Conflict Prevention Advisor

Contract

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Background

Following the revolution in 2011 that led to the overthrow of 40 years of authoritarian rule, the clashes have severely impacted both the political and economic conditions affecting the macro-stability of the country, and the lives and livelihood of the Libyan people. Since the country’s first free elections on 7 July 2012 for the General National Congress (GNC), two subsequent electoral events took place: the Constitutional Drafting Assembly election on 20 February 2014 amidst violence and boycott by some minority groups, and the election of a new legislative body, the House of Representatives (HoR) in July 2014. In addition, Libya conducted 92 municipal council elections during 2014 and 2015.

With an overall goal of building the capacity of Libya’s transitional governance structures and facilitating citizens’ participation in political processes, this initiative is designed to support Libya in holding credible and inclusive municipal council elections. Through support to the Central Committee for Municipal Council Elections (CCMCE), the designated body responsible for Local Elections, the project contributes to the planning, preparation and conduct of the second round of municipal elections after those conducted in April / May 2019. The project focuses on support to and capacity building of the CCMCE to prepare and run credible and peaceful elections in a challenging post-conflict / conflict environment.

The project’s mandate has been enlarged to also support newly elected municipal councils in Libya in order to strengthen the capacity of mayors and council members and their administration in the post-election period. This support is being closely coordinated with other support provided by UNDP and international partners to municipalities. Due to the challenging security environment resulting from the post-conflict environment and the political division of the country, the project has reinforced its focus on electoral conflict prevention measures and increased conflict sensitivity to cope with existing and emerging conflicts in the context of pre-and post-electoral processes.

In pursuance of the above, the Local Elections Project wishes to recruit an international Conflict Prevention Advisor to join the project.

Additionally, UNDP is working to expand its programming to support local governance in line with the Conclusions of the Berlin Conference on Libya, held in January of this year, and the developments of the intra-Libyan dialogue efforts, facilitated by UNSMIL. As part of this work, UNDP will be contributing to a book being compiled by the World Bank on the overall economic and governance issues in Libya in 2021.

The work will explore connections between the national and subnational governance agenda and other elements, including the economic sectors, service delivery, security etc. The UNDP contribution will highlight the importance of linking all strands of the Berlin Process. This will include immediate connections between the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum and the work associated with the Libyan Expert Economic Commission. The papers from UNDP will aim to ensure realism in the international agenda.

The consultant will contribute to UNDP’s inputs into the World Bank Book, specifically with work on a paper that covers “Citizen State and Community Relations in Building Local Governance”.

Duties and Responsibilities

UNDP seeks to support CCMCE and newly elected Councils by engaging an international Conflict Prevention Advisor (CPA). His/her mandate is to support CCMCE and the newly elected Municipal Councils in addressing tensions and preventing pre-or post-electoral violence. The international CPA will work under the overall supervision of the UNDP CTA and in close collaboration with the national CPA.

The incumbent will contribute to UNDP’s local elections support to Libya by advising and assisting the CCMCE through the CTA by applying a conflict sensitive approach in its election preparations to prepare the ground for peaceful and inclusive electoral processes. The incumbent will work closely with the Municipal Council Support team of the project to assist newly elected councils in the post-electoral environment for addressing tensions / potential conflicts in the municipalities.

Main Activities:

The incumbent will contribute together with the national advisor(s) to:

• Support the CCMCE by providing advisory services in conflict prevention and management to key electoral stakeholders as applicable (field offices / CCMCE subcommittees) and respond to conflict situations, as required;
• Inform, and where necessary guide, key project partners in potential or active disputes about informal conflict resolution processes and assist them to initiate those;
• Facilitate informal dialogue of workplace conflicts (in select municipalities) helping all parties to explore opinions and engage in a voluntary and confidential process, acting as a neutral third-party, facilitate and help conflicting parties discuss issues and negotiate an agreement;
• Maintain impartiality towards all parties and confidentiality during electoral processes, gather information as appropriate, and help parties identify and understand conflict related issues, and explore options to generate solutions to which stakeholders agree, as well as draft agreements when applicable;
• Perform research and analysis and prepare opinions, studies, briefs, reports and correspondence;
• Participate in developing and delivering outreach and learning activities on conflict prevention and management to help all stakeholders to efficiently utilize services of the CCMCE /UNDP project;
• Work collaboratively with relevant security planning stakeholders in various locations and governmental agencies to achieve informal resolution to regional related problems raised by the parties when requested;

• Support the implementation and maintenance of the longer-term peace-building initiatives together with other UNDP projects and other international partners and promote synergies in the collaboration;

• Support and carry out field activities as necessary to ensure the successful coordination of the project’s activities;

• Contribute to UNDP’s inputs into the World Bank Book, specifically overseeing work on a paper that covers “Citizen State and Community Relations in Building Local Governance”.
• Undertake other relevant formally delegated tasks.
• One trip to Tripoli for 5 days.

Competencies

• Previous work experience with diverse Libyan stakeholders including civil society organizations, as well as government counterparts in Libya is a requirement;
• The appointee must be customer focused and highly motivated with good time management and interpersonal skills. She/he must have excellent communication and organization skills and with a high level of accuracy and reliability. S/he must have a well-established methodology for addressing local, domestic issues & problems. Five years of experience in conflict prevention and management including in Libya is the preferred profile. Candidates with fewer years of experience will have to demonstrate a strong academic background and strong interpersonal skills.
• Fluency in spoken and written Arabic and English is required;

Required Skills and Experience

Master’s degree (minimum 7 years of relevant experience) or Bachelors’ Degree (10 years of relevant experience); Political/International Relations/Social Science/Law related education field.

At least 5 years of experience in the area of conflict prevention & management including in relation to Libya’s political & security situation is required;