UNDP Jobs - 56553- Policy Specialist (Development and Mine Action)

Policy Specialist (Development and Mine Action)

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

25-May-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

Context: The Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, South-South and Triangular cooperation initiatives, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDP’s Crisis Response Unit (CRU) to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programmes. BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven including in its programme support efforts.

Reporting and Job Purpose: The Mine Action and Development Policy Specialist reports to the Team Leader, Livelihoods and Economic Recovery in New York.

UNDP’s global offer in Mine Action focuses on development aspects of programme support and linking Mine Action to Livelihoods, Governance, Disaster Risk Reduction, Peace Building and Reconciliation. Therefore, the Mine Action and Development Policy Specialist will liaise with colleagues throughout PPS B as well as A clusters in both New York and Geneva to ensure that UNDP new approach to Mine Action promotes development, cross-sectoral linkages, and contributes effectively to achieving the outcomes of UNDP Strategic Plan.

The Mine Action and Development Policy Specialist, based in New York is a lead expert in the subject matter and a member of a global team on Mine Action and Development. S/he will facilitate work at the global level, and support Country Offices with substantive advice, technical and programmatic expertise, advocacy, relationship building and knowledge in the area of Mine Action and Development across a range of crisis, early recovery, recovery, and development settings. Key technical and programmatic areas of support will in particular be on socioeconomic recovery and development as well as governance of mine action for development. S/he will work in close contact and coordination with BPPS Geneva team and Regional Mine Action Specialists in Istanbul and Addis Ababa, ensuring UNDP work promotes both short and long-term solutions to mitigate the impact of landmines and other explosive remnants of war and enhances the impact of mine action in areas of jobs and livelihoods, reintegration, recovery, socio-economic development, governance, institutional development/strengthening, disaster risk reduction, management of natural resources, conflict prevention, etc.

S/he guides the teams in Regional Hubs and Country Offices on policies and tools for integrating Mine Action into development in different contexts, and fosters policy innovations in this thematic area. S/he also promotes implementation of the relevant UN and UNDP global strategies (such as UN Mine Action Strategy, 2013-2018) and ensures outreach to the relevant UNDP units and experts at HQ level.

The Mine Action and Development Policy Specialist serves as the liaison for New York-based partnerships on issues related to Mine Action and Development. S/he also undertakes resource mobilization for Mine Action initiatives, coordinates inter-agency work, represents UNDP at multiple international platforms and bodies, oversees the South-South cooperation initiative, monitors delivery and reporting, and acts as the focal point on mine action for the Country Offices within Headquarters (including providing them with guidance on linking mine action to development). S/he provides technical support to the RB strategic oversight over CO and regional programmes, analyses development trends, activities and evaluation results in the CO and sub-regions and offers substantive recommendations to inform future corporate decisions and enhance CO, regional and global programming results and performance.

S/he advocates and collaborates with teams across UNDP’s Regional Hubs, Country Offices and Global Policy Centers, to provide quality policy services and deliver technical advice which maintain and advance UNDP’s intellectual leadership and coherence in the area of Development and Mine Action, ensure Mine Action contribute effectively and efficiently to reaching UNDP Strategic Plan outcomes, and that this contribution is captured.

S/he will work closely with the other specialists and advisors, advocating for UNDP new vision of Development of Mine Action, ensuring Development of Mine Action is integrated in country and regional assessments and responses where relevant. S/he will also coordinate with relevant agencies for joint assessments, to ensure synergies, identify and avoid gaps.

Working to ensure quality and coherent policy and programme advisory across the regions as well as alignment with the Strategic Plan, the Mine Action and Development Specialist advances results, the credibility and recognition of the organization’s programmes in the thematic area.

S/he is responsible for performing and contributing to the following:

Policy Advice/Programme and Project Delivery Support;
Policy Research and Development;
Policy Positioning and Representation;
Partnerships and Resource Mobilization;
Knowledge Management.

