UNDP Jobs - 40104- Consultant: Documentation of Business for Peace H

Consultant: Documentation of Business for Peace Honourees- Why Governance Matters in the Private Sector?

Location :

Work from home

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

20-Sep-2013

Application Deadline :

17-Sep-13 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 month

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

1 month

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.

Background

Background to BDP Democratic Governance Group (DGG)

UNDP’s Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) is responsible for articulating UNDP’s development policy, using evidence gathered through country applications, regional experiences and global interactions. BDP has a key role to play in helping country offices to accelerate human development by supporting the country offices in the design and implementation of programmes and projects that effectively contribute to the national-level policies and results.

UNDP’s work in democratic governance is reinforced by its network of over 166 offices and its global partnerships with democratic governance institutions. Democratic Governance Group (DGG), which is part of BDP, tracks governance policy, promotes knowledge networks, and contributes to shaping the global dialogue on governance. The work of DGG focuses on fostering inclusive participation, strengthening responsive governing institutions, and promoting democratic principles. Driven by demand, and working through the Regional Bureauxs and the Regional Service Centres (RSC), DGG provides the tools, analysis and capacities that country offices need to make a real difference in UNDP’s practice areas.

Background to UNDP Oslo Governance Centre (OGC):

The Oslo Governance Centre (OGC) works to position UNDP as a champion of democratic governance, both as an end in itself, and as a means to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This is done through knowledge networking and multi-disciplinary team work, as well as through close partnerships with leading policy and research institutions in different parts of the world.

In 2013-2014, our work will focus on the following six streams of work:

Analytical, dialogue and knowledge exchanges on the governance elements of political transitions from authoritarian to more democratic rule;
Continued support to, promotion and mainstreaming of democratic governance assessments, focusing on increasing policy impact and use of date for social accountability;
Support to country capacities to generate and use governance data, including regional processes to support these capacities;
Support to corporate processes of understanding and measuring programming results in the area of democratic governance programming;
Rolling out and mainstreaming of Institutional Context Analysis across UNDP;
Analytical inputs to the governance elements of the post 2015 development agenda;
Analysis of projects financed by the Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund (DGTTF).

Background to UNDP/OGC involvement with private sector

The global economic and financial crisis over the past few years has further lowered the trust of persons and communities in the private sector[1][1]. Although the impact of the crisis has varied from region to region, public trust in the markets has been severely damaged. The financial sector in particular, is generally seen as a key factor in the economic and social downturn. In spite of criticisms, there is an increasing awareness that achieving innovations in sustainable human development will require stronger and new forms of engagement, collaboration and partnership around explicit shared value where private sector is one of key drivers, together with civil society and the governments.

The principle of “shared value involves creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges”[2][2]. Shared value focuses on identifying and expanding the connections between societal and economic progress. Identifying shared value and the mutual accountability and monitoring mechanisms for ensuring that the contribution of private sector advances rather than undermines the shared value is the foundation for building the trust between citizens and the private sector.

The UN has been engaged with the private sector for some time and has made notable progress with the UN Global Compact, aimed at businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the area of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. With over 10,000 corporate participants and other stakeholders from over 130 countries, UN Global Compact is the largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative in the world. Another notable example includes UNDP’s work on the Green Commodity Facility aimed at connecting global markets with national governments and farmers to strengthen national capacity for scaling up sustainable agricultural and marine commodities around the world.

The UNDP Oslo Governance Centre (OGC) realizing the importance of the role of the private sector in integrating good governance and ethics into business and ensuring that business contributes to, rather than undermines sustainable human development has developed a partnership with Business for Peace Foundation (BFPF) to raise the level of discussion on the links between ethics, democratic governance and sustainable human development. This partnership has been developed together with Istanbul Centre for Private Sector in Development, which acts as focal point for UNDP work on private sector.

The Business for Peace Foundation was founded in 2007 to enhance business leaders’ willingness to engage with society as partners, in developing shared value and increasing trust between business and society. Business for Peace Foundation has established an annual Award for business leaders who have demonstrated transformative and positive change through ethical business practices.The focus is on the leadership, recognizing the critical importance of leadership and vision. The foundation is partnering with highly respected institutions, such as the City of Oslo, the International Herald Tribune, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights, Partnership for Change and World Trade Centre Oslo.

The Business for Peace Awards Ceremony took place on May 14^th 2013 and five Honorees were awarded (from Brazil, Denmark, Pakistan, USA and Yemen). More info on the Honourees can be found on http://businessforpeace.no/2013-honourees/

As part of ongoing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) OGC is supporting Business for Peace Foundation in analytically documenting Honourees, which will further enable UNDP to engage more strategically with the private sector at the global, regional and country level to support partner countries in achieving sustainable human development and generating growth that is both inclusive and sustainable.

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[3][1] Aligned with the UN strategy on the private sector from 2009, ‘the private sector’ refers to individual, for-profit, and commercial enterprises or businesses; business associations and coalitions (cross-industry, multi-issue groups; cross-industry, issue-specific initiatives; industry-focused initiatives); or corporate philanthropic foundations. [4][2] Creating Shared Value by Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer, Harvard Business Review 2011.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Director of OGC and direct supervision of the OGC Progamme and Operations Manager the consultant will:

Document successful Honourees (Awarded in 2013) by providing examples of innovative and transformative approaches in the area of democratic governance that contributed to etical business practices, higher transparency and accountability, more inclusion of women and marginalized groups;
Capture lessons learned in the area of democratic governance demonstrating why governance matters in the area of private sector that could be replicated and used as an advocacy tool to promote the role of governance in the private sector across UNDP work and externally;
Define key indicators of success that could measure the impact of the private sector’s contribution to human development;
Recommendation for the next roundtable on the role of the private sector and civil society (that will take place during the Business for Peace Awards in 2014) how to implement the results of this paper.

Competencies

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Ability to implement new systems and effect behavioural or attitudinal change;
Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and results for clients and respond positively to feedback;
Excellent drafting and communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters degree in Economics, Business, Law, social science or management

Experience:

Excellent knowledge and experience in the area of democratic governance;
At least seven years of relevant experience in working with the private sector, international organizations, government, academia;
Experience working with UN/UNDP is an asset;
Experience supporting the organisation of events.

Language:

Excellent proficiency in English required;
Knowledge of and/or another UN language is an asset.