Jobs - 60222- Provision of Individual Services of a Senior Exper

Provision of Individual Services of a Senior Expert for Developing the Social Cohesion Index in the Arab Region

Lieu :

Home-Based

Type de contrat :

Individual Contract

Date de commencement :

Date limite de candidature :

19-Oct-15 (Minuit New York, États-Unis)

Niveau du poste :

International Consultant

Durée du contrat initial

Langues requises :

Arabe Anglais

Durée prévue de la mission :

60 working days spread over 3.5 months from contract signature

Le PNUD s’engage à recruter un personnel divers en termes de genre, de nationalité et de culture. Nous encourageons de même les personnes issues des minorités ethniques, des communautés autochtones ou handicapées à postuler. Toutes les candidatures seront traitées dans la plus stricte confidentialité. Le PNUD ne tolère pas l’exploitation et / ou les atteintes sexuelles, ni aucune forme de harcèlement, y compris le harcèlement sexuel, et / ou toutes formes de discrimination. Tous/tes les candidats/tes selectectionnes /ées devront ainsi se soumettre à de rigoureuses vérifications relatives aux références fournies ainsi qu’à leurs antécédents.

Historique

Launched in 2015, “Promoting Social Cohesion in the Arab Region” is a regional project that aims to promote social cohesion, with a focus on equal citizenship, trust among citizens as well as between citizen and state; respect for human rights, economic and social equality; and pluralistic acceptance of the other, of different faiths, confessions, ethnic backgrounds, and political ideologies. This project intends to work on the question of social cohesion by providing an inclusive space to convene key actors, of government and civil society, as well as religious leaders and the private sector, both at the regional and national levels to facilitate platforms of engagement and forums for solutions in order to support concrete initiatives on the ground. Through a regional approach/modality, multiple stakeholders can exchange experiences, provide peer review and support, and find inspiration from other contexts.

In the Arab region, the exclusive nature of many social, political and economic institutions and processes, the lack of or limited pluralistic participation in social, economic and political life, and in some cases, the manipulations of diversity and identity, has manifested itself in social discontent and popular uprisings since 2011. Conflictive and violent transitions in Yemen, Libya and Iraq have revealed the detrimental effects of the lack of state acceptance by citizens and the history of exclusion, inequality and neglect for human rights and social cohesion. In Syria, the number of Syrians who have fled abroad since the outbreak of the country's civil war has risen to more than 4 million. Syrians are now the world's largest refugee population under UNHCR care, second only to the Palestinians Neighboring countries including Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq in particular now host some of the highest numbers of refugees per capita globally. This dimension requires that social cohesion within the region also involves measuring refugee participation and relationship with the host society. Taking into account other ongoing unrests, conflicts and crises in Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Somalia and Sudan, the region seems to be going through one of its most devastating and destabilizing periods in its modern history. If anything, recent events show that disaffections and group tensions vary. What has taken the shape of a sectarian/ confessional civil strife in Iraq and Syria, takes shape along party lines in Egypt, with resentments over regime changes, and disgruntled youth that is increasingly alienated and radicalized. But what remains common is that governments are in crisis, states are becoming vulnerable to disintegration, and territorial nation-states are challenged at a speed that threatens sliding pre-existing politics into irrelevancy.

Against the backdrop of such added challenges and pressures on individual, ethnic and social communities and states in the region, the relationships between the citizen and the state and between various social groups in some countries have further deteriorated, making the question of how to restore social cohesion more acute than ever. Based on a conceptual framework discussed and endorsed in a regional consultation organized in June 2014 in Amman, the project entails two interrelated areas that define the programmatic entry points. These two areas of work are organized to target social cohesion along both the vertical (relationship between state and citizen) and horizontal dimension (relationship amongst citizens) via measures that respond to the unique situations in different countries while at the same time providing opportunities to collaborate regionally through a shared vision on social cohesion.

Building social cohesion – defined as trust, a sense of belonging, and the willingness to participate along vertical and horizontal lines of interactions among members of a society – helps reduce social tensions, and resolve and prevent conflicts. Acknowledging the particular vulnerabilities challenging social cohesion in crisis and post-conflict recovery settings, the project thus will seek greater understanding on the linkages between social cohesion, tension and conflict prevention.

