Background

Guyana recently came through a tension-filled and very closely fought election in which the opposition coalition of the A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) emerged the winner by a slim majority. The nearly violence-free elections in spite of the tense and divisive campaign and the very narrow margin of victory cannot be taken for granted given the country’s troubled electoral history. It can be attributed, in part, to the investment by various actors, including the UN System, in promoting social cohesion and inter-party dialogue in the 3 years before the elections.

In particular, the UNDP as the UN entity charged with supporting democratic governance, invested in a double-pronged approach to conflict prevention in Guyana: providing technical and logistical support to boost the capacity of the country’s elections management body to deliver a credible electoral process, while at the same time working with various sectors (political parties, private sector, media, religious leaders and eminent personalities) in a social cohesion initiative aimed at the promotion of violence-free elections. Other positive factors included a credible electoral process managed by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and the large presence of international observers whose unqualified endorsement of the electoral process and outcome helped to maintain political stability. This conduct of violence-free elections in spite of earlier predictions to the contrary demonstrates that multi-year investment in relationship and capacity building paid off for the UN.

In spite of this positive conclusion to the 2015 elections, the period going forward is critical in terms of consolidating the gains made so far and taking the work of the UN forward. Even after the UN Guyana’s investment in the last three years and the change of government, some challenges persist, and excellent opportunities exist, to both respond to the immediate challenges and to proactively deal with long-standing remote roots of division in Guyana. Immediate challenges include the refusal by the former ruling Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) to concede defeat, claiming that it was rigged out of power. Although it is expected to eventually do so, the party is yet to confirm if and when it would be taking up its place as the Opposition in Parliament. This refusal to concede by the PPP/C, while perhaps viewed by its authors as a good political strategy to keep its supporters mobilized and motivated, has consequences for national unity and social cohesion.  This is made more poignant by the fact that the PPP/C lost the elections by a mere 4,506 votes and therefore, in reality, represents the interests of half of the population of Guyana. The party has currently taken to street protests and accusations of ‘witch-hunting’ against the new government.

The peaceful elections and installation of a new government offer opportunities for the UN to deepen and consolidate its strategy of long-term investment in conflict prevention. The UN Guyana therefore wishes to urgently fill the position of Peace and Development Advisor (PDA) in Guyana to spearhead its social cohesion work under the guidance of the Resident Coordinator (RC), and in cooperation with relevant UN partners. A portion of the PDA’s time will also be directed towards supporting relevant UN programming and other engagements in Suriname, including on areas pertaining to natural resources, indigenous rights, and political dynamics.

This is a development project funded (DPF) post.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the Resident Coordinator (RC), and in close coordination with the Deputy Resident Representative and Programme Analyst on Democratic Governance, the PDA will provide strategic and technical support, on the implementation of the UN’s Social Cohesion and Democratic Governance Programme and other activities and initiatives as relevant, with specific emphasis on building national capacities for the constructive resolution of disputes in Guyana, strengthening human rights and governance institutions and fostering social cohesion. The PDA will advise the RC, the Democratic Governance Team, and the relevant national stakeholders, including the UNCT, donors and government and other implementing partners and conduct or facilitate strategy development and training workshops as appropriate. More specifically the functions will include:

