Myanmar is at an historic stage in its development. A new Constitution was adopted in May 2008 and elections were held in November 2010 with bi-elections in April 2012. Parliament and governments have been formed at the national and region/state levels. A number of reforms have already been undertaken focusing on good governance, human rights and reaching cease-fire agreements in a number of conflict areas. These reforms are seen as positive steps, which have led to increasing engagement with the international community and allowed Executive Board of UNDP to lift mandate restrictions and to propose fully fledged UNDP country programme (to be approved by the Executive Board at its 1^st regular session in January 2013).

Against this rapidly changing background, UNDP Myanmar is undergoing strategic repositioning and ramping up its capacities in order to effectively support national priorities of democratic transformation and poverty reduction. After more than 20 years of working exclusively at the grassroots level through the Human Development Initiative, the draft country programme for Myanmar (2013-2015) envisages contributions towards strengthening democratic governance, provision of policy advice for poverty reduction, strengthening resilience against climate change and disaster risk reduction, and targeted support for strengthening institutions of local governance. In this context, the Programme Manager and Team Leader, Local Governance, will lead implementation of proposed Pillar 3 of the country programme “Policy advice and review for poverty reduction and democratic governance”.

The incumbent will report directly to the Country Director (CD) and will lead UNDP Myanmar’s efforts to ensure the achievement of country programme outputs under the proposed pillar, namely:

• Enhanced institutional capacity of parliaments at the Union and state/region levels to discharge legislative functions in an effective, transparent and inclusive manner;
• Strengthened institutional capacity to drive the reform agenda in the justice sector, uphold the rule of law, protect human rights and improve access to justice particularly of women and marginalized groups;
• Developing capacities for responsiveness of the public administration;
• Strengthened capacities for inclusive and poverty-focused analysis, planning and monitoring and aid management, and improved policy formulation and implementation capacities at Union, state/regional and sector levels

In addition to the overall programme management and team leader responsibilities, the incumbent is expected to take direct lead on UNDP’s capacity building for responsiveness of the public administration, including capacity gap analysis, contributions to the design and implementation of a long-term modernization agenda for public administration, support to strengthening responsiveness of the public administrations (such as through scorecards and other feedback mechanisms) and building capacities of the Union Civil Service Board.

Summary of key functions:

• Programme Management and Oversight
• Capacity Development and Strengthening of Local Governments
• Partnership Management
• Knowledge Management
• Team Building and Management

• Provides high-level substantive advice to Resident Representative, Country Director and CO Management Team on national priorities, policy choices and development partnerships in the area of democratic governance and development effectiveness. On this basis ensures effective and efficient programmatic response by UNDP strategically suited to the development context of Myanmar and in line with best global practices and lessons learned;
• Leads the Pillar 3 team in programme formulation, partnership building and resource mobilizaiton to ensure a programme which is relevant and responsive to changes in the country context; ensures annual planning and management of programme activities, including legislative strengthening, rule of law and access to justice, responsive public administration, and development planning and effectiveness;
• Leads the delivery of relevant programme activities, identifies modalities to achieve development targets, coordinates joint activities with other pillars (especially on local governance) and with other UN agencies. In so doing ensures effectiveness and relevance of UNDP’s contributions to development results by facilitating integrated, cross-practice and multi-disciplinary programme support and policy advice by UNDP to national stakeholders;
• Facilitates representation and high quality engagement with national authorities and development partners and other key stakeholders with a view of ensuring the Pillar’s strategic relevance. In this context, in consultation with the RR and the CD facilitates the work of, and provides strategic advice to, the Pillar 3 Board, for strategic steering of the pillar’s programme activities in line with the country programme and pillar outputs;
• Advises the RR and CD on country programme development and delivery under Pillar 3; identifies approaches and modalities to achieve development targets; provides quality assurance to outputs and results delivered by other programme experts and by Pillar 3 as a whole;
• Provides direction and ensures quality inputs into monitoring and evaluation of programme activities in collaboration with the programme team and the CO Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting unit;
• Routinely monitors financial exception reports for unusual activities, transactions, and investigates anomalies or unusual transactions under Pillar 3. Informs supervisors and other UNDP staff at Headquarters of the results of the investigation when satisfactory answers are not obtained;
• Financial management: the Team Leader of Pillar 3 has senior manager rights in Atlas and ensures the integrity of financial systems, review of budget requirements and the consistent application or rules and regulations; ensures cost-recovery system for the services provided by the CO to projects in close collaboration with the DRR-O.

