Nepal adopted a new Constitution in September 2015, with the intent of transforming the then unitary and centralised system of governance into a federal and decentralised one as a vehicle to ensure equality, equity, and social justice. Nepal’s federal system is characterised by three levels of government (federal, provincial, and local) with non-hierarchical relationships within the levels of government. The Constitution stipulates that the three levels shall be the main structures of the Federal, Democratic and Republican Nepal and all levels shall exercise the power of state of Nepal pursuant to the Constitution and law. The powers of the three levels of government are enshrined in five Schedules of the constitution in the form of exclusive and concurrent powers. The federal system of governance became fully functional in February 2018 after all seven province governments were formed following the general election in November 2017.

With an objective to support on the implementation of federalism in Nepal, the Government of Nepal introduced a flagship programme of Provincial and Local Governance Support Programme (2019-2024). Following an initial period of delivery and agreement by GoN, Provinces, stakeholders, and Development Partners that Provincial and Local Governance Support Programme remained necessary and relevant, a decision was taken to extend Provincial and Local Governance Support Programme, with changes necessary to make the programme more effective, efficient, and responsive to the needs of Provincial Local Governments (PLG).

The Provincial and Local Governance Strengthening Programme (PLGSP) 2024-2029 is the national framework programme of the Government of Nepal (GoN) to build institutional, organizational, and individual capacity at all levels of government, with special focus on the provincial and local levels. It aims to attain functional, sustainable, inclusive, and accountable provincial and local governance. Following an initial period of delivery (2019-2023), and agreed by the GoN, Provinces, Development Partners, and other stakeholders, PLGSP will continue for the next five years, with necessary changes to make the programme more effective, efficient, and responsive to the emerging needs of PLGs in advancing federalism in Nepal.

An extensive stakeholder engagement, consultations and re-programming process was undertaken between July 2023 and June 2024 that resulting in a substantial revision in the PLGSP Programme Document (ProDoc). This reprogrammed ProDoc outlines how re-programmed PLGSP emphasizes building the capacity and capability of PLGs’ to deliver on the institutional and individual capacities for advancing federalism in Nepal over the next 5 years. The ProDoc has focused on three outcomes for Federal, Provincial and LG level impacts, each with three related outputs. Three outcomes include: Outcome 1: Federal level government institutions and inter-governmental mechanisms are fully functional in support of federal governance as per the Constitution; Outcome 2: Provincial governments have efficient, effective, inclusive, and accountable institutions and organizations; Outcome 3: Local governments have capacity for Good Governance and for delivering inclusive basic services to all people. Furthermore, there are 9 outputs against the outcome mentioned. Four cross-cutting thematic streams: (i) Inclusive federalism acts, regulations, policies, and strategies; (ii) Collaboration within and across federal institutions and governments, and civic engagement; (iii) Supportive systems and tools for PLG inclusive federalism capacity; (iv) capacity development and transformation (applied to all 3 levels) have also been defined and articulated well. The programme considers the broad principles and approaches including focus on federal devolution, transparency, and accountability, embedding transformative gender and diversity/inclusion agenda, human rights based and participatory approach, devolved, contextual and flexible programme design and implementation and adaptive programming. Further, unpacking structural barriers in political institutions, promoting ownership and trust in provincial and local government system and changing power dynamics in government institutions addressing intersectionality are the expected pathways for Gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) transformation in the programme. Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA) is the executing agency of the GoN for PLGSP in collaboration with the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Provincial and Local Governments.

UNDP as the partner of PLGSP and Technical Assistance (TA) provider, has been working with the MoFAGA on the implementation of PLGSP since its inception. The TA component of the programme has also been revised accordingly to facilitate the transformation in the behaviours of the authorities towards federalism for inclusive service delivery, it is fully aligned with revised PLGSP incorporating learnings from the earlier TA engagement. The intent of the revised TA is to leverage UNDP’s technical expertise and facilitation role to support positive transformations that enable implementation of federalism in Nepal, ultimately contributing to more inclusive and effective delivery of inclusive services by PLGs to their people especially for the most marginalized and women.

To this effect, TA will support PLGs for their institutional and organizational capacities. The TA support to federal government will help develop and implement necessary laws and policies to strengthen inter-governmental relationships thereby supporting cooperative federalism. To attain the sustainable achievement described above, TA has been categorized into Implementation Support TA (ISTA) and Transformational TA. ISTA focuses more on supporting the governments in the implementation of PLGs thereby building their institutional and individual capacities. Whereas Transformational TA focuses more on supporting behavioural transformation through research and analysis as well as providing high level expertise as needed. Overall, the TA staff (ISTA and Transformational TA) works together in close coordination with each other in overall guidance of respective government and UNDP Country Office.
Position Summary:

The position holder will act as a main point of contact for systems, tools and practices that are based on the IT and software in the provinces and Local Governments (LGs). The incumbent will be equally responsible for the development and management of data for evidence-based planning and reporting at PLGs for which s/he will extend the support to LG IT team.

