Iraq: Resident Program Director – Election & Political Processes

Job Function: International
Department: Middle East & North Africa
Location: Iraq

Iraq: Resident Program Director – Election & Political Processes

The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) is seeking a Resident Program Director to oversee programs focused on advancing electoral integrity, promoting citizen engagement, and encouraging governmental and political accountability. The Resident Program Director will lead NDI’s assistance to civic groups working to enhance oversight of political processes including elections in Iraq. S/he will provide technical guidance and direction to local partners observing and reporting on elections and other political processes in Iraq. This person will work with NDI’s team of expatriate and local staff, to help partners design and execute systematic monitoring strategies, including for the pre-election and post-election periods, provide strategic planning, technical assistance and training to partners on emerging electoral integrity issues and best practices.

The ideal candidate will have at least 10 years of prior election and/or processing monitoring experience or possess broad knowledge of process monitoring and technical support to civil society to provide NDI with expertise and broad guidance in the design and implementation of NDI programs.

The position reports to the Resident Senior Country Director and is based in Erbil, Iraq with occasional travel to other areas.

Responsibilities:

• Manage the implementation of NDI’s domestic election monitoring program and political process monitoring program in Iraq;
• Assist local civil society groups with organizational and managerial development by providing training in strategic planning, staff development, internal organization, and communication strategies;
• Through consultations and training sessions, assist civil society groups in the design and implementation of methodologies to monitor multiple aspects of the election process, and analysis and reporting on election monitoring efforts;
• Oversee the management of subgrants to support political process monitoring programs by Iraqi partners;
• Provide day-to-day management, oversight, and development of the team in Iraq;
• Maintain relationships with key partners in civil society, government, international implementers, and the donor community;
• Along with the Senior Country Director, represent the NDI program in meetings with donors, other international organizations and domestic monitors to coordinate election observation plans; and
• Support data collection efforts to monitor and track program activities, in line with NDI’s performance monitoring framework;

• Report to the Resident Senior Country Director and consult regularly with Washington-based staff on program progress and submit field reports to NDI/Washington that monitor and measure program results and political developments
  Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in international relations or a related subject; Additional years of relevant work experience may be substituted for educational requirement on a one-for-one basis

• A minimum of ten (10) years relevant work experience in civic organizing, as well as with statistically-based domestic election monitoring, election campaigns and/or civic participation;

• Experience in training and workshop facilitation, as well as developing election observation materials, deployment strategies, checklists, and advocacy plans, essential.

• Experience working in a post conflict, multi-cultural work environment and promoting staff development
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with senior government and political leaders as well as members of the donor and diplomatic community
• Training experience and workshop facilitation skills
• Ability to communicate skills and experience to others as a trainer and advisor
• Ability to adjust programmatic activities based on changing political circumstances and in response to needs articulated by local partners and program stakeholders
• Strong analytical approaches to problem solving combined with practical on the ground program development experience
• Experience in program design and strategic planning
• Excellent managerial, interpersonal and networking skills, as well as the ability to conduct professional political relationships
• Excellent interpersonal skills and cultural sensitivity to effectively interact with all levels of staff, policy makers, US and foreign government personnel, members of donor organizations, and funders
• Excellent oral communications skills to effectively present information, respond to questions and negotiate
• Excellent analytical skills for interpreting complex program and political issues, as well as public opinion research
• Excellent writing skills, clear and persuasive and experienced enough to edit all types of team documents
• Working knowledge of Google Suite platform and email technology
• Advanced English proficiency required, fluency or advanced working proficiency in Arabic strongly preferred
  Comments:

A generous benefits package is provided, including hardship and danger compensation. This is a non-dependent post.
NDI is an equal opportunity employer (EOE). As such, NDI makes employment decisions and provides equal employment opportunity without regard to an applicant’s or employee’s race, religion, color, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state and local laws. If you need a reasonable accommodation in the application or hiring process, please notify NDI’s Human Resources department.

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