• Advising on and supporting the development and implementation of a programme of support to key ministries in the Government of Guyana relevant to social cohesion, governance, human rights and community participation;
• Support the implementation of specific elements of the UN strategy for Democratic Governance with specific emphasis on building awareness, skills and capacities for preventing and mitigating conflict and building social cohesion in Guyana;
• Leading components of the CO’s projects dealing with rights of indigenous peoples, in particular ensuring social safeguards such as free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) and dispute resolution;
• Liaising with all key national and international stakeholders— domestic political and civic actors, UN partners, donors, the Commonwealth, and CARICOM—in line with the UN’s programme of support;
• Assisting UNDP and the UN Country Team in the organization and conducting, as appropriate, of briefings and forums for donors;
• Provide strategic context analysis on issues relating to peace and development in Guyana, including political and related risk analysis to the RC and the UNCT to enable effective support to peacebuilding, social cohesion and governance issues in Guyana;
• Identify and engage key stakeholders in discussions around social cohesion, peacebuilding and governance issues;
• Prepare policy advise and participate in peacebuilding and development efforts as directed by the RC;
• Support analysis and monitoring of current and potential societal tensions, in order to assess and enhance the effectiveness of current initiatives and capacities;
• Assisting relevant stakeholders, as appropriate, on the drafting of “issues papers” that could serve as the basis for further dialogue with regard to root causes of the current conflict and strategies for addressing them;
• Organizing the development and implementation of community-level confidence building initiatives, including with project design and fund-raising;
• Organizing the development and implementation of a programme for strengthening the conflict management capacity of local government bodies, including with project design and fund-raising;
• Liaising with UN headquarters-based entities, particularly counterparts from the Department of Political Affairs and UNDP, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support as well as the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean of (in NY and Panama), including on reporting on the implementation of the programme of support, and related developments within Guyana;
• Provide support to relevant UN programming engagements in Suriname, including on areas pertaining to natural resources, indigenous rights, and political dynamics, with fifteen percent of the PDA’s time, plus any additional support in the case of a contingency as requested, and based on consultations between the RC-Guyana, RC-Trinidad, the UNDP Country Director for Suriname, as well as relevant UNDP and DPA colleagues.

Carrying out any other task requested by the UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the mission, vision and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly and with impartiality.

Technical Competencies:

• Conflict analysis/assessment;
• Facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogues;
• Building national capacities to manage/prevent/reduce violent conflict;
• Conflict sensitive programming;
• Knowledge of the role of women in conflict prevention and peace building;
• Outstanding knowledge of facilitation/training, and process skills;
• Proven knowledge of development, and programme design;
• Extensive experience of providing advice at international level;
• Proven experience of working with the UN and in the context of inter-agency processes.

Functional Competencies:
 

Development and Operational Effectiveness

• Able to lead strategic planning, manage for results and reporting;
• Translates strategic aims into achievable plans and establishes goals and priorities; monitors and adjusts plans as necessary;
• Applies development theory to practice and to identify creative, practical approaches to overcome challenging situations;
• Able to apply conceptual models in support of formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects;
• Able to lead implementation of new systems, mobilize resources and affect staff behavioural/attitudinal change;
• Establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect;
• Identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions;
• Monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed, anticipate problems and identify opportunities;
• Has proven analytical and evaluative skills, and ability to conduct independent analysis;
• Communicates effectively with diplomatic /member state and donor communities, other UN and international agencies, Iraqi national counterparts and electoral authorities;
• Demonstrates practical knowledge in capacity development approaches.

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office through personal example;
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;
• Keeps abreast of new developments in own occupation/profession;
• Contributes to the learning of colleagues and shows willingness to learn from others;
• Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Communication and Knowledge Management

• 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.

Management and Leadership

• Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Delegates the appropriate responsibility, accountability and decision-making authority;
• Makes sure that roles, responsibilities and reporting lines are clear to each staff member;
• Accurately judges the time and resources need to accomplish a task and matches task to skills;
• Establishes and monitors progress against milestones and deadlines;
• Regularly discusses performance and provides guidance, feedback and coaching to staff.

Professionalism

• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Remains calm, in control and good humoured even under pressure;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Recognizes and responds appropriately to the ideas, interests and concerns of others;
• Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office and with stakeholders;
• Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve goals and promotes good team spirit;
• Proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on available information.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced degree (Master) in the Social Sciences.

Work experience:

• Minimum seven (7) years of substantive experience, particularly on governance issues with emphasis on conflict prevention/transformation in developing countries;
• Specific experience involving the facilitation of multi-stakeholder dialogue and consensus-building;
• Experience with imparting training in conflict resolution;
• Prior experience in the Caribbean region is greatly desirable
• Consideration will also be given to prior experience with donor liaison activities;
• Well-developed writing and presentation skills.

Language: 

• Fluency in English.

Additional information:

The system will prompt you to upload a file on the next page after you “submit” your application.  Upload the P11-Personal History form only, Do not  upload your personal CV.  Open the following link to download a copy of the P11-Personal history form: www://gy.undp.org
Fill out, sign and upload the  P11-Personal History Form. Or you can group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

UNDP will not process applications without a properly uploaded P11-Personal History form.