• Provides technical assistance in the field of strengthening and strategic capacity building of responsive public administration, develops the appropriate tools of analysis of the long-term development solutions in the subject area suitable to the national context of Myanmar; provides strategic advice to UNDP Resident Representative and UNDP Country Director;
• Leads capacity gap analysis and supports long-term modernization agenda for civil service and public administration. Leads political analysis, capacity assessments and programme design in democratic governance. Provides strategic advice on programme design and implementation to UNDP management and, when required, to other UN agencies. Leads strategic partnership building and resource mobilization efforts in this area;
• Contributes to strengthening capacity of the Union Civil Service Board for an equitable and transparent civil service sector;
• Facilitates strengthened capacity of the public administration including, but not limited to, through civil service training centres;
• Contributes to strengthened capacity for public administration and civil service through training for leadership, management and technical competencies, including gender aspects;
• Contributes to improved information management systems for an effective public administration and civil service human resource management

• Introduces innovation and best practices to enhance programme performance under the pillar 3 of the country programme. Collaborate with UNDP Bureaux of Conflict Prevention and Recovery, UNDP Bureau of Development Policy and with UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Centre and other internal and external development partners to identify and share best programme practices in the area of democratic governance and development effectiveness;
• Leads the process of knowledge creation and dissemination related to national and international know-how in the area of democratic governance. In this context, partners with practitioners across UNDP’s global and regional networks;
• Leads the analytical work of the team and ensures high quality knowledge products. Promote the substantive quality of all knowledge products, reports and services, and ensures effective integration thereof with other pillars;
• Identifies, synthesizes and publishes best practices and lessons directly linked to country programme goals in the subject area. Coordinates preparation and provides contributions to UNDP Myanmar policy briefs;
• Organizes formal and informal internal and external networks or communities of practice involving prominent experts in government, academia, think tanks, private companies, NGOs, development partners and the UN system

Partnership Management: Advocacy, Partnership Development and Resource Mobilization:

• Represent UNDP in national and sub-national multi-stakeholder forums and other key meetings and events, as designated/appropriate to speak on programme issues in the area of democratic governance and development effectiveness, participate in policy dialogue, discuss policy initiatives, report on progress achieved and/or present policy papers/ideas to influence setting of agenda in the area of democratic governance and development effectiveness, and promote UNDP competencies and mandate;
• Maintain active relationships and partnerships with the Government, NGOs, UN system and agency partners, intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations, academia, media, and the private sector on national priorities in the area of democratic governance and development effectiveness to enhance collaboration, resource mobilization and share ideas and to influence agenda and priority setting;
• Advocates for UNDP with government counterparts at all levels, with non-state actors and development partners; develops critical relationships, networks and builds effective partnerships with government and with development partners in the subject area;
• Ensures full and timely reporting of development results with a focus on sustainability and on value for money; develops and pursues effective communication for development results and public outreach;
• Develops and implements resource mobilization strategies in the area of democratic governance to achieve pillar outcomes; identifies synergies with development partners and pursues targeted resource mobilization on this basis;
• Provides substantive contributions from UNDP in the UNCT Strategic Framework, promotes thematic and sectorial synergies and joint programming, and represents UNDP in relevant inter-agency task forces.

Team Building and People Management:

• Provides overall leadership of the Pillar 3 Unit. In this capacity directly supervises international and national programme advisors and specialists and mobilizes and coordinates short-term experts to support achievement of programme priorities under Pillar 3. Supports oversight and management of the network of UNDP field presences in Myanmar, including national technical specialists;
• Facilitates day-to-day functioning of the team. Manages human and financial resources for achieving results in line with the outputs and activities outlined in the country programme, project document and annual work plans;
• Guides and ensures effective recruitment, performance management and staff learning to motivate and promote organizational excellence in her/his team; contributes to the overall team building and performance in UNDP Myanmar.

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modeling UN values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly and without favoritism; and
• Shows strong corporate commitment.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

• Ability to lead strategic planning and facilitate crucial decision making at the highest levels of government;
• Ability to lead the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of strategic policies and sound development programmes;
• Ability to generate creative, practical approaches to overcome challenging situations;
• Strong technical and practical leadership and knowledge in issues related to aid management, coordination and effectiveness;
• Familiarity with UN system and role of key stakeholders in the area of national development plans, local-level planning, aid management, coordination and effectiveness

Knowledge Management and Learning:

• Promotes knowledge management and a learning environment through leadership and personal example;
• Experience in capacity development and facilitating positive transformational change;
• Experience in providing technical assistance and substantive inputs in the area of local governance

Management and Leadership:

• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and responds positively to constructive feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrates excellent presentation skills;
• Excellent computer skills, and applications for report and project planning;
• Excellent organizational skills and proven ability to deliver projects within assigned deadlines;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Excellent interpersonal skills and objectivity;

• Master’s degree in social sciences, political sciences, development, management or other relevant fields

• A minimum of 10 years progressively responsible and relevant professional working experience in the area of development;
• Proven track record in providing technical assistance and capacity building of public administration and/or civil service;
• Proven management experience, preferably within UNDP or another UN agency, with sound knowledge and experience in all aspects of project cycle (design, implementation, monitoring & evaluation);
• Strong interpersonal and written and oral communication skills; ability to work well in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams
• Prior experience of development work in Myanmar, South-East Asia and/or countries in transition would be an asset

• Excellent command of written and spoken English