Policy, Advocacy, and Civil Society Development in Georgia (G-PAC) Project is announcing openings for part-time Mentors for Georgian NGOs.

Background:

Policy, Advocacy, and Civil Society Development in Georgia (G-PAC) project aims to strengthen civil society's role in advocating for and influencing the development and effective implementation of public policy reforms in Georgia. G-PAC focuses on four following complementary objectives:

** Strengthen the advocacy and watchdog roles of NGOs as advocates for an empowered citizenry;

** Improve public policy discourse, research and analysis leading to the development of viable policy options which reflect the citizenry's needs for government's action;

** Enhance the institutional capacity of universities in the areas of public policy, public administration and political science; and

** Develop strong networks of NGOs throughout Georgia and strengthen their connections to media, political parties, and constituencies.

Through a combination of information sharing, demand-driven capacity building, and grant making, the G-PAC project implements two components: (i) a comprehensive technical assistance and grants program benefiting Georgian think tanks, local and regional NGOs and networks/coalitions engaged in policy analysis and advocacy; and (ii) the establishment of a Masters in Public Policy and Administration (MPP) program.

In Component One, G-PAC strives to strengthen the civic engagement of NGOs in effective advocacy and watch-dog activities, improve public policy analysis, and bolster more cohesive networks which, in turn, can garner better access to media, political parties and community constituencies.

In Component Two, G-PAC collaborates with a Georgian university to establish a pilot MPP program, which will operate in conjunction with other central and regional universities. The university will serve as a focal point for public policy research and an incubator for the next generation of Georgian policy makers and policy analysts.

Mentoring for Georgian NGOs:

G-PAC is committed to assist Georgian advocacy NGOs to further develop their capacity to plan, develop, and implement successful and effective advocacy initiatives and campaigns. To this end, G-PAC will make available a roster of Georgian mentors that can assist individual NGOs in all phases of the advocacy initiative development, implementation, and monitoring. The mentors will be experienced specialists, lecturers, as well as NGO leaders and experts, capable of transferring skills and knowledge to NGOs.

Mentors will provide on-the-job training, as well as long-distance advice and information on a variety of issues. This can include, but will not be limited to, advocacy techniques for maximizing impact, enhancing constituency support and contribution, sharpening the advocacy message, using IT tools in advocacy efforts, learning media presentation skills, preparing press releases and preparing for meetings with decision-makers. They will also offer assistance on project planning and management, human resource management, volunteer recruitment and management, monitoring and evaluation, fundraising, networking, data management, and gender mainstreaming in the context of an advocacy effort.

Process:

As part of the application process for G-PAC's grants for NGOs, G-PAC will ask NGOs to indicate in their proposals areas and activities where they could benefit from assistance through consultations. Once a grant award is made, G-PAC will make available an advocacy or issue-based mentor who will consult the grantee for the duration of implementation of the project.

The grantee will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the mentor, to define agreed-upon expectations and responsibilities for the duration of the grant. Based on this MoU, G-PAC will sign a service contract with the mentor that will identify concrete deliverables and reporting requirements. G-PAC will monitor the implementation of the MoU between the grantee and the mentor and provide guidance.

Mentors should expect to serve in this position for maximum 12-months. They could work simultaneously with up to three organizations.

G-PAC will cover costs of the engagement of the respective mentor.

Call for expression of interest:

G-PAC Project is soliciting an expression of interest from specialists, university lecturers, as well as NGO, media and business leaders and experts with Georgian experience who are interested in providing technical assistance and serve as mentors to Georgian advocacy NGOs. The interested consultants should have:

** Overall experience in planning, developing, and implementing advocacy initiatives;

** Minimum five years experience in specific areas, including but not limited to:

- Advocacy needs assessment

- Techniques for maximizing advocacy initiatives' impact

- Enhancing constituency support and contribution

- Sharpening the advocacy message

- Using IT tools in advocacy efforts

- Media presentation skills

- Preparing press releases

- Preparing for meetings with decision-makers, as well as

- Project planning and management

- Human resource management

- Capacity Building

- Volunteer recruitment and management

- Monitoring and evaluation

- Fundraising, networking

- Data management, and

- Gender mainstreaming,

in the context of an advocacy effort.

Sectors of expertize could be:

- Agriculture

- Pre-school/elementary education

- High education

- Health and Social Welfare

- Corruption

- Disability policy

- Economic development

- Energy and Environment

- Financial Management

- Human Rights

- Local Government

- Media/communications

- Minorities issues

- Elections

- Public Administration

- Public Finance

- Other.

** Ability and experience in transferring skills and knowledge to individuals and organizations;

** Professional integrity and well-respected in their professional community;

** Availability to get engaged on a part-time basis as a consultant to Georgian advocacy NGOs.

G-PAC is inviting all interested experts to submit the documents (in English) listed below, as soon as possible but not later than October 30, 2013, to jobs@ewmi-gpac.org:

** CV (up to three pages),

** A list of their fields and sectors of expertise (i.e. types of consulting they could provide and sectors of expertize),

** Names and contact addresses of three professional references.

For questions, please write to Tamar Koberidze, G-PAC Project Manager, at: ktamar@ewmi-gpac.org

For more information about the G-PAC project, see www.ewmi-gpac.org

source: jobs.ge