Position Title: National Election Researchers (2 persons, local positions)
Position Location: Islamabad, Pakistan – with possible travel to the provinces
Contract Period: September 2016 to March 2017
Contract Days: 17 days per researcher (part-time)
Start Date: As soon as possible
Background
Democracy Reporting International (DRI) is a non-partisan, independent, not-for-profit organisation registered in Berlin. DRI promotes political participation of citizens, accountability of state bodies and the development of democratic institutions world-wide.
With funding from DFID, DRI is implementing the short term project “Supporting Electoral and Parliamentary Reforms in Pakistan”, which aims at supporting Pakistan’s elected institutions at the national and provincial levels to become a source of democratic stability and effectively exert their oversight, legislative and representation functions with improved participation of women, youth, and minorities in electoral and democratic processes. DRI will engage with different stakeholders such as policy-makers, political parties, media and civil society on the need of electoral and parliamentary reforms in light of international electoral standards and good parliamentary practices. As part of the project, DRI will launch a series of advocacy and lobbying activities which include events, social media campaigns and briefing papers on key electoral reform issues.
DRI is looking for two National Election Researchers to assist international experts in developing briefing papers on key reform issues relating to elections in Pakistan. The National Election Researchers will also be required to provide research support to the project’s social media advocacy campaign, which aims to inform public debate and raise awareness regarding key electoral issues.
Duties and Responsibilities of the National Election Researchers
The National Election Researchers will work under the overall supervision of the DRI’s Election Analyst in the country office and provide research support to international experts and the project’s advocacy campaign in the following ways:
- Conduct primary and secondary research on topics identified by the international experts and/or DRI’s in-country team;
- Draft backgrounders for briefing papers and other project activities;
- Compile all relevant legal and regulatory documents as requested by international experts or DRI’s in-country team;
- Arrange and/or conduct meetings and interviews with key stakeholders such representatives of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), parliamentarians, members of political parties, civil society and media;
- Regularly update international experts on the political and electoral context of Pakistan;
- Collect and collate research data from the field, news reports and other sources as required by the international experts or DRI’s in-country team;
- Interpret for the international expert during meetings, when required;
- Support DRI team in reviewing translations of briefings papers into Urdu;
- Write notes or short reports for and maintain a record of all meetings and/or events conducted/arranged;
- Be available for Skype calls with international experts during planning, research and drafting of briefing papers;
- Perform any other task, as required by the in-country team, to bridge research gaps to support DRI’s election related activities.
Qualifications and Experience
- University degree in law, political science, social sciences, humanities or a relevant discipline;
- At least 5 years of professional experience in elections, governance and democracy;
- Sound understanding of and ability to analyse issues relating to elections and democratic governance in Pakistan;
- Familiarity with Pakistan’s elections framework;
- Excellent research, analytical, communication and presentation skills;
- Excellent Urdu and English language skills (spoken and written);
- Ability to travel across Pakistan.
Deadline for applications: 21 September 2016
For interested applicants, please send your application (cover letter and CV) to [email protected] with “National Election Researcher” as the subject heading and supporting documents in the following format: SURNAME_FIRSTNAME_ELECTIONRESEARCHER.
Early applications are encouraged as candidates may be invited to interview before the deadline. Recruitment may close before the deadline if an applicant is found. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview.