Disability Policy Analyst, Short-Term

Background

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

UNDP is the leading United Nations organization in fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet.

Amid a dynamic socio-economic context of Moldova, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (MLSP) is embarking on a deeply transformative process. The “Digital Transformation of Social Protection” Project - funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) - stands as testimony to this momentum forward. The Moldovan social protection system faces substantial challenges caused by inefficiencies, limited digital integration, and an unmet demand for institutional framework and service delivery better addressing contemporary socio-economic uncertainties. 

The MLSP's endeavor is to reengineer this landscape, enhance its digital infrastructure and create a framework under a unified platform named eSocial that is efficient, inclusive, resilient, and adaptable to changing contexts and conditions. This initiative is not just a response to evolving needs but a visionary stride towards a future where social protection is seamlessly inclusive, empowering, and a realized right for every citizen, as defined by the 2030 Agenda. Importantly, particular attention is paid to intersectional vulnerabilities, including those experienced by women and girls with disabilities, who often face compounded barriers in accessing social protection, employment, health care and public services. Ensuring gender-responsive disability policies and digital systems is therefore essential for achieving inclusive and equitable social protection.

The Project aims to address the fragmented digital infrastructure of the social protection system, which operates currently with multiple, disparate, and non-interoperable information systems. This fragmentation causes binding inefficiencies in data management and service delivery and undermines the ability to provide timely and appropriate support to beneficiaries. The limited digitalization and capacity to develop and utilize digital tools have restricted the potential of digital technologies for improving social protection services.

The Project's strategic approach is enrooted in Moldova’s national priorities, as defined by the RESTART Reform of Social Assistance and the UNDP Country Programme Document for the Republic of Moldova (2023-2027).

The Project is designed to leverage technology as a key driver of change, streamline processes, improve user experience, and strengthen institutional resilience. The strategic goal of the Project is to enhance the social welfare of Moldovan citizens, especially the most vulnerable, by establishing a more efficient, accessible, and responsive social protection framework, by leveraging digital transformation, improved service delivery and institutional capacities.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Disability Policy Analyst will be responsible for:

Legislation and Regulatory framework Harmonization

• Review and analyze existing Moldovan legislation and regulations on disability determination and classification.
• Identify gaps, inconsistencies, and overlaps with EU standards (e.g., UNCRPD, EU Disability Strategy 2021–2030, and relevant acquis).
• Provide technical inputs to align disability determination reforms with Moldova’s EU integration roadmap, particularly in social policy and human rights chapters.
• Assess the extent to which existing disability legislation and determination procedures address gender-specific barriers and discrimination faced by women and girls with disabilities, in line with UNCRPD and EU gender equality frameworks.
• Draft proposals for harmonization of disability determination procedures with EU regulations and best practices, ensuring all policy proposals are consistent with Moldova’s RESTART Reform and EU Association Agreement, including the recommendations of PWD Paradigm Shift to Disability Inclusive Services, Accountability and Governance in Moldova Project.
• Support MLSP and CNDDCM in preparing amendments, explanatory notes, and technical justifications for legislative changes.
• Ensure proposed normative and policy frameworks amendments incorporate gender-responsive provisions and protect against discrimination in disability determination processes.

Data Management and Evidence-Based Policy

• Assess existing disability-related data sources (administrative databases, registries, surveys).
• Recommend standards for data governance, metadata, and interoperability in line with EU requirements;
• Prepare data sets for analytical tools and dashboards monitoring disability determination outcomes, appeals, geographic disparities, and inclusion/exclusion errors.
• Ensure disability-related data systems incorporate sex-disaggregated data and intersectional indicators (e.g. sex, age, rural/urban, ethnicity, disability type) to enable gender-responsive policy analysis.
• Recommend gender-sensitive indicators for monitoring equitable access to disability benefits and services.
• Provide rapid analyses to inform policy scenarios (e.g., impact of legislative changes, demographic trends, or EU alignment requirements).

