National expert to support the establishment of a Local Governance Knowledge Sharing platform
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Vacancy
Background:
The OSCE Presence in Albania is implementing a project which foresees a strategic multiyear approach to respond to local municipalities’ needs such as: liaising with positive practises conducive to effective and inclusive local governance policy making; improving local capacities, knowledge-sharing and transfer of experiences. The proposal will create a Local Governance Knowledge-Sharing (LGKS) platform by building upon the municipal-to-municipal exchange programme and organized in a format of peer-to-peer learning, on-site couching, job –shadowing also for young employees coming from Universities (as expected in 2019 by GoA decision on 26 December 2018). The LGKS platform will be piloted in 10 targeted municipalities, based on pre-identified criteria starting with extractive activity, government funded economic programmes (such as IPARD, GIZ, 100 villages programme), political willingness to co-operate and be part of the LGKS platform. The proposal will target those municipalities with already existing economic incentives. At the same time it will provide a practical instrument to learn from each other and ensure synergy and avoiding overlapping.
In this context, the Governance in Economic and Environmental Issues Department is looking for a national expert with considerable experience in public administration and local governance issues to prepare a methodology that will lead to the establishment of a Local Governance Knowledge Sharing platform. In order to do that the expert is expected to assess the situation in the municipalities, define the local issues, and develop selection criteria for the 10 municipalities. The expert will screen the existing policies, legal framework and structures for the Inter-Municipality Cooperation as an instrument for improved public service delivery in Albania. He/she will further identify, analyse and evaluate inter-municipal cooperation development practices which have proved successful.
Tasks and responsibilities:
Task 1: Conduct a gap assessment through the screening of the current local governance situation, law enforcement and capacities. The expert, under the guidance of the OSCE Project Manager shall evaluate the existing gaps within local governance by focusing on: lack of alternative developments, lack of local capacities to implement current programmes such as management of natural resources at local level, local developments projects and identification of bottlenecks.
Task 2: In line with gap assessment findings, develop a methodology for the establishment of a Local Governance Knowledge Sharing Platform. The expert shall prepare a methodology that is supposed to be combined on quantitative and qualitative methods while data collection shall be done via various instruments, such as in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, whilst conducting field visit in selected municipalities. The methodology shall take into consideration the functioning of LGKS as an innovative platform built on: sharing good practises, peer-to-peer learning, job shadowing, on-site couching, capitalisation of lessons learnt.
Task 3. Presentation of the methodology for the establishment of LGKS platform. Upon finalizing the first draft of the methodology the local expert is expected to present the methodology to the OSCE and the established working group between Agency for Support of Local Self-Governance and Albanian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (AlbEITI). The presentation shall serve to collect comments and practical recommendations for the proofing of the methodology.
Task 4: Drafting of a list of criteria for the identification and selection of first municipalities. The expert is supposed to prepare a list of criteria that shall support the work of the OSCE and the working group in the identification and selection of first 10 municipalities to be part of the Local Governance Knowledge Sharing platform.
Expected Outputs/Deliverables:
1. Preliminary gap assessment of the current local governance situation, law enforcement and capacities, by 01 March 2019.
2. Deliver a methodology for the establishment of a Local Governance Knowledge Sharing Platform, by the 15 March 2019;
3. List of identified municipalities and participants as members of Local Governance Knowledge Sharing Platform, by 25 March 2019.
Necessary Qualifications:
• An advanced university degree in public administration, economics, political science, law and/or international development:
• Minimum 5 years of experience in any of the fields above, with proofed contribution in designing and implementing local governance policies;
• Very good understanding of Albania’s local governance system.
• Previous experience in research related studies or academic writings;
• Excellent written and oral language skills in English and Albanian;
• Ability to work also with minimal supervision.
Remuneration
The payment for this consultancy will be 2,000 Euros upon submission of the above mentioned deliverables and upon assessment and approval from the Project Manager.
How to apply
All applications are due by 10 February 2019. If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under link https://jobs.osce.org/. The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment, to offer a contract with modified Terms of Reference or for a different duration. The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious, ethnic and social backgrounds to apply to become a part of the organization. Please be aware that the OSCE does not request payment at any stage of the application and review process.