Governance Advocacy Associate

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

The Country office’s (CO) governance program focuses on strengthening public institutions oversight function and supporting effort of the Government of Eswatini to deliver efficient quality services to its citizens; increase citizens voice and participation in public accountability and promotion of transparency; strengthen knowledge based research for informed evidence based advocacy; support the implementation of National Development Strategy and policies especially those aimed at decentralization of services to citizens and support national and local authority elections.

The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing governance challenges in the country. Additionally, the Kingdom of Eswatini was recently faced with unprecedented violence and civil unrest across the country. The added civil unrest in the country presents grave challenges to all parties involved on how best to chart a way forward and how to manage the change necessary to get there. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) a key partner to the Kingdom of Eswatini, over the years is supporting the country to assess the new circumstances to leverage more appropriate support for the Government and the people of Eswatini.

Building on the provisions of the new UNDP Country Programme Document (CPD) 2021 - 2025 and the strong partnerships, UNDP is strategically positioned to provide technical and advisory support to facilitate peaceful resolutions to the current crisis. Additionally, there is a need to support the country to systematically implement the adopted UPR recommendations which speak to civil and political rights, socio – economic rights and these also include the protection of the marginalized groups and engaging on an inclusive national dialogue. UNDP will leverage and harness its comparative advantage to respond to the identified country needs, in accordance with national plans, needs and priorities while ensuring national ownership in all the interventions.

UNDP is continuously working on mobilizing technical and financial resources to support the country during and in transitioning from these shocks. These resources will be used to provide the undertake activities aimed at gathering evidence, building social cohesion, facilitating knowledge improvement, collaboration while opening space for meaningful engagement. There are already ongoing efforts support Eswatini on these interventions and the need to strengthen the technical capacity withing the governance team to improve efficiency has been identified.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work:

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of Governance Programme Specialist or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the Advocacy Associate in Governance will:

• Support advocacy and communication activities for the governance program.
• Prepare briefs on key research on governance issues to inform programming.
• Support documentation and effective monitoring of governance projects and in particular innovations and best practices.
• Support the implementation of gender related activities and the tracking of gender segregated data, including key populations.
• Conduct research analysis of the groundwork necessary for the effective execution of the governance projects, with a particular focus to monitoring of social media trends and supporting timely communication on key issues for governance.
• Provide strategic support to efforts that seek to create meaningful participation in dialogue spaces and peacebuilding efforts.
• Provide administrative support towards the effective implementation of the case management system and legal aid roll out for the Ministry of Justice.

Key Deliverables:

Payment percent

Deliverables/ Outputs

Target Due Date

Review and Approvals Required

10%

1. Inception report

31- 08-2022

Programme Specialist

15%

1. Research and Documentation on interventions under governance

26-10-2022

Programme Specialist

20%

1. Results report on governance interventions to contribute to the annual report.

21-12-2022

Programme Specialist

20%

1. Activity report on supported governance activities – including under youth.

08-03-2023

Programme Specialist

20%

1. Briefs on media including social medial monitoring, and situation analysis briefs developed.

   24-05-2023

Programme Specialist

15%

1. Assignment activity report with recommendations, Blogs on key/ topical governance subjects developed.

14-08-2023

Programme Specialist

Competencies

Technical and Functional Competencies:

• Practical knowledge and understanding of theories, concepts and approaches relevant to governance and advocacy issues
• Practical Research and analysis skills
• Strong analytical, communication and presentation skills
• Outstanding ability with report writing and communication especially digital tools is required
• Creativity and innovation: Ability to demonstrate new and creative ideas
• Teamwork: Good interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity, including gender balance.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards
• Positive, constructive attitude and consistently approaches work with energy
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to receive / integrate feedback.
• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent time management and ability to produce outputs as per agreed deadlines.
• Ability to work well within a team
• Analytical skills would be an added advantage.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Required Education Level: Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences or related area

Experience:

• Required Experience: Minimum 3 years’ experience in research and advocacy work.
• Excellent time management and ability to produce outputs as per agreed deadlines.
• Ability to launch UNDP projects according to UNDP’s rules and regulations.
• Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots community members.
• religious and youth organizations, and authorities at different levels; familiarity with tools and approaches of communications for development.
• Must be able to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel.
• Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision; ability to work with tight deadlines
• Excellent oral and written skills; excellent drafting, formulation, reporting skills.
• Accuracy and professionalism in document production and editing
• Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging environment; ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel
• Interest in the UN and adaptability to a multicultural environment
• Strong commitment to working for sustainable development and human rights.

Language Requirement:

• Proficiency in both written and spoken English and SiSwati.

How to Apply:

Interested and qualified candidates should submit;

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;Letter of Confirmation of Interest template
2. Personal CV or P11, (P11 form); indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.

Please note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).

Incomplete applications will be excluded from further consideration.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

• Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and experiences will be weighted a max. of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%.