UNDP Policy Advisor, Parliamentary Development

UNDP Practice architecture UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2008-2013 and the 2008 regionalization paper articulate the corporate vision for bringing timely and effective substantive and technical services to the country offices through strengthened practice architecture at the global, regional and country level. The value of the practice architecture lies in its comprehensive structure, which solidifies UNDP’s staff into a global team and ensures coherence, consistency, alignment and quality assurance in the way UNDP delivers service internally and to development partners and programme countries. The Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) is responsible for articulating UNDP’s development policy, using evidence gathered through country applications, regional experiences and global interactions. Driven by demand, and working through the Regional Bureaux and the Regional Service Centres (RSCs), BDP provides the tools, analysis and strategic guidance that country offices need to make a real difference in UNDP’s practice areas. BDP’s support of UNDP’s strategic plan 2008-2013 is focused in 4 practices (Poverty Reduction, Democratic Governance, Energy and Environment, and HIV/AIDS) and 2 thematic areas (Capacity Development and Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment). Democratic Governance To provide timely and quality policy advisory services and knowledge products in democratic governance, the Democratic Governance Group (DGG) has organized its interventions in three core areas: fostering inclusive participation, strengthening responsive institutions, and promoting international norms and principles. The Inclusive participation cluster supports the efforts for expanding opportunities for civic engagement by the poor, women, youth, indigenous people, and other marginalized groups in the core channels of interaction with the state, at the national, regional and local levels. The Responsive institutions cluster promotes the core channels of representation and accountability of the national, regional and local levels institutions to ensure they reflect and serve the needs, priorities, and interests of all people. The International Norms and Principles cluster promotes integration of UN principles policies, practices, and strategies (on human rights, anti-corruption and gender) within and outside of the UN family. A core group of policy advisers representing capacity along these three clusters are based in Headquarters (New York, Geneva and Brussels) and in the Oslo Governance Centre, with a specific mandate of providing policy advisory services, knowledge management as well as partnership building and advocacy. As part of the practice architecture a number of policy advisers are based in the Regional Service Centres (RSCs) in Johannesburg and Dakar (for Africa), Bangkok (for Asia and the Pacific), Panama (for Latin America and the Caribbean), Bratislava (for Europe and CIS) and Cairo (for the Arab States). Regional governance practice leaders coordinate the work of the Democratic Governance teams in these RSCs. UNDP’s current work in the area of parliamentary development UNDP provides technical assistance to more than 70 parliaments around the world in their efforts to: build the capacity of legislators and technical staff; promote institutional reform, political dialogue and conflict prevention ; strengthen parliaments' relationships with the executive and judiciary branches of government and with civil society; improve access to parliamentary information for the population and the media, and enhance the effectiveness of women’s role and participation among parliaments through internal reforms and exchanges. UNDP’s parliamentary development portfolio comprises activities rooted at the global, regional and national levels. Strategic support to national parliaments, promoting inclusive and participative political institutions and engaging parliaments on addressing key challenges around sustainable development and crisis prevention are at the core of UNDP’s activities, with a dedicated focus on women and youth. At the regional level, UNDP supports parliamentary working groups to develop new avenues for dialogue on sensitive topics and agree on regional benchmarks. Globally, web-based social networks invite the exchange of information and ideas. Two cutting-edge tools are iKNOW Politics (www.iknowpolitics.org) for the political empowerment of women and Agora (www.agora-parl.org), the portal for parliamentary development. UNDP also works with its partners to develop regional and global benchmarks for democratic parliaments and to create cutting-edge knowledge products on parliamentary development (such as the Global Parliamentary report recently launched with the Inter-Parliamentary Union). Two new flagship projects managed by the Parliamentary development team include: Parliamentary Action on Renewable Energy (2012-2014). This project seeks to strengthen the capacity of parliaments in Africa, the Arab States and in South Asia to elaborate coherent and effective policy frameworks in support of renewable energy and climate change mitigation. The project has 3 outcomes: Legislatures, regional elected bodies and local assemblies have strengthened institutional capacity, enabling them to represent their constituents more effectively. Capacities are strengthened to mainstream environment and energy concerns into national development objectives and activities. Local capacities are strengthened to manage the environment and expand access to environmental and energy services, especially for the poor. A second flagship project relates to “Inclusive and Participative Political Institutions in Select Arab States”, by promoting a new approach to UNDP’s work on political process reform through an integrated approach to support both parliaments and political parties in select Arab States through joint support from BDP / DGG parliamentary development team and the BCPR crisis & governance team. The project will meet important milestones for parliaments and political parties that have the structure, legal framework and capacity to engage all citizens in the political process and are able to be positive actors in preventing conflict.

