Electoral Administration Experts at Palladium Group

Project Overview and Role:

Primary Duties and Responsibilities: 

Palladium is currently sortlisted for the upcoming EU services contract, Technical Assistance for the Implementation of the EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) Programme Phase II. The Project will provide a key component of support under the upcoming EU-SDGN II programme, building on support provided under EU-SDGN (2017-2021) and earlier initiatives. The overall objective of the action is to foster a functioning pluralistic, inclusive, participatory and representative democracy in Nigeria.

The contract will focus on:

• Engendering the conditions for inclusive, transparent, credible, and peaceful elections and a more inclusive decision-making process with the meaningful participation of all sectors of society, including women, youth, and other marginalised groups.
• Collaborating with the technical team of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to provide capacity development support, technical assistance, policy and expert advice to the electoral management Body.
• Contributing to the implementation of the EU Electoral Observation Missions (EU EOM) recommendations, as well as EU EOM follow up mission recommendations. Supporting Monitoring and Evaluation as well as communication and visibility activities across the programme components.
• Technical assistance delivered under this contract will work towards achieving seven (7) key result areas of the overall EU-SDGN II programme, encompassing:
• Reinforcement of INEC’s institutional capacities, and strengthening of capacities for electoral administration, strategic planning and operations.
• Enhancement of INEC’s internal communication and external engagement with stakeholders.
• Enhancement of The Electoral Institute’s (TEI) capacities, and reinforcement of its research and training roles.
• Improvement of legal and policy framework for elections.
• Efficient incorporation, public acceptance, and ownership of technology innovations.
• Enhancement of INEC’s capacity to ensure a nationally consolidated voters register, and the provision of continuous registration.
• Improvement of capacities of selected State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), including collaboration with INEC.

Duration: 60 months (01/05/2022 – 30/04/2027)

Support deployed through the pool of Non-Key Experts (NKEs) will include a combination of both short-term demand-led / ad-hoc technical assistance and mid-to-longer-term support in various areas of Electoral Administration.

These will include:

• Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE) Trainers
• Campaign finance expert
• Election security expert
• Political parties’ expert
• Constituency delimitation expert
• Alternative dispute resolution expert
• Election legal and regulatory framework expert
• Elections strategic planning expert
• Electoral operations and logistics expert
• Voter education and election observation experts
• Political analysts
• Inclusion experts (gender, persons with disability, youth and internally displaced persons)

Required Qualifications:

Qualifications and Skills

• Minimum Requirement: At least a Master’s Degree (Academic level) in a relevant field.
• Minimum Requirement: Fluency in English (written and spoken).
• Preferred Requirement: Experience with EU funding instruments, preferably European Development Fund (EDF).

General Professional Experience
Minimum Requirement: Significant experience in electoral administration.

Specific Professional Experience

• Minimum Requirement: Significant experience in relevant focus areas of electoral administration.
• Preferred Requirement: Extensive relevant capacity building experience.
• Preferred Requirement: Relevant professional experience in West Africa (Nigeria in particular) will be a significant asset.