Background

The Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) provides the foundation for UNDP’s global substantive practices, providing the tools, and policy services that country offices need to make a difference in UNDP’s practice areas. It plays a key role in helping countries to reach their development goals and is responsible for articulating UNDP’s global policy on developmental issues using evidence gathered through country applications, regional experiences and global interactions.  It supports countries through a network of country offices that it helps connect to the best of knowledge and human resources on various thematic issues, and in the design and implementation of programmes and projects that effectively contribute to the national-level policies and sustainable results.

Within BDP, the recently constituted Knowledge, Innovation and Capacity Group (KICG) delivers a core set of services and solutions to the organization and UNDP’s ultimate clients within the following areas:

• Fostering innovation – ensuring that the latest innovation expertise and methodologies are systematically identified, tested and made available.
• Capacity development support to meet the sustainable development and resilience challenges of today, with an emphasis on expanded collaborative and networking capacities across institutional, professional and constituency boundaries and the ‘how’ of capacity development.

Optimizing knowledge sharing (KS) and knowledge management (KM): internally in UNDP as a core internal capacity and externally as a service offering as part of all UNDP interventions, or, as recently evidenced in the Rio+ Dialogues, as a separate service delivered with other units in UNDP. 

BDP is the corporate sponsor of Knowledge Management (KM) and Knowledge Sharing (KS) for UNDP and is responsible for ensuring that the collective knowledge of the Organization and its wider development network flows efficiently and is available to all staff and partners to enhance organisational and development effectiveness.

The Knowledge Management Advisor will overall be responsible for BDP’s contribution to the  further strengthening of a coherent and integrated knowledge management and knowledge sharing  structure, driven by users’ needs , where
 
the best of UNDP’s collective knowledge  is made available to ensure that advice and support are available when and where needed, increasingly in forms openly accessible to clients and the public at large.
external knowledge and knowledgeable individuals are incorporated into internal decision making processes 
knowledge networking technologies and platforms are increasingly integrated, easy to access and use,  and deployed to deliver demonstrable business value where:

• UNDP’s recognized leadership in knowledge networking is leveraged and expanded
• Staff and networks of partners and clients can access, use and add to this knowledge
• Knowledge sharing becomes actionable through the utilization of a broad set of tested KM tools, models and
• Approaches that all staff can use in their interventions, with a level of usability that increasingly make formal training redundant
• Results are translated into searchable lessons learned and added to UNDPs collective knowledge, allowing for iteration and continuous improvement of UNDP’s development interventions.

These services leverage UNDP’s collective knowledge and address the organization’s knowledge gaps but also include KM and KS tools, platforms, approaches and models to support clients in their own KM/KS endeavours, as an integrated part of UNDP’s support to enhanced performance and capacities, or as a new stand- alone business service line when justified.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Knowledge Management Advisor is part of the KICG management team and reports directly to the Director of the KICG.  He/she will be responsible for fostering and managing relations with both internal and external clients and stakeholders on knowledge management and knowledge sharing services and practices, as well as representing UNDP in key policy and management bodies, external groups and events related to KM and KS, when so requested by the Director of KICG.

Summary of Functions:

• Policy Advisory/Programme Support-Delivery;
• Policy Development;
• Team Management/Coordination;
• Advocacy;
• Partnership Building;
• Management responsibility for large scale interactive software implementations

Policy Advisory/Programme Support-Delivery:

• Provide critical policy advisory services on knowledge management and sharing within UNDP, as well as to Governments and other partners, supporting them in their own knowledge management endeavours, such as designing KM and KS systems as a critical component of their capacity
• Contribute to the design and formulation of CO programmes/regional programmes drawing upon lessons from global experiences,in close cooperation with advisers of other teams and in Regional Service Centers
• Provide effective support and backstopping for, and timely feedback and reporting on implementation of programmes in support of the practices in UNDP;
• Direct services to global, regional and country learning events, and substantive workshops

Policy Development:

• Lead the development of corporate policy and guidance on knowledge management and sharing;
• Provide substantive inputs to international fora to help shape global development strategies, policies, norms and standards in the area of KM and KS, including as related to South-South cooperation.
• Contribute to, and if requested, oversee and lead the development of approaches and tools for real-time monitoring and big-data use, in close cooperation with other policy advisors in KICG and other units in UNDP and the UN.

