Background:
The Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia, adopted in August 2012, provides for the conduct of a constitutional referendum and elections. The Constitution provides for the establishment of a National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC) mandated with the conduct of presidential elections, federal parliamentary elections, voter registration and update of the voter’s roll, candidate registration, delimitation of constituencies and wards, regulation of political party system, regulation of money spent by elected candidates or parties in respect of any elections, settlement of electoral disputes, facilitation of observation and evaluation of elections, development of an electoral code of conduct for candidates and parties and voter education. Establishment of the NIEC, elaboration of an electoral legal framework, setting up of an independent and functional NIEC and conduct of Constitutional referendum and elections are key priorities outlined in the New Deal Compact, Vision 2016 Conference recommendations and the agenda of the House of the People.
Within this context, the United Nations will provide electoral assistance in an integrated and phased manner, having established an integrated UN Assistance Mission to Somalia (UNSOM)/UNDP electoral support group. At the inception phase of the electoral assistance to be provided, the UN engaged in supporting national authorities on the development of the NIEC law. At a later stage, once the institution is in place, technical assistance will be provided to the NIEC in order to support the capacity development of the institution. Finally, support will also be needed in the planning and preparation of the forthcoming electoral events. This assistance will include technical advice and activities including operational support in procuring goods and services.
Under the direct supervision of the Deputy Chief Electoral Adviser, the Planning, Implementation and Coordination Specialist (Electoral support) will contribute to the development of the electoral support project; implementation, monitoring and reporting of the approved work plan; coordination of the different entities involved in electoral support; as well as contribute to the provision of advisory support to the NIEC on internal organizational management, planning and reporting.
Description of Responsibilities :
Summary of key functions:
- Take the lead in electoral project planning, project implementation and monitoring, and risk assessment;
- Engage in coordination and information sharing with donors, electoral stakeholders, electoral assistance providers, and other UN entities;
- Advise the NIEC on organizational management, planning and internal communication/reporting systems.
Take the lead in electoral project planning, project implementation and monitoring, and risk assessment:
- Take the lead in the planning and development of the electoral Project Document, including the Results Resources Framework;
- Take the lead for the development and implementation of the project’s M&E plans, in particular specific electoral-related output activities, indicators, targets, monitoring steps and means of verification, in line with the Annual Work Plan and according to UNDP standards and UN country-specific objectives;
- Take the lead in the development of the Annual Work Plan, including clear linkages between activities, budget, and annual and quarterly milestones;
- Take the lead to monitor and report project progress according to the M&E plan, including the establishment of internal monitoring tools to gather results-based information;
- Take the lead to develop and monitor the project’s electoral risk assessment;
- Assist in updating progress on project outputs and the risk, issues and monitoring logs on ATLAS;
- Participate in planning and implementation meetings with UNDP and UNSOM colleagues.
Assist in coordination and information sharing with donors, electoral stakeholders, electoral assistance providers and other UN entities; and ensure proper donor reporting:
- Act as focal person in donor communication, and develop a donor and stakeholders liaison and communication system, including a constantly updated mailing list;
- Contribute to the mobilization of funds with partners for additional resources;
- Take the lead in developing project reports in a timely manner for submission to UNDP senior management and project donors; such as quarterly reports, annual report, and donor-specific reports, and electoral updates;
- Engage and liaise with other UN sections and entities as well as non-UN assistance providers to ensure information sharing, coordination of efforts and identification of opportunities for synergies and collaboration;
- Through close cooperation with the UN’s gender experts support the mainstreaming of gender equality concerns in plans, strategies and materials developed, and technical advice provided to the NIEC and Somali authorities.
Advise the NIEC on organizational management, planning, monitoring and internal communication/reporting systems:
- Support and advise the NIEC with the development of its strategic plan and in particular envisaged goals, activities, targets and milestones;
- Assist the NIEC with the development of its annual work plans and preparation of updates and reports;
- Advise the NIEC in its internal organizational management and coordination and internal monitoring, reporting and communications systems;
- Link NIEC’s progress and performances to the project’s M&E plans.
Impact of Results
The key results are expected to have an impact on the electoral process in Somalia as well as the UNDP support toward that purpose. In particular, the results have an impact on the delivery of:
- Capacity development and technical advice to the National Independent Election Commission (NIEC);
- Sound advice given to the national authorities on other electoral related matters as specified in the project document;
- Coordination of stakeholders’ effective support to the electoral cycle;
- UNDP’s credibility as an execution agency of the UN system.Competencies : Functional Competencies:
Advocacy/Advancing A Policy-Oriented Agenda
- Creates effective advocacy strategies;
- Contributes to the elaboration of advocacy strategies by identifying and prioritizing audiences and communication means;
- Performs analysis of political situations and scenarios, and contributes to the formulation of institutional responses;
- Uses the opportunity to bring forward and disseminate materials for advocacy work.
