Electoral Reporting & Coordination Specialist

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Project Description

The Revitalized Agreement for the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) signed in September 2018 and the subsequent formation of a Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) in February 2020 ended several years of civil war in South Sudan. One of the key benchmarks in the Agreement is the conduct of elections. In August 2022 the Roadmap to the Agreement extended the transitional period and stipulated elections be held in December 2024. These elections will be South Sudan’s first elections as a sovereign state. A United Nations electoral Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) was deployed to the country in May 2021 and a Trilateral team, composed of AUMISS- African Union Mission in South Sudan

(AUMISS), Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Eastern Africa (IGAD) and the UN, conducted a needs assessment and evaluation of the electoral and permanent constitution making processes in 2022. In January 2023 the Government of South Sudan formally requested the United Nations to provide electoral assistance recognizing the need to begin planning and preparations for the elections, including establishing the legal framework, reconstitution of the National Elections Commission (NEC), working with political parties, civil society and the media raising public awareness and creating conditions for inclusive participation of citizens.

A UN Integrated Electoral Assistance Team (IEAT) has been established, led by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), and UNDP as part of the IEAT has set up the South Sudan Electoral Support (SSES) project. Against this background UNDP South Sudan is seeking to engage the services of an Electoral Systems Developer to support the development of electoral IT systems as well as the capacity development and institution building of the NEC ICT department.

Scope of Work: 

Under the direct supervision of the Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) and the UN IEAT External Relations and Public Outreach Advisor the incumbent will provide technical assistance to NEC on all substantial and operational matters pertaining to external communications and relations. S/he will also coordinate the communication requirements of the SSES project as well as for the UN IEAT as requested by the UN IEAT Chief.

A. Provide advisory support to the NEC’s department of external relations and NEC’s External Relations and Public Outreach Department staff capacity building:

• Act as a resource on comparative experiences and advise NEC relevant counterpart/s on the development of a strategy and communication plan for interacting with different stakeholders: Media, political parties/candidates, observers and other relevant actors;
• Advise NEC on the establishment of internal rules and procedures for managing the external relation responsibility of the Board;
• Advise relevant NEC counterpart/s on the application of international standards in the relationship with and the accreditation of political parties/candidates, electoral observers and the nomination of candidates;
• Advise and support NEC relevant counterpart/s in the establishment of communication and information links with all necessary parties to effectively monitor levels of inclusion, involvement, utilization, and help to close gaps in communication when necessary;
• Facilitate in planning and managing regular meetings with media, candidates and electoral observers;
• Facilitate in developing timely and efficient communication between HQ and field offices on matters relating to external relations political parties, candidates, observers and other relevant actors;
• Contribute to the capacity-building of NEC staff and other electoral stakeholders (as required) in the field of institutional external communications.

B. Ensure effective data collection and reporting:

• Drafting reports, managing projects and UN IEAT factsheets and update of digital material/information for the Project’s web profile;
• Drafting updates, briefs and presentation for meetings with international and national partners;
• Draft minutes of project board meetings;
• Reviews Project’s activity reports, concept notes and presentations to ensure the quality of documents;
• Participate in project review and/or evaluation meetings, as and when necessary;
• Participate in conceptualization of lesson-learned exercise and other post-elections activities;
• Provide regular updates and draft reports and other documents according to the Project’s reporting framework as well as ad-hoc requirements;
• Provide the proper visibility materials and supporting documents to promote the Project and UNDP’s work on elections.

C. Ensure effective Coordination:

• Coordinates the communications requirement of the Project with donors and other international partners;
• Coordinates partnership with other UN components;
• Manage the organization of project board meetings and conferences/workshops;
• Liaises with the CO communications unit and donors on visibility related matters;
• Perform other tasks and duties as requested by the CTA.

D. Contribute to the monitoring and evaluation requirements:

• Contribute to the development and completion of the project M&E framework based on the final approved project work plan. He/she further implements and improves the M&E system by enhancing the robustness of the M&E framework and sharpening results-based data collection methods according to UNDP’s RBM principles; 
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of a database for the management of the indicator framework;
• Contribute to the development of Annual Work Plans, supporting monitoring pf the calendar of MEL activities; 
• Implement the MEL activities as per the Annual Work Plan; 
• Contribute to the preparation of the quarterly results tracker and reporting with key activities, indicators, baseline and targets under four result areas;
• Support the Country Office M&E specialist to ensure that project’s results are well captured in the UNDP’s corporate platforms:  Integrated Work Plan, Results-Oriented Annual Report, Annual Business Plan, Strategic Plan reporting etc;
• Integrate project M&E reporting with UNDP CO web-based corporate tools;
• Document lessons learned by the project with a focus on results, impact and outcomes;
• The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangement

Under the overall guidance of the Chief Technical Advisor and direct supervision of the UN IEAT External relations and Public Outreach Advisor, the incumbent will support the UN IEAT with reporting, coordination with international and national partners as well as provide support to the NEC External Relations Department.

Competencies

Core Competencies

Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact;

Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems;

Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences;

Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands;

Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results;

Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration;

Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies: 

Business Direction and Strategy

• System Thinking 
  • Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.

Digital and Innovation

• Data collection
  • Being skilled in Data Sorting, Data Cleaning, Survey Administration, Presentation and Reporting including the collection of Real-Time Data (e.g. mobile data, satellite data, sensor data).

Business Management

• 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; Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.
• Monitoring
  • Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results.

Business Development

• Knowledge Generation
  • Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need.
• Knowledge Facilitation
  • Ability to animate individuals and communities of contributors to participate and share, particularly externally.

Partnership Management

• Knowledge and ability to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships, and remove any obstacles to resource mobilization and multi-stakeholder funding platforms.

Minimum Qualifications of the Successful IPSA

Minimum Academic Education:

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in, Communications, Political Sciences, International Relations or related field; 

OR

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

Minimum years of relevant work experience:

• Minimum of five (5) years (with master’s degree) or seven (7) years (with bachelor’s degree) of experience in national or international context, in external relations and communication of which at least 4 years related to electoral / political processes in electoral assistance which involve advising high-level electoral officials.

Required skills:

• Professional experience in advising on external relations matters with high-level counterparts such as diplomatic representations, government representatives and electoral authorities;
• Extensive experience in drafting official documents to be circulated at senior level;
• Experience in the usage of computer and office software (MS office) and Familiar with web-based management systems.

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section:

• Previous experience in working with UN or NGOs or international organizations is an asset;
• Experience in utilizing database systems is an asset;
• Experience and strong understanding of the electoral cycle is desired;
• Experience in effective report writing is desired and demonstrated effective communications skills and the ability to communicate M&E processes and systems in a clear manner is desired;
• Knowledge and expertise in democratic governance, electoral assistance, and democratization, including their gender dimensions is desired.

Required Language(s) (at working level):

• Fluency in spoken and written English is required;
• Working knowledge of another UN language is desired.

Disclaimer

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Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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