Team Management and Co-ordination:

Substantive Leadership:

• Provide substantive and managerial leadership of the team or teams under his/her supervision;
• Lead advocacy for and support to knowledge management and sharing in the regions including promotion of global policies, norms and standards and the sharing of global experience;
• Lead, as directed by the Director of the KICG, on knowledge management and sharing ensuring UNDP’s credibility in delivery in this area in its Strategic Plan 2014-2018;
• Collaborate closely with other teams within KICG ensuring synergies and complementarity

Coordination and Management:

• Develop and implement team workplans;
• Manage all activities related to  team functions including direct supervision, when appropriate, of the policy advisors and specialists, create positive team environment and ensure access to learning opportunities for all staff

Mobilizing the Community of Practice and social networking:

• Lead and promote the development of communities of practice (COP) on KM and KS, as relevant integrated with other COP areas under KICG’s purview.
• Advise on optimal use of managed and publically available social networking platforms in the pursuit of optimal knowledge amplification
• Be appraised of and leverage the approaches and tools in other practices

Advocacy:

• Provide substantive and content leadership in UNDP corporate discussions and Inter-Agency coordination on knowledge management and sharing;
• As requested by the Director of KICG, represent UNDP (and UN partner organizations) to advocate common  messages in the international development arena;
• Mobilize external partnerships behind UN/UNDP initiatives.

Partnership Building:

• Promote synergies between knowledge management, knowledge sharing  and communications across the organization through collaboration with key internal partners including in particular  BERA/Office of Communications, and the Office of Information Services and Technology (OIST)
• Effectively position UNDP within the UN system to foster consistency in approach and promote  and support UN system wide knowledge management and knowledge sharing efforts
• Provide guidance and leadership for the engagement of civil society, the promotion of civic engagement and the establishment of strategic partnerships;
• Support the KICG Director in leading partnership building with global institutions and consultancies; as well as key multilateral institutions
• Develop with staff an expert roster
• Develop multi-partner proposals;
• Lead the implementation of the global partnerships to support the knowledge management and knowledge sharing agenda and support resource mobilization strategies;
• Scan partnership opportunities and donor intelligence for new partnership opportunities – e.g. donor priorities; pledges, new donor funding modalities, etc. ensuring that this supports the work on UNDP in knowledge management;

Effective technology platform

• Serve as Software Owner for the Teamworks Knowledge Sharing Platform and manager of relevant service providers
• Leverage increased integration and coherence between  relevant ICT platforms – in particular Teamworks, the
• SharePoint applications, Atlas and service tracking systems
• Collaborate with BoM and OIST amongst others
  

Competencies

Corporate:

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

Functional:

• Knowledge Management and Learning:
• In-depth substantive knowledge  of and experience with knowledge management and sharing
• Extensive experience with development policy issues
• Ability to promote knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example
• Demonstrated substantive experience and ability to integrate knowledge management and sharing with broader strategic, policy and operational objectives;

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

• Ability to lead strategic planning, change processes, results-based management and reporting
• Ability to lead formulation, oversight of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects
• Ability to work under tight deadlines
• Ability to manage for results

Management and Leadership:

• Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to critical feedback
• Encourages risk-taking in the pursuit of creativity and innovation
• Effective team player and shows conflict resolution skills
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
• Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors
• Works effectively in cross-functional teams, as well as through networks of diverse and dispersed people

Technical:  

• Demonstrates deep insights in knowledge networking and management technologies
• Ability to negotiate technology licensing, cost recovery, and service agreements
• Ability to serve as an advisor to UNDP management on business-driven technology

Managing Complexity/Judgment/Decision-Making:  

• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities
• Ability to address global development issues;
• Mature judgment and initiative.
• Independent judgment and discretion in advising on handling major policy issues and challenges, uses diplomacy and tact to achieve results.
• Proven ability to provide strategic direction

Networking, Representation and Partnering:

• A sound global network of institutional and individual contacts;
• Capacity to work with diverse partners including governments, other UN entities, donors and civil society
• Demonstrates track record of forging partnerships with government, private sector and academia
• Ability to engage in resource mobilization for UNDP’s knowledge management efforts

Required Skills and Experience

• Master's degree in International Development, Management, Information Management  or other relevant field

• Minimum of 15 years of relevant work experience with increasing managerial responsibilities in international development
• Extensive hands-on proven experience in delivering results on knowledge management and/or organizational management , change management
• A proven professional credibility as well as senior level working experience
• Work experience in a developing country is highly desirable

• Fluency in English.
• Working knowledge of another UN language is desirable