Background
The UN System is the UN's global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. It works with individual countries on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. The UN System in Lesotho supports Lesotho’s development priorities laid out in the National Strategic Development Plan and through that, the achievement of the MDGs. The main focus areas of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework are Food Security; Health; Democratic Governance; Environment and Energy; Poverty Reduction and Economic Growth, with Gender Mainstreaming and HIV/AIDS as crosscutting areas.
Since 2007, collaborative capacity-building activities in Lesotho have been undertaken by the United Nations in a series of projects, as well as through dedicated support by a Collaborative Capacities Advisor from 2010. The projects mostly focused on strengthening democratic institutions and systems, such as the Parliament, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the Ombudsman’s Office and the Judiciary through technical advice, training, and increased regional cooperation. Further, for the past three years, the dedicated Collaborative Capacities advisor worked closely with civil society, faith-based organizations, leaders of political parties, and government counterparts to help facilitate a peaceful and democratic transition after the 2012 national elections. Significant progress was made enhancing stakeholder capacities to effect collaborative decision-making on key development and governance issues for improved social cohesion, sustainable peace, and development in the country. However, this process remains incomplete demonstrated, and the UNDP in Lesotho will continue to provide impartial support to ensure democratic governance and peaceful transition of power.
As prompted by current political events, the UNDP continues to support governance processes to ensure prevention of conflict and strengthen the coalition government precedent as a viable form of democratic governance. As such, the UNDP in Lesotho is looking for a Collaborative Capacities Consultant who can continue with the peacebuilding work to further strengthen and engage local mediation mechanisms, while promoting the effective functioning of governance systems and processes. This will be done through dialogue and consensus-building on a range of developmental and governance issues, through programmes aimed at developing constructive leadership, as well as through joint strategic planning within government, civic organizations, and civil society leaders. A key element of this work will be initiating of a National Peace Architecture in Lesotho and kick-start project implementation of the related areas. In focus of the work will be continued mediation efforts supporting the Heads of Churches in Lesotho.
Under the guidance of the RC, the Consultant will develop take the lead on peacebuilding and mediation efforts supported by the UN in Lesotho, and lead the initial implementation of the related UNDP project on peacebuilding
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the direct supervision of the UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative, and in close consultation with UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) and the UN’s Department of Political Affairs (DPA), the consultant will:
Provide strategic guidance to the Resident Coordinator and the UNCT, based on contextual analysis of issues related to the UN’s engagement on the peace and development agenda in Lesotho;
- Provide strategic context analysis on issues relating to peace and development in Lesotho, including political and related risk analysis to the RC and the UNCT to enable effective support to governance issues and overall peacebuilding in Lesotho;
- Identify and engage key stakeholders in discussions around peacebuilding and governance issues ;
- Support analysis and monitoring of current and potential societal tensions, in order to assess and enhance the effectiveness of current initiatives and capacities;
- Convene and facilitate conversations on critical issues, under the auspices of the RC, in order to reach consensus, as requested and appropriate, on aspects of good collaborative practices and democratic governance;
- Prepare technical and policy advisory briefs and inputs for the RC and UNCT on peace and development issues as required.
Support UNDP programme design and implementation in the context of peace building, conflict prevention and good collaborative governance;
- Finalize new programming documentation for immediate and longer-term peacebuilding, and consult with stakeholders on possible approaches;
- Support resource mobilization efforts for peacebuilding programming support.
