Project Coordinator on Service Development

Georgia has made significant progress in terms of political, economic and social development over the last decade. Bold institutional reforms, robust GDP growth (GDP per-capita increased from $US 2,613 in 2010 to $US 3,605 in 2013; 3.754 in 2015 http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/517361475740368277/Georgia-Snapshot-Oct2016FINAL.pdf)  and expansion of targeted social assistance (TSA) schemes resulted in significant reduction of poverty and especially extreme poverty of Georgia’s population. The changes were reflected by rising human development index from 0.710 in 2005 to 0.769 in 2015 (2016 Human Development Report, UNDP, available at: http://hdr.undp.org/).

The project focused on building up essential policy framework for decentralization, energizing regional and local processes for bottom-up strategic development planning as well as strengthening professional capacities of the local officials to better fulfil their duties.

The overarching goal of the project is to build strong LSG institutions with greater competences and capacities to act as catalysts for stimulating regional/local economies, engage citizens into local policy making and design and implement people-centred initiatives benefiting women, men, youth, ethnic minorities, IDPs and other population groups. In that way, the project will build a sound foundation for advanced decentralization and good governance at the local level and pave the way for more sustainable and inclusive growth, reduction of poverty and inequalities, and better quality of life of citizens.

To achieve this goal, the project proposes the Local Economic Development (LED) approach to be applied as a central instrument throughout the project implementation cycle, since LED is a participatory, bottom-up approach, which emphasizes the catalyst role of the public sector and ultimately aims to create sustainable economic development.

Consequently, the project activities are planned in a way to form constituent and complementary parts of the LED process contributing to the three project outcomes:

1) Georgia implements adequate policy and institutional frameworks to foster decentralization and enable local economic development (LED)

The project will take the stock of the achievements of the first phase and continue to facilitate further enhancement of policy and institutional framework to foster regional and local development and create a sound foundation for locally driven economic development initiatives. The project will support MRDI, Parliament, other line Ministries, and state institutions to strengthen and implement the LED related aspects of the national strategic documents in the area of regional and local development in Georgia, namely, the strategy/action plan on Good Governance at the Local Level in Georgia and the strategy/action on the Mountainous Development in Georgia. The project will ensure that gender considerations are mainstreamed into all national and sub-national policies.

Assistance will also be provided to national and local institutions to facilitate institutional and human capacity development at the local level. In an effort to further strengthen the National Association of Local Authorities (NALAG), both as an institution and as a representative voice for the LSGs, the project will provide targeted assistance to NALAG to initiate and conduct advocacy campaign aimed at improving LED related policy framework.

2) Government institutions at local level are strengthened to deliver quality services enabling the business environment and incentivizing local economic actors

The project will provide support to municipalities to improve service provision, create business friendly environment for potential investors and entrepreneurs, and incentivize local economic actors to engage in joint initiatives and pilot schemes together with LSGs, which will lead to increased employment and income generation opportunities at the local level.

For this reason, targeted support will be provided to create municipal profiles and train local staff to serve as business advisors in the localities. In addition, support will be provided to central government institutions responsible for the provision of certain services at the local level.  Namely, the project will support the Public Service Development Agency (PSDA) under the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to build and operate community centres in selected municipalities.

In addition, the project will provide support to raise the standards of municipal service delivery, promote innovation and knowledge sharing among municipalities as well as build the trust and accountability with local community through introducing performance management systems complemented with the Best Practice Programme, a nationwide platform for knowledge sharing and information dissemination. 

3) Local stakeholders, particularly communities, are economically empowered and have improved access to related participation in decision-making processes

Despite the new LSG code provided more enhanced framework for citizen participation and introduced the new participation forms such as advisory councils and village assemblies, the level of participation has not increased over recent years. It is obvious that positive changes in legislative framework have not been translated into action yet. The reason of this is twofold. On the one hand, citizens are not aware of their rights and have limited capacities to initiate change and on the other hand LSGs also lack capacities to facilitate the dialogue and seek cooperation with population proactively.

Consequently, the project will provide support to strengthen the capacities of both right holders and duty bearers in order to stimulate the dialogue and participatory decision making at the local level. The project will operate in four regions (Racha-Lechkhumi-Kvemo Svaneti, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Guria and Kvemo Kartli) reaching out to 900,186 people, among them 462,340 women, 176,187 youth (15-29 years), 210,610 ethnic minorities, 85,156 residents of mountainous areas and 60,090 IDPs.

Under the supervision of the FRLD Project Manager, Service Development Coordinator is expected to assume the following tasks and responsibilities:

• Coordinate the process of establishing performance management systems for municipalities in service area of street cleaning and waste collection;
• Follow up on the two Community Centers in border and mountain municipalities being built within the project and facilitate knowledge-sharing among the municipalities of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan;
• In close cooperation with Local Economic Development (LED) Coordinator, coordinate technical support to MRDI/Regional and municipal administrations to create/upgrade human and institutional capacity development systems in support of LED;
• Coordinate capacity development support to municipalities, CSOs, NALAG, civil advisory councils, business associations;
• Supervise the production of the surveys, studies and other knowledge products produced within the FRLD project;
• Contribute to the development of the project annual work plans, progress reports and other project materials;
• Collect the data on respective activities according to the M&E system and report to the Project Manager;
• Ensure consistency of the project activities with the project work plan;
• Ensure provision of the top-quality expertise and consultancy services to national, regional and local authorities on LED issues;
• Establish and maintain effective cooperation with national and local counterparts and other stakeholders;
• Ensure effective coordination of the workshops, seminars, trainings and other relevant events for the implementation of the project activities;
• Prepare RFQs/RFPs, ToRs and other relevant documents for contracting the companies and recruiting experts/consultants for the implementation of the relevant project activities;
• Perform other duties assigned by the project manager.

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Understanding of the mandate and the role of UNDP would be an asset;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism

Functional Competencies:

• Possesses knowledge and understanding of national policy context, local self-governance and public administration system.
• Strong and proven research and analytical skills;
• Proven ability to deliver quality output working under tight deadlines;
• Proven ability to coordinate with others and to work as part of a team;
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills;
• Ability to work independently and under pressure.

Leadership and Self-Management skills:

• Builds strong relationships with the project staff members and partner agencies; focuses on impact and results for the project partners and responds positively to feedback;
• Cooperates with project staff members and partner agencies and demonstrates strong conflict resolution skills;
• Consistently approaches work with energy, positivity and a constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates strong influencing and facilitation skills;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored under pressure;
• Demonstrates openness to change, new ideas and ability to manage ambiguity;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrates ability to transfer knowledge and competencies;
• Is able to work independently and hurdle competing priorities.

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Economics, Management, Public Administration, Business Administration, Public Policy or related field

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience in coordinating activities of development programs/projects in public policy/public administration related field;
• At least 3 years of experience in public service development or public service delivery and human/institutional capacity building would be an asset;
• At least 2 years of Experience of working either with Government agencies, international and/or local NGOs and private sector;
• Demonstrated understanding of national policy context related to regional and local development, public administration and local self-governance. Sound knowledge of municipal service provision models and local and regional development planning instruments;
• Computer literacy (MS Word, MS Excel, MS Power Point etc.).

Language requirements:

• Excellent Georgian and English language skills (both written and oral).

Important applicant information

All posts in the SC categories are subject to local recruitment.

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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UNDP is committed to achieving diversity within its workforce, and encourages all qualified applicants, irrespective of gender, nationality, disabilities, sexual orientation, culture, religious and ethnic backgrounds to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.

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