Research Assistant for Lessons Learning on UN Integrated Electoral Assistance

The United Nations system draws upon many of its different parts to provide electoral assistance to Member states particularly in post-conflict contexts. To ensure coherence and efficiency, this assistance must be provided in accordance with the principle of integration. The need to deliver UN electoral assistance in a fully integrated manner in all relevant contexts has been recognized in the DPA-UNDP Revised Note of Guidance on Electoral Assistance of September 2010 and the UN Policy Committee Decision 2010/23 of 12 October 2010, which mandated that “all UN electoral assistance in peacekeeping, peacebuilding, or special political mission settings be delivered in a fully integrated manner from the outset, whether or not the mission is structurally integrated”. Ensuring that UN entities – varying greatly in their mandate, structuring and methods – deliver as one requires overcoming many challenges. This lessons-learning exercise intends to capture positive experience, particularly by identifying solutions and innovations developed by electoral practitioners to fine tune their assistance; and will also aim at pinpointing remaining challenges and bottlenecks preventing the full synergy in delivering UN electoral assistance. To ensure an integrated approach to electoral assistance UN partners must have a common vision and common objectives. This requires building appropriate bridges to ensure that integration is not only structural but also truly addresses and reconciles the differing peacekeeping and developmental approaches, ensuring that objectives of immediate stability and longer-term sustainability are both met. What systemic or ad hoc mechanisms exist, both at field and headquarters level, to enable this substantive bridging, and are they adequate? A good practice already identified and recommended in the revised Note of Guidance, is that of having a unique Chief Electoral/Technical Adviser (CTA) reporting to the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (DSRSG) who is also the Resident Coordinator/ Resident Representative in structurally integrated missions. Is there more to learn about the appropriate profile and role of this unique CTA in these complex environments? The exercise will also look into technical issues such as planning, budgeting, staffing, internal communication and coordination, analyze whether existing procedures enable adequate synergy between the various components and come up with a series of recommendations for further improvements.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of the consultancy: The lessons learning exercise will be conducted by a team of two (2) senior-level consultants with extensive experience in delivering UN electoral assistance, to conduct the research and analysis, and draft the publication. UNDP requires a research assistant to support the work of the consultants with frontline research and for organizational purposes. The lessons learning exercise will be conducted through the analysis of 4 to 6 selected country case studies with varying models and experiences of integration of electoral assistance. Consultations are underway between the key UN entities partnering for this exercise, namely DPA/EAD, DPKO and UNDP to jointly finalize the list of countries selected for the case studies. The study should be conducted through desk review of relevant documentation and phone or video interviews of the key actors. Field trips should not be necessary. Key actors will include field electoral practitioners that are serving or have served within electoral components in the selected countries, as well as those in charge of working with these efforts from headquarters (electoral officers from DPA/EAD, DGG/BDP electoral advisor, relevant DPKO and UNDP staff, staff from other UN components involved in electoral assistance in post-conflict contexts such as DFS, UNOPS, UN Women etc.). The review will also include interviews of “beneficiaries” of UN electoral assistance (particularly EMBs) or non-UN electoral partners (e.g. European Commission, IFES, NDI, Carter Center). Preliminary research has already been undertaken by UNDP to gather relevant official materials including Security Council resolutions providing electoral mandates, Secretary General Reports relating to electoral support provided by the respective peacekeeping or political mission, and UNDP electoral support projects in corresponding countries. Additional documentation such as existing lessons learned reports from individual electoral exercises will also be collected from UN system partners, in order to provide the team of consultants with a solid documentary basis for the exercise. The Lessons Learned exercise will result in the production of a document published jointly by DPA, DPKO and UNDP that will comprise: An overview of the key common findings from analyzed experiences in integration of electoral components. 4 to 6 summarized country case studies with varying experiences with electoral assistance integration. Recommendations to electoral practitioners, mission planners and decision makers in DPA, DPKO and UNDP - and others as appropriate - for improvements towards greater efficiency in the delivery of UN electoral assistance in integrated settings; including for programming and implementation at field level. Specific Tasks and Deliverables Under the supervision of the Electoral Policy Specialist of DGG/BDP, under the guidance of the team of consultants, and in close cooperation with the dedicated joint Working Group, the incumbent will support the support the conduct of the lessons learning exercise on integrated electoral assistance. More specifically, the research assistant will be responsible for the following tasks and outputs: Conduct frontline research on country case studies for the lessons learning exercises; Consult relevant UN partners at HQ and field level, including current and former CEA/CTAs to gather relevant documentation, including evaluations and reports; Support the team of consultants on organizational purposes, such as with excel spreadsheets, interview organization, teleconferencing, etc. Contribute to the drafting of the lessons learned document as required. Deliverables: Complete documentation packages for the country case studies; Organizational support provided to the team of consultants; Contribution to the lessons learned document.

Competencies

Sound organisational skills and multitasking. Ability to self- prioritize; Solid analytical and writing skills; Team spirit and self-motivation; Ability to work collaboratively on-line and via e-mail; Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’s values and ethical standards; Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability; Demonstrated excellent organizational and synthetizing skills, and ability to multi-task.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: Advanced University Degree in relevant social / political sciences, law or related discipline. Experience: Demonstrated experience in research is essential; Administrative experience is needed to support to the consultants’ team; Some knowledge of the UN system is required; Familiarity with UN electoral assistance is an asset. Language: English proficiency and working knowledge of French are required. Application Evaluation Process: Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information : Expression of interest: Explaining why you are the most suitable for this work (maximum 500 words) Financial proposal - Contract based on lump sum: The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive lump sum fee. (The consultant is expected to work for 80 days between September 2011 and March 2012.) - Travel: No travel is envisaged for this consultancy. Should the need arise, the applicable cost for the round-trip travel from home to the destination (most direct economical route) and standard per diem will be provided for by UNDP in accordance with relevant rules and procedures. Personal CV and/or P11 Form: including past experience in similar projects The P11 Form can be obtained at: http://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.docEvaluation: Evaluation of the proposal will be made based on cumulative analysis of the technical and financial proposal, where the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: a) Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. The technical criteria will weight 70 percent and the financial criteria will weight 30 percent. Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 70% of the obtainable points in the technical evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation. The following criteria will be used in Technical Evaluation: Demonstrated organizational skills and ability to multi-task; Demonstrated research and writing skills; Administrative experience; Knowledge of the UN system; familiarity with UN electoral assistance; Language skills. UNDP is applying fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Individual Consultants as well as their price proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores. Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

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.

Research Assistant for Lessons Learning on UN Integrated Electoral Assistance