We require suitably qualified candidate to fill the position below at United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Nigeria.
Position: Facilitation Consultant on Sensitization of Political Party Code of Conduct
Number of Person(s) required: 2
Department: Project Management Unit (PMU)
Duration: 1 Month
Start date: 7th March 2011
Reports to: Project Director
Position Status: (Non-Rotational)
Current Grade:
Approved Grade
Position Classified by:
Classification Approved by:
II. Organizational Context
Support to Democratic Governance for Development Project aims to consolidate and advanced democratic governance and accountability in Nigeria to achieve the country’s stated development priorities and outcomes specified in the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) viz: improvements in accountable governance in accordance with the rule of law and in response to public demand, in the key areas of elections, justice and anticorruption an integral, cross-cutting aspect will be the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment for sustainable democracy and development
While there is evidence of improved liberalization of the political space with an increase in the number of political parties from three 1999 thirty in 2003, to the present-day sixty-three registered parties only few political parties appear to be viable.
Nigeria has a history of multi-party system dating to the 1920s, but despite their importance as institutions in the democratic process, political parties have remained weak and fragile. Essentially, political parties have exhibited a limited understanding of their larger role in a democracy and political elites have retained interest in parties as a mere procedural element of electoral democracy.
The previous two sets of general elections (2003 and 2007) have clearly been missed opportunities for parties to inform and rally the electorate behind a democratic vision and ideology, and rise above the conflict and political violence which have marked the electoral landscape, typically by armed militia groups and third forces, mobilized by the major political parties.
The limitations of the political parties are institutional foundations of democracy and the irresponsibility of political actors, have significantly weakened electoral democracy in Nigeria’s 4th Republic Principal Weaknesses of the party system include the absence of internal democracy, exclusion and marginalization of women; weak financial accountability, lack of effective representation; and resort to violence as means of resolving conflicts.
In accordance with 3rd Schedule, Part 1, Section 15 (c and f) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999), the Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC) has the mandate and responsibility of monitoring the operations of political parties in Nigeria. The Commission’s Department of Political Parties Monitoring and Liaison has a challenging task of monitoring the political parties in the run-up to the 2011 elections. Some of the aspects that INEC, Media and CSOs are supposed to monitor include Party conventions and congresses, party campaigns, party financing and rules and regulations governing political parties.
A political party code of conduct was developed in 2007 by political party functionaries to create an enabling environment for peaceful elections. The document is being reviewed and updated by the national leadership of political parties under the guidance of INEC to meet the challenges of democratic transition in 2011 electoral process.
UNDP Nigeria seeks the services of two national consultants to facilitate sensitization meetings on political party code of conduct at the zonal level. The objectives of this consultancy are:
- To increase the awareness of political party functionaries at the state level to the rule and regulations governing campaign and electioneering process, as contained in the Political party code of conduct.
- To support the adoption of non-violence declaration by political party functionaries in the geo-political zone
- To strengthen the capacity of INEC and civil society organizations to monitor the compliance of political party functionaries to the code of conduct in 2011 elections and beyond.
III. Functions/Key result Expected
- Work with the Political Parties Monitoring and Liaison Department of INEC to identify Political parties that have presence in each of the states of the federation and make recommendations to UNDP DGD on participant selection for the zonal public sensitization
- Develop a framework and checklist for monitoring political party compliance with non-violence declaration
- Prepare a facilitation module on public sensitiz
