14August

Consultancy Opportunity: PPD and Atlas Expert Advisor and Contributor

PCAsia is seeking an active and motivated candidate to fill the position of PPD and Atlas Expert Advisor and Contributor Consultant with a high profile and dynamic organization.

PARLIAMENTARY CENTRE OF ASIA

The Parliamentary Centre of Asia (PCAsia), established in early 2021 in Phnom Penh, is the successor of the Parliamentary Institute of Cambodia (PIC) founded in 2011, a transition that reflects an expansion of activities with Parliaments across Southeast Asia. The mandate of PCAsia is therefore to contribute to the strengthening of Southeast Asian Parliaments through capacity building of their staff, based on the demands or requests of each Parliament. It draws on the expertise of national, regional, and international partners (Parliaments and research centres).

ROLE OF DEPARTMENT

The training of Parliamentary staff is at the core of PCAsia’s mission, and the Capacity Development (CD) department is responsible for carrying out the majority of this work. CD handles curriculum and syllabus design for many training programs, and its staff provides practical training according to their respective expertise for most of the training programs. With the transition to blended learning and learning by distance, CD staff increasingly play a facilitation role, working with external experts to design and deliver content suitable for digital platforms, then working with trainees to complete the related assignments.

Other responsibilities include researching, the production of compendiums such as PCAsia Atlases, the mentoring and quality control of research products produced by the trained parliamentary researchers, and providing quality control technical advice with regards to newly-trained parliamentary staff members when back working in their institutions of provenance in applying their newly-acquired skills.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE RELEVANT PROGRAMMES

The ASEAN Parliamentary-Civic Partnership (APCP) is a collaborative project of the East-West Management Institute (EWMI), the Parliamentary Centre of Asia (PCAsia) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The project includes supporting tools that ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) Member Parliaments and members of civil society can use to cooperate to help improve health outcomes through a focus on good governance, inclusiveness, transparency and accountability.

In a similar vein, the PCAsia Parliamentary Diplomacy Programme (PCAsia-PPD) is a needs-based and demand-driven regional initiative that aims to contribute to the strengthening of ASEAN parliamentary institutions, and in particular the capacity of parliamentary staff to better support their parliament’s diplomatic work. The focus has therefore been on enhancing the capacity and knowledge of the staff of ASEAN member parliaments. The main objective of the PCAsia-PPD is to provide trainees with knowledge, skillsets and techniques that will enable them to better support Parliamentarians in their increasing role in international/foreign affairs in complement to the Executive.

As part of these complimentary efforts, PCAsia is beginning work on new compendium Atlas (Atlas 2023-2024), with the working title of “The Role of Parliaments Facing Shared Challenges in ASEAN”, which we anticipate completing in preparation for the 2024 AIPA General Assembly. It is being written in the context of ASEAN/AIPA meetings in Laos in 2024. It will focus on the regional perspective (ASEAN/AIPA) on the world themes affecting the region.

The methodology/structure of each Chapter (and the Atlas overall) is as follows:

I)            Current situation

II)           ASEAN’s answers

III)         Opinions of civil society

IV)         Role of Parliaments

 

POSITION DESCRIPTION  

The Parliamentary Diplomacy Expert Advisor and Contributor is responsible for assisting the Executive Director and the Director of the CD Department with the conceptualisation, oversight and overall guidance of the Parliamentary Diplomacy programme. He/she will ensure that the quality of training meets the learning objectives of the programme – to develop the knowledge of the trainees, to equip the trainees with the necessary skills to support Parliamentarians in their parliamentary diplomacy activities (e.g., speeches, drafting country position summaries, negotiation techniques, drafting resolutions, debates for international/regional meetings).

As part of this effort, he/she is responsible assisting the Director of the CD Department with the conceptualisation, oversight and overall guidance of the PCAsia Atlas, including the drafting of specific texts pertaining to his/her field(s) of expertise. He/she will ensure the overall quality of Atlas and that it aligns with PCAsia’s mandates.

MAIN TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES / SCOPE OF WORK

  1. Conceptualization and implementation of training programmes on Parliamentary Diplomacy including, Geopolitics, International Relations, Parliamentary Negotiation Techniques et.al, including the identification of experts to participate in the programme.
  • Project coordination of the Regional Diplomacy Programme on Parliamentary Diplomacy.
  • Deliver, as required, training courses on topics related to Parliamentary Diplomacy such as, but not limited to, international relations, parliamentary negotiation techniques, geopolitics etc., through both face to face and distant learning.
  • Develop the training documents/curricula that are relevant to the AIPA Parliamentary Diplomacy agenda, including its publication.
  • Contribute to any other activities of the programme as required.
  • Conceptualise, develop and contribute content for a new PCAsia Atlas (Atlas 2023-2024) on themes supporting AIPA’s General Assembly for 2024.
  • Contribute to any other activities of the PCAsia Atlas or the larger ASEAN Parliamentary Civic Partnership (APCP) project and/or Parliamentary Diplomacy Programme as required.

TIMEFRAME

01 October 2023 – 31 December 2024

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES/OUTPUTS

  1. Build knowledge of trainees on the difference between non-parliamentary diplomacy and parliamentary diplomacy.
  2. Give trainees skills to understand resolutions, country positions, among other things, for international/regional forums or meetings.
  3. Provide training on selected aspects of parliamentary diplomacy such as mediation and negotiation techniques.
  4. Assessment report on the programme – lessons learned and challenges to address.

5.    The PCAsia Atlas will function as training material for PPD and be tentatively composed of 4 Chapters answering to the overall theme of “The Role of Parliaments in Enhancing Connectivity and Inclusive Growth of ASEAN”. The first Chapter will be on “Health and governance in the COVID and post-COVID regional context”, with the specific themes and titles of the remaining Chapters to be determined.

Thus, the deliverables for the Atlas are to complete and finalise all texts for each Chapter according to the following timeline:

Chapter 1 – December 2023

Chapter 2 – March 2024

Chapter 3 – June 2024

Chapter 4 – August 2024

Final QC – October or November 2024

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE 

Essential

  1. At least 20 years’ experience in diplomacy, political science or related field.
  2. Degree in diplomacy or geopolitics or related field
  3. Design of training programmes, and management and teaching experience at a high level tertiary institution(s) with an emphasis on training civil servants.
  4. Experience in negotiation and mediation techniques and alternative dispute resolution.
  5.  Good understanding of developing countries’ training needs.
  6. Strong spoken and written English.
  7. Good understanding of Parliamentary operations.

Desirable

  1. Fluency in spoken and written French.
  2. Proficiency in one or more languages of ASEAN member countries.

APPLICATION INFORMATION

Interested applicants should send a cover letter and CV to [email protected]. The application deadline is 31 August 2023. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.