UNDP Jobs - 54974- Peace and Statebuilding Goals’

Peace and Statebuilding Goals’ - PSG 4 Technical Advisor/Coordinator

Location :

Mogadishu, SOMALIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

31-Mar-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

6 months

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

Brief background

The coordination structure for the Somalia Compact comprises five Working Groups (WGs) corresponding to each of the five ‘Peace and Statebuilding Goals’ (PSGs). The WGs are responsible for facilitating sectoral policy formulation, planning and programme coordination in line the Somalia Compact Partnership Principles.

PSG 4 is responsible for establishing the ‘Economic Foundations’ for sustainable long-term growth and poverty reduction. The overall strategic aim of PSG 4 is to ‘revitalise and expand the Somali economy with a focus on livelihood enhancement, employment generation and broad-based economic growth.’ The objectives are threefold, namely to:

Enhance the productivity of major sectors (of the Somali economy) and related value chains, including through the rehabilitation and expansion of infrastructure for transport, market access, trade and energy;
Expand opportunities for youth employment through job creation and skills development;
Promote the sustainable management of natural resources by developing legal and regulatory frameworks and building capacity in key institutions.

The Ministry of Finance of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) is responsible for chairing the PSG4 WG and ensuring adequate participation from relevant federal line ministries and regional government entities. Two donor ‘co-leads’ - the Embassy of Sweden and USAID - provide support to this process by co-chairing WG meetings, coordinating development partner engagement and overseeing progress against Compact milestones. Further support for the facilitation of PSG4 WG activities is provided by two UN ‘focal points’ - FAO and UNDP.

The membership of the PSG4 WG increasingly reflects a broadening and deepening of engagement from relevant international organizations, federal, regional and local government institutions, civil society organisations and the Somali private sector.

In April of 2014, a decision was taken to establish a series of ‘Sub-Working Groups’ (SWGs) to enable a greater focus on programme activities aimed at individual PSG4 priorities. Initially, three SWGs were established corresponding broadly to the three Compact objectives for ‘infrastructure and productive sectors,’ ‘youth employment’ and ‘natural resource management.’ However, in order to ensure a balanced workload, it was subsequently decided to the split the first SWG into two, focusing on ‘infrastructure’ and ‘productive sector development’ separately. All SWGs have now met on at least two occasions (many more in the case of ‘youth employment’) and activity within the SWGs is steadily gathering momentum.

Much of the early work of the SWGs has focused on the development of so called ‘flagship’ projects suitable for funding through the World Bank and UN Multi-Partner Trust Funds (MPTFs) established under the Compact. In September 2014, a ‘concept note’ for a joint (Government and UN) ‘Youth Employment’ programme was approved by the Steering Committee of the Somalia Reconstruction and Development Fund (SDRF) which oversees the MPTFs, and it is envisaged that further ‘joint programme’ documents - for example addressing the issue of charcoal production - will be endorsed before the end of 2104. At the same time, it is recognized that the main rationale for the SWGs continues to be the provision of effective knowledge management support, with the aim of sharing information and ensuring greater coherence and cooperation between the diverse ranges of stakeholders involved in individual PSG4 priority areas.

Rationale

The increased momentum of the PSG4 WG and the establishment and rapidly expanding workload of the SWGs have placed significant pressure on PSG4 management arrangements. In particular, it is now recognized that there is a need for a dedicated advisor/coordinator to support the Government Lead of the PSG4 in the Ministry of Finance, Lead Donors as well as UN Focal Points in the ‘day to day’ work of the PSG4 WG and the further expansion of the SWGs. Whilst the PSG4 WG as a whole is widely agreed to be one of the most advanced in the Compact, the momentum of the WG and SWGs will need to be increased if substantial progress against key milestones is to be achieved by the formal closure of the Compact in December 2016.

Objectives of the assignment

The assignment outlined in this ToR is intended to address this need, by bringing on board a full time advisor / coordinator to assist the PSG4 Working Group for an initial period of six months. The overall goal of the assignment will be:
'To expedite progress against the PSG4 milestones, through technical, analytical and operational support for the ‘day to day’ management of the PSG4 WG and associated SWGs.’

The specific objectives are to:

Assist in the planning and coordination of PSG4 WG and SWG activities, including WG and SWG meetings, and related Compact events e.g. briefings, workshops etc. supported by the FGS’s Aid Coordination Unit (ACU);
Provide advisory and technical support to the Federal Ministry of Finance in its role as chair of the PSG4 WG;
Establish and maintain an internet based knowledge platform for the PSG4 Working Groups, including best practice information gained through comparable Fragile States initiatives and key Somalia specific information sources e.g. census and survey data, donor mappings, key reports etc;
Participate in all PSG4 WG and SWG meetings and advise on steps to promote increased coherence between SWG-level activities, including measures to ensure an appropriate level of information sharing and the cross-fertilisation of information and ideas;
Provide research and analysis in support of the SWGs on an ‘as needed’ basis, including and in particular the Youth Employment SWG.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope:

The assignment will involve extensive consultations with PSG4 stakeholders in Somalia and Nairobi, with frequent travel between Mogadishu, Hargeisa, Garowe and Nairobi. In addition, a significant element of the desk-based research may be required in support of the knowledge management requirements of participating PSG4 members.

