UNDP Jobs

The Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA) is responsible for UNDP’s external relations and advocacy functions. The Bureau leads and supports the organization in cultivating, building and nurturing strategic relationships and alliances that are essential for advancing and successfully achieving the mission of UNDP. These relationships encompass a wide range and number of key constituencies and development partners, that includes programme countries, existing and prospective donor countries/emerging economic powers, multilateral institutions such as the IFIs, the European Commission, civil society, the private sector, foundations, academia and think tanks, the wider UN system, various UN inter-governmental bodies, as well as global, regional and national media. The Bureau also leads and manages the organization’s relationship with its Executive Board which is responsible for UNDP’s governance.

The Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy consists of the following clusters: Directorate, Communications; Innovations and Development Alliances, Resource Partnerships; and Multilateral Affairs and UN Coherence. In addition, BERA has Representation Offices in 5 major donor capitals and in collaboration with the Regional Bureaus, manages 2 UNDP Centres in Istanbul and Seoul.

The Innovations and Development Alliances Cluster (IDAC) is responsible for managing UNDP’s relations with International Financial Institutions, the private sector and foundations. It supports the leadership of UNDP in relations building and advocacy and leveraging the value added of UNDP by positioning, protecting and promoting UNDP with constituencies. The Cluster is also responsible for scanning and anticipating trends with such development actors that influence UNDP policy and prepares proactive strategy options, for coherent multi-stakeholder engagement. 

The Cluster is also responsible for managing UNDP’s relations with decentralized governments for advancing UNDP as a value partner for local initiatives.

The Cluster consists of private sector, IFIs, foundations and decentralized cooperation teams. It also includes a multi-stakeholder initiative, Business Call for Action, which is hosted by UNDP. Each team works collaboratively with each other to leverage resources within the team to address the cluster’s functional results.

Under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the Assistant Administrator and the Deputy Assistant Administrator of BERA, the Cluster Leader leads the team, providing advice and guidance to ensure UNDP’s partnerships with the private sector, International Financial Institutions (IFI) and Foundations. The Cluster Leader is also responsible for effectively liaising with the Bureau’s other clusters as well as representing the Bureau in key internal and external fora.

Impact of Results:

The results of the work of the Cluster Leader greatly impacts the standing and reputation of UNDP as it manages UNDP relationships with the IFIs, Private Sector and Foundations/Philanthropic organizations, which are constituencies with great potential but high reputational risk at the same time. The Cluster Leader’s’ contribution in fostering partnership with sub-national governments in donor countries is essential in keeping the momentum for their active involvement in development related projects throughout the world.

Summary of Key Functions:

• Managerial Leadership of the Cluster
• Strategic Support to BERA Management
• Partnership Initiatives with other clusters and BERA Representative Offices
• Relationship with the Private Sector
• External Relations:  Partnerships and collaboration with IFIs and Foundations

Managerial Leadership of the Cluster:

• Provide leadership and managerial guidance to the IDAC Cluster teams on the cluster’s strategy, priorities and plans of action to support the implementation of the Teams’ strategic priorities.  Engage the team to ensure a shared understanding of the Cluster’s goals and priorities and to promote teamwork, synergy and productivity.

Strategic Support to BERA Management:

• Establish and align IDAC’s annual work plan with BERA’s overall work plan based on RBM principles; determine  priorities and standards for quality results, benchmarks for monitoring progress and performance, and determine required resources to achieve results; and
• Set priorities, and manage the collaborative process across teams to utilize the Cluster’s diverse capabilities to ensure cross-cluster collaboration in three streams: timely analysis and advocacy; quality reports and documentation and efficient day to day operational functions.
  

Partnership initiatives with other clusters and BERA Representative Offices:

• Serve on the Bureau’s Senior Management Team, and ensure coordination and collaboration with the other clusters in BERA for timely provision of quality services to all BERA clients;
• Support the BERA Assistant Administrator in leading the organization’s wide efforts to mobilize support for decentralized partnerships. Co-ordinate initiatives with representative offices in Geneva and Brussels to manage the partnerships aspects for already existing initiatives (ART, TACC, etc) and capitalize on the large presence of regional groupings of sub-national governments in Europe; and
• Work towards ensuring UNDP’ role as an acknowledged leader, involving the sub-national governments in development related issues and including them with their resources and expertise
  

Relationship with the Private Sector:

•  Provide guidance and support to the BERA Management in its efforts to make UNDP globally recognized as an advocate and thought leader for the private sector in development, in order to influence both public policy and development thinking, on one hand, and business practice, on the other;
• Strengthen UNDP’s partnership with the Private Sector by advocating for UNDP priority areas as follows:
• Leverage UNDP’s value added with the Private Sector by exploring various innovative opportunities and    platforms for cooperation;
• Identify areas for possible cooperation with the Private Sector on specific development initiatives and programmes; and
• Explore opportunities for bringing financial resources from the Private Sector to various development causes;
• Establish and maintain regular forum with two-way feedback mechanism to ensure effective flow of information and communications regarding the dialogue with the private sector across the organization;
• Act as a resource person to ensure internal coherence in approaching the Private Sector at HQ, Regional and Country-levels;
• Establish clear internal communication around agreed corporate priorities as well as establishing mechanisms and tracking system to facilitate exchange of information and identification of synergies between UNDP and the private sector;  and
• Create synergies with the newly established Istanbul International Centre on Private Sector in Development (IICPSD) to link with and build on UNDP’s work on the Growing Inclusive Markets initiative, Business Call to Action, etc
  

External Relations:

Partnerships and collaboration with IFIs and Foundations

• Develop and maintain UNDP’s relations with IFIs and Foundations by providing an engagement framework across the organization in approaching IFIs and Foundations based on sound knowledge about how IFIs and Foundations operate;
• Provide support to the corporate effort to build and maintain UNDP’s partnership with the IFIs and Foundations by advocating for UNDP priority areas as follows: Leverage UNDP’s value added with IFIs and Foundations by exploring various innovative opportunities and platforms for cooperation;
• Identify areas for possible cooperation on specific development initiatives and programmes;
• Explore opportunities for bringing financial resources to various development causes;
• Establish and maintain regular forum with two-way feedback mechanism to ensure effective flow of information and communications regarding the dialogue with IFIs and Foundations across the organization;
• Act as a resource person to ensure internal coherence in approaching IFIs and Foundations at HQ, Regional and Country levels;
• Establish clear internal communication around agreed corporate priorities as well as establishing mechanisms and tracking system to facilitate exchange of information and identification of synergies between UNDP and the IFIs and Foundations; and
• Interact on UNDP’s behalf with various foundations and philanthropic organizations. Together with the Foundations Specialist acts as a source of intelligence on foundations and provides advice to UNDP senior management on strategically important relationships/initiatives involving foundations.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP; and
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

• Strong managerial/leadership skills, mature judgment, demonstrated intellectual leadership and decision making skills, and the ability to effectively lead change initiatives;
• Strategic thinking and the ability to influence and advocate for UNDP positions;
• Proven record of building and managing teams and creating an enabling environment, to effectively lead, supervise, mentor, and evaluate staff, towards maximizing productivity and achieving goals;
• Strong understanding of the challenges and opportunities involved in developing and implementing effective private sector interventions ‘in the field’, particularly in less developed countries, including a commitment to continuous personal development and an active interest in (and understanding of) current debates and issues in the private sector and development arena; 
• Excellent representational and diplomatic skills and ability to interact effectively and comfortably with senior officials of the UN system and senior private sector representatives;
• Ability to build consensus concerning UNDP’s strategic agenda with partners and dialogue with stakeholders to strengthen advocacy efforts, incorporating country, regional and global perspectives;
• Strong partnering skills and ability to mobilize support for UNDP; 
• Strong analytical, negotiation and communication skills, including ability to produce high quality practical advisory reports and knowledge products; 
• Proven ability to lead a practice area and drive for results; Innovative approaches/experience on global development issues;
• Strong resource mobilization skills and ability to accept accountability for management of large volume of financial resources; and
•  Excellent knowledge management skills: Ability to seek and apply knowledge, information and best practices internally and externally.

Education:

• Advanced university degree in international development, public administration, business administration, public policy or other relevant fields of education.

Experience:

• Minimum of 15 years of experience in the field of development specifically in the area of private (academia, non-governmental, corporate) or public (national or multilateral) sectors.  Experience and exposure to IFIs and Foundations working with multilateral organizations a strong asset. 
• Including at least 6 years of management responsibilities of similar size and complexity.
• UN experience an added advantage.

Language requirements:

• Strong written and spoken skills in English. Working knowledge of another UN language desirable.