Empleos en el PNUD - 56824- Intern - Inclusive Political Processes, Parliament

Intern - Inclusive Political Processes, Parliaments, Political Parties, Political dialogue and Constitutions

Localidad :

New York, Estados Unidos de América

Tipo de contrato :

Internship

Fecha de comienzo del contrato :

Fecha límite de postulación :

10-Jun-15 (Medianoche Nueva York, Estados Unidos)

Nivel de puesto :

Intern

Duración del contrato inicial :

6 months

Idiomas requeridos :

Inglés

Duración esperada del puesto :

El PNUD está comprometido con lograr la diversidad de su personal en términos de género, nacionalidad y cultura. Se alienta por igual a las personas que pertenecen a grupos minoritarios, a pueblos indígenas o que tienen alguna discapacidad a presentar su candidatura. Todas las solicitudes se tratarán con la mayor confidencialidad. UNDP no tolera la explotación y el abuso sexual, ningún tipo de acoso, incluido el acoso sexual, ni la discriminación. Por lo tanto, todos los candidatos seleccionados serán sometidos a una rigurosa verificación de referencias y antecedentes.

Antecedentes

Politicians, academics, and development practitioners, all widely acknowledge that inclusive, participatory governance is a requisite for sustainable and peaceful human development. In the ongoing consultations on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this is reflected in Goal 16 which currently reads, ‘Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels’ . SDG 16’s targets focus on effective, accountable and transparent institutions; responsive, inclusive and representative decision-making, and non-discriminatory laws and policies.

In order to implement the post-2015 development framework, UNDP works across a variety of contexts, including fragile, conflict-affected, and transitional settings as well as in established democracies, and strives to capacitate inclusive political institutions and processes.

Moreover, one of the key pillars UNDP’s Strategic Plan (2014 -2017) 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 order to best support member states to achieve SDG 16’s targets, and in support of the vision of UNDP’s Strategic Plan - UNDP has adopted an integrated approach to supporting inclusive political processes (IPP) that aims to strengthen political processes and institutions for improving citizen participation, voice and accountability and (re-) build a strong(er) and more inclusive social contract.

To implement this approach UNDP supports policy development and programmatic approaches to enhance the capacities of key political and civic institutions and groups. Core focus areas of activity include:

Constitutional reform processes, supporting dialogue and mediation, outreach, public education, and the institutional development of constitution-making bodies;
Civic engagement, focused on both strengthening civil society capacities and expanding and protecting spaces for citizen participation in political and public life, especially for vulnerable or marginalized groups such as persons with disabilities, LGBTI and indigenous peoples;
Electoral cycle support to enhance the credibility, transparency, effectiveness and sustainability of electoral institutions, stakeholders and processes;
Advancement of women’s equal participation and decision-making in political processes and institutions; and
Parliamentary development, capacitating parliaments to better discharge their constitutional law-making, oversight and representation mandates, as well as increasing the capacities of civil society actors to act as intermediaries in political advocacy.

Constitutions comprise the overarching legal framework which sets out the basis of the social contract between a state and its people. They establish the institutions of government and their powers vis-à-vis each other and the people, affecting all aspects of policy and society. Constitutions provide the foundation on which governance and peace is built. Hence, it is essential that they have the buy-in and ownership of society. In support of national constitutional reform efforts, UNDP supports member states and civil society counterparts to design and manage inclusive constitutional reform processes, including through support for the establishment and operation of constitution-making bodies, technical training and advisory services for the members of such bodies, civic education and public consultation programmes, civil society advocacy and capacity development and engagement of marginalized groups. UNDP also facilitates the provision of high quality technical advice to national partners on substantive constitution issues, such as power-sharing, federalism/decentralization, human rights, gender equality and public accountability.

Parliaments are pillars of democratic governance, with a critical role in spurring and sustaining national action towards the SDGs. They are representative bodies, with authority to oversee government action, and they serve as forums for dialogue or partners in negotiations. Parliamentary development is a mechanism that benefits the poor and other disadvantaged groups by increasing their political representation and increasing government accountability to the public. Inclusive and accountable political parties are a key complement to effective parliaments, providing the human capital around which parliaments form. Over the past decade, UNDP has become a leading implementer of parliamentary strengthening programming globally. UNDP supports approximately 70 active parliamentary projects and activities supporting institutional strengthening of the parliament administration, and developing the skills and awareness of MPs and parliamentary candidates, including on many cross-cutting issues such as; gender equality and women’s empowerment, the political participation of youth, anti-corruption, energy and environment, and the post-2015 development agenda.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Under the daily management of the Policy Advisor, Inclusive Political Processes, the intern has the opportunity to work on a range of issues related to parliamentary development, constitutional reform, political dialogue, website content management and communication as well as general tasks to support the IPP team.

In particular, the intern is responsible for the following outputs:

Support the development (reviewing, editing, formatting), launch and dissemination of knowledge products including: Handbook on organizing parliamentary induction seminars; Guidance Note on the development and implementation of parliamentary development strategic plans;
Assist the IPP team in its research and drafting tasks, in particular with regard to policy briefs, presentations, talking points, blog posts and reporting on various topics related to parliamentary and constitutional processes;
Capture innovation and emerging trends related to inclusive political processes and institutions; document lessons learned and case studies;
Support the IPP team communication and advocacy efforts by developing content for the web pages, Intranet, Fast Facts, and constitutional assistance and parliamentary strengthening newsletters;
Supporting the empowerment and inclusion of LGBT communities in inclusive political processes and institutions
Assist the IPP team and Youth Specialist in establishing a global network of young parliamentarians to champion the implementation of an inclusive post-2015 agenda including populating the new dedicated online website with relevant resources;
Assist the IPP team and Youth Specialist with organizing the regional seminar of young parliamentarians in the Asia-Pacific region (October 2015), including preparing background documents, briefs, presentations and other conference materials;
Assist the IPP team in keeping the constitutionmaker website and the Portal www.agora-parl.org up to date by uploading news, resources, events and partner updates;
Support administration of IPP Team’s work (attend team meetings, draft minutes of meetings, prepare background documents, etc.).

Competencias

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:

Excellent communication and writing skills.
Excellent interpersonal skills.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

Enrollment in a graduate-level degree programme at the time of application and during the internship (if a candidate is graduating before the internship period begins, they are no longer eligible) in a relevant discipline (social or political sciences, law, international relations, economics, public or business administration, etc.) with a demonstrated interest in political processes.

Experience:

Exposure to democratic governance agenda, and preferably parliamentary development and constitution-making support.
Experience in research and analysis;
Computer proficiency, including working knowledge of MS Office products;
Experience managing web portals is an asset.
Prior experience with NGOs, UN, or international institutions is an asset;
Experience working collaboratively in a team structure in a multicultural environment.

Language:

Fluency in spoken and written English;
Second official UN language an asset.

Conditions:

UNDP does not pay for internships. The costs associated with the internship must be borne by the nominating institution, related institution or government, which may provide the required financial assistance to its students; or by the student, who will have to obtain financing for subsistence and make his or her own arrangements for travel, accommodation etc.

The intern will be engaged full-time from 15 June through December 2015. The intern will work from UNDP’s office in New York. Day-to-day supervision of the Intern will be undertaken by BPPS IPP Team.

Further Career Opportunities:

The purpose of internships is not to lead to further employment with UNDP but, as mentioned, to complement an intern's studies. However, a number of interns, having completed their studies and met the necessary requirements, have gone on to further assignments with the UNDP or elsewhere in the United Nations system.