Americas Country Support Consultant

About OGP Americas’ Country Support: The Americas is a strongly committed region for the open government agenda, with 18 participating countries. The Americas’ Country Support team is dedicated to offer advanced support both to civil society and the public sector participating in OGP.  This includes promoting open government values, rules and standards for co-creation of national open government action plans, creating opportunities for peer learning and exchange, and enhancing best practices in the region.

Description of Consultancy: This consultant will support civil society, governments, and other key actors in using the Open Government Partnership (OGP) to progress reforms on transparency, accountability, and participation. This assignment will be responsible for supporting OGP members across multiple countries in the Americas in their development and implementation of high-quality, relevant, and ambitious OGP action plans. Additionally, this consultant will identify and encourage learning between OGP countries, engage thematic and development partners, donors, and regional / and multilateral institutions, and conduct political and strategic analysis to promote open government in the region. Finally, the consultant will support coordination of virtual and in-person meetings and workshops, support preparing relevant materials for participation in national, regional and global events, and analysis of technical documents along with collaboration on regular activities. 

Term of Consultancy: April 2022- April 2023, up to 40 hours a week. 

Rate: $31.25/hour, up to $65,000 for 12 months (USD).

Commissioning Manager: Alonso Cerdan, Deputy Director of Country Support.

Deliverables: The consultant will perform the following tasks and deliverables, specifically related to internal coordination around country support priorities, timelines, and processes:

• Provide support to six countries, including enhanced support for focus and mid priority countries. 
• Provide accurate and timely advice to civil society and governments in all OGP countries on the OGP process and requirements. This includes providing procedural information and advice, analyzing country processes (co-creation roadmaps, draft commitments, TORs, working group models, etc), providing guidance for improving the design and implementation of action plans, identifying opportunities for mobilizing advanced support, working with the Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) on encouraging the uptake of IRM recommendations and guidance by country stakeholders, and supporting strategic communications in priority members. 
• Encourage the engagement of senior government, civil society leaders, funders, and other stakeholders with OGP processes and activities. 
• Help mobilize and coordinate financial and technical support to assist in the development and implementation of ambitious commitments, through the OGP Trust Fund, OGP’s thematic, bilateral and multilateral partners, foundation, and country practitioners.
• Collaborate on working with government officials, civil society, multilateral partners, and other stakeholders to design and facilitate country visits by OGP Support Unit staff and other key partners (OGP Steering Committee, Envoys, and Ambassadors,) workshops and other events to support the delivery of country strategies.
• Support the organization of OGP regional meetings and cross-country peer exchange events and contribute to the organizing of OGP Global Summits working in coordination with other members at the SU, governments, and civil society.
• Support the Country Support Deputy Director with programming activities relating to the execution of their duties, including coordination of virtual meetings, conducting analyses, preparing presentations, writing talking points, blogs, and preparing briefing notes for meetings. 

Profile:

• Strong understanding of the regional landscape for transparency, accountability and participation (5+ years of experience);
• Proven ability to manage a complex set of priorities and multiple projects simultaneously and independently.
• Track record working with senior leaders in civil society organizations, governments, and/or multilateral institutions on open government, transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement issues.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills, including relationship and partnership building, communication skills.
• Knowledge / experience on OGP processes (action plan cycle, MSFs, basic rules) is highly desirable;
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and respect for deadlines; 
• Self-directed, intrinsically-motivated, with an ability to work with minimal supervision
• Strong writing skills, including formal editing;
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in a relevant or related field (public administration, development, political science, social sciences, law or international relations); Advanced degree preferred.     
• Moderate to advanced skill in Salesforce, Microsoft Word and Excel and/or Google Docs and Sheets;
• Ability to work in a self-directed manner with a geographically remote team;
• Fluency in Spanish and English required, portuguese is a plus;
• Willingness to travel up to 25 percent of the year
• Bidders based in Latin America or the US will be considered.

How to Apply

• Please submit an updated CV and a one-page cover letter stating your expression of interest, focusing on familiarity with relevant thematic policy issues in the context of OGP’s work and how you will be able to advance the objectives of this project, to consultancy@opengovpartnership.org . Please add ‘OGP Americas Consultant’ to the subject of your email.
• Submissions will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis, so you are encouraged to submit your materials as soon as possible. Deadline for bids is April 01, 2022.
• Because of the volume of submissions, we will not be able to respond to everyone. We thank you in advance for your interest.

The Open Government Partnership is an equal opportunity organization. Potential contractors shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender (including pregnancy and gender expression) identity, color, marital status, veteran status, medical condition, or any other classification protected by federal, state, or local law or ordinance. 

Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified disabled individuals may participate in the submission process. Please advise in writing of special needs at the time of submission.