Website UNDP
Coordination and Governance Specialist (1 position), Level : SB 5/Peg I (Only for Nepalese nationals)
Location : Kathmandu, NEPAL
Application Deadline : 05-Sep-23 (Midnight New York, USA)
Additional Category : Democratic Governance and Peacebuilding
Type of Contract : Other
Post Level : Other
Languages Required : English
Starting Date :
(date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 15-Oct-2023
Duration of Initial Contract : One year with possibility of extension
Expected Duration of Assignment : Until the end of the project
UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.
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.
Background
The Provincial and Local Governance Support Programme (PLGSP) is the national flagship programme of the Government of Nepal (GoN) to build institutional, organizational and individual capacity at all levels of government, with special focus on the provincial and local levels. The ultimate goal of the programme is to attain functional, sustainable, inclusive and accountable provincial and local governance. The Programme aims to contribute to delivery of quality services at provincial and local levels, promote better local infrastructure and enhance economic prosperity. The Programme will achieve 14 outputs under the following three outcomes:
- Government institutions and inter-governmental mechanisms at all levels are fully functioning in support of federal governance as per the Constitution.
- Provincial and local governments have efficient, effective, inclusive and accountable institutions; and
- Elected representatives and civil servants at provincial and local governments have the capacity and serve citizens to their satisfaction.
The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA) is the executive agency of the Programme. The seven provincial governments, the 753 local governments, the restructured Local Development Training Academy (LDTA) and seven provincial-level training centers (Provincial Center for Good Governance) are the implementing agencies of the Programme. The Programme is supported by four international development partners, namely, the Department for International Development (DfID) of the United Kingdom, the European Union (EU), the Government of Norway, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the United Nations.
Context
MoFAGA is partnering with UNDP for services of Technical Assistance (TA) for the implementation of the Programme. The key priority of the TA is recruitment of TA personnel, their capacity building and knowledge enhancement, including orientation and continuous backstopping support in coordination with the Programme Management so that they deliver on the intended outputs.
The Provincial governments have a major role to facilitate and implement the programme, benefitting both province and local governments. All the province governments have entered the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with MoFAGA to be a part of the Programme implementation. There is a Program Coordination Unit (PCU), seven Provincial Program Implementation Units (PPIUs), one in each province and seven Provincial Good Governance Centers (PCGGs), one in each province.
The Programme Coordination Unit (PCU) headed by the National Programme Director (NPD) functions as the secretariat to the governing bodies of the Programme at the federal level namely, National Executive Committee, chaired by the MOFAGA secretary, and the National Steering Committee, chaired by the Minister of Federal Affairs and General Administration. Regarding the Programme implementation, the PCU will have dual tasks: (i) provide technical support to federal agencies on demand basis, ii. serve as federal anchor point to guide, backstop, and mentor the Provincial Programme Implementation Units (PPIUs). Additionally, the PCU under the leadership of the NPD and NPM will be responsible to for overall results of the Programme, meaning that PCU has an important role to make ensure that the activities carried by the federal agencies and the provincial governments are within the scope of the Programme and are properly coordinated and monitored. The PCU is also responsible to facilitate the implementation and prepare consolidated progress reports to be submitted to the National Executive Committee (NEC), National Steering Committee (NSC).
The Coordination and Governance Specialist position of the PCU is vacant. The specialist is supposed to contribute to all outputs of the PLGSP as the position functions as a key player for overall planning and coordination of the PLGSP activities. In this connection, PLGSP is looking to recruit and deploy individual consultant to support coordination and governance fulfilling the gap of coordination and monitoring specialist.
Duties and Responsibilities
The overall objective of this assignment is to support PLGSP in overall planning, implementation, and coordination of the program interventions. The specific objective of the assignment includes:
1. Coordinate with PPIU and PCGG for developing Provincial Annual Strategic Implementation Plan (PASIP), Annual Strategic Implementation Plan (ASIP) and facilitate to prepare acceleration plan for the implementation of the approved plan.
2. Support NPM and NPD to prepare the documents for high level governing bodies meetings and other governing bodies of PLGSP.
3. Support PCU in any other areas of coordination and governance as required.
4. Integrate gender and social inclusion into work plan and annual M and E framework.
5. Directly contribute to the achievement of output one and three of PLGSP: Federal level institutions develop legislation and policies to support provincial and local governments in a consultative manner and inter government administrative mechanisms strengthened and functional.
6. Perform any other tasks as assigned.
1. Support in delivery of the PLGSP activities of the remainder of the year 2022/23.
- Provide support to the Provincial Programme Implementation Units (PPIUs) and Provincial Centers of Good Governance (PCGGs) in the preparation Transitional Annual Strategic Implementation Plan (T-ASIPs) and its trimester workplans for 2023/24;
- Prepare PCU level ASIP and trimester workplan in consultation with the federal agencies and ministries;
- Ensure that the federal ministries and agencies are properly consulted in getting their inputs for the ASIP and trimester work plans;
- Prepare a consolidated ASIP and trimester workplan of the Programme.
