JOB Application: Special Advisor on Legislatures Office of the Prime Minister, Federal Government of Somalia

Federal Republic of Somalia

      Special Advisor on Legislatures

Office of the Prime Minister, Federal Government of Somalia

Call FOR JOB applicationS

Country:  Somalia

Project: The Strengthening Institutional Performance (SIP) project

Type of Appointment: Special Advisor on Legislatures

Reports to: The Office of the Prime Minister,

Duty Station:  Ministry Office, Villa Somalia – Mogadishu

Expected Start Date:  December, 2016

 

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Special Advisor on Legislatures

To support the strengthening of relations and coordination arrangements between the Offices of the Prime Minister and the Legislatures (Parliament and potential Upper House)

HOW to APPLY:

Confidential applications can be addressed to the Office of the Prime Minister, E-mail: mohamud.esmail@gmail.com  with only a Cover Letter and Curriculum vitae (CV) in WORD .doc or. docx format must be delivered, by 1500 hours of 04th November, 2016.

1. Background

The long and protracted civil war in Somalia has destroyed public service infrastructure and robbed the country of most of its professional human resources. The Federal Government of Somalia is working eagerly to rebuild the public service sector and continues to partners with key institutions in its effort to respond to some of these challenges in this sector.

The Government is also working to clarify mandates and functions across government institutions and between the Federal and the State Governments. Coordination between the executive and the legislature is also weak leading to uncoordinated implementation of the government agenda between the executive and the legislature.

The Office of the Prime Minister plays an essential role in ensuring coordination and communication across government, including between the executive level and Parliament. With the support of the UNDP under the Strengthening Institutional Performance (SIP) project, the OPM seeks to enhance performance of key government institutions in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.

During 2014 and the beginning of 2015, the OPM was supported by UNDP and the World Bank to redesign its internal structure and identify the priority areas for support. Following the agreed upon division of labour, the World Bank has focused on policy development and coordination as well as strengthening the cabinet secretariat, while the UNDP focuses its support on strengthening OPM interaction and coordination with parliament as well as external relationship management and strategic communications. The OPM policy Unit sits at the centre of performing these tasks, hence the OPM’s current efforts in strengthening the technical capacity of the Unit. The aim of the Unit is, among others, to ensure forward planning for the OPM through the development of a more robust policy agenda, monitoring and evaluation of policy implementation and technical capacity building notably for staff within the Prime Minister’s Office.

1. Objectives

Proper coordination and supervision of the implementation of the country’s development agenda requires alignment of leadership of both the executive and the legislative arms of government. The OPM, and particularly the policy unit plays an important role in ensuring that key policies that drive the country’s development agenda are well formulated, and reflect Somalia’s key priorities. The unit contributes to ensuring, that these policies are implemented in practice as originally intended by the executive and as approved by the legislature. This, it does by aligning resources and systems with the implementation arrangements.

It is in this regard that the OPM, with the support of UNDP, seeks to recruit a Special Advisor with in-depth knowledge, expertise and relevant experience to support the Policy Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister to establish and execute general policy functions while strengthening the institutional and functional capacity of the OPM. The Special Advisor will also contribute to strengthening the coordination mechanisms between the OPM and Parliament (as well as the future Upper House), which will improve harmonisation between political priorities and executive implementation. This Special Advisor will work in close coordination with Policy and Planning advisor at the OPM, Clerks of the Legislatures, and will report to and be supervised by the Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister.

1. Scope of Work and Activities

The major aim of recruiting this Special Advisor is to enhance the role and efficiency of the Office of Prime Minister in policy formulation, implementation and quality control while building the institutional and functional capacity of staff.  So to say, facilitating a more effective “center of government” role of the OPM as the nucleus of policy formulation and advice. In this regard, the Special Advisor will perform the following functions:

1. Advise the leadership of the Prime Minister’s Office on the formulation of the annual policy agenda including improvements to ensure efficiencies in policymaking and implementation.
2. Coordinate and participate in the policy making consultative processes.
3. Advise on improvements which may be necessary to ensure efficiency in policy making and implementation.
4. Provide advice on a wide range of ministerial and public policy issues.
5. Prepare and where necessary, provide a quality control review function involving review and provision of guidance with respect to relevance and accuracy of content of policy documents for presentation to meetings and for engagements nationally and internationally.
6. Provide such support as required by the Prime Minister and both Houses of Parliament.

 

1. Establish and implement frameworks and systems within the OPM, including:
2. Establish and implement a Policy Management Framework for the leadership of the OPM, including documented processes on developing and formulating policy.
3. Establish and implement a Performance Management Framework, for implementation within the Office of the Prime Minister.
4. Prepare and provide quality control review functions for policy documents to include engagement with government institutions and international agencies.
5. Follow up and report on the implementation of policy decisions made and advise the Prime Minister or the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister on ways of eliminating bottlenecks in implementation.

 

• Mentor and provide specialized training to staff in the Office of the Prime Minister including, Policy department, and other technical personnel.

 

1. Time and location

This position is expected to initially last for a period of six months. Depending on the progress made in the execution of the tasks outlined in these TORs, a decision will be made either to extend the contract or convert the position into a regular Civil Service Job based in the Office of the Prime Minister. The Special Advisor will be based and work from the Offices of the Prime Minister.

1. Required qualifications and experience

• At least a Bachelor’s degree in Public Sector Management, Economics, Social Development, Political Science, Strategic Planning and Management or equivalent from recognized educational institutions
• A minimum of 5 years postgraduate qualification experience, working at a senior level within Government or relevant institutions (hands-on experience in policy formulation is desirable)
• Relevant practical experience in the development and implementation of institutional frameworks and systems
• Demonstrated experience with designing and implementing performance management in public sector organizations
• Experience in the development of human capacity by way of mentoring and training
• Ability to engage with senior government officials
• Strong presentation and public speaking skills
• Demonstrated good writing skills in English and excellent command of Somali language
• Respect for diversity and ability to adapt to different cultural settings.

 

1. Roles and Responsibilities

The Office of the Prime Minister will be responsible for:

• Providing Office space, a computer and furniture to the Special Advisor
• Advertising, interviewing, selecting, contracting and managing the Special Advisor
• Actively engaging with the Special Advisor during the assignment
• Identifying tasks, assignments beyond the below deliverables as needed

 

1. Deliverables

The Special Advisor will provide the following deliverables:

1. Copy of Annual Policy Agenda discussed and approved within the council of ministers and shared with the Speakers of the legislatures
2. Copy of Policy Management Framework that sets out documented processes and procedures for developing and formulating policy. Such a Framework should include:
   1. Mechanisms for enhancing efficiencies in policymaking and implementation.
   2. mechanisms for ensuring quality control
   3. guidance on how to ensure relevance and accuracy of content of policy documents prepared
   4. Provisions for engagement with other government institutions and international agencies
3. A Performance Management Framework for staff within the Office of the Prime Minister. In order to do this, the Special Advisor will develop:
   1. Analytical report describing present situation
   2. Motivated proposal for improved performance management arrangements
   3. Change management arrangements to guide the implementation to shift from the present to the desired situation
4. A matrix to guide follow up and reporting on the implementation of policy decisions made
5. Regular (monthly) progress reports prepared for the Permanent Secretary or Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister. Where possible, these progress reports should include suggestions for improvements in policymaking and implementations.

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