Local Governance Specialist - Federation of Canadian Municipalities

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has signed a contribution agreement with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) for a six-year project entitled Partnerships for Municipal Innovation – Women in Local Leadership (PMI-WILL). PMI-WILL intends to contribute to improved quality of life for women and girls, in particular those from marginalized groups, in Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Sri Lanka and Zambia. The project will use a two-pronged approach to achieve this goal:

• increasing the participation and enhancing the role of women as leaders and decision-makers in local governance
• increasing the effectiveness of local governments in delivering inclusive, gender-responsive public services.

FCM will implement the project in collaboration with national Local Government Associations (LGAs) in each country, selected local governments (LGs)/municipalities and other selected partners, including relevant Ministries, CSOs and women’s rights organizations. FCM will mobilize Canadian municipal practitioners and elected officials from FCM’s membership to provide peer-to-peer technical assistance.

The project office will be based in Ghana and covering all target countries, supported by FCM head office in Ottawa, Canada.

Purpose

• Under the direction of the Project Director and working in collaboration with the other members of the team, the Local Governance Specialist is responsible for program-wide local governance strengthening by ensuring capacity development of LGs/LGAs and improvement of gender-responsive and inclusive service delivery in the project countries.
• Working closely with the Canadian Project Manager, the Gender Specialist, Canadian Municipal volunteers and LGA National Project Coordinators (NPCs), the Local Governance Specialist will support the partner LGAs with planning and implementing the agreed project activities.
• S/he will support the Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Knowledge Sharing strategy, particularly related to Inclusive Service Delivery Initiatives and will contribute to the preparation of project reports.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead in the design and plan the implementation of program-wide Local Governance strengthening particularly for Gender-responsive and inclusive service delivery and improving the enabling environment for inclusive governance in the project countries;
• Provide ongoing technical assistance to NPCs, LGAs, local governments and other partners;
• Work closely with the Canadian Project Manager to guide and support Canadian municipal volunteers and consultants who provide technical assistance to project partners and stakeholders and follow-up on recommendations and commitments;
• Facilitate collaboration between and among NPCs, LGAs and other partners in the planning, design and delivery of inclusive, gender-responsive activities and the exchange of knowledge and good practices between project partners;
• Support the development of methodology and tools for inclusive service delivery and consultation mechanisms
• Assist in the development and management of institutional relations with program partners working at the local, and national level in project countries and with regional and global networks as required;

• Along with the Gender Equality Specialist, contribute to the development of annual planning and budgeting particularly for the gender-responsive and inclusive service delivery objectives of the program and foster collaboration, ensure coherence and build synergy between all project components;
• Coordinate with the PMI-WILL Team and Project Partners to set objectives, collect baseline data, support implementation of activities and measure progress towards objectives;
• Ensure accurate documentation and develop narrative reports on gender-responsive and inclusive service delivery activities in coordination with program staff, including contributing to Knowledge Products;
• Actively support PMI-WILL’s Gender Equality and Environmental Sustainability Strategies and ensure all Local Governance activities include consideration of these cross-cutting themes;
• Represent PMI-WILL in meetings as required;
• Jointly manage and supervise the Ghana program officer, including setting clear objectives, establishing performance standards, and empowering team members to meet program targets;

Perform other duties as assigned by the Project Director that are consistent with the overall scope of the position.

Qualification Required & Experience

Knowledge, Education and Experience Required

• A minimum of ten (10) years related experience on topics of local governance with a focus on gender-responsive and inclusive governance;
• An advanced university degree in Political Science, Sociology, Development and/or Conflict Studies or related program;
• Demonstrated experience in design, management and monitoring of local public policies or programs and local government capacity development;
• Knowledge of results-based project management principles, and preferably experience working on international cooperation projects;
• Demonstrated understanding of local government legislation, policies and processes in the context of decentralization and devolution of authority;
• Experience in planning, tracking and monitoring of processes and actions of the management of local government development and citizen participation, with emphasis on inclusion of marginalized groups;

• Experience facilitating sensitive inter-cultural dialogue between multiple stakeholders and local government officials;
• Demonstrated experience leading project teams;
• Demonstrated experience working within a team environment;
• High degree of initiative, responsibility, and the ability to relate to people from diverse cultural backgrounds
• All applicants must be residents of Ghana or legally eligible to work in Ghana
• Position is based in Accra, but will require regular travel nationally and internationally.
• Must be legally entitled to work in Ghana without sponsorship

Language Requirements

Bilingual English/French.