Assistant Country Director, Democratic Governance

• Provide policy guidance, thought leadership and subject matter expertise 
• Lead, coordinate and manage portfolio 
• Deliver quality assurance and ensure value for money of programme interventions
• Facilitate strategic partnerships and resource mobilization
• Lead knowledge management and communication of results

• Provide intellectual or substantive leadership in the subject area through identification of key policy issues and formulation of best possible and alternative policy options for UNDP. Stimulate strategic thinking in the subject area and tap into opportunities.  This will include, among others: 

1. Identification of sources of information related to policy-driven issues. Identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learned directly linked to programme country policy goals.  
2. Leadership and monitoring of the process of implementing policy advisory services; ensure highest UNDP standards in the provision of technical and advisory inputs, organization of policy dialogues, etc, 
3. Support upstream policy advocacy in priority areas of work within the national development context in Bangladesh and clarifying and establishing linkages across portfolios
4. Lead the analytical and policy development work of the portfolio and ensure high quality policy products. Contribute to the production of reports and publications, and serve as peer reviewer. 

• Coordination of development of policies and institutions that will address the country problems and needs in collaboration with the Government and other strategic partners.  This includes supporting the management in leading the policy and advocacy discourse towards toward unified frameworks for poverty reduction, democratic governance and climate change, environmental sustainability and resilience at policy and programming levels.
• Provide intellectual or substantive leadership in CO-wide efforts to ground programmes on sound political economy analysis

• Identification of programmatic areas of cooperation, based on strategic goals of UNDP, country needs and donors’ priorities 
• Preparation and operationalization of UNDAF / CPD in collaboration with the main partners and other UN Agencies. Identification of possibilities for joint programming
• Systematically engage project colleagues and citizen engagement specialist to incorporate the views of target groups in programme / project design
• Design, formulation, and coordination of the CO programme implementation with development partners and implementing partners
• Planning, budgeting, implementing and monitoring of the  programme portfolios
• Programme oversight and programme management
• Development of AWPs in concert with CO annual planning, including facilitating the day-to-day functioning of the Portfolio 
• Development of project documents within corporate standards
• Maintenance of project and programme risk logs
• Conduct of programme / project reviews and codification of lessons learned
• Effective monitoring, measuring the impact of the CO programme and evaluation
• Tracking use of financial resources  
• Implementation of NIM/NEX oversight measures (incl. oversight of NEX advances, documentation of capacity assessments, etc.) 
• Constant monitoring and analysis of the programme environment, timely readjustment of programme, as well as measure the impact of the projects and ensure that results and lessons learned feed into the analytical and project work (i.e. results used to make decisions).
• Leverage innovative approaches, resources, and collaborative efforts to enhance programme and project impact

• Ensure that UNDP Strategic Plan priorities and corporate programme quality standards are integrated into the UNDP’s programme formulation
• Ensure robust project design, including articulation of Theory of Change and a strong results framework (identifying key costs, risks, opportunities and measurable outcomes). Defining how the inputs, outputs and outcomes would add up to the overall impact statement, including a thorough scrutiny of evidence.
• Explore alternative options for project delivery, and selection of the most appropriate delivery route to achieve the expected results (including a detailed delivery scheduling and VfM indicators at the outset)
• Regular review of progress against the results frameworks/ logframes and VfM assessments (utilising the latest metrics), including implementing recommendations from periodic reviews.
• Ensure clarity and transparency in budgeting and reporting of expenditure, including understanding and managing of key cost drivers.
• Work closely with integrated service delivery team to improve cost consciousness; more efficient procurement and timely recruitment. 
• Quality assurance of project outputs.

• Creation and coordination of partnerships with the UN Agencies, government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, private sector, civil society, etc. 
• Analysis and research of information on donors, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost-sharing.
• Mobilize and network with the experts of international development community, government partners, UN Agencies and prominent think-tanks. 
• Mobilize resources to support the achievement of programme outcomes.
• Lead and support the effective management of partnership coordination platforms, for example, relevant Local Consultative Group (LCG) working groups, UNDAF Pillar, and other appropriate mechanisms as they emerge

• Translate evaluation findings, real-time monitoring data, and applied learning to formulating adaptations in UNDP’s programme / project and policy advisory work
• Sound and proactive contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice
• Facilitation of knowledge building and management especially between the programme and projects
• Establishment of advocacy networks at national level and linked to international network

• The key results impacts on the overall success of the country programme and reaching UNDAF/ CPD goals. In particular, the key results have an impact on the design, operation and programming of activities, creation of strategic partnerships as well as reaching resource mobilization targets.

• Creates effective advocacy strategies
• Contributes to the elaboration of advocacy strategies by identifying and   prioritizing audiences and communication means
• Uses the opportunity to bring forward and disseminate materials for advocacy work

• Sensitizes UN Partners, donors and other international organizations to the UN’s strategic agenda, identifying areas for joint efforts
• Promotes UN system-wide coherence in inter-agency meetings 

• Makes the case for innovative ideas documenting successes and building them into the design of new approaches
• Identifies new approaches and strategies that promote the use of tools and mechanisms

• Understands more advanced aspects of primary area of specialization as well as the fundamental concepts of related disciplines
• Continues to seeks new and improved methods and systems for accomplishing the work of the unit
• Keeps abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself professionally
• Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments

• Develops promotional activities based on monitoring/evaluation information identifying areas requiring higher visibility
• Develops messages for use by UN staff when working with partners, internationally and nationally
• Reviews documents and materials intended for use within and outside the organization in order to ensure consistency and validity of messages

• Creates effective global advocacy messages/strategies
• Contributes to the elaboration of a global advocacy strategy by identifying and prioritizing audiences and messages

• Leverages different experiences and expertise of team members to achieve better and more innovative outcomes

• Anticipates client needs
• Works towards creating an enabling environment for a smooth relationship between the clients and service provider
• Demonstrates understanding of client’s perspective

• Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents
• Building support and political acumen 
• Building staff competence,  creating an environment of creativity and innovation 
• Building and promoting effective teams
• Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication
• Creating an emotionally intelligent organization
• Leveraging conflict in the interests of UN & setting standards 
• Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member.
• Fair and transparent  decision making; calculated risk-taking

Education:

• Master’s Degree in political science, public policy, democracy, governance, social or development sciences, public administration, judicial reform, human rights or related field.

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in promoting democracy and governance issues (parliament, civil service, public administration, decentralization, electoral reforms, police and security, judicial reforms, human rights, civil society development ) at national and sub-national levels, in providing management advisory services, 
• Minimum 4 years of experience of implementing multiple complex projects in democratic governance areas in partnership with national government is required
• Knowledge of current issues and trends in democracy and governance
• Knowledge and/or experience of working with UNDP programmes
• Experience working with UN, international organisations will be added advantage.
• Experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of development projects and establishing inter-relationships among international organization and national governments. 
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software 

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken English and Bengali