UNV Jobs - 55270- Consultant Intergovernmental Affairs

Consultant Intergovernmental Affairs

Advertised on behalf of

UNV

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-May-2015

Application Deadline :

10-Apr-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

5 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

5 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

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. Volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tackling development challenges, and it can transform the pace and nature of development. Volunteerism benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer by strengthening trust, solidarity and reciprocity among citizens, and by purposefully creating opportunities for participation. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for recognition of volunteers, working with partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing an increasing number and diversity of volunteers, including experienced UN Volunteers, throughout the world. UNV embraces volunteerism as universal and inclusive, and recognizes volunteerism in its diversity, as well as the values that sustain it: free will, commitment, engagement and solidarity.

UNV is headquartered in Bonn, Germany and has approximately 150 staff positions – with the majority in Bonn and some positions with different UN peacekeeping and political missions, and in other Headquarters locations (e.g. New York and Tokyo).

Organizational Setting

The UNV Office in New York (ONY) is part of the Partnerships and Communications Division (PCD) of UNV and is the focal point for strengthening UNV’s relationship with UNDP/HQ and for partnership building with New York-based UN Agencies and the Permanent Missions to the UN (special focus on the Second and Third Committee of the General Assembly) to integrate volunteerism in the peace and development agenda of the United Nations. Further, ONY represents UNV in key New York-based forums, discussions and inter-agency taskforces and identifies opportunities for partnerships with member states, global civil society organizations –including volunteer-involving organizations- as well as with private sector, philanthropic foundations and academia in North America.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Chief of the UNV Office in New York, this junior international consultant will carry out the tasks described below, with an emphasis on supporting intergovernmental affairs through policy research and analysis as well as through ongoing support to UNV interactions with the UNDP Executive Board and of the provision of secretariat services to member states addressing issues relevant to volunteerism at the different committees of the UN General-Assembly.

Support ONY with consultations on the 10 year plan of action to integrate volunteering in peace and development:

Maintain the database of contacts of member state delegates to the UN HQ in New York and strengthen communications with Volunteer-involving Organizations (ViOs) interested in engaging with intergovernmental processes;
Effectively support the finalization of the Secretary-General report on volunteerism, through increasing feedback of member states’ consultations;
Actively support consultations with Member States on UNV’s 10 Year Plan of Action and produce reports of workshops in preparation for a first draft of substantive UN GA resolution on volunteerism;
Draft briefing notes and deliver research and analysis on issues relevant to volunteerism;
Attend inter-governmental, inter-agency and other fora of direct relevance to UNV as requested and drafting reports and disseminate minutes for official records.

Support the intergovernmental negotiation of UN General Assembly resolutions:

Support secretariat functions of UNV Office in New York to service intergovernmental processes leading up to a substantive UN GA resolution on volunteerism to be considered at the seventieth session of the General Assembly;
Monitor the work of the Second and Third Committees of the UN General Assembly and conduct policy research and analyses in order to identify opportunities to strengthen the integration of volunteerism in peace and development policy;
Monitor the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development under the auspices of ECOSOC in June and July 2015 and organize a consultative workshop with Member States on the sidelines on the parameters of a substantive UN GA resolution on volunteerism;
Develop concept notes on relevant policy issues, researching the work of UNV and the link to UNV’s policy strategy to support the intergovernmental negotiations on UN GA resolutions;
Act as focal point for ONY on youth and gender issues.

Support to outreach activities required by ONY:

Provide support for the organization of the 2015 Launch of the State of the World’s Volunteerism Report;
Support the organization of side events and other public engagements when required;
Provide substantive support to the organization of events around UNV’s leadership participation in the Post 2015 Summit.

Deliverables:

Launch of State of the World’s Volunteerism Report:

Deliver effective support services to the organization and outreach for launch of the SWVR in New York.

Finalization of the Secretary-General Report on Volunteerism:

Support the organization of at least one intergovernmental consultation on the 10 Year Action Plan;
Provide communications channels with delegations of Member States to increase provision of feedback to the SG report on volunteerism;
Produce one report on the outputs of the consultative workshops on the 10 Year Plan of Action and the SG Report in preparation to a substantive UN GA resolution draft on volunteerism.

Side-event for High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development under auspices of ECOSOC:

Actively support organization of a consultative workshop with Member States on the side lines of the High Level Political Forum to define the parameters of a substantive UN GA resolution on volunteerism.

Maintain contacts with UNV’s intergovernmental constituency:

Attend inter-governmental events and follow-up with UNV’s partners in intergovernmental bodies leading up to the negotiations on UN GA resolutions/ a substantive resolution on volunteerism;
Deliver at least 5 summary reports and 10 detailed minutes of the proceedings for official records;
Support the organization of a first round of informal consultations with member states on the different resolutions planned for the seventieth session of the UN GA.

Prepare substantive background materials for negotiations on UN GA resolutions:

Develop at least 6 concept notes on relevant policy issues, in preparation for the intergovernmental negotiations at the seventieth session of the UN GA;
Monitor at least 6 resolutions in the Second Committee and 6 resolutions in the Second Committee of the General Assembly and establish policy connections with volunteerism;
Produce at least 10 brief policy analyses to identify opportunities for strengthening the integration of volunteerism in peace and development.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrate integrity by modeling UN values and ethics standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNV;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity, adaptability, and tolerance
Skills to work as a valuable team member;
Constructive and enthusiastic approach to program of work;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional Competencies:

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise:

Understands the main processes and methods of work regarding to the position;
Strives to keep job knowledge up-to-date through self-directed study and other means of learning;
Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
Has a good understanding of policy formulation and analysis, specifically in a UN context.

Knowledge Management and Learning:

Promotes a knowledge-sharing and learning culture in the office;
In-depth knowledge in practice area, complemented by ability to undertake research and analysis;
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Area, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;
Advocates for innovative ideas documenting successes and building them into the design of new approaches;
Seeks to capture lessons learned, reflects on positive and negative experiences to feed into improved performance both at an individual and organizational level.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Political Science, International Relations, Social Development or a related field

Experience:

Junior experience in supporting interactions in intergovernmental processes at the United Nations;
Two years research experience and demonstrated analytical and drafting abilities;
Excellent understanding of and commitment to volunteerism and volunteer action, and familiarity with civil society organizations at both international and national level;
Good knowledge of volunteering issues, in particular youth and gender, required;
Volunteer experience an asset;
Sound knowledge of the United Nations system in general and UNDP, in particular at UN HQ.

Language:

Excellent writing, editing and oral communication skills in English required;
Working knowledge of French or Spanish required.

Application procedure

Interested candidates are advised to carefully review this ToR and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described above. Qualified applicants may be placed on a roster for future consideration in similar consultancies.

Interested individual consultants must submit their application as follows:

Upload to this site one pdf document including the following documentation:

A current completed and signed P11 form/ UN Personal History Form in English. (Blank form can be downloaded from www.sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc);
A summary (no more than 1 page) explaining why the candidate is the most suitable candidate for the assignment and explaining how would they attain the goal/ deliverables specified in the ToR.

Send a financial proposal by email to ony@unv.org and procurement@unv.org

The financial proposal shall consist of an all-inclusive lump sum for the whole duration of the contract period. The financial proposal shall contain a breakdown of costs and indicate the number of off-days the consultant wants to take during the contract period (if any).
The lump sum/contract price is fixed regardless of subsequent changes in the cost components.

The selection of the best offer will be based on the combined scoring method – where the experience and qualifications will be weighted – 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted 30%.

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you provide all requested materials. All documents should be scanned and attached in one pdf format document.

Qualified women and members of social minorities are encouraged to apply. Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are only able to inform the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.