Individual Consultants: Democratic Governance and Peacebuilding

Background

UNDP is the UN's global development network advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP’s vision is to support countries in achieving the simultaneous eradication of poverty and significant reduction of inequalities and exclusion. To strengthen inclusive and effective governance, the UNDP Strategic Plan focuses on ensuring participation and voice in pursuit of equitable access to development opportunities, and working with poor and other excluded groups as agents of their own development. The plan includes the following outcomes to achieve effective governance: (i) citizen expectations for voice, development, the rule of law and accountability are met by stronger systems of democratic governance; and (ii) countries have strengthened institutions to progressively deliver universal access to basic services. (iii) Faster progress is achieved in reducing gender inequality and promoting women’s empowerment

In order to ensure continued support to our initiatives, UNDP’s Africa Regional Hub (RSCA) invites candidates to send their applications for inclusion in a Vetted Roster of External Experts. The process of including candidates in the Expert Roster is described in the later sections of this advertisement.

Duties and Responsibilities

Tasks assigned in each individual assignment may include one or more of the following :

Policy and Strategy Advise and Development:

Prepare Policy briefs, sector scan, Status papers on developmental challenges/issues based on secondary review of existing literature for evidence based advocacy and policy dialogue;
Develop guidelines and national and sub-national strategy in the areas of institutional strengthening;
Review of policy literature in respect to the subject;
Formulation of strategic national and sub-national development policy;
Identification of barriers and solutions for proposed interventions;
Risk Identification and Mitigation.

Project Design, Formulation & other project related functions:

Prepare conceptual framework/concept notes on new area of work/developmental challenge;
Provide Technical assistance in identification of developmental challenges, target areas, beneficiaries and partners and formulation of implementation strategy for UNDP support;
Provide technical support in development on new interventions/projects with Implementation (operational plan, monitoring and resource requirement) Institutional and management arrangements;
Identify issues, formulate and implement interventions that focus on various activities;
Conduct studies on project/program highlights, activities and processes involved;
Prepare and review Project documents;
Identify areas/beneficiaries and partners; timing, sequencing of activities; mobilization of finance;
Prepare project proposals to ensure innovation in concepts, strategies and incorporation of best practices.

Research and Documentation:

Undertake secondary research in the new areas of developmental concern based on review of existing literature;
Develop research design, research questions and scope of work for undertaking primary research in new areas;
Document good practices, case studies, innovations and pilot models for wider dissemination and sharing;
Undertake process documentation of models for upscaling.

Capacity Development/Training:

Based on capacity assessment, develop Capacity Development Plan to achieve the milestones identified and address the identified capacity gaps;
Develop target specific training tools/tool-kits and manuals based on training needs assessment;
Design training curriculum, conduct and/or coordinate trainings programmes for various stakeholders;
Carry out Capacity assessments of public institutions and government institutions for development of strategic interventions for institutional strengthening;
Design and delivery of training tool-kits, products etc.;
Conduct and/or Coordinate trainings and workshops.

Knowledge Management:

Prepare knowledge and communications products related to the projects/programs (Audio, Video and Hard copies);
Review of Knowledge products (subject, design and content);
Prepare and publish featured articles and case studies in publications of the UNDP, other pertinent organizations, academic journals;
Disseminate knowledge and communications products;
Develop literature on best practices and case studies;
Contribute to Communities of Practice (CoP) of UN Solutions Exchange (UNSE).

Monitoring & Evaluation:

Monitor and evaluate effectiveness of national and sub-national policies and programmes;
Carry out required independent monitoring and evaluation of UNDP projects;
Facilitate community and process monitoring;
Undertake Baseline and Client satisfaction surveys.

Competencies

To be considered for inclusion in the roster, applications would need to have expertise in one or more of the following areas of expertise:

Core Government Functions;
Inclusive Political Processes;
Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding;
Rule of Law, Justice, Security and Accountability;
Economic Governance.
Small Arms and Light Weapons/ Weapons Ammunitions Management (WAM)

1. Core Government Functions includes:

UNDP supports partners in the building of responsive and accountable institutions at all levels of government. This work is central to ensuring that development is both effective and sustainable for citizens. By supporting member states to deliver quality services, improve accountability and expand the opportunities for inclusive economic and social progress, UNDP builds resilience to crisis and reinforces the dynamic relationship between State and the people, at all levels of society. The required areas of expertise under core government function are listed as follows;

Public Administration/Local Governance;
Institutional and context analysis;
Urbanization;
Governance Assessments.

2. Inclusive political processes includes:

UNDP’s integrated approach to supporting inclusive political processes aims to harness UNDP’s experience and comparative advantage in supporting and strengthening the capacities of political processes and institutions in order to improve citizen participation, voice and accountability and rebuild a stronger and more inclusive social contract. UNDP works collaboratively to support policy development and programmatic approaches to enhance the capacities of key political institutions and groups. The required areas of expertise under Inclusive political processes includes:

Parliamentary development;
Political party development;
Civic engagement and civil society;
Gender Equality and gender analysis;
Constitutional reforms and constitution making;
Youth Empowerment;
Political transitions.

3. Conflict prevention and peacebuilding includes:

UNDP’s work on conflict prevention and peacebuilding promotes social cohesion and empowering nations and communities to become inclusive and resilient to external and internal shocks. This is done by supporting and strengthening of key governance institutions needed to peacefully navigate countries away from potential conflict and ensure durable societal transformations occur. UNDP also works towards deepening gains made at the political and diplomatic level by providing strategic analysis, policy and programme support to the broader UN system and government partners. The required areas of expertise under conflict prevention and peacebuilding are listed as follows;

Conflict prevention and management;
Conflict sensitive planning and development;
Infrastructures for peace;
Women, peace and security;
Conflict analysis and assessment;
Insider Mediation and conflict resolution;
Reconciliation, national dialogue and social cohesion;
Scenario analysis and planning;
Prevention of violent extremism;
Recovery and Peacebuilding Analysis.

4. Rule of law, justice, security and accountability includes:

Strengthening the rule of law and promoting human rights are cornerstones of UNDP’s work to achieve sustainable human development and eradicate extreme poverty. Through rule of law and human rights assistance, UNDP contributes to building peace and democratic governance across the full range of development contexts. UNDP also facilitates broader UN rule of law efforts in crisis and conflict-affected settings through the work of the Global Focal Point for Police, Justice and Corrections. Key required areas of UNDP’s rule of law, justice, security and accountability include;

Human rights;
Rule of Law, Access to Justice (A2J), Security and LEP;
Security sector assessment and governance;
Disability;
Reintegration;
Legal and Legislative drafting;
Judicial reforms and development;
Transitional justice.

5. Economic Governance:

UNDP advocates for a stronger role for the state and public investment in delivering essential services. This includes assessing the impact of illicit financial flows, legal frameworks for financial regulations, privatization and commercialization on domestic resource mobilization and the delivery of public services in Africa. UNDP contributes to improve the delivery of public services in urban area; including, addressing legislative and local authority challenges, corruption mechanisms and systems to support revenue generation from the informal economy. UNDP also facilitate the governance of natural resources to ensure that the dividends are spread evenly, include key segments of the population, and contribute to economic development and higher social standards. UNDP supports the establishment of frameworks to address systemic vulnerabilities in regional and national oversight of financial systems and the development of effective governance mechanisms to foster public-private partnerships.

Required key areas of UNDP’s Economic Governance work include:

Public finance management;
Transparency, accountability and Anti-corruption;
Governance of natural resources;
Illicit financial flows;
Public Tax Administration & Tax Transparency.

6. Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW)/ Weapons Ammunitions Management (WAM):

Reducing the proliferation of SALW as a measure of ensuring sustainable livelihood and security is one of UNDP’s critical contributions to deepening and consolidating Governance. Anchored in the Sahel Governance Offer, UNDP’s integrated approach to SALW links Weapon and Ammunitions Management (WAM) to Rule of Law (RoL), Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE), strengthen relevant national frameworks for control over the full life cycle of SALW, building national capacity for security actors, enhance community social cohesion and peacebuilding. It focuses on cross-border engagement given the regional nature of challenges such as transnational organized crime, illicit trade and trafficking as well as recruitment into violent extremist groups.

Key required areas of UNDP’s SALW/WAM include:

Physical Security and Stockpile management
Community and Cross border SALW management
Community Violence Reduction (CVR)
Weapons Ammunition Management Assessments
Demobilization Reintegration and Recovery
SALW and Development research
Tracing and marking

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Degree in governance related field including: Law, Economics, Public administration, development studies, Business Administration, Public Policy, Social Science, Political Science, international relations.

Experience:

Band 1, Implementation Support: Master Degree in relevant field with minimum 3 years of relevant work experience, or Bachelor Degree in relevant field with minimum 5 years of relevant work experience;
Band 2, Specialist Support: Master Degree in relevant field with minimum 7 years of relevant work experience, out of which minimum 3 years of international experience as a requirement;
Band 3, Senior Advisory: Master Degree in relevant field with minimum 12 years of relevant work experience, out of which minimum 5 years of international experience as a requirement;
Knowledge and experience in international development, governance, and Governance and Peace Building programming and policy development;
Knowledge of high-level governance, capacity and public communication support.
Experience in management of post-conflict interventions;
Knowledge of Governance and Peacebuilding issues;

Language:

Fluency in spoken and written English.
or fluency in spoken and written French and intermediate fluency in English;
or fluency in spoken and written Spanish and intermediate fluency in English;
or fluency in spoken and written Portuguese and intermediate fluency in English