2. Support NPM and NPD to prepare the documents for high level governing bodies meetings and other governing bodies as per project documents of PLGSP.
- Support NPD and NPM to prepare all documentations to conduct Technical Assistance Sub-Committee (TASC), National Advisory Fiduciary Risk Management Sub-committee (NAFRMSC), National Executive committee (NEC) and National Steering committee (NSC) meeting and share documents with DPs;
- Coordinate and facilitate TASC, NAFRMSC, NEC and NSC meetings;
- Support NPM and NPD to continue coordination meetings with PPIU and PCCG at sub-national level.
3. Support PCU in any other areas of coordination and governance as required
- Liase with thematic Specialists in PCU as per the need for effective implementation of the PLGSP;
- Liase with Federal Governance Specialist and Development Partner Coordinator as per the need for effective implementation of the PLGSP.
4. Integrate gender and social inclusion into work plan and annual M and E framework.
- Update the risk log of the Programme and suggest the mitigation measures;
- Liaise with Gender Specialist as per the need for effective implementation of the GESI strategy and other guiding tools.
5. Directly contribute to the achievement of output one of PLGSP: Federal level institutions develop legislation and policies to support provincial and local governments in a consultative manner.
- Provide support to formulate model laws for provincial and local government;
- Review existing laws of LGs and provide feedback;
- Provide technical support to the Ministry and Office of the Prime Minister (OPMCM) to strengthen the secretariat of the Inter-provincial Council;
- Provide technical inputs to MOFAGA and the OPMCM to enhance horizontal cooperation and coordination within the federal agencies and vertical coordination between the three levels of government;
- Coordinate with the government entities and the development partners to make sure that the local and provincial governments use the same source of data during planning and budgeting, to the extent possible.
6. Perform any other tasks assigned.
Any other task assigned by NPD, NPM.
Impact of Results
- Prepared PLGSP ASIPs coordinating Federal, Provincial and Local Governments through PCU, PPIUs and PCGGs.
- TASC, NAFRSC, NEC and NSC meeting are held and transitional ASIP is in place.
- Held PLGSP re-programming consultations at higher level (Chief Ministers, Provincial governments, and LG associations).
- Held Coordination meetings with PPIU and PCGG team.
Competencies
Corporate Competencies:
- Demonstrates integrity by modeling the Government of Nepal and UN’s values and ethical standards.
- Serves and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of GoN and UNDP.
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
- Good inter-personal skills.
- Clear and upfront communication skills.
- Treats all people fairly without favoritism.
- Display cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability.
- Collaborates effectively in a team environment.
- Organized and good with following-up on pending issues; meets deadlines.
- Promote learning and knowledge management/sharing.
- Focused on delivering results by taking calculated-risks and problem-solving approach.
- Fair and transparent decision making; regularly shares information with team members.
- Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development.
Functional Competencies:
- Demonstrate ability to identify and anticipate bottlenecks, as well as seek guidance.
- Ability to maintain a high level of accuracy, confidentiality concerning financial and employee files; (for admin and finance, project management positions).
- Ability to organize and complete assignments within deadlines.
- Integrity and impartiality, ability to work with external partners e.g., supplier, vendors, service providers.
- Ability to convey difficult issues and positions to senior officials proactively seek guidance and make clear recommendations to line managers.
- Dynamic and results oriented.
- Strong verbal and written skills; ability to draft short memos and conduct presentations.
- Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
- Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure.
- Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities; can multitask.
- Willing to work long hours.
- Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view.
- Solicits feedback from staff about the impact of his/her own behavior highest standards of integrity, discretion, and loyalty.
- Effectively networks with partners seizing opportunities to build strategic alliances relevant to Government of Nepal and UNDP’s mandate and strategic agenda.
- Assesses project performance to identify success factors and incorporates best practices into project work.
- Monitors specific stages of projects/programme implementation.
- Oversees and documents the process of strategy formulation for programmes at Project level.
- Solicits feedback from staff about the impact of his/her own behavior highest standards of integrity, discretion, and loyalty.
- Effectively networks with partners seizing opportunities to build strategic alliances relevant to Government of Nepal and UNDP’s mandate and strategic agenda.
- Assesses project performance to identify success factors and incorporates best practices into project work.
- Monitors specific stages of projects/programme implementation.
- Oversees and documents the process of strategy formulation for programmes at Project level.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Master’s degree in Economics, Development Management, Social Science, and related other disciplines.
Experience:
- Seven years of working experience.
- At least five years of practical experience of working in governance and/or development.
- At least three years of experience in monitoring and evaluation of projects and programmes.
- Sound understanding of the ongoing the federalization process in Nepal.
- Solid, demonstrable knowledge of project/programme management.
- Experience in inter-governmental coordination.
- Demonstrated skills in coordinating with different stakeholders and facilitating dialogue.
- Familiar with the concept and dynamics of Gender equality and social inclusion.
- Demonstrated skills on preparing quality reports and other knowledge products.
- Sound inter-personal skills.
Language requirements:
- Fluency in English and Nepali, both written and oral, at professional level are essential.