Team Leader (Elections Management / Democratic Governance) at Palladium Group

Requisition ID: req12491

Duration: 60 months (01/05/2022 – 30/04/2027)

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Palladium is in the early stages of tendering for the upcoming EU services contract, Technical Assistance for the Implementation of the EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) Programme Phase II.
• The Project will provide a key component of support under the upcoming EU-SDGN II programme, building on support provided under EU-SDGN (2017-2021) and earlier initiatives. The previous phase delivered support focusing on:
  • Component 1: Support to the Independent National Electoral Commission
  • Component 2: Support to the National Assembly
  • Component 3: Support to Political Parties
  • Component 4: Support to Media
  • Component 5: Support to Civil Society Organisations
• This upcoming project will provide technical services in support of the implementation of the programme’s next phase, with specific focus on Component 1, targeted at the Electoral Management Body - The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and providing overall coordination support for the broader EU-SDGN II programme.
• The Team Leader will be the lead project team counterpart for the EU Delegation (EUD), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and other programme Implementing Partners and stakeholders (including civil society organisations).
• The expert will provide the strategic vision of the assignment and will supervise and coordinate the inputs of the other key experts and non-key experts. They will advise on the identification and implementation of activities. This will entail:
• Steering and managing the assignment as a whole, carrying out a major part of the day-to-day work, dispatching tasks to the other experts of the team;
• Supervising the elaboration, production and quality control of the project outputs, studies and other tasks and deliverables;
• Ensuring the timely preparation of the progress reports and quality control of reports prepared by short-term experts; and
• Drafting Terms of Reference for Non-Key Expert (NKE) assignments.

The Team Leader will also lead on Activities related to:

• Policy, legal and regulatory activities related to electoral management;
• Identifying needs and managing the deployment and provision of demand-led technical assistance to INEC and other stakeholders including State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) and the Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions of Nigeria (FOSIECON).

Required Qualifications
Qualifications and Skills:

• A Post-graduate Degree in the areas of Political Science, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Economics, or other specialisation relevant to the assignment.
• Excellent written and oral communication in English.

General Professional Experience:

• Extensive professional experience providing technical assistance and capacity building support in democratic governance, and particularly in electoral management.

Specific Professional Experience Significant Project-based Experience in electoral management:

• Proven technical expertise in supporting the identification, formulation, and implementation of elections-related policy objectives (e.g., boundary delimitation, constituency delineation, establishment of polling units, review of elections legal and regulatory frameworks).
• Proven project / programme leadership skills, demonstrated in the scope of Team Leadership experience on long-term international donor-funded technical assistance projects (particularly on relevant long-term assignments funded by the EU).
• Experience in providing support to bolster women and youth’s involvement and participation in democratic processes will be an asset;
• Relevant experience in West Africa (working with INEC in Nigeria in particular) will be a significant asset