Governance and Participation Analyst

Since 2009, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with the Viet Nam Fatherland Front (VFF) and the Centre for Community Support and Development Studies (CECODES), has developed the Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) for Viet Nam. The PAPI initiative was piloted in three provinces in 2009 and then expanded for larger pilot in 30 selected provinces in 2010. With the success of the pilots, PAPI has been conducted on an annual basis since 2011 in Viet Nam in all 63 provinces, with 15,000 citizens from different demographic and professional backgrounds interviewed individually. PAPI has been one of Viet Nam’s largest, annual, citizen-centric, nationwide policy monitoring tool.

PAPI is aimed to gauge the perception and experiences of citizens regarding local governance and public administration performance at the provincial level. PAPI hears the voice of citizens from different demographic backgrounds about policy making, policy implementation and implementation monitoring at all government levels. PAPI also means an effective tool for citizens to engage in overseeing the performance of the state apparatus and public administration system at the provincial level. Ultimately, provincial governments will be provided with a powerful tool to advance citizen participation, to enhance local governance and to support national efforts in keeping the public administration system and local governments responsive and accountable to citizens and the society at large. PAPI pursues the citizen-centric approach, in which citizens are at the heart of Viet Nam’s development. As ‘end users’ of public administration and public services they are fully capable of assessing the performance of the State and local authorities, and supporting the State in establishing a State that is “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Throughout its 13 years of existence, PAPI has helped to facilitate a shift towards evidence-based governance and public administration reforms in Viet Nam. PAPI has been used by central state agencies, including the Viet Nam Communist Party Politburo, the National Assembly and the Government of Viet Nam, who have referred to PAPI findings in their official reports and provincial visit conclusions. At the local level, all 63 provinces have hosted PAPI workshops to inform local leaders, from provincial to commune levels, about how citizens have assessed their performance over the past year and to discuss solutions to address their shortcomings and areas of weaknesses. Except for Long An, all provinces (62 in total) have developed workplans, resolutions and directives on how to improve their performance the following year.

Since 2020, with the additional funding from the Australian Government, the PAPI Project has embarked on a new initiative called the Citizen-Powered Innovation Initiative (CPII) to call for actions through initiatives from local governments in response to citizens’ expectations and needs through PAPI. The initiative aims (i) to identify, promote and help accelerate initiatives for better governance proposed and committed by local governments; (ii) to foster local governments’ learning of and capabilities in innovation in designing, implementing and monitoring integrated solutions to a problem in their functioning; and (iii) to promote digital transformation in the public sector for the benefits of citizens. The CPII has been operational for one year with initial results as presented at its website at https://cpiivietnam.org/en/news/. 

To accelerate the CPII operation as well as the PAPI project’s effectiveness, UNDP Viet Nam and its Governance and Participation Team (GPT) are looking for a Governance and Participation Analyst (GPA). The GPA reports to the GPT and performs their mandates and tasks under the guidance of the Governance and Particiation Policy Analyst in charge of the PAPI Project. The GPA is responsible for contributing to:

• Effective programme/project implementation of the CPII initiative and PAPI related activities
• Awareness raising, partnership-building and policy advocacy for citizen-centric innovation for better governance and public administration

1. Develop and/or refine annual work plans and implementation for the project;

• Establish a system for project planning, implementation and monitoring (by gathering and compiling all information necessary for monitoring and reporting on activities from the planning to the evaluation stages);
• Coordinate the development and preparation of financial resources including annual workplan budgeting and budget revisions, and expenditure tracking and revisions;
• Implement project activities and deliver expected outputs as per the project document;
• Coordinate project partners for effective project implementation;
• Monitor the implementation of activities and the expenditure of funds;
• Monitor the allocation and disbursement of funds to partners as per UNDP’s corporate guidance; and conduct regular monitoring visits when required;
• Draft and provide inputs to annual and quarterly reports;
• Coordinate and/or take part in coordination of audits of the project;
• Participate in programme/project designing and fund-raising with the Governance and Participation Team.

2. Implement project activities aimed at quality capacity building and substantive research and policy advocacy for citizen-centric innovation for better governance and public administration:

• Support for and/or coordinate the design and implementation of research and advocacy efforts within the project to promote citizen-centric, rights-based innovation for better goverance;
• Draft reports and/or conduct quality control over reports, highlighting key issues, trends, emerging opportunities, risks, potential project partners, and entry-points for the project;
• Conduct consultations with multistakeholders, including NGOs, government agencies, think-tanks and accademia for substantive inputs for the project and GPT’s related programmes and projects;
• Facilitate UNDP’s partnership with the UN Agencies, IFI’s, government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, and civil society organizations in the specific thematic areas based on the strategic goals and priorities of UNDP Viet Nam, Viet Nam’s Government and development partners;
• Draft speeches and presentations and deliver advocacy presentatons when required;

3. Provide technical support, expert advice, and policy recommendation to promote citizen-centric, right-based innovation for better governance and public administration:

• Organize and/or participate in convention of substantive evidence-based policy advocacy events to promote citizen-centric, rights-based innovation for better governance;
• Facilitate thematic discussions on citizen-centric digital transformation and e-governance with stakeholders in Viet Nam;
• Co-create or co-design innovation initiatives with local government agencies for effective development of the initiatives;
• Conduct and/or support research to showcase best practices in the area of citizen-centric innovation for better governance and public administration to share with partners;
• Engage with and provide guidance to partners and stakeholders on how to implement effectively an innovation inititiative;
• Collaborate with innovation hubs within and outside UNDP to see additional technical advice and know-hows to share with Vietnamese partners and stakeholders;
• Participate and facilitation of South-South Cooperation and international exchanges in the area of citizen-centric innovation for better governance and public administration.

• Innovation

Ability to make new and useful ideas work

• Leadership

Ability to persuade others to follow

• People Management

Ability to improve performance and satisfaction

• Communication

Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform

• Delivery

Ability to get things done while exercising good judgement

• Master’s degree in Political Science, Public Policy, Public Management, International Development, Social Sciences or closely related fields.
• A Bachelor’s degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the Master’s degree.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience on programme and project work preferably in governance and participation, corporate governance and public administration. Familiarity with and any experience working on innovation for social goods, participatory governance and rights-based research and advocacy an advantage.
• Experience working with the UN, and NGOs, research/training institutions in Viet Nam an asset.
• Fluency in English and Vietnamese is essential, both written and oral.  

Important applicant information

All posts in the NPSA 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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