Duties and Responsibilities

Functions / Key Results Expected

Summary of Key Functions:

Policy Research and Development

Lead the integration of UNDP’s global work on Development and Mine Action into a coherent policy and programming framework that encompasses livelihoods/economic recovery/governance/institutional development and strengthening other outcomes where relevant in support of the implementation of the UNDP Strategic Plan;
Guide the teams in the Regional Hubs and Country Offices in applying policy and tools on integrating Mine Action into development in different contexts, to make them relevant for specific situations;
Advise the Team/Cluster Leaders in Headquarters and in the Regional Hubs on policy gaps and opportunities for development of team priorities and work plans, working closely with the other specialists/advisors.

Design policy initiatives for relevant contexts on emerging policy agendas, collaborating with policy teams in HQ, communicating and representing perspectives and knowledge from Country Offices and the regions:

Critically assess and measure policy services in the Development and Mine Action area and recommend to COs, HQ and Regional Hubs Management new policy and strategic alignment options;
Foster policy innovation in the Development and Mine Action area to enhance programme delivery and promote new partnerships;
Coordinate and conduct analysis of data, case evidence and research findings to distill relevant lessons from projects and programmes to inform policy formulation and guidance;
Support the quality assurance of policy services for Mine Action and Development;
Develop and maintain a roster of Development and Mine Action experts.

Policy Advice/Programme and Project Delivery Support:

In collaboration with the BPPS team in Geneva and Regional Development and Mine Action Specialists in Istanbul and Addis Ababa, deliver technical policy advice and programme support, particularly to set up joint initiatives with partners in the area of Development and Mine Action, including through provision of capacity building and backstopping;
Assist Country Offices in realigning their on-going Mine Action programmes to the framework of the UNDP Strategic Plan.
Develop and manage global programmes and initiatives on Development and Mine Action;
Recommend and lead multi-disciplinary approaches, including through setting up, coordinating and engaging with Development Solutions Teams (DSTs), to deliver advisory services and meet policy, programming, and joint programming needs in line with corporate guidance and standards;
Promote implementation of the United Nations Inter-Agency Policy on Mine Action, United Nations Mine Action Strategy (2013-2018) and complementary policies to facilitate UNDP’s work on Development and Mine Action, in coordination with other thematic teams, the Regional Hubs, Geneva, CRU, other UNDP Bureaus, and key partners;
Support the Team Leader in liaising with the CRU to ensure a rapid and well-coordinated response to crises and conflict situations and provide Mine Action-related contributions to UNDP SURGE for Country Offices;
Identify and recommend to management new opportunities for policy advisory directions and roles;
Identify mission-critical roles for thematic area in crisis and conflict responses and provide timely technical policy and programme advice for crisis situations in response to requests coordinated by CRU.

Resource Management and Mobilization:

In collaboration with BERA and the BPPS team in Geneva, support the Team Leader to engage with global partners, collect donor intelligence, and develop/implement pro-active Resource Mobilization Strategy and Action Plan;
Support the Team Leader and implementing teams in Regional Hubs and Country Offices to fulfill corporate and donor reporting, advocacy and information sharing requirements;
In collaboration with the Regional Development and Mine Action Specialists based in Addis Ababa and Istanbul, and in close collaboration with CO colleagues, manage the formulation and implementation of substantive work plans for each region where Development and Mine Action programmes are implemented;
Critically assess delivery and performance against emerging trends and thinking in the thematic area;
Ensure adherence to the relevant business processes and the delivery of high-quality outputs on time;
In collaboration with BERA, BPPS staff in Geneva, the Regional Mine Action Specialists based in Istanbul and Addis Ababa, seek and identify partnership and funding opportunities; oversee the preparation of funding proposals, donor briefings and presentations in support of resource mobilization efforts;
Establish and maintain an enabling environment for harmonious working relationships and team-building, by promoting consistent and constructive communication, open information sharing, and coordination among all relevant staff.

