UNDP Jobs - 69059- Community Development Expert

Community Development Expert

Location :

Monrovia, LIBERIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Nov-2016

Application Deadline :

21-Oct-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Six Months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Six 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

With the UNMIL transition rapidly gaining gear and as the mission enters its final phase, it is apparent that the bulk of the activities aimed at sustaining the peacekeeping gains of the mission will likely fall on UNDP both during the transition and beyond. The bulk of the mission’s current and future mandate, will have far stronger linkages to UNDP’s mandate, expertise and experience, than to the mandate of the other agencies. This requires that the CO prepares itself, including a reassessment of its capabilities during the transition period in meeting the needs of an expanded programme.

Already, under the Mission assessed contributions, UNDP will be allocated funding from UNMIL’s assessed budget to strengthen programmatic cooperation in support of mandate implementation in the area of cross-border cooperation and to scale up related programming. One of the projects focuses on the border areas between Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia which have experienced continued tension and incidents of violence. Some armed attacks are occasionally carried out by unidentified armed individuals from Liberia and within the Ivorian border community residents, and have caused the displacement of many families, destruction of livelihoods and added to the breakdown and disintegration of communities. This does not merely indicate weak border security but also growing tensions between communities as well as between indigenous and non-indigenous populations.

Despite the implementation of reconciliation and social cohesion initiatives to reduce tensions, the communities are still ethnically and politically divided. The majority of Ivoirians who remain in Liberia are apprehensive about return for fear of reprisals in relation to the atrocities committed during the civil war as well as persistent land disputes. Assistance deployed to work towards stabilization and rehabilitation of border areas has nevertheless enabled communities to access basic social services, and thus, regaining some normality. The outbreak and spread of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Liberia and Guinea in March 2014, led to the closure of international land borders between Côte d’Ivoire and its two neighbours . This negatively impacted informal cross-border trade, predominantly by women, which whose integrative dimension had been evident.
As part of its recovery agenda, UNDP has stayed engaged, investing in interventions that seek to rebuild local development and livelihood conditions in communities, especially in the remote hard-to-reach border communities in Liberia and across the borders with Sierra Leone, Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire. With support from the Government of Japan and the Peace Building Fund, UNDP is working to promote rapid socio-economic recovery, resilience and restoration of livelihoods and supporting existing post-Ebola recovery action plans and strategies developed by national and regional partners.
In order to maintain and accelerate this engagement, UNDP is seeking to recruit a short term Community Development Expert to support its growing community engagement work, helping to bolster the initiatives, especially at the borders, that aim at re-building local communities, enhancing social cohesion and promoting reconciliation and peace building efforts as well as strengthening social and economic empowerment.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall goal for this post is to improve UNDP’s community engagement initiatives by providing programme support to the on-going border projects (funded under the PBF, Japan and Mission assessed contributions in Maryland, River Gee, Nimba, Grand Gedeh, Grand Cape Mount) aimed at building resilience and strengthening social cohesion.
Specifically, the incumbent will be expected to:

Liaise with other project staff to provide support towards strengthening the capacities of local authorities and their communities in addressing local governance challenges related to social cohesion, peace building, reconciliation and peaceful co-existence
Strengthen coherence and coordination amongst local communities, traditional leaders including Council of Chiefs and Elders, county authorities at the targeted cross-border areas by providing a range of capacity building interventions intended to build resilience, foster harmony and promote peaceful co-existence amongst contiguous border communities;
Conduct a mapping of and build partnerships with local level actors - CSOs, CBOs, local leaders and other community actors – to build local capacities for early warning responses, mechanisms and policies; local governance in cross-border areas, strengthened capacities for economic opportunities and promotion of local development; social cohesion, dialogue and peacebuilding in cross-border areas, among others.
Provide technical and operational support in the design and roll-out participatory approaches and methodologies that generate interest and activate stakeholder engagement in the target communities. This would include identifying areas of learning, community building, iterative development, etc.
Provide support in ensuring effective reporting of programme results including, i) preparation of monthly, quarterly and annual project reports; ii) provide thorough progress reporting and analysis of the achievements, facilitates project reviews and evaluations; iii) ensure proper maintenance of sound filing system and appropriate use and recording of all UNDP experience, best practices, activities and results as it relates to community engagement;
Provide any other technical and operational support as may be needed in ensuring successful implementation of UNDP’s community engagement initiatives

Deliverables

Conduct a rapid assessment of the targeted border areas under the Assessed funding and Japanese funded projects, confirm communities and interventions and develop an implementation plan; Month 1-2 ; Inception report; field assessment report, implementation plan;
Field work, community engagement activities as per work plan of both the assessed funding and the Japanese funded regional project; Months 3-4; Weekly/monthly activity reports/updates; updated reporting matrices; copies of presentations/minutes of meetings;
Field work, community engagement activities as per work plan of both the assessed funding and the Japanese funded regional project; Month 5; Weekly/monthly activity reports/updates; updated reporting matrices; copies of presentations/minutes of meeting;
At the end of the assignment, prepare final report showing overall progress, challenges experienced and recommendations for UNDP’s consideration in advancing community engagement/border initiatives; Month 6; End of Assignment Report.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:
Knowledge Management and Learning

Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office;
In-depth knowledge on development issues;
Ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Management and Leadership

Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
Leads teams effectively and shows conflict resolution skills;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Master’s Degree or equivalent in Development Planning, Social Sciences, Community Development, International Development, or related field;
A BA with Over 15 Years’ experience can also be considered.

Experience

Over 10 years’ proven and successful track record in program design and management in transitional contexts and broad experience in leadership roles within emergency response operations, implementing peace building programs in post-conflict areas, supervising diverse teams and managing challenging programs in Africa, with experience in Liberia or the MRU.

Language Requirements

Fluency in both spoken and written English.

Summary of Critical Competencies for Immediate Response Situations:

Possess a comprehensive set of competencies enabling immediately taking on the challenging role in a transition context: strategic, integrity, results orientation, teamwork, good inter-personal skills, well developed communication skills, sound judgment, analytical skills, flexibility, proactive engagement, innovation, risk management, gender and culturally sensitivity, ability to work under pressure.

Evaluation criteria:

Shortlisting:

    Relevant diploma – 4 points;
    Years of Relevant Experience – 6 points.

Only shortlisted candidates will be forwarded the UNDP Procurement Notice.

Desk review

    Porposed Methodology - 30 points;
    Years & relevance of experience- 50 points.
    Adequacy of skills & competencies - 20 points;

To be qualified candidate should obtain minimum 70% of the total 70 points.

Contract Award

Contract will be awarded to highest scored candidate (technical score + financial scores)/100
Rating will be as follow:

Rating the Technical Proposal (TP):
TP Rating = (Total Score Obtained by the Offer / Max. Obtainable Score for TP) x 100

Rating the Financial Proposal (FP):
FP Rating = (Lowest Priced Offer / Price of the Offer Being Reviewed) x 100

Total Combined Score:
(TP rating) x (Weight of TP, e.g. 70%) + (FP Rating) x (Weight of FP, e.g., 30%)
Total Combined and Final Rating of the Proposal: The higher combined score will be recommended.