Report Writer Wanted at Inter-Parliamentary Union

The Inter-Parliamentary Union, the world organization of national parliaments, is looking for a professional report writer to produce the summary of its annual Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations.

The hearing is a major international event that takes place over two days at UN headquarters in New York City. Jointly organized by the IPU New York office in cooperation with the Office of the President of the General Assembly, it consists of a number of sessions featuring panel presentations or interviews followed by questions/ comments from participants. Each panel is moderated by a professional journalist or expert in the field.

Topics range from democracy, to peace and security, development and human rights. The opening session of the hearing features formal statements from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the President of the IPU, and the President of the General Assembly. The dates of each annual hearing are determined three months in advance. The next hearing is expected to take place between February and May 2017.

Assignment

The report writer is expected to attend the two-day event (a total of approximately 15 hours) and take notes of the proceedings. As prepared statements are discouraged, the report writer must be able to capture the main points of interventions (20-30 per session, on average) either at the time they are being made or from the sound recording that will be available at the end of the event. Depending on the subject matter and number of participants, the summary report of the Hearing may go from a minimum of 8 pages to a maximum of 15 pages. The report is expected to capture the main narrative of the debate, avoiding attribution to specific speakers (save for some quotes that may serve as highlights) and concluding with key recommendations or other "takeaways" from the meeting.

A first draft of the report must be produced within one week of the meeting. A second and final draft, reflecting comments received from IPU and UN staff, must be produced within the following two weeks. Examples of summary reports from past hearings can be found at http://www.ipu.org/un-e/un-hearings.htm

Requirements

Interested applicants must meet the following requirements:

- A minimum of three years of experience writing reports for high level meetings of a political nature in either national or international settings

- Three samples of work, in English, showing ability to work with disparate topics

- A university degree in the humanities, economics or legal field (graduate degree preferable but not indispensable)

- Two professional references Application process Interested applicants must submit a short cover letter indicating the fee expected for the job in its totality, a CV, and the required work samples and references.

All documents must be sent to ny-office@ipu.org (subject line: report writer application) by 30 November 2016.

The top five candidates will be placed on a roster of report writers the IPU New York office will contact in view of future annual hearings, beginning in 2017.