Lead collaborative processes, including mediation and overall conflict and dispute resolution related to peacebuilding and democratic governance
- Develop and maintain contacts with relevant authorities at both central and local levels, political parties, Members of Parliament, civil society organizations, women, youth and religious organizations, and other groups to identify and support activities that might strengthen efforts to resolve national and local issues of contention. Develop and maintain contact with international organizations, including the diplomatic community to coordination with the broader international presence in Lesotho;
- Work closely with political parties and civil society to identify and implement approaches for effective, peaceful and sustainable good governance in the country. Collaborative capacities, consensus building and conflict prevention/management will be key aspects to this approach;
- Assist in the development and strengthening of national institutions and processes, including through providing support to on-going mediation processes through the design and delivery of experience-sharing exercises, dialogue processes, and training activities aimed at enhancing capacities among senior officials and civil society counterparts on leadership development, strategic planning, and the building of collaborative capacities towards strengthening conflict resolution mechanisms;
- Devise and implement a workplan for a dedicated collaborative capacity skills development programme, where possible integrated with existing development projects and programmes;
- Design a long-term peace architecture for Lesotho to provide a framework and platform for peace and conflict management at all levels;
- Support specific, targeted initiatives, as requested by national counterparts and under the direction of the RC, such as multi-stakeholder dialogue processes, local level skills and confidence-building activities, electoral violence prevention, conflict-sensitive reporting by the media programmes;
- Support the Heads of Churches and other civil society organizations that play a key role as national mediators to enhance their mediation skills;
- Support local media with awareness and skills building for responsible, conflict-sensitive reporting;
- Develop knowledge products, including written studies, reports, social media outputs related to the collaborative work, its results and challenges in the country. Promote the use of information and communication technology and new media as relevant for the collaborative work.
Competencies
Corporate Competencies
- Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
- Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the UN system.
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
- Treats all people fairly, without favoritism.
Technical Competencies:
- Conflict analysis/assessment;
- Developing and delivering experiential conflict resolution/transformation skills-training to different levels of audiences, including training-of-trainers;
- Mainstreaming conflict prevention into national development programmes;
- Building national capacities to manage/prevent/reduce violent conflict;
- Facilitating multi-stakeholder national/local dialogues for conflict management - mediation;
- Outstanding knowledge of facilitation/training, process and co-ordination skills;
- Extensive experience of providing policy advice (including report writing) at international level;
Functional Competencies
- Sound knowledge of and exposure to a wide range of post-conflict, peace-building, good governance, human rights and development-related issues;
- Communicate effectively, orally and in writing, with staff at all levels of the UN, government officials and civil society, the diplomatic corps, donors and civil society.
- Demonstrate sensitivity, tact and diplomacy.
- Is culturally sensitive and demonstrates appreciation for different cultures and practices.
- Write clearly with “publishable” quality in the form of studies, reports, analysis, project proposals/documents, correspondence, briefing and speeches.
- Able to present to high-level audiences clearly and with authority.
- Demonstrates strong coordination and facilitation skills.
- Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and the UN, and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example
- Promotes the UN’s and UNDP’s work via publications externally.
- Ability to lead strategic planning and implementation for development interventions and projects.
- Solid knowledge in project management and results-based management
- Strong analytical capacity, including the ability to analyze and articulate conflict management, peace-building, recovery and development dimensions and related issues that require a coordinated UN response
- Excellent organizational skills and time management
- Ability to work with minimum supervision under a decentralized environment, and to plan and prioritize and work under pressure.
- Able to work in complex and multi-cultural teams
- Self-motivated and able to recommend options for resolution of issues.
- Builds strong relationships with stakeholders, focuses on impact and result for the partners and responds positively to feedback
- Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
- Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities
- Very good interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations.
- Able to lead effectively, mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills
- Able to handle confidential and sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner, and applies protocol appropriately.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Advanced university degree (Masters) preferably in political or social sciences, international relations, public administration, economics; or
- The equivalent combination of education and experience in a related area with emphasis on experience and expertise of the technical competency areas.
Experience:
- At least 7 years experience in political / conflict analysis, conflict/crisis prevention and management, peace-building, recovery and development, or related areas;
- Extensive experience coordinating activities in facilitation, consensus-building, dialogue processes, collaborative decision-making, and leadership or bilateral and multilateral negotiations.
- Experience working with senior government officials, donor representatives and civil society, especially faith-based organizations.
Language Requirements:
- Excellent command of written and spoken English.
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