Post Title:         Boundary Delimitation Consultant

Contract Type: Individual Contract

Duration:          3 Months subject to renewal based on performance and availability of funding

 Duty Station:    Monrovia with field trips to the counties when required

Supervisor:       Deputy Executive Director for Operations

Opening Date: June 9, 2022

 Closing Date:  June 16, 2022

Objective

The objective of the consultancy is to support NEC to successfully conduct Boundary Delimitation while co-opting international best practices in the preparation of BD prerequisites’ datasets, drawing the electoral boundaries, stakeholder engagements, conducting stakeholder consultations on the new proposed boundaries, and preparing the technical report.

1. Functions

Under the direct supervision of the NEC Deputy Executive Director for Operations, the BD Consultant will support NEC to undertake the following:

• Provide the required expert opinion to the National Elections Commission (NEC) for the delimitation of constituencies in Liberia;
• Provide technical assistance for the establishment of the legal framework, guidelines, and allocation of House of Representatives seats for BD;
• Provide technical assistance for the drafting and reviewing the BD Operational Plan and to develop a contingency plan for the delineation of electoral districts;
• Provide technical assistance for the setting up of the internal and external coordination framework;
• Provide technical assistance for the setting up and operations of a robust and sustained civic education program on BD and democratic governance during the BD process;
• Provide technical assistance to develop and facilitate capacity building/skills transfer programs to address capacity gaps;
• Provide technical assistance for the setting up of an indicative program results and monitoring framework for the implementation of the BD process;
• Provide technical assistance and facilitate the setting up of the data and geographic information system (GIS) center of the Technical Implementation Unit and facilitate the data management and GIS operations of the of the BD process;
• Participate in engagements with external stakeholders with mandates for BD prerequisites to facilitate the mitigation of challenges to ensure successful delivery;
• Provide technical assistance and participation on engagement with the National Legislature and advocacy with other stakeholders; including development partners, for the prescription of a national population threshold;
• Assist NEC to plan and conduct national and regional dialogues on BD and democratic governance;
• Provide technical assistance and facilitate the inventorying, harmonization, and processing of administrative units and the local government hierarchical structure, and their associated boundaries of all counties, with external stakeholders including the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the National Legislature, Liberia Land Authority (LLA); and the Liberia Institution for Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS);
• Provide technical assistance and facilitate the acquisition and processing of the National Population and Housing (NPHC) datasets of LISGIS: they shall include the National Geographic Planning (NGP) pre-census exercise datasets: the census enumeration area (EA) attribute and boundary data; census household preliminary population; administrative boundaries; localities and infrastructure attribute and geographic data; and other baseline entities attribute and geographic data; and the census population preliminary and final results;
• Provide technical assistance to external stakeholders and facilitate the mitigation of administrative boundary conflicts, administrative unit legal inconsistency, and unreliable boundary challenges;
• Provide technical assistance and facilitate the planning and implementation of a county desk mapping exercise in each county to determine the inventory and boundaries of all amalgamated areas, and to revalidate the localities, harmonized administrative units and boundaries of the county local government hierarchical structure;
• Provide technical assistance and facilitate the design and development of a new Delimitation System that shall contain relational databases, geographic information system (GIS) geodatabases and front-end applications to auto-generate electoral boundary maps, and allocated administrative unit listings;
• Provide technical support and facilitate the reconfiguration of the voter registration centers (VRCs) system with new VRCs within the Delimitation System and the field assessment of all VRCs and road accessibility;
• Provide technical support and facilitate the processing of the 2020 and the 2023 voter registration (VR) datasets for utilization by the requisite electoral activities;
• Provide technical assistance and facilitate the drawing of provisional and final electoral boundaries and the design and production of information products (constituency maps and administrative unit allocation listings, VRCs and their allocations listings etc.;
• Provide technical assistance to facilitate public consultations with local authority and other relevant stakeholders on the provisional electoral boundaries, receive and process approved inputs and recommendations for adjustment;
• Work closely with the Executive Director and the Deputy Executive Director for Operations of NEC in the planning and implementation stages of the exercise;
• Work closely with the GIS Director of NEC as a direct counterpart for the transfer of knowledge and capacity development in the planning and implementation stages of the BD exercise;
• Produce the BD Draft Report including the Metes and Bounds report for review by the BD Task Force, and the final BD report with inputs from stakeholders and partners;

2. Deliverables and Timelines
   1. Monthly reports with proofs of the results of the functions to be performed under this assignment;
   2. Report on electoral boundaries harmonization and the production of maps and administrative units’ allocation listings, etc.
3. Reporting Mechanism

The BD consultant will report to the Deputy Executive Director for Operations.

4. Duration

The initial duration of the engagement is three (3) months, with possibility of extension as may be needed.

5. Recruitment Qualifications

Education

• Advanced University degree (Master’s or higher) in the relevant field;
• A first degree in a relevant field with 10 additional years of professional experience will be accepted in lieu of an Advanced university degree.

Experience

• Proven expertise at the national and international levels in boundary delimitation for a minimum of 10 years;
• Extensive understanding of the social, political, economic, and technical complexities associated with delimitation, in post-conflict countries, and in nascent democracies with a history of weak democratic governance, especially in the West African sub-regional context;
• Demonstrated strategic and technical expertise in harmonizing and mitigating administrative boundary challenges;
• Proven expertise in the design and development of delimitation systems in an integrated environment with relational databases and geographic information systems geodatabases;
• Advanced knowledge of geographic information systems (GIS) and working with ArcGIS^® software;
• Experience in elections-based and census population-based information management;
• Familiarity with National Statistical System (NSS) and Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) with contextual challenges.

Competences

• Integrity and professionalism;
• Promotes knowledge sharing and learning;
• Display cultural, gender, religious, racial, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Demonstrate very good oral and written skills;
• Build strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client, and responds positively to feedback;
• Demonstrate openness to change, and ability to manage complexities;
• Ability to work with national counterparts in building individual and institutional capacity.

Language Requirements

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required

All applications (Cover letter, Curriculum Vitae, Certifications, etc.) can be submitted by soft copy to the address below thru [email protected]:

The Director of Human Resources

National Elections Commission

Tubman Boulevard, 9^th & 10^th Streets, Sinkor-P. O Box 2044

Monrovia, Liberia