Municipal Portal Specialist for Strengthening Integral Local Development by Building the Capacities of the Municipal Authorities in Timor-Leste (NPSA9)

The establishment of strong institutions and capacities at all levels to ensure the delivery and quality of public services has been at the focus of the government and political agenda of Timor-Leste since 2002. Since then, significant progress has been made towards enhancing the process of governance and public service delivery through improved efficiency, accountability, and transparency. At the same time, a lot of challenges and opportunities lie ahead. 

The Constitution of Timor-Leste envisages that the State will be territorially organized in a decentralized manner and the local units will have a status of corporate bodies vested with representative organs and their organization, competence, functioning and composition of the organs will be defined by law. In this line, since the independence of the country, administrative decentralization has been considered a useful tool to promote national identity, territorial cohesion, and socio-economic development.

An initial policy towards administrative decentralization was laid out in early 2006. However, the process could not take momentum due to several political and administrative reasons. Nearly ten years ago, a new impulse to this process was given with the new administrative division of the country followed by the Implementation Strategy of the Administrative Decentralization and the Setting up of the Representative Bodies of the Local Power in Timor-Leste which envisages a gradual but progressive decentralization. Recently, the Government has reaffirmed its commitment to decentralization through Government Resolution n.º 45/2020 (Implementation of Administrative Decentralization Strategy and Installation of Representative Organs of Local Government) and aims at developing and approving the necessary legal framework for the implementation of the decentralization process and preparing for the municipal elections in 2022.

To the support the Government of Timor-Leste in its decentralization endeavor, UNDP Timor-Leste, in partnership with the Ministry of State Administration (MSA), launched the Project “Strengthening Integral Local Development by Building the Capacities of the Municipal Authorities in Timor-Leste”. The Project is co-funded by the European Union and UNDP. The Project activities were designed around three different components which will contribute to three main expected results:

• Result 1: Strengthened capacity of the National Parliament in Timor-Leste.
• Result 2: Improved capacity of municipal public servants to deliver services at local level.
• Result 3: Improved capacity of local institutions to collect, analyze and use reliable and timely socio-environmental disaggregated data (development of a Municipal Portal).

As a part of the result three, the Municipal Data Portal (http://www.portalmunicipal.gov.tl) has been launched as a national portal to track and monitor the development status of all 12 municipalities and their Sucos, based on a series of selected indicators covering sectors that include health, education, socio-economic status, demography, infrastructure, gender, and agriculture. As well, the Portal is expected to provide basic information on each Municipality, including on service delivery and procedures at Municipal level to improve transparency and help monitor the performance of the municipalities.

In this context, UNDP Timor-Leste is hiring a Municipal Portal (MDP) Specialist to ensure effective implementation of the Portal. This Terms of Reference (ToR) describes scope of work, institutional arrangement, minimum qualifications etc. of the incumbent.

The overall scope of the work is to provide policy and technical level support to the MSA and the municipalities to ensure improved access to municipal data for planning, budgeting, service delivery and monitoring, and to make sure that the information about the Portal is disseminated to the public, including the students, academia.

Specific responsibilities of the position include:

I. Providing technical support to the MSA and municipalities on collection, entry, processing/verification, and analysis of data for MDP

• Provide strategic support and inputs to the Municipal Portal Management Team (MPMT) in MSA on the collection, processing and use the data from MDP
• Produce manuals and standard operating procedures (SOPs) on collection, processing and use of the data
• Provide capacity development support to the public servants in the municipalities on data collection, entry and their use in the planning, budgeting, service delivery and monitoring
• Analyse the data and information from the MDP and identify trends, challenges and gaps
• Organize capacity building activities for the MPMT and municipal staff to enable them to update the information in the Portal
• Provide support to the municipalities to improve their transparency and help monitor their performance

II. Coordinate with different actors as it relates to the MDP and monitoring of the use and functioning of the MDP

• Support the Inter-Ministerial Technical Working Group (GTIM) in organizing meetings as they relate to the data for MPD
• Support the coordination between the MSA and TIC-Timor when it comes to upgrading, updating, and sustaining the Portal
• Organize meetings between MPMT and the municipal officials and staff about the collection, processing, and usage of the Portal data
• Coordinate between UNDP and MPMT and ensure timely communication about any issues and challenges about the Portal

III. Lead the technical team and provide support and guidance

• Serve as the focal point of the Municipal IT Officers and Municipal Coordinators with respect to the MDP
• Provide guidance and support to the Municipal IT Officers and Municipal Coordinators on the collection, processing and use of the data for the MDP
• Support the capacity building of the Officers and Coordinators such that they could transfer their skills to the Municipal staff  

IV. Ensure visibility and dissemination of the MDP among the public

• Improve access to information to all citizens, civil society organizations and education institutions through the MDP
• Organize campaigns and education activities about the Portal among the students, teachers, and researchers
• Work with the Communication Officer of the Project in developing communication and outreach materials about MDP

V.  Perform any other tasks assigned by the National Project Manager (NPM) and Chief Technical Advisor (CTA)

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills

Development and Operational Effectiveness

• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting
• Ability to lead formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects
• Ability to formulate and manage budgets, manage contributions and investments, manage transactions, conduct financial analysis, reporting and cost-recovery
• Ability to implement new systems and affect staff behavioral/attitudinal change
• Strong IT skills, knowledge of ATLAS system desirable
• Excellent knowledge of financial rules and regulations, accounting
• Excellent knowledge of Results Management Guide and Toolkit

Management and Leadership

• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities

Min. Academic Education: 

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree or equivalent in statistics, data science, public policy, economics, development studies or related field. 

Min. years of relevant Work experience: 

• A minimum of four years for bachelor degree and 2 years for master’s degree of progressively responsible experience in data management, policy advise, local governance and other relevant areas.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Experience in data collecting, entry, verification and analysis
• Experience in organized capacity building, monitoring and coordination. 
• Proficiency in using computer applications (Microsoft Office, email/internet, other IT applications)

Required Language(s) (at working level):

• Fluency in oral and written Tetum and English is required.
• Knowledge of Portuguese will be an asset  

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NATIONAL PERSONNEL SERVICE AGREEMENT (NPSA) CONTRACT WITH LEVEL NPSA9 BAND4

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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