Inclusive Parliaments Specialist - Part-time 50%

The UNDP Pacific Office (PO) in Fiji, as part of its Inclusive Governance and Economic Growth programme delivered across the region, supports the institutional building of 14 national legislative assemblies and a number of sub-national legislatures to fulfil their constitutional mandate of law making, oversight and representation. The UNDP PO is currently implementing four parliamentary development projects in the Pacific:

1. The Pacific Parliamentary Effectiveness Initiatives Project – Phase 2, 2019 – 2024
2. The Nauru Accountable and Inclusive Governance Project, 2021 – 2024
3. Strengthening Legislatures’ Capacity in Pacific Island Countries Project – Phase 2, 2023-2026
4. Fiji Parliament Support Project - Phase 3, 2022-2025

Through these projects, UNDP provides direct support to the Legislatures of Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

As representative institutions, Parliaments have an inherent need to reflect the society they represent. UNDP’s parliamentary development programming has a major focus on supporting legislatures to be more inclusive, in multiple ways, as follows:

• Increasing the proportion of women Members of Parliament (descriptive representation);
• Supporting women Members of Parliament to be more effective, impactful and resilient;
• Improving the capacity of Parliaments, Committees, MPs and staff to take actions that advance all women’s rights and gender equality (substantive representation);
• Supporting Parliaments to more effectively engage with and represent young people and take action on the policies that affect and matter to them.
• Supporting Parliaments to be more inclusive in their engagement with all members of society, especially marginalized and minoritized groups, and the vulnerable.

The Inclusive Parliaments Specialist will execute the duties and responsibilities outlined above under the guidance and supervision of the Parliamentary Development Portfolio Manager, and in close collaboration with the Parliamentary Development Specialist. 

The Inclusive Parliaments Specialist will work under the supervision of the Parliamentary Development Portfolio Manager and act as technical specialist for the portfolio of projects providing parliamentary support with a focus on initiatives aimed at increasing the inclusivity of Pacific Island Country Parliaments. This post requires substantive technical advisory knowledge to advise the national counterparts, recommend effective approaches and formulate new initiatives in the subject area, with particular skill to advocate for and support implementation of measures to increase inclusivity in a context where the prevailing appetite or perceived readiness for change may be limited. The Specialist member will be home-based, with frequent travel to Suva (Fiji) as well as other countries covered by the Portfolio. The Specialist will work in close coordination with the Country Office’s broader gender equality programming, particularly with the Gender Specialist of the Inclusive Governance team.

The Specialist will also support an engagement with international development partners, building strategic partnerships, and identifying new opportunities for UNDP to maximize its impact and visibility in this area through development of new proposals and technical advice.

Provide strategic technical direction and leadership, and lead on provision of high-quality policy advice and support on Inclusive Parliaments in line with international best practice. 

• Lead on drafting of policy recommendations on Inclusive Parliaments (that leverages UN expertise, resources, international best practice) aiming at improving both the supply and demand of opportunities for historically underrepresented and excluded individuals and groups to be part of and engage in the work of Parliaments, in close collaboration with the Parliament Speakers, administration and all relevant departments within the Parliaments. 
• Deliver leading edge technical advice and thought leadership on inclusive parliaments to national counterparts and lead analytical work to identify key policy issues/gaps to improve policies for the thematic area of the portfolio.
• Advise the design and implementation of programming initiatives in the area of women’s political representation and participation, improved inclusion of youth, persons with disability, marginalized and minoritized groups including through collaboration with other parliamentary portfolio specialists and UNDP election support team.
• Conduct thorough analysis of the political, social, and economic situation in the context of the portfolio and provide strategic advice to the UNDP CO management on issues related to the thematic area.
• Provide background papers, briefing notes and concept notes to inform decision- makers for a comprehensive, long-term approach to inclusive parliaments the Pacific including strengthening of the legislatures’ law-making, representation, oversight and other roles of Parliaments.
• Provide strategic advice to the Parliamentary Development Portfolio Manager leading to strategic positioning of UNDP with regards to sustainable capacity development of the Pacific Parliaments and advise the UNDP Pacific Office on possible key interventions with a longer-term perspective that will complement the process of deepening democracy and facilitate the development of new projects in this or adjacent areas.

