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Democracy Assessment Expert International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance — International IDEA is an intergovernmental organization that supports sustainable democracy worldwide. Its objective is to strengthen democratic institutions and processes. International IDEA acts as a catalyst for democracy building by providing knowledge resources, policy proposals and supporting democratic reforms in response to specific national requests. It works together with policy makers, governments, UN organizations and agencies and regional organizations engaged in the field of democracy building.

International IDEA’s notable areas of expertise are: electoral processes, political parties, constitution-building processes, democracy and gender and democracy assessments. International IDEA works worldwide. It is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and has offices in Brussels, New York, Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Democracy Assessment Expert

The main functions of the post are:

• To support the development of a framework to monitor African Union Member States’ compliance with African Union (AU) instruments on Democracy and Governance;

• To contribute to policy development in areas of Democracy Building and Consolidation;

• To provide support to programme planning and implementation within the African Union Commission.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The incumbent shall perform the following duties:

1. Develop benchmarking and a mechanism to review Member States’ compliance with AU Democracy and Governance instruments;

2. Support to the identification of governance challenges and capacity constraints and the use of the results of analysis for effective early action and support to Member States;

3. Monitoring and analysis of potential governance-related events and developments;

4. Support the establishment and maintenance of a database of best practices and lessons learned, which would be available to Member States, Regional Economic Communities and other relevant stakeholders;

5. Creation, maintenance and regular update of database of relevant institutions and partners working democracy building and consolidation ((African Governance Inventory);

6. Prepare an annual report on the State of Democracy in Africa;

7. Facilitate synergy between the African Governance Architecture and the Peace and Security Architecture;

8. Implementation of activities on the Year of Shared Values (2012) as directed by the African Union Commission;

9. Facilitate experience sharing and lessons leant amongst Member States;

10. Contribution to the development of knowledge management products (tools, methodologies, reports etc) on specific themes on Democracy and Governance, including facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogue processes (African Governance Newsletter);

11. Support preparation of the budget and work plans of the department;

12. Provide guidance for policy, advice and support the Head of Division for the effective implementation of AU programs and initiatives;

13. Coordinate, and maintain strong relationships with the African partners and relevant stakeholders;

14. Undertake such other tasks as requested by the leadership of the Department and Commission.

Qualifications and skills

Level and type of formal education:

• University degree in Political Science, Law, Social Science, Sociology, Development Studies or other relevant discipline.

Professional experience:

• Minimum of 10 (ten) years experience working within the field of democracy support and governance in Africa;
• Knowledge of the African Union essential;
• Experience in the area of policy initiation, design and implementation;
• Knowledge of democracy assessment.

Functional competencies:

• Excellent organizational skills;
• Have the ability to work closely with governments, NGOs and multi-lateral institutions on issues of democracy and governance;
• Ability to provide inputs for conceptualising and designing project implementation strategies;
• Effective oral and written communications skills including the ability to prepare reports;
• Relevant working knowledge of governments, NGOs and multi-lateral institutions on issues of democracy and governance;
• Good sense of initiative, ability to set priorities and work under pressure with accuracy and dedication;
• Have excellent writing, negotiating, analytical and communicative skills;
• Ability to be a team player and work collaboratively with colleagues inside AU as well as its partners and other stakeholders to pursue common goals;
• Knowledge of donors and partners and successful programs and projects to be able to contribute to fund raising and resource mobilization strategies;
• Be able to demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment and understand the structure and hierarchy of AU, process flows throughout the organization, products and services, their measures of effectiveness, and perceptions of clients.

Work relationships:
• Ability to operate effectively in a multi-cultural environment and be gender-sensitive;
• Close working relationship with the International IDEA office in Addis Ababa as well as ongoing collaborative contact with the International IDEA Africa Programme.

Language skills:
• English: Fluent written and oral
• Other: Any other official language of the African Union a strong asset.

Computer skills:

Knowledge of Microsoft Office, internet and web search tools essential

Criteria for Professional Performance

The incumbent of this post is expected to act according to a set of principles when carrying out her/his responsibilities both and display the following characteristics:

Demonstrates and promotes the highest standard of integrity, impartiality, fairness and incorruptibility in all matters affecting his/her work and status

Terms of Contract:

One (1) Year Fixed Term Appointment.

Deadline for Applications:

Applications should be submitted no later than 13 May 2012.

International IDEA is an equal opportunity employer which seeks to further diversify its staff in terms of gender, culture and nationality.

Should internet not be an option, applications can be submitted to International IDEA by fax: +46-20 24 22 or by post: International IDEA, SE-103 34, Stockholm, Sweden

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

To Apply:
http://idea.easycruit.com/vacancy/711591/26080?iso=gb