

Location :

Yangon, MYANMAR

Type of Contract :

Internship

Starting Date :

15-May-2017

Application Deadline :

04-May-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

Intern

Duration of Initial Contract :

3 to 6 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

6 months

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

Myanmar has been witnessing a rapid and unprecedented change in its political and governance landscape, reflected by the introduction of a new Constitution in 2008 and the transition from military to civilian rule and more recently the victory of the National League of Democracy (NLD) Government in the second democratic elections held in November 2015.

The 2008 Constitution, Myanmar established seven Regions and seven States, in addition to a union territory organized around the capital city Nay Pyi Taw. State and region governments are composed of a unicameral partially elected/ state/ region Parliament or Hluttaw, an executive led by a Chief Minister and a cabinet of state/ region ministers and state/region judicial institutions. The roles of the Region and State Governments as set out in the 2008 Constitution and subsequent amendments include the right to enact laws, region and state budgets, tax collection, expend funds and manage projects.

Despite commitments to decentralization, in practice Myanmar’s governance structures are heavily centralized with existing administrative structures and practices and accountability and decision making processes predominantly organized around strong central agencies, with some devolution. There is a strong need for more effective governance structures at the state and region governance through the modernization of administrative systems, procedures and practices which will help improve service delivery and the accountability and responsiveness of government.

The Government is currently pushing for a new service delivery model that would rebuild the trust of the people in its administration, thus ultimately achieving a more equitable access to resources and services. The Government has put emphasis on Civil Service Reform as a prime entry point to public administration development and has mandated the Union Civil Service Board (UCSB), to lead the modernization of the civil service. The UCSB is currently developing a Civil Service Reform Strategic Action Plan with technical support provided by UNDP; the Plan is intended to transform the civil service and mainstream in its regulations and procedures a new culture and the principles of integrity, meritocracy, accountability, inclusiveness and responsiveness.

Prominent stakeholders on the executive side comprise the following: The President’s Office and the newly established State Counsellor’s Office are jointly determining creating the vision for reforms to the administration, focusing on anti-corruption, rule of law and responsive service delivery. Specialized institutions, like the Union Civil Service Board (UCSB), the General Administration Directorate (GAD), the Anti-Corruption Commission, Union level Ministries and States and Regions are directly involved in the modernization of systems and procedures.

UNDP
UNDP’s current Country Programme runs from 2013 to 2017. A new Country Programme is currently under development which will be implemented between 2018 and 2012. Under the current Country Programme, UNDP supports the Government of Myanmar reform processes by means of three programmes/pillars: 1) Local governance and community development, 2) energy and environment, and 3) Democratic governance.
Under the Democratic Governance Pillar, UNDP supports all branches of the government both at national and sub-national level, and aims at improving the institutional environment in which people interact with government. The Pillar has four closely inter-connected and mutually reinforcing areas: a) development effectiveness, b) parliamentary strengthening, c) rule of law and access to justice and d) public administration responsiveness.

The intern will support the Public Administration output. The current Public Administration responsiveness output has a dual focus. Firstly, it promotes innovation in administrative governance and effective coordination of overall public administration reforms. Secondly, it enhances the capacity of the civil service by strengthening integrity, meritocracy, inclusiveness and representation in the ranks of the civil service. The two sub-outputs under the Public Administration Responsiveness are:

Capacities developed at the Union and sub-national level to advance, coordinate and implement incremental public administration and civil service reforms;
Strengthened capacities of the Government of Myanmar, and more specifically the Union Civil Service Board (UCSB), to establish a professional, ethical and representative civil service

Role Description
The intern will support the team to enhance communications, and monitoring of the work of the output. The intern will contribute to ensuring that the work of the government and of UNDP is better understood by other government stakeholders, by donors and by the general public in Myanmar. They would work closely with two staff- the Programme Analyst for Democratic Governance, and the Programme Analyst for Public Administration, receiving close guidance and support that will enable them to better understand technical concepts about public administration, shifting debates about development approaches in transition contexts, and how to write clearly and convincingly about technical concepts. They will work gradually more independently and gain valuable experience working in an international organization on the forefront of a critical national reform agenda.

Duties and Responsibilities

Key Results Expected:

Under the direct supervision of the Programme Analyst for Democratic Governance and the Programme Analyst for Public Administration, the intern will support research, communications and monitoring of the Public Administration output.

Research and Communications:

Familiarise themselves with the work in Public Administration through document review and conversations with the team and stakeholders
Prepare summaries of key pieces of literature on public administration reform, and on examples of reforms in agreed target countries, to inform background papers, policy papers and concept notes for future work
Support development of a plan for strategic communications- identifying possible blogs/op-eds, success stories, and other means of telling the story of UNDP’s work in Myanmar
Draft blogs and op/eds, both to be released on UNDP website, and as first drafts for those released by senior UNDP or other officials
Contribute to drafting of speeches for government and UN officials
Support preparation of powerpoint presentations based on concept notes, policy papers, and literature review- to be used for government and for UNDP internal meetings

Monitoring and Reporting

Support development of monitoring tools, such as feedback forms, post-training surveys, and interview questions
Engage with government and/or other counterparts in the dissemination of feedback/survey questionnaires and forms
Identifying and interviewing workshop participants for monitoring purposes
Working with national colleagues who have collated and translated feedback, analyse feedback and prepare concise reports indicating changes that have been brought about, and if possible identifying corrective actions by the output

Competencies

Impact of Results

Achievement of the above key results will contribute to the successful implementation of the country programme, particularly the public administration Output.

Required Skills and Experience

Eligibility

Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher);
Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor’s level or equivalent);
Have graduated with a university degree (as defined in (a) and (b) above) and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation.
A person who is the child or sibling of an UNDP staff member shall not be eligible to apply for an internship at UNDP. An applicant who bears any other family relationship with a UNDP staff member may be engaged as an intern, provided that he or she shall not be assigned to the same work unit of the staff member nor placed under the direct or indirect supervision of the staff member.
For purposes of this policy, “child” means (i) the child of a staff member; (ii) the child of the spouse of a staff member (stepchild); and (iii) the spouse of a child of a staff member or the child of a staff member’s spouse (son- or daughter-in-law). “Sibling” includes the child of both or either parent of a staff member and the child of the spouse of a parent of a staff member (that is, also half- and stepsibling).

Language Requirements:

Excellent command of written and spoken English.