The IT Analyst will report to and work under the direct supervision of the Provincial Programme Coordination Analyst and under the guidance of the Provincial Programme Manager (PPM) and the Provincial Programme Director (PPD).

The position contributes primarily to outputs 4,5,7,8 of the programme.

Collaborate to the implementation of e-Governance, data management and information and communication technology (lCT) at provincial and local level:

• Support the Provincial Government units on strategic and policy issues to strengthen the e-Governance systems at provincial and local levels, including related to accessibility and increased connectivity.
• Provide strategic support and guidance on ICT and e-Governance to relevant counterparts in the province.
• Support the planning of the PLGSP activities related e-Governance & ICT and assist the Provincial Programme Coordination Analyst in the preparation of the Provincial Annual Strategic Implementation Plan (P-ASIPB) and trimester workplan of the programme for Provincial Programme Support Units (PPSU) and Provincial Research and Training Academy (PRTA).
• Support in development and harmonization of the ICT based management tools, systems and guidelines at the province and local levels in coordination with transformational TA.
• Facilitate sensitizations of programme staff and external stakeholders on concepts, issues, challenges and opportunities related to ICT, e-Governance and data management.

Ensure Coordination & Knowledge management at provincial and local level

• Develop a system of cross learning between and among the provincial and local governments on e-governance and ICT in coordination with Knowledge Management Analyst for knowledge products.
• Work in close collaboration with other entities including the e-Governance Commission, on ICT and e-Governance work.
• Support authorities at provincial and local level to develop training modules and packages on IT and e-Governance systems; at an appropriate standard.
• Support in proposing automatization solutions for the Operations business activities.
• Strengthen e-learning and sharing system in the area of governance within/among the stakeholders.

Ensure oversight and quality assurance on ICT and e-Governance work at provincial and local level:

• Provide oversights and monitor the Innovative Partnerships Fund (IPF) work related to IT and e-Governance.
• Review the work plan and develop a result tracker on e-Governance and ICT work to be undertaken at provincial and local level.
• Perform analysis of information and take stock of actions on issues related to e-Governance and ICT at provincial and local level based on findings and recommendations of the revised Federalism Capacity Needs Assessment (FCNA) and the Local Institutional Self-Assessment tool (LISA) and provide necessary inputs to annual work plans based on the current context.
• Support to introduce online information management system and online repository of all work done through PPSU and PRTA across the province and local level.
• Ensure implementation of corporate ICT security requirements.
• Provide ICT Helpdesk services to ensure efficient and timely support to provincial and local users.
• Contribute to identification, documenting and drafting of best practices and lessons learned from provincial and local level.
• Coordinate with the IT and e-Governance Analyst in Programme Coordination Unit (PCU) to make sure that the PPSU activities are in line with the overall scope of the relevant output.

Support in producing periodic reports:

• Support to develop system and tools for consolidated data and online information for periodic reporting of the programme.
• Prepare reports from PPSU and PRTA relating to ICT and e-Governance and provide to IT and e-Governance Analyst and Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Analyst.
• Research and retrieve data from internal and external sources at provincial and local level, prepare statistical charts, tables and reports as required.
• Avail ICT and e-Governance related information to the PPSU and PRTA team as required.

Ensure mainstreaming of GESI throughout IT / e- Governance programme interventions:

• Provide inputs related to IT and e-Governance to GESI Specialist for the development of GESI tools and support their implementation at provincial and local level.
• Ensure that accessibility for women and excluded/marginalized groups is a key factor in the development and roll-out of ICT and e-Governance systems at provincial and local level, with particular attention to digital accessibility for persons with disability.
• Facilitate capacity development sessions for Government agencies and other stakeholders on the importance of GESI-responsive ICT and e-Governance systems.
• Support dissemination of information, learnings and good practices to promote GESI mainstreaming, and GESI-responsive capacity development initiatives related to e-Governance and ICT.

Other:

• The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.
• Strictly comply with the policies, strategies, code of conduct, guidelines on Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA).
• Strict compliance with the rules, regulations and policies of Government and UNDP related to ethics and integrity

Competencies

• Fluency in English and Nepali is required.
• Knowledge of any national language of the above duty station will be an added advantage.