Duties and Responsibilities

The position of Policy Advisor on Parliamentary development involves responsibilities in the areas of inclusive political institutions, including parliamentary development, political party support and women’s political empowerment. The incumbent will work in coordination with the Inclusive Participation Cluster team leader and under the overall direction of the DGG Practice Director. The incumbent will be responsible for the following main outputs: Primarily provide policy advice and support to country offices and ensure that the highest caliber advisory consulting services are provided to UNDP-supported programmes, in the practice area of democratic governance particularly in parliamentary development and political party support programmes. Specific duties cover policy advisory, programming support services and representation to: Develop and deliver guidance material to UNDP practitioners in the field, particularly as parliamentary development relates to developing governance capacity to achieve sustainable human development. These materials will place special focus on strengthening executive oversight capacity, supporting women's leadership and participation, facilitating transparency and integrity, and advancing policies and legislation that have an impact on poverty alleviation; Provide support to country offices and regional advisers in developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating parliamentary development strategies, policies and programmes; Provide direction and guidance on cross-cutting issues that can be addressed through work with parliamentary partners. For example, UNDP’s parliamentary development programs also often involve issues of political party development and reform. In addition, UNDP parliamentary programs also work often work with parliamentary partners on a broad range of human development issues– whether it is strengthening parliamentary engagement towards sustainable development, working with parliament on implementation of human rights treaties and the UN Anti-corruption Convention, or working with parliament to strengthen women’s political participation. Lead and further develop UNDP’s new and cutting-edge initiatives in parliamentary development. Initiatives include the management of AGORA and iKNOW Politics, cutting edge web-based knowledge network on parliamentary development, together with external partners; the dissemination of the Global Parliamentary report, highlighting key issues in parliamentary development and statistics regarding the world’s parliaments; and the advancement of norms and benchmarks for democratic parliaments, in partnership with a range of parliamentary organizations and associations; Particular attention will be requested towards developing support to sub-national assemblies and municipal councils; Functions also include actively supporting knowledge sharing through inputs to comparative experiences and lessons learnt on regional and global levels and participation in relevant fora. In addition, the adviser will also support the development of UNDP tool kits in areas related to his/her expertise. In doing so, he/she will be gathering and communicating lessons learned from experience; partnering with other specialists/advisors, consultants and institutions at headquarters, in the regions, and elsewhere. Play a strong advocacy role in fostering democratic governance for development with a view to deepening political commitment and reforms in this area, including partnership building and resource mobilization. Actively build a network of partner organizations among academic and research institutions especially in the south, bilateral donor agencies, UN agencies, and non-governmental organizations. Tapping into these alliances will aim to enrich UNDP policies and programmes on parliamentary development through supplementary capacity, strategic collaboration, and top-notch know-how that may otherwise be unavailable or inaccessible to UNDP; Strengthen UNDP’s partnerships with the international community of parliamentary development practitioners; this includes initiation of MOUs to enhance direct UNDP-parliamentary collaboration and opportunities for resource mobilization. Provide strategic guidance and oversight to all projects managed by the parliamentary development Team, which are the main tools for policy development and alignment within the parliamentary development service area of UNDP. This includes: Preparation of project progress reports and performance reviews, as well as other required liaison with donors and partners. Supervision of the core parliamentary team composed of a Programme Manager, a programme specialist, a knowledge-management programme specialist, and two Junior Professional Officers. Lead the development and strengthening of the community of practice among UNDP practitioners in the area of parliamentary development. This includes: Strengthening a community of practice that will form the base of an internal cadre of practitioners, which can be mobilized to strengthen parliamentary development programmes in UNDP through South-South collaboration. Building a roster of qualified consultants to recommend to UNDP country offices, active participation in the Democratic Governance Practice Network, development of tools and guidance on parliamentary development. Quality responses to queries on the Democratic Governance Practice Network will be critical.

Competencies

Corporate: Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’s values and ethical standards; Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP; Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability. Functional leadership: Demonstrated substantive leadership and strong ability to apply various governance related development theories to the specific context, including translating democratic governance principles into effective policy and programme interventions in the field; Capacity to interact with senior officials and credibly influence senior decision makers in programme countries and other international development organizations; Strong analytical skills, including ability to produce high quality practical advisory reports and knowledge products; Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision/direction in the practice area; Proven ability to drive for results with a strong knowledge of results-based management. Managing Relationships: Strong ability to work within a team-based environment; Excellent negotiating, communication and networking skills and provision of a global network of institutional an individual contacts; Managing Complexity: Ability to address global development issues; Substantive knowledge and understanding of development cooperation and ability to support the practice architecture of UNDP and inter-disciplinary issues; Knowledge Management and Learning: Promotes knowledge management and a learning environment in the office; Seeks and applies knowledge, information and best practices from within and outside UNDP; Provides constructive coaching and feedback. . Judgment/Decision-Making: Mature judgment and initiative; Independent judgment and discretion in advising on handling major policy issues

Required Skills and Experience

Education Master’s Degree in relevant social / political sciences, law or related discipline. Experience Minimum ten years specialized experience in international context in governance, legislative strengthening, political party development and democratization, five of which must be in legislative development. Strong technical knowledge of the field of parliamentary development, political party support, as well as a general knowledge of cross-cutting democratic governance issues that are often addressed through parliamentary development programs. Extensive practical experience in designing, managing, and monitoring parliamentary development programmes in developing countries, preferably also with UNDP programmes. Strong networks within the international parliamentary development community, and demonstrated leadership in the field of parliamentary development. Language Fluency in English is a prerequisite for this post. Working knowledge of another UN language is desirable

Click here for important information for US Permanent Residents ('Green Card' holders).