Electoral Operations Specialist

Overview of position

The Position will be part of a three person Team that will make up the core lead for international support to the electoral management body, the National Electoral Commission of Somaliland (NEC) as per Below below TOR which will be carried out from an embedded position with NEC

Role objectives

· Strategic Guidance – ​The EOS will provide strategic guidance and oversight to NEC, ensuring that operational, tactical, and political challenges will be considered continuously throughout the operational process.

· Operational Oversight – ​The EOS will work closely with the Director of Operations and the IEA to ensure that the day to day opportunities and challenges are addressed in all areas of electoral delivery, including training, voter education, logistics, procurement, security, IT and finance. The EOS will ensure a holistic overview is maintained for the BVR upgrading and election processes.

· Critical Path Management – ​The EOS will support the development of a critical path Gantt Chart and provide real-time guidance for schedule slippage to ensure activity dependencies do not lead to compounding timeline setbacks, but rather adjustments are made downstream to make up for earlier delays.

· Financial management – ​Given the critical nature of financial systems in the successful delivery of an electoral process, and the importance of strong financial management and accountability is in the smooth running of an electoral process, the EOS will use his extensive knowledge and capacity to provide guidance and support to NEC, the IEA, and the EFS.

· Risk management – ​The EOS will work closely with NEC to establish and monitor a risk management tool that anticipates multiple scenarios and the possible risks each represent. This tool will allow NEC to incorporate risk protection for multiple scenarios rather than looking only at the risks associated with the intended operational plan (knowing the plan is likely to change as adjustment needs emerge, including risk mitigation changes).

Project reporting

The successful candidate will report to the Project Manager

Key competencies

• Strong knowledge of electoral policies and practices and extensive experience integrating the peacebuilding lens into those policies and practices

• Deep understanding of effective capacity building and institutional development of electoral management bodies (EMBs) through electoral process implementation (development by doing)

• Proven knowledge in voter registration processes, electoral training development, electoral operations/logistics, and voter education/awareness

Team management

This role does not have any team management responsibilities.

Further information

• Minimum 10 years’ experience in the following:

• Providing strategic guidance in electoral areas of: biometric voter registration systems, complex planning and operational delivery, institutional development.

• Building capacity and fully integrating financial management, donor engagement, and political space management into electoral process delivery

• Ensuring internationally funded processes remain locally-driven, locally-owned

• Somaliland context from a technical and socio-political perspective

• Master’s Degree in International Relations or other complementary graduate degrees.