Background:
The Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia, adopted in 2012, provides for the conduct of a constitutional referendum and elections. One of the mandates of the United Nations Assistance Mission to Somalia (UNSOM) which was established in 2013 is the provision of policy advice to the Federal Government of Somalia on the constitutional review process and subsequent referendum and preparations for elections. The United Nations has set up an Integrated Electoral Support Group comprising UNSOM and UNDP to provide electoral assistance in line with recommendations of a UN Needs Assessment Mission. This assistance is provided in a phased manner and the initial phase of support will focus on three priorities: the establishment and capacity development of the National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC); the development of the legal framework on elections; and the promotion of increased understanding of electoral processes and the legal framework. The bill establishing the NIEC was passed by the Federal Parliament in February this year and the process to select the NIEC commissioners has commenced. The UN Integrated Electoral Support Group led by the Chief Electoral Adviser will work closely with the NIEC, the Ministry of Interior and Federal Affairs, Federal Parliament and other stakeholders to provide the necessary technical assistance for the elections and the referendum.
Under the direct supervision of the Chief of Operations, the Training and Capacity Development Specialist will be responsible for designing and implementing the UN’s training and capacity development support to the NIEC and relevant stakeholders. The Training and Capacity Development Specialist will work closely with other team members including the Procedures Specialist.
Description of Responsibilities : Summary of Key Functions:
- Lead the UN’s support to design, plan and implement a capacity development and training programme for the NIEC and relevant stakeholders;
- Support the NIEC to develop its training capacity and support an effective transfer of knowledge and skills;
- Organize, conduct and evaluate workshops and training;
- Support the development of a comprehensive range of training materials.
Lead the UN’s support to design, plan and implement a capacity development and training programme for the NIEC and relevant stakeholders:
- Provide advice to the NIEC and relevant stakeholders on all matters relating to training and capacity development;
- Take the lead within the UN to support the NIEC to conduct a training needs assessment and to review and update the assessment at regular intervals;
- Take the lead within the UN to support the design, planning and implementation of a training and capacity development programme for the NIEC’s immediate and longer-term needs with regular reviews as required;
- Ensure that advice and support are provided to develop the NIEC’s planning, budgeting, managerial and over-sight capacity;
- Ensure that advice and support are provided for induction training of new staff, for familiarization with the electoral cycle and electoral processes and electoral operations training for voter registration, polling and counting;
- Ensure that the capacity development and training programme and all training events are gender sensitive and promote the inclusion of women;
- Develop and monitor a training and capacity development assistance budget;
- Supervise and provide guidance to a training team;
- Coordinate closely with other team members in carrying out all the above.
Support the NIEC to develop its training capacity and support an effective transfer of knowledge and skills:
- Support the NIEC to establish, manage and sustain a training department that meets the needs of its members and staff;
- Provide advice to the NIEC training department to develop, carry out, review and evaluate its work plan;
- Advise the NIEC in developing tools to assess training quality and the impact of its training and capacity development;
- Work closely with NIEC officials to share expertise and international best practices and actively seek inputs and feedback;
- Act as a mentor to NIEC officers providing on-the-job training to effect a transfer of knowledge and skills;
- Support the NIEC to develop internal policies and guidelines for training, capacity development and learning opportunities for its staff;
- upport the NIEC to develop an appropriate training management information system;
- Support other team members to foster national ownership and a conducive environment for the transfer of knowledge and skills to the NIEC.
Organize, conduct and evaluate workshops and training:
- Organize briefings, roundtables, workshops, seminars, study tours and other training events;
- Identify suitable presenters, speakers and trainers;
- Conduct and/or facilitate training events ensuring that best practices in adult learning are incorporated;
- Provide support to adapt and translate BRIDGE training modules and roll-out BRIDGE workshops as required;
- Monitor and evaluate training events and conduct lessons-learning workshops;
- Coordinate with other team members, stakeholders and assistance providers as required;
Support the development of a comprehensive range of training materials:
- Provide advice and support for the development and production of a range of training materials that include but are not limited to briefing and orientation packages, manuals, posters and flipcharts, audio-visual material, training videos and training kits for registration, polling and counting;
- Provide advice to ensure that training materials are accurate, creative and easy to understand;
- Actively contribute to ensuring that all training materials are gender sensitive;
- Support the development of a budget and distribution plan for training materials;
- Supervise contractors, writers, translators, illustrators and graphic designers as required;
- Ensure that training materials are systematically archived and easily accessible for future reference and/or updating;
- Work closely with the NIEC and other stakeholders and coordinate with other team members in carrying out all of the above.
Impact of Results
The key results are expected to have an impact on the electoral process in Somalia as well as UNDP’s support toward that purpose. In particular, the results have an impact on the delivery of:
- Capacity development and technical advice to the National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC);
- Sound advice given to the national authorities as specified in the project document;
- UNDP’s credibility as an execution agency of the UN system.
- Competencies : Functional Competencies:
Building Partnerships:
- Effectively networks with partners seizing opportunities to build alliances;
- 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;
- Proven team building and leadership skills.
Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing:
- Makes the case for innovative ideas documenting successes and building them into the design of new approaches;
- Develops and/or participates in the development of mechanisms, including identifying new approaches to promote individual and organizational learning and knowledge sharing using formal and informal methodologies.
Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise:
- Understands advanced aspects of primary area of specialization as well as the fundamental concepts of related disciplines (financial resources and human resources management, contract, asset and procurement, information and communication technology, general administration);
- Continues to seek new and improved methods and systems for accomplishing the work of the unit;
- 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 tools and utilizes these regularly in work assignments.
Promoting Organizational Change and Developmen:
- Performs appropriate work analysis and assists in redesign to establish clear standards for implementation.
Design And Implementation of Management Systems:
- Carries out research into existing systems to identify best practice and make recommendations to management on applicability to UNDP;
- Identifies and recommends remedial measures to address problems in systems design or implementation.
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.
Promoting Accountability and Results-Based Management:
- Provides inputs to the development of organizational standards for accountability and results-based management.
Core Competencies:
- 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 Education, Human Resource Development, Organizational Development, International Affairs, Public Policy, Public or Business Administration, Communication, Political Science, Social Studies or related field.
Experience:
- Minimum 7 years of experience in training and capacity development in the field of electoral administration;
- Experience in advising an electoral management body;
- Demonstrated experience in designing and implementing training programmes;
- Demonstrated experience in conducting workshops and training;
- Demonstrated experience in developing training materials;
- Experience delivering electoral assistance in a post-conflict country and an understanding of such a context for training and capacity development;
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills;
- Excellent report writing skills;
- Accreditation at Expert or Accrediting Level Facilitator for the Building Resources in Democratic Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) electoral administrators course is desirable;
- Advanced skills in the usage of computer software packages.
Language:
- Fluency in written and spoken English.
HOW TO APPLY:
Interested and qualified candidates should submit their application by visiting: http://jobs.undp.org/
