Job Description
Location: Uganda
Application Deadline: September 15, 2013
Type of Contract: Individual Contract – International Consultant (Political Party Work)
Languages Required: English
Starting Date: ASAP
Duration of Initial Contract: 8 weeks (approximately 21 total work days)
Expected Dates of In-Country Assessment: Anticipated September 12 – October 31, 2013
To apply, email CV and cover letter to:
Background:
The International Republican Institute (IRI) is commencing a four-year, USAID funded project in Uganda focused on improving political competition through strengthening of the multi-party system. Prior to commencing work with political parties at the national and sub-national levels, IRI will conduct a comprehensive needs assessment to help ensure that IRI’s technical approach properly takes into consideration the political context and operating environment within Uganda. IRI requires the services of one consultant to serve as a member of the needs assessment team. This consultant will be primarily responsible for conducting all in-country data collection and synthesizing findings into a needs assessment report.
Duties and Responsibilities:
The specific objectives of this assignment are as follows:
- Consultant will serve as a member of a two (2) person team to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment to inform future IRI programming for Ugandan political parties and to collect baseline data on existing political party capacity.
Scope of Work
The needs assessment will serve two complementary purposes. First, the needs assessment will assist IRI to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Ugandan political parties at the national and sub-national levels, and their priorities for future IRI capacity building programming. Second, the needs assessment will collect baseline data, for individual sub-national level party organizations, on a number of indicators of political party capacity.
Specifically, the consultant will:
- Be responsible for developing needs assessment methodology in coordination with IRI-Uganda and IRI’s Office of Monitoring and Evaluation.
- Serve as a member of a needs assessment team. As part of the needs assessment team, the consultant must be available to travel to and within Uganda to participate and conduct a needs assessment in September–October 2013.
- Work with other members of the assessment team to come to consensus on key findings based on needs assessment workshops and interviews;
- Draft needs assessment report, including a framework for district implementation;
- Collect baseline data for individual sub-national level party organizations on a number of indicators of political party capacity. IRI will supply worksheets for collecting baseline data.
Deliverables/Outputs
The following are the consultant’s deliverables:
- Participation in conversations with IRI-Uganda and IRI Office of Monitoring & Evaluation staff to discuss and finalize needs assessment methodology;
- Submission of summaries of each needs assessment activity conducted (such as interviews or workshops), utilizing templates developed and supplied by IRI in consultation with Consultants;
- Submission of completed baseline data collection worksheets, developed and supplied by IRI;
- Submission of a draft (by October 31, 2013) needs assessment report;
- Submission of a final draft of needs assessment report (November 2013). The final draft must incorporate feedback, received in writing, from IRI.
- Participate in up to 4 presentations of needs assessment findings with stakeholders, such as IRI staff and USAID, in Kampala, Uganda in October/November 2013.
Competencies
- Demonstrated expertise of and relationships with Ugandan political parties and expertise;
- Demonstrated ability to collect qualitative data and conduct needs/baseline assessments;
- Demonstrated ability to work with/assess political parties in an unbiased manner;
- Skills and experience in conducting in-person key informant interviews;
- Experience facilitating participatory workshops and building group consensus;
- Cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
- Excellent written communication skills (in English);
- Solid analytical and presentation skill (in English and [local languages] if applicable);
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
- Strong organizational skills;
- Ability to work with a translator (if not fluent in [local languages]);
- Bachelor’s degree in political science, social science, international relations, international development, government or a related field required. Master’s degree or PhD preferred;
- Knowledge of regional based languages is desirable
Experience:
- Expertise in politics, elections and governance, with a special focus on political parties
- Professional experience working in Uganda
- Professional experience in the area of democracy and governance
- Demonstrated experience drafting reports and conducting field research
- Expertise in data analysis and evaluation
Duration and Calendar:
The contract will be for a period covering 8 weeks.
Intellectual property rights:
Any reports, documents graphics, or other materials, prepared by the consultant for this assignment shall belong to and remain the property of the International Republican Institute.
