Local Governance Analyst (LGA)

Job title: Local Governance Analyst (LGA)

Job Description

Tiered Approach

In line with the commitment to safeguard capacity and support personnel already in the Organization, a majority of UNDP UNCDF/UNV vacancies are advertised using a tiered application process whereby:

• Tier 0: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV IP staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments, whose posts will be abolished, or contracts will be terminated or not renewed during 2026.
• Tier 1: Other UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments
• Tier 2: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts, and Expert and Specialist UN Volunteers
• Tier 3 or no tier indicated: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates

Please make note of the Tier(s) indicated in the vacancy title, if any, and ensure that you satisfy the eligibility to apply.

Background

UNDP is the United Nations’ lead agency on international development, working in 170 countries and territories to help people build better lives while protecting the planet. For 60 years, UNDP has supported countries to make progress on the issues that matter most, with human development at the core of its mandate. Our work is built on trust and long-term partnerships with governments, communities and organizations at every level.

Operating in a Middle-Income Country brings its own set of complexities and opportunities. With 70% of the Indonesian economy directly or indirectly reliant on its natural resources, the link between nature, climate, jobs, and economic empowerment become critical. UNDP Indonesia works with Indonesian partners to deliver an ambitious programme, fully aligned to the national priorities of Indonesia. UNDP’s past experiences and support include innovative sustainable financing, digital health, energy transition and climate policies, improved service delivery that leaves no one behind. Enablers and multipliers such as digitalization and Artificial Intelligence are at the core of its efforts. Building on its vast and long experiences, and the knowledge of its entire team of professionals, UNDP Indonesia demonstrate its thought-leadership and translate knowledge into policy advice, investment opportunities and scalable solutions for Indonesia’s critical development priorities.

The strategic priorities of UNDP Indonesia for its current Country Programme 2026 -2030 are encapsulated under three outcome areas:

• Human Development
• Nature, Decarbonisation and Resilience
• Economic and Digital Transformation

The Human Development and Responsive Governance (HDRG) portfolio supports governance institutions and development actors to strengthen public-sector effectiveness, local governance and capacity building, promoting transparency and accountability, and building resilience towards climate change and other development risks. The portfolio promotes collaboration across levels of government and locally driven solutions that translate national priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals into measurable results for communities.

The Local Governance Analysist provides substantive technical, analytical and programmatic support across the HDRG portfolio, with emphasis on local governance, local economic development, sub-national institutional capacity building, municipal planning and budgeting, and quality public service delivery, inclusive participation, development financing, evidence and data, partnerships, quality assurance, and knowledge management.

Duties and Responsibilities

1.Local governance policy and technical advisory support

• Lead the local governance pillar for UNDP Indonesia by providing applied policy and technical advice on decentralization, multi-level governance, local public administration, digitalised public service delivery and innovations, and national and sub-national institutional capacity.
• Assess and translate national policy directions and sub-national priorities into practical programme options, technical recommendations, implementation pathways and scalable solutions.
• Conduct political-economy, institutional, stakeholder, capacity and policy analyses, combining quantitative and qualitative evidence and clearly identifying implementation constraints, incentives, risks and opportunities.
• Integrate human rights, gender equality, disability inclusion, Leaving No One Behind, conflict sensitivity, social and environmental standards, and digital and data considerations into technical analysis and advice.
• Prepare high-quality technical briefs, policy notes, issue papers, talking points and presentations for engagement with government at national and subnational levels, as well as development partners to strengthen local governance and local development .

2. Programme and project design

• Lead or substantively contribute to concept notes, project documents, theories of change, result frameworks, workplans, budgets, risk registers, monitoring frameworks, implementation arrangements and sustainability strategies.
• Develop options for piloting, testing, adapting and scaling local governance interventions, including digital or data-enabled approaches where suitable and responsible.
• Apply results-based management principles and ensure clear causal logic, measurable indicators, baselines, targets, assumptions, evidence sources and learning mechanisms.
• Ensure alignment of local governance and local development opporunities with UNDP strategic priorities, the Country Programme, national and sub-national development plans and priorty works streams of UNDP Indonesia across the three clusters
• Ensure programme designs are operationally feasible, risk-informed and supported by credible stakeholder ownership and institutional arrangements.

3 Partnerships and multi-stakeholder engagement

• Establish strong partnerships with public sector actors who have a role in enabling strong local governance and local development by engaging with regional governments, Ministry of Home Affairs, Bappenas, Ministry of Finance, sectoral ministries and agencies, provincial and district/municipal governments, universities, think tanks, civil society, private-sector actors and development partners.
• Design and facilitate inclusive policy dialogues, consultations, technical working groups, missions, workshops and peer-learning processes involving stakeholders with different interests and levels of technical expertise.
• Identify opportunities for diversified partnerships to unlock public financing to strengthen local development and local governance with clear entry points for UNDP
• Identify opportunities for joint programming, knowledge exchange, and capacity development while promoting complementarity with government and partner initiatives.

4 Resource mobilization and development finance

• Identify and assess funding and co-financing opportunities linked to local governance and sustainable human development, including public finance, private-sector participation, philanthropy and development-partner funding.
• Prepare donor intelligence, funding maps, partnership pipelines, investment cases, pitch materials, proposal narratives and substantive inputs to financing strategies.
• Develop technically credible options for blended finance, public-private collaboration, pooled or catalytic funding and other financing approaches, with explicit attention to feasibility, additionality, safeguards and risk.
• Coordinate substantive follow-up on partnership and funding opportunities, maintaining clear ownership, decision points, documentation and next steps.
• Support due diligence and risk analysis for proposed partnerships and financing arrangements in coordination with relevant UNDP functions.

5. Knowledge management and capacity development

• Generate and curate knowledge from programme implementation, field engagement, peer exchange and research, including lessons, good practices, innovations and evidence of results and convert learning into recommendations for programme adjustments and scale