The project intends to deliver results through knowledge generation and contribute to a better understanding and measuring of the concepts related to social cohesion, with emphasis on equal citizenship, taking into account regional, national and local contexts while benefiting from the international experience in this regard.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Most research on social cohesion emphasize the multi-dimensionality and complexity of the concept, operationalizing multi-leveled indices. UNDP is aware that utilizing this concept to build a unifying agenda requires investment in analytical work that would guide the ensuing advocacy initiatives and targeted technical support.

Within the scope of the “Promoting Social Cohesion in the Arab Region” project, UNDP has initiated discussions on the development of a measurement instrument of social cohesion on a regional and national level based on feasibility across the Arab Region. These discussions are premised on a shared understanding of the social cohesion concept and its relationship with inclusive development, especially in a context where the United Nations will be endorsing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015, with SDG16 dedicated to “peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all level.” A better understanding of this intrinsic relationship and the variables that impact each other will enable policy makers and aid providers assess the quality of inclusive development and relationship to social cohesion.

The objective of developing a measurement instrument or index is to determine the indicators which can be utilized to measure changes in certain dimensions of socially cohesive behavior as well as of a socially cohesive society over time in response to policies as well as possibly programmatic interventions. The aim is to understand the present state of social cohesion in target geographies and populations, including at country, sub-regional, and regional levels, and to track any future improvement or deterioration in social cohesion, and to be able to better substantiate the reasons for these changes. Indicators will be identified or developed that take into account the particular context and data availability.

The framework for measuring social cohesion within the region will also need to take into consideration how to measure the specificities of social cohesion relating to outcomes for refugees (as well as IDPs) and host communities at variety of levels, including refugee participation within the host society and comparing this with the host community’s response to the refugee population. The framework needs to also take into consideration the history of state formation in the Arab region, its governance structure, and the impact of the recent developments to cohesion in the society and community level.

The above indicates that an attempt to conceptualize social cohesion in the Arab region and to suggest a measurement tool or a social cohesion index requires engaging experts from different backgrounds but under the umbrella of developing a relevant, functional and flexible tool that can be advanced with time.

To this end, UNDP is looking to hire a Senior Expert to lead the process with developing an index with measureable indicators indicative of progress (or not) of social cohesion in societies across the Arab region as well as possibly within a sub-region. The Senior Expert would lead the research work on developing such an index to measure social cohesion and monitor its development across time. The Senior Expert will ensure that the Social Cohesion Index is prepared based on a guidance from UNDP Hub for Arab States and its Regional Programme as well as in consonance with similar work developed by UNDP in other regions, such as UNDP Cyprus, and complementing other relevant methodologies such as the Conflict and Development Analysis and Early Warning frameworks under development. Global expertise on the subject will be assembled to jointly craft a measurement instrument that is methodologically sound and responsive to the contextual realities of Arab countries, which may impact on the way in which the term social cohesion is conceived of.

At all times, the Senior Expert should ensure that the deliverables are of high quality and meet these four standards:

Technical robustness;
Regional and programmatic relevance;
Integrity and quality of analysis;
Stakeholder engagement and inclusive preparation.

The agreed upon methodology will be used both for establishing the baseline and for future monitoring and evaluation within and across countries. This may later be accompanied by training to be provided to the counterparts who could utilize the assessment tool and adapt it to better suit their context. Finally, the methodology and the assessment tool may also guide further research.

The Senior Expert work under the overall technical guidance of the Cluster Leader, Governance and Peacebuilding Unit, UNDP Regional Hub in Amman and work closely with a team in UNDP including the PSCAR Specialist/Project Coordinator who will ensure prompt feedback is received from relevant UNDP staff and teams.

The work will be undertaken by a small team of consultants (Senior Expert, national consultant with regional expertise and possibly part-time econometrician/statistician) for an initial 60-days assignment period over three months.

Compétences

Extensive technical knowledge of social cohesion, inclusive development, conflict prevention etc.;
Proven track record in undertaking assessments, surveying, quantitative research, etc.;
Proven intellectual and practical capacity to understand and interpret regional, national and local development issues, particularly in recovery situations / crisis settings;
Excellent drafting and formulation skills.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

Advanced university degree (Master, PhD) in economics, social science, political science, conflict studies or other relevant thematic area.

Experience:

At least 10 years of relevant professional experience;

Languages:

Fluency in both spoken and written English is required.