Key themes of the assignment will include:

Expanding engagement in the PSG4 WG and associated SWGs. Whilst membership of the PSG WG and associated SWGs has expanded significantly in recent months, the potential exists to engage a wider and more representative group of economic development stakeholders in Somalia. To date key government line ministries, private sector representative bodies (Chambers of Commerce, Sectoral Trade Associations etc.) and Civil Society Organisations have frequently been under-represented in PSG4 WG and SWG meetings;
Addressing key informational constraints and establishing a shared evidence-base for the formulation of new PSG4 programmes. Primary data and research are notoriously scarce in Somalia, placing a greater emphasis on the need to share the limited research and analytical sources that are available. In addition, there is a pronounced need to learn lessons from the experience of comparable Fragile States that are more advanced in the process of economic stabilization and recovery;
Ensuring effective knowledge sharing between PSG WGs and between PSG4 SWGs, including mechanisms to ensure increased ‘coherence’ and effectiveness in PSG4 programming. Current PSG4 priorities, as reflected in the SWG structure, are highly inter-related and need to be managed in a way that maximizes potential synergies. For example new programming undertaken in order to promote ‘youth unemployment’ should benefit from (and not reproduce) job creation activities embedded in efforts to promote ‘productive sectors’ and infrastructure development. In addition, there is an important need to ensure that economic policies promoted through the PSG WG are consistent, both ‘internally’ - i.e. within the substantive priority areas embraced by PSG4 - and ‘externally’; i.e. with approaches adopted by other PSG WGs. It will be particularly important, going forward, to ensure consistency between the ‘Economic Foundations’ and ‘Revenue and Services’ WGs (PSGs 4 and 5 respectively);
Assisting in the establishment of mechanisms to ensure greater consistency in the measurement and reporting of results / impacts. The success of the PSG4 process will be assessed primarily in terms of its perceived ‘additionality’ with respect to the impact of new economic development initiatives. This in turn will require greater attention to the accurate and consistent and measurement of results across PSG4 initiatives undertaken by a diverse range of stakeholders and implementing partners;
Building ‘Economic Governance’ capacity. At the same time, the PSG4 process offers an unprecedented opportunity to build the capacity of FGS, regional and local government entities and other important private and civil society sector stakeholders for the implementation of effective economic development initiatives in the post 2016 period. In order for this to happen in a timely and appropriate fashion, the PSG4 WG will need to promote a ‘mainstreaming’ approach to institutional capacity building through new ‘flasghip’ and bi-lateral economic development programmes.

Monitoring and Progress controls

The consultant will report on a day to day basis to the UNDP Poverty Reduction and Environmental Protection (PREP) Programme Manager based at the UNCC in Mogadishu. Twice monthly progress meetings will be held with the Government Lead in the Ministry of Finance, the Donor Co-leads; the representatives of the Embassy of Sweden in Nairobi and USAID.

Final product/Deliverables

The assignment does not require the delivery of a specific output in the final stages, but rather a series of outputs to be delivered - in consultation with key PSG4 stakeholders - over a six month period. These will be discussed and agreed on a rolling basis with the UNDP Programme Manager, Government Lead at the Ministry of Finance and the Donor Co-leads.
Payments will be made to the consultant based on submission of a monthly invoice with attached progress report and signed attendance record.

Review/approval time

It is anticipated that the adviser will require work for a total of approximately 120 days and will complete the assignment within a 6 month period from the date of commencement.
PREP Program Manager will review monthly progress reports from the consultant and will approve them.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

The consultant should posses the functional competencies consistent with a high- level strategic assignment of this kind including:

A strong client / results orientation;
The ability to build strategic partnerships;
A demonstrable ability to adopt and apply knowledge in different contexts;
Excellent communication, organization and facilitation skills.

Core Competencies:

Conceptual innovation;
Intellectual leadership.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Advanced degree (Master’s or higher) in economics or a related social or political science discipline.

Experience:

A minimum of 5 years’ relevant work experience in the field of international development cooperation and / or employment policy gained through work in a government, consultancy or international development agency context.
Demonstrable first-hand experience working at a senior level within governments and international development organisations in a technical advisory / coordination capacity.
Experience in aid coordination and / or other fragile states would be a considerable advantage.
Excellent communication, organization and facilitation skills.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in written and spoken English;
Proficiency in Somali language is an asset but not a requirement.

Equipment Requirements:

Laptop and associated office software.