Decentralization Program Analyst

Background

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UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

1. Office/Unit/Project Description:

Located in the Horn of Africa at the crossroad of the main maritime routes, Djibouti remains deeply affected by endemic poverty in rural areas with 78.4% of its population living under poverty line (EDAM 4), a centralized governance structure remaining in the capital, social inequalities especially between rural and urban areas are high (13.6% of extreme poverty in the capital and 62.6% in rural areas), and a high vulnerability to climate change and economic shocks. Women’ conditions are especially affected by these challenges and despite recent improvements of Djibouti towards gender equality, their participation in decision-making processes remain low.

To address these challenges, Government of Djibouti has recently taken advantage of its post-covid recovery and has developed innovative strategic planning tools to achieve its ambitious national development goals. Thus, the new national development plan ‘Djibouti ICI’ – bringing together the goals of socio-economic inclusion, better connectivity between the regions and the capital, and strengthening of governance – attached to the integrated national financing framework and monitoring and evaluation framework, form solid foundations of this momentum for Djibouti to achieve SDGs. In this context, the realization of an effective, transparent, and participative governance, globally acknowledged, at both national and local levels appears as one of the essential factors to reach the targets that Djibouti has set for its population.

With regard to regions, Regional Development Plans (RDPs) have been developed and aim to meet the socio -economic challenges that regions are going through and above all to reduce GAP between Djibouti City and regions in many areas and especially on the supply of citizen’ services. The RDPs are ambitious, and the main challenge remains the implementation in a context where the regional councils/regional administrations have limited capacities in terms of human, financial or technological resources. Efforts must be deployed to strengthen their capacities so that they have enough tools to appropriate local project management and especially support for governance and to the mobilization of resources, which are essential in the financing of RDPs.

Support for Governance being central to this intervention, UNDP Djibouti has developed a new Governance programme through Enhanced Inclusion, Coordination and Accountability Mechanism-- that aims at building on those previous achievements and support the efforts being made at both national and local levels to ensure that the governance system of Djibouti will enable the country to meet its development needs in all circumstances through an enhanced equitable, inclusive, coordinated, and accountable mechanism.

In this regard, the Governance programme will seek to (1) strengthen national and local capacities for improved planning including operationalizing result-based management, gender and climate responsive budgeting, and independent monitoring using digital tools enabling efficient and effective governance, (2) increase women and youth’ political participation and involvement in decision-making processes enhancing local governance and accountability, (3) support gender-mainstreaming into national and local planning, budgeting and law enforcement processes as well as women’ leadership into local development, and (4) strengthen national and local capacities to respond to crisis and disasters in an integrated and gender-responsive manner.

2. Scope of Work:

Under the guidance and supervision of the Programme Specialist, the consultant contributes to the implementation and development of the UNDP Governance programme strategy and activities within the sectoral areas assigned. These sectoral areas include, but not limited to, decentralization and deconcentration, gender mainstreaming, women and youth participation, local planning and financing, disaster risk management. The Consultant is expected to handle the following duties:

a) Provide technical and management support in the implementation of the Governance programme, especially in local development aspects

Ensure project management function in Quantum
Ensure close monitoring of financial aspects
Accurate reports regularly prepared on activities, outputs and outcomes;
Support Empowerment of young women-led civil society organizations and networks for their meaningful participation in decision-making processes, M&E and their role in local development
Facilitate training programme for M&E focal points from ministries, regional councils, regional gender offices and CSOs, on monitoring, evaluation and RBM principles, at sub-national levels to enable achievement of national development objectives
Perform any other tasks required by the supervisor

b) Support decentralization/deconcentration polices and reforms to national authorities, notably the Ministry of Decentralization (MD) and the Ministry of Interior and advisory services to regional councils in the implementation and monitoring regional development plans and local governance:

Provide technical support to the Government in its reflections on the creation of the best legal and financial conditions for the implementation of the decentralization process.