Results-Based Programme Development and Management
- Assesses project performance to identify success factors and incorporates best practices into project work;
- Researches linkages across programme activities to identify critical points of integration;
- Monitors specific stages of projects/programme implementation;
- Analyzes country situation to identify opportunities for project development;
- Participates in the formulation of project proposals and ensures substantive rigor in the design and application of proven successful approaches and drafts proposals accordingly.
Building Strategic Partnerships
- Effectively networks with partners seizing opportunities to build strategic alliances relevant to UN/UNCT’s strategic agenda;
- Sensitizes UN Partners, donors and other international organizations to the UN/UNCT’sstrategic agenda, identifying areas for joint efforts;
- Develops positive ties with civil society to build/strengthen UN/UNCT’s mandate;
- Identifies needs and interventions for capacity building of counterparts, clients and potential partners;
- Displays initiative, sets challenging outputs for him/herself and willingly accepts new work assignments;
- Takes responsibility for achieving agreed outputs within set deadlines and strives until successful outputs are achieved;
- Effectively attentive to programmatic synergies in inter-agency meetings.
Innovation and Marketing New Approaches
- Seeks a broad range of perspectives in developing project proposals;
- Generates for regional and innovative ideas and effective solutions to problems;
- Looks at experience critically, drawing lessons, and building them into the design of new approaches;
- Identifies new approaches and promotes their use in other situations;
- Documents successes and uses them to project a positive image;
- Creates an environment that fosters innovation and innovative thinking;
- Makes the case for innovative ideas from the team with own supervisor.
Resource Mobilization
- Develops detailed knowledge and understanding of key donors, their priorities and areas of interest and adapts content and approach of resource mobilization activities to their requirements;
- Builds and maintains relationships with donors demonstrating professionalism in providing advice and information on UN activities and sensitivity to donor concerns;
- Develops, reviews and monitors agreements and trust funds which reflect the outcomes of negotiations with donors and meet the reporting requirements of UN;
- Uses knowledge of donors and successful programmes and projects to contribute to fund raising and resource mobilization strategies.
Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing
- Makes the case for innovative ideas documenting successes and building them into the design of new approaches;
- Identifies new approaches and strategies that promote the use of tools and mechanisms;
- Develops and/or participates in the development of tools and mechanisms, including identifying new approaches to promote individual and organizational learning and knowledge sharing using formal and informal methodologies.
Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise
- Understands more advanced aspects of primary area of specialization as well as the fundamental concepts of related disciplines;
- Keeps abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself professionally;
- Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
- Demonstrates comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the current guidelines and project management tools and utilizes these regularly in work assignments;
- Ability to facilitate the implementation of joint UN programme activities and strengthen strategic partnerships for effective implementation;
- Ability to build and sustain effective partnerships with UN Agencies and main constituents, advocate effectively, communicate sensitively across different constituencies;
- In providing advice to the RC, has the capacity to gather comprehensive information on complex problems or situations; evaluates information accurately and identifies key issues required to resolve problems.
Client Orientation
- Anticipates client needs;
- Works towards creating an enabling environment for a smooth relationship between the clients and service provider;
- Demonstrates understanding of client’s perspective.
Core Competencies: Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents;
Building support and political acumen;
Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
Building and promoting effective teams;
Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
Creating an emotionally intelligent organization;
Leveraging conflict in the interests of UNDP & setting standards;
Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member;
Building support and political acumen;
Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
Building and promoting effective teams;
Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
Creating an emotionally intelligent organization;
Leveraging conflict in the interests of UNDP & setting standards;
Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member;
Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking.
Qualifications :
Education:
Master’s Degree in International Affairs, Public Policy, Public or Business Administration, Communication, Political Science, Social Studies, Conflict Resolution or related field.
Experience:
- Minimum 7 years of experience in electoral assistance, project planning and management, monitoring and evaluation, and/or other relevant experience;
- Demonstrated experience in developing UNDP project documents and work plans including risk assessments;
- Have previously worked in the framework of multi-donor projects;
- Demonstrated ability to produce comprehensive reports and project analysis in country-specific context;
- Experience with delivering electoral assistance in a post-conflict environment;
- Capacity to dialogue with electoral and high level political and administrative officers as well as donors from the international community;
- Political analysis skills and reporting is an asset;
- Experience of working in Somalia is also an asset;
- Advanced skills in the usage of computer software packages and web based management.
Language requirements:
- Fluency in written and spoken English.
HOW TO APPLY:
Interested and qualified candidates should submit their application by visiting: http://jobs.undp.org/ or