Digitalization and Process Optimization

• Cooperate with the UNDP Product Analyst in mapping business process and workflow optimization for disability degree determination within CNDDCM.
• Identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and risks of exclusion or duplication.
• Propose digital solutions (integration into AIS/eSocial) to streamline disability assessment processes, ensuring interoperability with other social protection schemes.
• Support the design of digital case management modules for disability services, enabling real-time tracking and transparent decision-making.
• Identify potential risks of fraud, manipulation, or conflict of interest within disability determination and reassessment procedures and propose measures to strengthen integrity and transparency of the process. This includes recommending adjustments to operational procedures and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), as well as proposing digital safeguards within the case management system (such as audit trails, automated validation checks, cross-registry verification, and anomaly detection) to ensure accountability and reduce risks of misuse in disability assessment and decision-making.
• Ensure digital solutions are accessible and inclusive, particularly for women and girls with disabilities who may face lower digital literacy or limited access to digital tools.

Stakeholder engagement and Capacity development

• Consult with representative organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs), civil society, and advocacy groups to ensure reforms are participatory and inclusive.
• Promote gender-sensitive, HRBA, and intersectional approaches in disability determination and service provision, ensuring the needs of women and girls with disabilities are explicitly addressed.
• Develop guidelines and manuals for disability determination procedures aligned with EU standards.
• Train CNDDCM and MLSP staff on updated legislation, digital tools, and data literacy.
• Keep up with best practices globally in social protection analytics / digital governance; suggest innovations (new indicators, analytic techniques, dashboards, predictive features).
• Ensure consultations include representative organizations of women with disabilities and organizations working on gender equality.
• Support MLSP and CNDDCM in strengthening institutional capacity to integrate gender and disability inclusion into policy development and service delivery.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangements

The Disability Policy Analyst will work under the supervision of the UNDP Project’s Social Protection Manager, in close cooperation with the IT Strategy and Coordination Specialist and the Digital Product Analyst, the UNDP Moldova Country Office and overall project team, for an effective achievement of results, anticipating and contributing to resolving project-related issues and information delivery.

He/she also will collaborate with other UN projects, MLSP, CNDDCM and other national stakeholders. The incumbent is expected to exercise full compliance with UNDP administrative rules, regulations, policies, and strategies.

Competencies

Core Competencies

Achieve results: LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline.

Think Innovatively: LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements.

Learn Continuously: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback.

Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible.

Act with Determination: LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident.

Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships.

Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination.

Cross-Functional and Technical Competencies

Business Direction & Strategy - Systems Thinking:     

• Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.

Business Development - Knowledge Facilitation:    

• Ability to animate individuals and groups, internally and externally, and to design and facilitate activities, to share and exchange knowledge, information and ideas.
• Knowledge of tools and approaches to stimulate active participation, contribution, and exchange.

Business Development - Human-Centered Design:    

• Ability to develop solutions to problems by involving the human perspective in all steps of the problem-solving process. 
• Knowledge and understanding of human-centred design principles and practices.

Digital - Data Analysis:    

• Ability to extract, analyse and visualize data to form meaningful insights and aid effective business decision making.

Digital - Data Collection:    

• Being skilled in Data Sorting, Data Cleaning, Survey Administration, Presentation and Reporting including collection of Real-Time Data (e.g. mobile data, satellite data, sensor data)

Digital - Digital business analysis:    

• Ability to support digital business processes across a range of digital projects, programmes and activities.

Gender - Gender mainstreaming:    

• Ability to integrate gender equality considerations into policies, programmes, data systems and institutional processes through gender analysis, sex-disaggregated data, and gender-responsive design and monitoring.

Required Skills and Experience

Minimum education requirements:     

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Law, Public Policy, Social Protection, Disability Studies, Human Rights, or related fields is required; OR
• A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with an additional 2 (two) years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree. 

Minimum years of relevant work experience     

• Applicants with a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in a relevant field of study are not required to have professional work experience.
• Applicants with a Bachelor’s Degree are required to have a minimum of two (2) years of experience with institutional frameworks for disability determination and assessment and in analyzing and revising legislation/regulations in the disability or social protection field.

Desired skills      

• At least 1 (one) year of progressively responsible experience at the national and/or international level in social protection and/or disability policy, or within governmental institutions.
• At least 1 (one) year of experience with institutional frameworks for disability determination and assessment.
• At least 1 (one) year of expertise in analyzing and revising legislation/regulations in the disability or social protection field.
• Experience contributing to projects, policy development, research, or programmes related to disability inclusion that incorporate gender equality and intersectionality considerations, including knowledge of EU legislation or international good practices.

Required language(s)

• Fluency in Romanian and English is required. 
• Knowledge of one or more minority languages relevant for Moldova, including Russian, Romani, Gagauzian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian and sign language, is an asset. 

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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