Inter-Regional Adviser, Public Administration, P5

The Inter-Regional Adviser (IRA) provides high-level technical expertise and policy advice to governments and stakeholders in developing countries on behavioral insights in governance and public administration. The role supports capacity development, policy design, and implementation to advance effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Responsibilities

• Provide policy advice online and/or through short-term field missions to Governments and other relevant stakeholders in developing countries on raising awareness and building capacity to apply behavioral insights in governance.
• Support the integration of behavioral science into institutional arrangements, including advising on behavioral insights units and strengthening mechanisms for systematic application across policy areas.
• Apply behavioral insights to improve public service delivery by identifying behavioral barriers, simplifying processes, and designing citizen-centered interventions.
• Integrate behavioral approaches into national development planning and policy implementation to enhance citizen engagement and policy coherence.
• Promote experimentation and learning within the public sector through pilots, diagnostics, and impact evaluations to improve governance and development outcomes.
• Facilitate a shift toward human-centered and adaptive governance by embedding behavioral perspectives in policymaking to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and other commitments.
• Monitor, study and analyze trends and best practices on behavioral insights in public institutions and prepare policy advisory notes.
• Contribute to the design/redesign of national policies and strategies for behavioral insights in public institutions and achievement of development goals.
• Participate in the design and development of capacity development programmes, projects and activities at various levels and contribute to implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
• Ensure implementation of gender mainstreaming guidelines in all planned actions.
• Make substantive contributions to workshops, seminars, colloquia, and training events including preparation of documents and presentations.
• Contribute to the Department's resource mobilization strategies, especially for extra-budgetary funding.
• Develop and update training materials for capacity development activities.
• Undertake survey initiatives, guide design of data collection instruments, analyze responses and prepare conclusions.
• Liaise with professional networks and make external capacity development resources available to DESA.
• Establish and nurture relationships with stakeholders to create partnerships and networks on behavioral insights in public institutions.
• Provide inputs for normative and advocacy functions of the Division based on capacity development expertise.
• Assume other tasks in the area of expertise as requested by the supervisor.

Requirements

• An advanced university degree (Master's or Doctorate degree, or equivalent) in public administration, behavioral economics, behavioral public policy, political science, or related fields is required.
• A minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience within the United Nations development system and/or in policy advice and operational activities for development in the area of behavioral insights in public institutions, governance and public administration is required.
• At least five (5) years of professional experience providing policy advisory services in developing countries (including countries in transition), preferably in more than one region, is required.
• At least five (5) years of experience applying behavioral science and behavioral insights to governance transformation, public policy design, implementation, service delivery, monitoring and evaluation is required.
• Experience in developing and applying methodologies, handbooks, manuals, toolkits, guidance notes, policy briefs, analytical reports, e-learning courses, and other knowledge products on governance, public administration and/or behavioral insights is required.
• Experience in international technical cooperation and capacity development, including the design, management and evaluation of capacity development initiatives that integrate behavioral insights into public sector policies, programmes and institutional reforms, is required.
• Experience applying the Principles of Effective Governance for Sustainable Development and supporting their implementation in governance and public administration is required.
• Experience promoting a results-based approach, including linking behavioral insights interventions to measurable governance, institutional and sustainable development outcomes, is desirable.
• Experience mobilizing extrabudgetary resources and building strategic partnerships with governments, academia, schools of public administration, think tanks, international organizations and other stakeholders to advance the application of behavioral insights in governance and public sector transformation is desirable.
• Experience in an international organization, including the United Nations, is desirable.
• English is required at UN Level III for reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Skills

• Behavioral insights application
• Public Administration
• Policy Advisory
• Governance Transformation
• Behavioral Science
• Policy Design
• Service Delivery Monitoring
• Evaluation Methodologies
• Knowledge Product Development
• Capacity Development
• International Technical Cooperation
• Governance for Sustainable Development
• Results-Based Framework
• Resource Mobilization
• Strategic Partnership Development
• Policy Implementation
• Public Sector Institutional Reforms

Languages

English