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Associate Expert, Geneva

International Labour Office

Vacancy No: AE_01_Dialogue_2011

Title: Associate Expert - DIALOGUE Department

Grade: P.2

Contract type: Fixed-Term Appointment

Duration of contract: One year (renewable)

Date: 5 October 2011

Application Deadline: 26 October 2011



Organization unit: DIALOGUE

Duty Station: Geneva, Switzerland

The post is opened in the context of the Jumior Professional Officer (JPO) / Associate experts (AE) scheme sponsored by the Government of Belgium and is adressed exclusively to candidates who have the EU citizenship.

Candidates need to submit the application form as well as a cover letter in order to be considered for this postion.

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The ILO values diversity among its staff. We welcome applications from qualified women and men, including those with disabilities.

The Office is a non-smoking environment.

INTRODUCTION
The overall mandate of DIALOGUE is to promote social dialogue and sound industrial relations. Social dialogue institutions and actors remain weak in a number of member States, requiring ongoing assistance from the Office. Member States frequently request ILO expertise on how to best promote social dialogue and to strengthen the capacity of social actors and institutions as tools of sound governance of the labour market. The provision of such assistance requires from the office to build a solid comparative knowledge base of trends and good practices in respect of industrial relations and social dialogue systems in different countries across all regions.

DIALOGUE's priority activities in the field of social dialogue at national and cross borders levels include:

- Assisting member States to establish and/or to strengthen legal frameworks for tripartite social dialogue;

- Supporting member States and the social partners to establish mechanisms and institutions for national tripartite social dialogue;

- Supporting member States to strengthen the capacity of social dialogue actors at all levels of decision making process and in relation to such issues as labour law reform, social protection, employment and wage policies;

- Promoting sound and productive industrial relations and building the capacity of the social partners to engage in social dialogue;

- Carrying out and encouraging comparative research on social dialogue and industrial relations trends and on the contribution of social dialogue to the promotion of sound governance of the labour market as well to securing a balanced and inclusive economic recovery;

- Carrying out research on cross borders industrial relations and international framework agreements;

- Disseminating the results of research through the publication of policy briefs, working papers and guides;

- Promoting the ratification and effective implementation of Governance Convention No. 144 on tripartite consultation;

- Assisting field offices in delivering an assistance to tripartite constituents at country level.

The Social dialogue team plays a major role in coordinating and delivering the Office's work toward its Outcome 12.1, which focuses on member States that, with ILO support, strengthen social dialogue institutions and mechanisms in line with international labour standards.

To deliver quality advisory services to member States, the Social Dialogue Team plays a lead role in maintaining the Office's knowledge on trends in respect of social dialogue structures and innovative practices. It is currently engaged in research on a whole range of issues including cross-border industrial relations frameworks, the role of social dialogue in crisis recovery, pensions reform and social dialogue as well as the contribution of social dialogue and tripartism to the promotion of equitable and balanced recovery. This knowledge is used in turn to advise tripartite constituents and to develop tools that can be used by the Office in delivering such advice, and to serve as a resource material for other regional and technical groups within the Office.

The Social Dialogue team works in close collaboration with other technical experts across the Office such as ACTRAV and ACT/EMP, LAB-ADMIN, SEC SOC and NORMES. This includes working in close collaboration with colleagues in ILO Field Offices around the world as well.


Description of Duties
The Associate Expert will carry out some or all of the following tasks:

Generic duties:

- Compile and maintain social dialogue country profiles.

- Analyse these profiles for the purposes of identifying good practices and for policy development.

- Draft components of country or regional reports and publications.

- Assist in technical backstopping, project implementation and monitoring, as junior desk officer.

- Assist in the implementation of the P&B's social dialogue related activities and the reporting exercise that follows subsequently.

- Participate in technical missions for research and fact finding.

Specific duties:

- Assist in the preparation of advice by the Office on aspects of social dialogue and industrial relations including the formulation of projects.

- Undertake research on comparative social dialogue and industrial relations practices.

- Contribute to and maintain the social dialogue inventory and assist in the development of social dialogue training tools.

- Assist in training government officials and representatives of employers' and workers' organisations.

- Assist in the implementation of the planned TC project on promoting social dialogue in Maghreb countries (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia) which is being developed with support of the Belgian Government.

- Undertake such other tasks and responsibilities as may be assigned by the Director of DIALOGUE and/or the Social Dialogue team leader.

Within the job, the Associate Expert will gain exposure to:

- Comparative industrial relations and social dialogue, including the opportunity to conduct research and publish on these topics.

- International Labour Standards dealing with social dialogue and collective bargaining.

- The development of industrial relations at cross borders level.

- International labour standards.

- The role of social dialogue in such areas as social protection and employment policies.

- Preparation of training material on comparative good social dialogue practices.

- Preparation, implementation and evaluation of technical cooperation projects.

Required Qualifications

Education
Master degree level (or equivalent) in social sciences with a specialisation in labour economics and/or industrial and employment relations.

- All candidates from EU countries should have successfully completed the CIG (Cycle d'information Générale) by BTC (Belgian Development Agency).

Experience
- Minimum of two years' of relevant work experience for the position.

- Be no older than 32 years of age as of 31 December 2011.

Languages
Excellent knowledge of English and French; a working knowledge of another ILO official language such as Spanish and or Arabic would be an asset.

Competencies
Demonstrated abilities to:

- Carry out comparative research.

- Provide technical advisory services .

- Draft clearly and concisely, both for the purposes of preparing project proposals, providing advisory services and preparing reports and studies.

- Take initiative to keep up-to-date with new developments in social dialogue practices.

- Good understanding of social dialogue and industrial relations.

- Ability to communicate in a clear and effective manner both in writing and orally.

- Capacity to work as a member of a team, while also taking individual responsibility for discharging a personal workload.

Additional Information:
As part of the ILO Social Dialogue Sector, DIALOGUE is responsible for the promotion of sound industrial and employment relations; the pursuit of well-balanced labour laws; and the support of tripartite social dialogue.

The basis for DIALOGUE's work is the knowledge that sound labour laws, industrial relations and social dialogue are at the core of ILO member States' economic and social organisation. Effective social dialogue, mature industrial relations and balanced labour laws are means to promote better wages and working conditions , as well as peace and social justice. As instruments of good governance they foster cooperation and economic performance, helping to create an enabling environment for the realisation of the objective of Decent Work at the national level.

In order to discharge its responsibilities, DIALOGUE works closely with other units in the Office to promote social dialogue and tripartism across socio-economic policy agendas. This collaboration is intended to help to mainstream social dialogue and tripartism into the ILO's work as a whole. DIALOGUE also maintains close links with ILO Field Offices in order to ensure that ILO Decent Work Country Programmes and, where possible, United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks include appropriate and sufficient attention to social dialogue and labour law issues.

Within DIALOGUE, the Employment Relations team works closely with the International Training Centre in Turin in the preparation and delivery of training materials and programmes in the field of negotiation skills, mediation and arbitration skills and effective wage policies.

DIALOGUE maintains partnerships with research and academic institutions around the world. Among other things, DIALOGUE is the administrative home for the International Labour and Employment Relations Association, and the International Society for Labour and Social Security Law.