Background
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the global organization of national parliaments. It was founded in 1889 as the first multilateral political organization in the world, encouraging cooperation and dialogue between all nations. Today, the IPU comprises 183 national Member Parliaments and 15 regional parliamentary bodies. The IPU promotes democratic governance, institutions and values, working with parliaments and parliamentarians to articulate and respond to the needs and aspirations of the people. It works for peace, democracy, human rights, gender equality, youth empowerment, climate action and sustainable development through political dialogue, cooperation and parliamentary action.
The IPU recognizes gender equality as a key component of democracy and works to achieve the equal participation of men and women in politics. It provides support to parliaments in advancing gender equality, increasing women’s political participation and leadership, and in transforming themselves into gender-sensitive institutions that deliver on women’s rights. Combatting and eliminating sexism, harassment and violence against women in politics and in parliament are at the heart of such support.
In 2026, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) is funding the IPU to implement the project Support to women’s political participation in and through parliament. These funds will allow the IPU to continue and extend its assistance to parliaments in about 10 countries in their efforts to enhance women’s political participation, build capacities to promote gender equality, advance actions and work on gender-sensitive issues, and combat gender-based violence, in particular online violence.
Tasks
Under the supervision of the Manager of the Gender Partnership Programme, the Junior Project Consultant will support the implementation of the project Support to women’s political participation in and through parliament, including in administrative and budgetary related tasks and monitoring and evaluation.
More specifically, the Junior Project Consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:
- Support the preparation, organization and execution of project activities.Provide administrative and logistical arrangements for project activities, both in-person and virtual, including venue, travel and accommodation bookings, interpretation services, technical support, and security measures.
- Carry out day-to-day administrative operations and proactively identify areas for improved efficiency.
- Prepare draft budgets of activities, keep track of expenditures, facilitate timely payments, record supporting documents, ensure compliance with institutional policies, and contribute to financial reporting.
- Support the preparation of agreements, contracts, and other legal documents.
- Support procurement processes and liaise with stakeholders as needed.
- Coordinate document preparation, translation, and distribution, while ensuring timely submission and adherence to formatting guidelines.
- Support monitoring and evaluation of the project, including the collection of quantitative and qualitative data, the conduct of qualitative surveys, and the analysis of results, change and impact, as well as reporting.
Prepare project-related correspondence, track incoming and outgoing communication, prioritize and route correspondence, draft responses, and track follow-up actions.
Develop and maintain a well-organized digital and physical project filing system and ensure institutional knowledge retention, including archiving.
Provide support with responding to queries and requests for information received.
- Co-operate with other Project team members.
The Junior Project Consultant will carry out these tasks and responsibilities in line with IPU’s Common Principles for Support to Parliament.
The Junior Project Consultant will carry out these tasks and responsibilities in coordination with other Project consultants.
Deliverables
Key deliverables will include:
Preparation, organization and support to in-country missions in the six targeted countries.
Preparation and maintenance of activity budgets.
Provision of day-to-day administrative operations.
Preparation of correspondence and project documents, including agreements.
Development and maintenance of a digital and physical project filing system.
Support the monitoring and evaluation framework, including collection of quantitative and qualitative data, qualitative surveys, analysis of results, change and impact, and reporting.
Responses to queries.
Support to the Project team members.
Required experience and qualifications
University degree in international studies, gender or related fields.
Experience in work related to project management.
Experience in an international organization required; experience in monitoring and evaluation of projects an asset.
Experience in organizing workshops, meetings, events, missions or trainings required.
Experience of work on a project in support to a parliament an asset.
Experience in a parliamentary setting an asset.
Experience of work in one or more of the project’s beneficiary countries an asset.
Complete fluency in English required, fluency in one or more of the languages spoken in the project’s beneficiary countries, an asset.
Good communication skills in English orally and in writing required.
Personal attributes: initiative, self-motivation and sound judgement; aptitude for human contacts and resourcefulness; team spirit; and attention to details; adaptability to varying working environments and conditions.
Good computer skills (MS Office applications, internet)
Time frame and conditions
The Junior Project Consultant will undertake this work over a timeline commencing on 15 August 2026 and concluding on 31 December 2026. Over this period, he/she shall be expected to work a maximum of 83 days. In principle, the Junior Project Consultant shall be based in the IPU Headquarters in Geneva.
This position will be for an initial period of five months, renewable depending on satisfactory performance and availability of funding.
The IPU shall cover the expenses related to the missions that the Junior Project Consultant will need to carry out for purposes of the above assignments.
Employment conditions
The Junior Project Consultant is an independent contractor, is not considered to be an official or employee of the IPU and is not subject to the IPU Staff Regulations and Staff Rules. The Junior Project Consultant is not entitled to recover from the IPU any income tax payable in respect of the fee provided under this contract and shall be solely liable for the payment of any national income tax due in respect of the emoluments payable under this contract.
