Senior Think Tank and Organizational Capacity Building Expert – MENA

Supporting the development ofthe Arab Association of Constitutional Law as a Policy Think Tank

Senior Think Tank and Organizational Capacity Building Expert

Form of Employment: Consultancy

Starting Date: 1 February 2020

Duration: 15 working days over a period of 11 months

Location: Home-based, with 2 missions to Tunis, Tunisia

Background:

Democracy Reporting International (DRI) is a non-partisan, independent, not-for-profit organisation registered in Berlin. Democracy Reporting International promotes political participation of citizens, accountability of state bodies and the development of democratic institutions world-wide. With three country offices being located in the MENA, DRI benefits from an extensive network of national experts and partners from the Arab states who provide local and regional expertise and help fostering peer-to-peer exchange.

The Arab Association of Constitutional Law (AACL), established in 2014, is the first regional network of constitutional experts in the Middle East and North Africa. Its main objective is to contribute to good governance by promoting intra-regional learning. The AACL also aims to provide objective, grounded and forward-thinking technical analysis of the region’s constitutional frameworks. AACL is headquartered in Tunis. Its membership includes 60 recognized legal experts from across the MENA.

In the framework of the project “Supporting the development of the Arab Association of Constitutional Law as a Policy Think Tank”, DRI and AACL seek to contribute to improved public policy debates on constitutional and public law issues in the Middle East and North Africa, through building AACL to become a credible regional voice on these topics and create a positive influence in favour of human rights and democratic guarantees on national authorities and expert publics. In particular, the project has as its aim to develop the necessary skills and procedures to allow for the AACL to become an effective and sustainable policy think tank through the following means:

• By supporting AACL to develop the capacity to produce high quality policy papers;
• By supporting AACL to develop the means to effectively communicate the content of its policy papers to policymakers and other influential persons and organisations in the region and beyond.

Within this framework, it is envisaged to also establish a strategy document that will set a path for how the AACL will establish itself as a main source of knowledge in the MENA region on constitutional and public law issues, developed together with the relevant bodies and endorsed by them, together with an action plan.

To support these processes, the project requires the expertise of a Senior Think Tank and Organizational Capacity Building Expert who will be working under the supervision of DRI’s Director of Programmes and AACL’s Executive Director.

Your duties and responsibilities:

• Support collection of baseline data prior to the official project launch event to adequately reflect the status of AACL’s current policy work, to identify enabling and restraining factors, and to form a basis for setting performance targets and ensuring accountability to partners and other stakeholders. This process will include the review of relevant existing documents and a baseline opinion survey with AACL members;
• Support facilitation of a brainstorming session with AACL members to discuss findings of initial review and jointly develop a respective action plan for the project implementation;
• Support review of the various drafts of the strategy document developed over the course of the project, including the final strategy;
• Facilitate interimevaluation session with AACL members after trial and first stage of the project’s implementation phase to explore lessons learned and propose institutional strengthening recommendations for final project stage and strategy document during last roundtable;
• Provide additional organisational development consulting tasks as needed and agreed with DRI HQ and AACL management.

The timeline and delivery of outputs will be determined in coordination with DRI HQ and AACL management.

Qualifications:

Requirements

• Advanced university degree in political science, organizational development, change management or a related field;
• At least 10 years of work experience conducting organizational development and planning work in development context, preferably parts of which in think tank/policy development context;
• Proven consulting experience with networks and with networks restructuring;
• Solid track record in monitoring and evaluation;
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills;
• Excellent facilitation, coaching and consensus-building skills;
• Excellent diplomacy, cultural sensitivity and cross-cultural communication skills;
• Fluency in English (oral and written).

Assets

• Experience in managing and conducting policy research;
• Familiarity with the context of the Middle East and North Africa;
• Fluency in Arabic.

This position is subject to funding.

DRI values diversity and aims to be an equal opportunities employer. Women and people from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

If you are interested in this position, please send your application (cover letter and CV) to mena@democracy-reporting.org Please include “**Think Tank and OCB Expert**” in the subject line.

Closing date for applications**: 22 January 2020**. The position may be filled before the end of the deadline so early applications are encouraged.

Organisation responsible for this vacancy:

Democracy Reporting International gGmbH

Prinzessinnenstraße 30

10969 Berlin, Germany

Tel +49 30 27877300 – Fax +49 30 27877300-10

Data processing of personal data in third countries will not take place. We process your data in accordance with the provisions of § 26 German Federal Data Protection Act. For more information about processing your personal data, see privacy policy.