Founded in 1983, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to strengthen and expand democracy worldwide. NDI works with democrats and democratic institutions in every region of the world to build political and civic organizations safeguard elections and promote citizen participation, openness and accountability in government. Headquartered in Washington, DC, NDI maintains offices in over 50 countries on five continents. Its diverse workforce of employees from 75 countries are united in the belief that democracies promote economic growth and development more consistently and equitably than non-democratic political systems. NDI’s office in Nepal has been operational since 1997 and has since collaborated with the Parliament, political parties, government agencies and civil society. 

NDI is seeking candidates for the position of (Senior) Program Officer for Political Parties, to support the Institute’s political party capacity building program. The (Senior) Program Officer supports activities aimed at building the skills, capacity and knowledge of political parties to become more inclusive, representative, accountable and better performing public institutions. The Institute’s work includes knowledge and resource sharing and trainings, and aims to expand the participation of marginalized groups, including women, youth and minorities. ​NDI's assistance reaches across party organizations, from grassroots party members to mid-level party officials and senior party leaders. The (Senior) Program Officer position reports directly to the Resident Senior Program Manager. The position is based in Kathmandu, but requires frequent travel to different parts of the country. The initial duration of the position is one (1) year, starting from September 2017, and might be extended based on funding availability. 

Job Function    : International

Department      : Asia

Location           : Nepal

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Contributes to the design, oversight and implementation of the political party program; manages day-to-day operations under the supervision of the Senior Program Manager
  
• Assists in designing and organizing trainings and activities; when necessary conducts sessions for political parties and other partners
  
• Collaborates with political party team and managers in drafting and editing briefing memos, reports, work plans and concept notes with some editing; drafts portions of quarterly reports and work plans; edits work of Program Assistant; reviews and edits reports submitted by partner organizations
  
• Serves as point of contact and primary liaison for political parties and other stakeholders; builds and maintains collaborative working relationships with key partners; maintains frequent contact with partners and briefs them about NDI activities; represents NDI at appropriate events
  
• Maintains a collaborative working relationship and team atmosphere within the political party team as well as with the rest of NDI’s team in Kathmandu
  
• Assists and coordinates with Administrative/Finance team in monitoring budgets and expenditures and reviews monthly reconciliations
  
• Prepares a draft weekly report for NDI DC, including political and programmatic updates in the country
  
• Travels as necessary around the selected program districts to supervise and monitor the implementation of program activities
  
• Assists and coordinates with M&E Manager to provide data regularly, to measure program impact 
  
• Participates in and contributes to regular meetings with program partners and activities to gather needed program input
  
• Willing to work longer hours if required
  
• Closely follows and analyzes political developments in Nepal; develops draft program concepts for proposals based on those developments in collaboration with the Senior Program Manager
  
• Ensures that the Institute's partners are non-partisan and that the international staff has all necessary information and background on political affiliations of partners
  
• Maintains strict neutrality in  all aspects of the Institute's programming
  
• Sets up high level meetings with senior political party leaders for the senior staff
  
• Willing to work across NDI's team and programs when required
  
• Performs other assignments as and when necessary

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS: 

• A minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations, Political Science, International Development or a related field, Master’s degree preferred
  
• REQUIRED SKILLS AND ABILITIES/EXPERIENCE:
  
• Relevant experience working with political stakeholders/ international organizations or working on political parties, democracy building, elections, political activism and/or community organizing; {minimum of  four (4) years of this experience for the Program Officer and six (6) years of this experience for the Senior Program Officer}
  
• Experience with management, development and implementation cycle of programming
  
• Ability to effectively interact with all levels of internally within organization and key external stakeholders as well as to actively maintain and build constructive professional relationships with a broad range of senior political representatives and NDI partners
  
• Excellent oral communications skills to engage partners, effectively present information and respond to questions
  
• Exceptional writing skills to create clear and concise proposals and reports
  
• Capacity to work both independently and as a member of a team
  
• Working knowledge of PC-based word processing and spreadsheet applications and experience with Google Apps (Gmail, Calendar, Google Drive, G+, etc.)
  
• Ability and willingness to travel to remote and difficult to reach locations
  
• Demonstrated ability to quickly gather, understand, analyze and contextualize relevant political developments in Nepal’s political environment and report on those to superiors
  
• Identify areas for programmatic intervention and develop proposals on the basis of a political analysis; able to introduce new concepts convincingly
  
• Proficient English and Nepali speaking, writing and informal translation skills are required
  
• Experience in conducting presentations and training sessions
  
• Familiarity with coordination, liasoning and organizing activities related to the program; organizing logistics on events and meetings 
  
• In addition, a Senior Program Officer will be expected to:
  
• Have access to a network of political stakeholders (without being politically affiliated), women’s organizations, media and/or civil society organizations
  
• Possess basic public speaking skills and/or have experience with trainings/presentations
  
• Have strong critical thinking and strategic planning skills; able to actively conceptualize, interpret, apply, analyze and evaluate information to reach conclusions or form opinions