National Policy Expert

National Expert to Support the Work of SDG Council Georgia and its Four Working Groups

Location: IDFI, Tbilisi, Georgia

Type of Contract: Individual Contract

Position: National Policy Expert

Languages: English

Duration: February 26, 2018 – September 26, 2018 (indicative)

Scope and Duration

The present Terms of Reference (ToR) refers to the tasks related to the integration process of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into national policy system. Based on desk research, the local Policy expert will be responsible for developing suggestions for integrating SDGs into national Strategies and Action Plans. The total duration of the assignment is seven months.

Background

In 2015, the United Nations, its 193 Member States and civil society unveiled the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Goals, also known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Post 2015 Development Agenda included intergovernmental negotiations that were followed by the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015. The SDGs were adopted by United Nations Resolution A/RES/70/1 on 25 September 2015, and contain 17 goals with 169 related targets aimed at improving issues across three interconnected dimensions – economic, social and environmental.

The Government of Georgia (GoG) swiftly offered high-level political support to prioritize SDGs on a national level. As one of the first countries who actively endorsed the goals, Georgia has advanced its ownership of SDG priorities through the horizontal integration of the SDG indicators into existing national strategies and policy agendas. The Administration of the Government of Georgia (AoG) was identified as the primary institution for the coordination of all matters related to the integration, implementation and monitoring of SDGs on a national level.

In 2017, Georgia institutionalized the SDG Council along with four Working Groups (WGs) on Social Inclusion, Economic Development, Democratic Governance, and Sustainable Energy & Environment Protection. The inaugural meeting of the Council was held on the 24 October 2017, during which its structure and set-up was presented in conjunction with a series of ‘next steps’ in the nationalization process.

Georgia has achieved notable progress in the implementation of SDGs through its establishment of its coordination mechanism, the Council, and the soon-to-be-launched Electronic Management System (EMS). The EMS will enhance government accountability and transparency throughout the SDG process. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Georgia provided initial support to the AoG in order to assist with the implementation of SDGs in Georgia. During the first phase of the joint initiative the AoG successfully developed an SDG Matrix outlining national and international indicators for each nationalized target and assigned responsible institutions for the implementation of each target.

Now that the SDG coordination mechanism is established through the relevant Council, the GoG intends to strengthen the Council’s capacity and make the body a functional tool for coordination and oversight. For this purpose, the AoG is committed to ensuring that SDG Council meetings occur on a regular basis. While the Council oversees policy decisions, its WGs will target specific thematic areas and will be charged with coordinating the work of various bodies, compiling content and data from relevant institutions, and incorporating the SDG targets into existing or prospective National Strategies and Action Plans. Assuring accuracy of the data accumulated throughout the implementation and monitoring process of SDGs is another priority for the GoG.

Despite its leading regional role in advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the introduction of important domestic mechanisms in 2017, there are certain needs that must be addressed to move forward with the successful implementation of SDGs and targets in Georgia. Currently, the AoG and other responsible government institutions lack the capacity to generate and analyze relevant data for the implementation of SDGs. Moreover, the Council and its WGs are, in their present state, functioning solely as platforms for review, whereby they are limited to evaluating the general progress of government institutions on SDG-related issues. Starting from 2018, however, the production of monitoring reports will call for the Council and its WGs to expand their current functions and assume a key role in data collection and analysis.

The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), through the UNDP in Georgia supported project “Facilitate the Landing of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the National Level” (funded by the Government of Sweden), will assist AoG in mobilizing efforts towards three main objectives:

1. Strengthen data collection and coordination practices of leading national SDG mechanisms through facilitated institutional capacity development measures;

2. Enhance the monitoring capacities of civil servants in terms of measuring the effectiveness of SDG implementation and supporting the development of the first SDG progress report, and

3. Increase public awareness and facilitate knowledge-sharing regarding global, regional and national developments on SDGs and their implementation, with a special focus on Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), private sector and academia.

The first objective of the sub-project is to strengthen the data collection and coordination, and increase the capacities of leading national SDG mechanisms (the SDG Council Secretariat, the Council itself and the Council’s WGs), in order to ensure an effective Council, which is critical for the successful implementation of SDGs in Georgia. Together with its WGs, the Council should ensure the quality and accuracy of data, facilitate effective coordination among government institutions, and review and approve progress reports. In order to assist with these processes, IDFI will support AoG in two directions – first, IDFI will provide technical and logistical support to the SDG Council Secretariat; and second, IDFI will ensure that all respective documents necessary for Council meetings are provided and translated to help systemize the Council’s work. The implementation of this activity will result in:

• Improved data collection standards;

• Optimized responsiveness of WGs, ensuringgroups are adaptive to developments in the implementation of SDGs nationally and globally, which will also enhance the efficiency of Council meetings;

• Improved capacities of civil servants involved in WGs to effectively collect data, and

• SDG targets linked with national strategies and action plans.

In order to carry out the above tasks effectively, IDFI is seeking a national policy expert to provide vital expertise in the field of integrating SDGs targets into national policy system.

Nature and Objective of the Assignment

In order to work on policy documents, activities should be carried out in direct supervision of the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Expert, in close cooperation with the AoG, other public institutions involved in the SDG process and CSOs.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the M&E expert and close cooperation with IDFI team, the local Policy Expert is expected to undertake the following tasks and responsibilities:

• Collect all national policy documents such as action plans, laws etc. from respective governmental agencies and compile them;

• Review the national SDG framework;

• Review all national policies with respect to their relationship to the SDG framework and create linkages between them; 

• Create a separate document, with search and filter capabilities, to enable a user to determine which national policy documents relate to specific SDGs;

• Conduct necessary meetings with relevant public agencies, and

• Perform other tasks requested from the M&E Expert in the scope of the project.

Deliverables:

The Monitoring Expert is expected to provide the following deliverable:

• Document for integration of the SDG targets and indicators with the national policy system;

• Mission report containing information on accomplishments and scope of work as well as respective recommendations.

Management Arrangements:

The service provider will be directly responsible to, reporting to, seeking approval from, and obtaining certificate of acceptance of outputs from the M&E Expert and IDFI team. In addition, the respective IDFI team will be responsible for the provision of relevant documents, contact details and other necessary information to the M&E expert.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of Georgian policy system;

• Knowledge and understanding of SDGs;

• Knowledge on e-governance and innovative governance solutions;

• Strong and proven research and analytical skills;

• Proven ability to deliver quality output working under tight deadlines;

• Proven ability to coordinate with others;

• Excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills, and

• Ability to produce complex academic and professional papers and other documents.

Leadership and Self-Management skills:

• Demonstrates strong influencing and facilitation skills;

• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;

• Demonstrates the ability to transfer knowledge and competencies, and

• Demonstrates the ability to work independently and manage competing priorities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in law, public administration, economics, public policy, political science or related field.

Experience:

• Minimum three years of working experience in policy development;

• Minimum three years of experience in consultancy in policy development;

• Minimum three years of experience with international and other organizations in policy development field;

• Proven experience of working with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) will be an asset.

Language requirements:

• Excellent English and Georgian language skills (both written and oral)

How To Apply:

Interested candidates should send their CVs and Motivation Letters to the following e-mail: vacancies@idfi.ge no later than February 16, 2018. In the subject note, please, indicate the position title: National Policy Expert.

Only short listed candidates will be contacted.