Contribute to the elaboration of the Government operational work plan and set up a monitoring and implementation mechanism
Identify capacity building needs in the areas of economic recovery, regional development, and civil society participation.
Support the Regional administrations to identify the priority SDGs in the regions, facilitate the designing of socio economic bankable projects and an facilitate the resource mobilization to accelerate the implementation of the Regional Development Plans
Provide policy advice to the regional and local partners and beneficiaries supported within Regional Development projects on the matters related to participatory local governance and community development, including but not limited to recovery planning and programming;
Identify opportunities for and pilot innovative solutions for stabilization, decentralization, local governance, citizens’ engagement and service delivery.
Perform any other tasks required by the supervisor

c) Day-to-day program management and knowledge sharing:

Represent UNDP in technical coordination meetings.
Implement the overall strategy of the program and make appropriate adjustments, particularly in terms of harmonising interventions with other programs
Implement programme activities in accordance with UNDP Regulations, Rules and Policies
Contribute to the development of periodic project work plans, reprogramming, procurement plans, etc.
Organize the exercises of systematization of the experiences acquired and disseminate them.
Promote teamwork and multidisciplinary cooperation.
Work with UNDP operational services to ensure that expected services are delivered in a timely manner.

d) Monitoring and evaluation of the program and achievement of results:

Monitor the progress of the project and its alignment with priorities during the implementation phase.
Coordinate monitoring and impact evaluation for actions undertaken.
Carry out regular visits and report, according to the prescribed formats, on the situation of the activities, the problems encountered and the proposed solutions.

e) Institutional strengthening

Assess the technical capacity building needs of national authorities to achieve the expected results.
Strengthen the capacities of national counterparts
Support the gradual transfer of capacity to national structures.

f) Development of strategic partnerships and resource mobilization:

Ensure coordination and communication with all stakeholders.
Implementation of country office partnerships and resource mobilization strategies to achieve program results.
Research for synergies with other partners in the country.

3. Institutional Arrangement

This assignment will be placed under the authority of the UNDP Djibouti Country Office and the supervision of the head of the Governance unit (See organigram at Annex 1).

4. Competencies
Core
Achieve Results: LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
Think Innovatively: LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements
Learn Continuously: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible
Act with Determination: LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies (insert up to 7 competencies)
Thematic Area Name Definition
Governance Project management Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals
Governance Results-based Management Ability to manage programmes and projects with a focus at improved performance and demonstrable results
Governance

Partnerships

Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide
Governance Management networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies
Governance

Risk

Management
Ability to identify and organize action around mitigating and proactively managing risks
Governance Knowledge Generation Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need
Governance Communication Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience

5. Minimum Qualifications of the Successful IPSA:
Min. Education requirements

Advanced university degree (master's degree or equivalent) in economics, social science or relevant discipline is required

A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Any UN professional training or other learning activities in the field of public policy analysis or relevant discipline will be an asset
Min. years of relevant work experience Min 2 years (with Bachelor’s degree) or Up to two year (Master degree) of experience in the field of public policy and/or programmes/projects implementation/evaluation in the areas of rule of law, peacebuilding, public accountability or related sector;
Required skills

In-depth understanding of governance and political dynamics, and experience in the Horn of Africa region on the range of governance;

Proven ability to produce reports, project documents and research papers;

Extensive experience of working with Government and other national counterparts as well as international partners;
Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section

Familiarity with UN policies and programmatic work;

Familiarity with UNDP Djibouti programmes;

Relevant experience in the Horn of Africa region;
Required Language(s)

Fluency in French and English is required.

Knowledge of Arabic is an asset.
Professional Certificates NA

6. The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.
A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.
Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.

7. Annexes to the TOR

Links to any relevant (non-confidential) materials that may help candidates gain a better understanding of the office/unit/project context.
Organigram of the office/unit/project indicating the position of the function (for internal use only).