Substantively contribute to the delivery of the Inclusive Parliaments activities and initiatives through consultants, contractors and NGOs, including developing terms of reference, participating in procurement, selection and hiring, and overseeing their delivery to ensure high quality outputs.   

• Together with programme counterparts, identify new areas of support and facilitates implementation of new initiatives. 
• Support monitoring and evaluation data for parliamentary development and women’s political participation / representation work. 
• Guide preparation for, and actively participate in Project Board meetings.
• Guide relevant substantive part of the quarterly, mid-year and annual reporting.  
• Contribute to the identification of risks and issues and updating of risk logs. 

Provide technical oversight and quality assurance for portfolio and project implementation in the area of inclusive parliaments.

• Provide technical expertise and strategic guidance to the Portfolio Manager (PM) in effectively planning and implementing Inclusive Parliaments activities to ensure achievement of targets and results. Oversight responsibilities include annual work planning and budgeting, monitoring, and reporting on progress and budgets, management of portfolio resources, procurement of goods and services, and contractual management. 
• Advise on adaptation options envisaged in the portfolio project documents and identify needs for external technical support for effective implementation, including developing terms of references. Update and revise relevant portfolio indicators, baselines, targets, and means of verification for portfolio outcomes, outputs, and activities as required for effective planning, implementation, M&E, and reporting. 
• Carry out assessments of the technical, financial, political, operational and management situations on the ground that affect the portfolio implementation in the area of Inclusive Parliaments and keep the UNDP CO abreast of the situations and potential portfolio risks. Provide leadership in developing risk mitigation measures during all portfolio phases and identifying solutions to address existing gaps arising out of assessments. Prepare and consolidate information, data, and reports on the achievements of the portfolio in the area of Inclusive Parliaments according to the indicators and targets in the log frame and requirements of donors.
• Lead the design and put in place quality control mechanisms, including coordination of contributions from relevant responsible parties to ensure highest quality of portfolio outputs, products, publications, and policy discussion papers and briefs before review and approval by UNDP and parliament partners (if needed).
• Provide technical guidance, input, and support to the portfolio team. Ensure coordination between UNDP and all portfolio stakeholders to ensure that financial and operational procedures of the portfolio are in line with UNDP rules and regulations.
• Lead programme of support to partner institutions to explore, experiment with and implement digitization initiatives across the full spectrum of parliamentary activity including internal systems, engagement with the public, and oversight of regulatory and policy initiatives in the digital space.
• Ensure full integration and mainstreaming of initiatives in the area of women’s political representation and participation with broader programming areas, and ensure collection of relevant data enabling measurement on progress towards portfolio goals related to gender equality and women’s empowerment. 
• Lead the design and development of regional portfolio initiatives to strengthen capacity building support to portfolio beneficiaries, to ensure the sustainability of portfolio interventions and support partner institutions to strengthen their own capacities for training, professional development and knowledge management.

Develop and support the strengthening of partnerships and relationships with key stakeholders and partners.

• Together with the Portfolio Manager and Parliamentary Development Specialist, contribute to donor reports on implementation, the achievement of outputs as well as contributes to reporting on progress towards outcomes and impact.
• Promote information sharing and coordination with UN agencies in the area of inclusive parliaments.
• Develop partnerships with other agencies providing support to Pacific Parliaments in the area of inclusive parliaments.
• Ensure that UNDP and international best practice and lesson learning is fed into programmatic and strategic development of the inclusive parliament’s development component of UNDP support to Pacific Parliaments.
• Strengthen UNDP’s partnerships with the international community of parliamentary development practitioners in the area of inclusive parliaments.

Lead knowledge and capacity building, knowledge sharing, and advocacy on inclusive parliaments and UNDP. 

• Provide substantive advice and technical support to the development and implementation of a capacity development/ learning plan on inclusive parliaments for relevant colleagues in the Country Office and participate in global/regional learning initiatives.
• Lead the process of knowledge capture of national and international know-how in inclusive parliaments and document portfolio lessons, experiences, and best practices that may be useful in design and implementation of similar projects for organizational and external sharing and learning. Produce materials with lessons learned and best practices and other knowledge-based tools.
• Keep abreast of the developments in parliamentary development and provide guidance on how to incorporate them into UNDP’s current and future programming. Provide technical guidance and quality assurance to content development for knowledge products.
• Lead advocacy for and strengthening of national capacity for planning and coordination of inclusive parliaments programmes.  

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

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