Democratic Governance Officer

This position is open for secondment only and participating States are kindly reminded that all costs in relation to assignment at OSCE/ODIHR must be borne by their authorities. Candidates should, prior to applying, verify with their respective nominating authority to which extent financial remuneration and/or benefit packages will be offered. Seconded staff members in the OSCE Secretariat and Institutions are not entitled to a Board and Lodging Allowance payable by the Organization.

The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is the principal institution of the OSCE responsible for the human dimension. ODIHR is active throughout the OSCE area in the fields of election observation, democratic development, human rights, tolerance and non-discrimination, and the rule of law. ODIHR's assistance projects and other activities are implemented in participating States in accordance with ODIHR's mandate.

The Office's democratization activities include the following thematic areas: rule of law, democratic governance and gender, migration and freedom of movement, and legislative support. The ODIHR implements targeted assistance programmes facilitating and enhancing participating states' compliance with OSCE commitments towards the development of democratic structures.

Under the supervision and guidance of the Chief, Democratic Governance and Gender Unit, the incumbent will contribute to the planning and execution of the unit's democratic governance and gender project activities. Based on a division of tasks from the Chief of Unit, the incumbent will co-ordinate and fulfill project tasks and activities, while further developing methodologies for identifying, collecting and organizing information on the unit's current and recent project activities related to ODIHR's work on democratic governance. In particular, the incumbent will be tasked with the following duties:

• Reporting, analysis and project concept development with a particular focus on parliamentary assistance and support, political party development and the participation of women, youth and minority groups in public affairs;
• Developing and implementing project and programmatic activities through consultations with OSCE field operations on OSCE/ODIHR project development and the implementation of ODIHR programmatic activities in the field of democratic governance, as well as provision of assistance and advice to other units of the office, implementing projects with democratic governance components;
• Developing and maintaining ODIHR rosters of institution building and democratic governance experts and consultants;
• Liaising with OSCE Institutions and field operations and about the unit's activities through the organization and conducting of human dimension events, exchange of reports, regular communication and during implementation of project activities;
• Contributing to publications, including OSCE reports, the website and factsheets;
• Maintaining contacts with project partners, civil society representatives and other actors in the field of democratic governance (NGOs, think-tanks, institutes and universities, etc.);
• Performing other related duties as assigned.

• University degree in law, international relations, history, social sciences, political sciences or related field;

• A minimum of four years of relevant experience relating to democratic governance and/or experience in programme and project management, including at least three years at the international level;

• Excellent organizational and communication skills;

• Experience working in developing or transitional societies and knowledge of political and socio-economic developments in the countries of the CIS and South-Eastern Europe would be an asset;

• Ability to operate MS Windows applications as well as web-publishing, database maintenance and blogs;

• Ability and willingness to work as a member of a multinational team, with people of different cultural, and religious backgrounds, different gender, and diverse political views, while maintaining impartiality and objectivity;

• Ability to work with minimal supervision and under pressure;

• Professional fluency in English, including excellent presentation and drafting skills; knowledge of other OSCE working languages, in particular Russian would be desirable;

• Demonstrated gender awareness and sensitivity, and an ability to integrate a gender perspective into tasks and activities.

This post is open for secondment only. Candidates are requested to apply through the OSCE desk of the respective Ministry for Foreign Affairs several days prior to deadline expiration to ensure timely processing of the application. Delayed nominations will not be considered.

The OSCE is committed to achieving a better balance of women and men within the Organization. The nomination of female candidates is particularly encouraged.

The OSCE is a non-career organization committed to the principle of staff rotation.