Policy Positioning and Representation

Under the guidance of the Livelihoods and Economic Recovery Team Leader, and in close collaboration with the BPPS team in Geneva, mobilize, foster and strengthen strategic partnerships with UN entities and other relevant global international organizations and provide substantive inputs to those partnerships in support of UNDP initiatives on Development and Mine Action;
Prepare briefing notes and speeches;
Provide substantive input in the process of advocating the importance of development approaches to Mine Action in various fora, with the goal of positioning and advancing UNDP’s strategic agenda in the thematic area;
Ensure day-to-day inter-agency coordination and liaison, particularly with UNMAS, represent UNDP at the working level regular meetings of UN Inter-Agency Coordination Group, Mine Action Support Group and other relevant bodies;
Revitalize UNDP partnership with the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, and negotiate the new MoU, with focus on the delivery of development services and support to the UNDP programme countries;
Undertake joint needs assessment missions to the requesting countries;
Promote South-South and triangular cooperation, particularly by reviewing the Mine Action Exchange scheme, and explore other appropriate ways to integrate South-South cooperation in Development and Mine Action area;
Foster strategic partnerships with external partner institutions, including academia, private sector and international NGOs that specialize in the delivery of mine action services, such as Norwegian People’s Aid, Mine Advisory Group, Handicap International, etc.

Knowledge Management:

Coordinate team contributions and support to corporate KM activities, whether at the global, cross-regional or region-specific level to help influence/advance policy dialogue on Development and Mine Action, in collaboration with policy teams at HQ and in Regional Hubs;
Oversee the knowledge extraction, analysis, documentation, codification of results/lessons learned in the area of Development and Mine Action, ensuring that knowledge sharing and content management is in line with guidelines and performed using corporate tools;
Provide support to Regional Hubs and Country Office teams in their application of development approaches to Mine Action programmes, by providing guidance and sharing relevant documents and lessons learned.

Impact of Results

As a result of the work in the development and mine action work stream, UNDP will:

Translate mine action into sustainable development dividends in the form of jobs, livelihoods and socioeconomic development;
Strengthen national institutions that help facilitate acceleration of development benefits through the use of previously landmine affected areas, and focusing on poverty stricken victims of landmines.

Competencies

Core:

Innovation:

Ability to make new and useful ideas work.

Leadership:

Ability to persuade others to follow.

People Management:

Ability to improve performance and satisfaction.

Communication:

Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform.

Delivery:

Ability to get things done.

Technical/Functional:

Primary:

Development and Mine Action:

Knowledge of recovery and development impacts of landmines and other explosive remnants of war on people, communities, countries and regions;
Knowledge of programming and impact of mine action on recovery, development, governance, institutional building and natural resources management.

Socioeconomic Development:

Knowledge of recovery and economic livelihoods and development concepts and programming;
Local development boards and planning;
Scaling up pilots, institutionalization of approaches and quality management process;
Gender lens programming.

Governance/Institutional support:

Knowledge of governance and institutional building/strengthening in post crisis recovery and development contexts;
Experience working with host governments and civil society;
Aid coordination and effectiveness;
Transparency;
Gender.

Development planning and analysis:

Ability to undertake analysis for development planning in mine affected or previously mine affected areas to inform national development frameworks;
Knowledge of MDGs and Post 2015 Development Agenda and ability to integrate this thematic area.

Results-based Management:

Ability to manage programmes and projects with a strategy aimed at improved performance and demonstrable results.

Knowledge Management:

Ability to capture, develop, share and effectively use information and knowledge.

Relationship Management / Partnerships:

Ability to engage with other parties, agencies, donors, and other development stakeholders and forge productive working relationships.

Secondary:

Resource Mobilization:

Ability to identify and organize programmes and projects to implement solutions and generate resources.

Monitoring & Evaluation:

Knowledge of methodologies, tools, systems and apply practical experience in planning, monitoring, evaluating and reporting and ability to apply to practical situations.

Trends and emerging areas analytics:

Ability to scan the horizon and identify approaches and initiatives to bring into policy and programme design.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in social sciences, international relations, development economics, or related disciplines.

Experience:

At least seven years of progressively responsible experience in development cooperation, mine action, and inter-agency coordination and cooperation at the international level;
Professional work experience, preferably both at HQ and Country Office level, in providing policy advice and programme support, and introducing developmental approaches to sectoral interventions;
Demonstrated ability to develop strategic partnerships, work effectively with donors and mobilize resources;
Sound experience in inter-agency cooperation and coordination and in representing UNDP at international platforms;
Demonstrated strong advocacy and analytical skills, ability to engage with global policy processes;
Experience at global and country levels with UNDP multi-disciplinary programming an asset.

Language:

Fluency in English, both written and oral;
Working knowledge of another UN language (Arabic, French, Russian) is an asset.