Antecedentes

Under the overall guidance of the Country Director, and programmatic oversight of the Deputy Country Director (Programme), the Peace and Development Advisor will be a part of the Strategic Advisory Unit under the direct supervision of the Senior Economist.  The Peace and Development Advisor will be responsible to provide strategic advice on issues affecting peace and conflict in Sudan, and will support the implementation of conflict  prevention and management initiatives.  Given the sensitivity of the current context of peace and development in Sudan, with new conflicts emerging in South Sudan and growing challenges to the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the PDA will help UNDP Sudan to develop strategic entry points and partnerships with relevant national counterparts in order to move thse initiatives forward, and will therefore need to carry the necessary “gravitas” and substantive stature pertinent to engaging these counterparts in a credible manner. The PDA’s role will therefore extend beyond providing technical and policy advice to substantive leadership of highly sensitive activities, and to direct engagement, as appropriate and under the overall guidance of the Country Director, with senior national and international partners. Given the Sudanese context, and the premium placed on seniority and experience by all partners, the PDA will need to carry the appropriate competencies as well as rank.

The Peace and Development Advisor is responsible to provide policy advice on peace building and conflict management to the CO for further development and implementation of regional strategies and programmes in a conflict-sensitive manner, and responsible for conflict prevention mainstreaming into programming of current and upcoming UNDP activities.
 
The PDA will also work in close collaboration with UNDP programme units (Governance and Rule of Law, Human Security and Recovery, and HIV/AIDS/Gender) and operations teams in the CO and in UNDP Office in Southern Sudan, programme staff in other UN Agencies, Government officials, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors and civil society to ensure successful, conflict-sensitive UNDP programme implementation.
 
In addition, the PDA will work closely with the two UN peacekeeping missions in Sudan (UNMIS and UNAMID) in key areas of his/her portfolio.
The signing of the historic Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005 has opened an unprecedented window of opportunity to turn the devastation of years of war, displacement, and underdevelopment into a new era of peace and sustainable development. Sudan’s vast natural resource endowments and significant human capital offer enormous development potential. Following the signing of the CPA, a Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) led to a Framework for Sustained Peace, Development and Poverty Eradication, which is supported by domestic efforts and resources as well as international development partners, in addressing underlying structural causes of conflict and underdevelopment in Sudan.
 
In July 2008, the Government of Sudan and UN system in Sudan signed UNDAF for the period 2009-2012 with the overall objective to support of supporting peace consolidation and stability in the country. Consequently, UNDP developed its Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) for 2009-2012 and identified the following focus areas for that period: (a) poverty reduction and achievement of MDGs, (b) democratic governance, and (c) crisis prevention and recovery. Particular attention will be accorded to crosscutting concerns: gender, peace and security, HIV/AIDS, environment, and applying a rights-based approach.
 
To implement the Country Programme Action Plan, UNDP will be focusing on regional strategies for the three protocol areas of the CPA (South Kordofan, Abyei, and Blue Nile State) for Eastern Sudan, and for the Darfur.

Deberes y responsabilidades

• Develop entry points and partnerships with senior national counterparts for sensitive initiatives and activities pertaining   to enhancing national and local capacities for conflict management and peace-buildng in Sudan;
• Provide strategic advice to UNDP management on peace building and conflict management issues
• Support the integration of peace building and conflict management into UNDP programmes;
• Provide substantive top quality advisory services to concrete conflict prevention and peace-building initiatives.
• Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, regional and international actors and development partners.

Develop entry points and partnerships with senior national counterparts for sensitive initiatives and activities pertaining to enhancing national and local capacities for conflict management and peace-buildng in Sudan:

• Directly engage national and international partners in order to build entry-points and partnerships for conflict prevention initiatives;
• Provide national counterparts, and help build their understanding in this regard, of comparative experiences and best practices with regard to effective conflict management capacities;
• Assist national counterparts in identifying and implementing plans and programmes for bulding capacities of senior leaders across relevant sectors for constructive negotiation, consensus-building, and effective leadership.

Provide strategic advice to UNDP management on peace building and conflict management issues:

• Provide strategic analysis on issues relating to peace and development to Country Director and CO, with a view to assessing their impact on UNDP programming and enabling the best support to Country Office to mainstream peace building and conflict management;
• Provide UNDP Senior Management with regular reports and updates on conflict analysis and peace-building opportunities;
• Support the UNDP Country Director, and, as appropriate, the programme section, in identifying “entry points” for peace-building and conflict management initiatives and developing appropriate strategic responses;
• Provide advice to relevant stakeholders in identifying relevant risks and opportunities for peace building and conflict management in various parts of Sudan;
• Strengthen UNDP relations with respective government counterparts at both national and state levels, including advice support in critical negotiations and agreements;
• Enhance working relationships with the two peacekeeping mission in Sudan in relevant areas. 

Support the integration of peace building and conflict management into UNDP programmes:

• Spearhead, through training and knowledge networking, the creation of a critical mass of UNDP, UN and partners with the necessary skills in conflict prevention, conflict analysis and conflict sensitive programming;
• Lead on the integration of critical conflict prevention elements within UNDP-supported programmes, strategies and other planning processes, such as the UNDAP and PRSP, particularly through the strategic use of the risk analysis produced in the framework of the TRMA;
• Prevention and peace building, and facilitate improvement synergies in joint UN programmes addressing peace building elements;
• In the context of existing UNDP programmes, provide strategic advice to capacity building efforts of national state-level counterparts in the field of conflict transformation, conflict analysis and conflict sensitive development.
• As appropriate, provide technical support in the TRMA initiative, including in relation to the development of participatory and dialogue oriented regional development strategies.  

Provide substantive top quality advisory services to concrete conflict prevention and peace-building initiatives: 

• Initiate and provide advice to the Country Office on dedicated programmatic activities in the area of peace-building and conflict management, including: civil society peace initiatives, confidence-building exercises, multi-stakeholder dialogues, capacity building in conflict management for national and local leaderships; development of local and/or sub-regional peace support structures to address potential sources of violence. 
• In close collaboration with the Peace and Development Advisor located in the UNDP Office in Southern Sudan, provide programme direction for the implementation, and the expansion of the newly established conflict management initiative.
• Ensure the timely establishment and effective role of the National Conflict Management and Advisory Group at the national and state levels as a platform for strengthening indigenous capacity for conflict management in Sudan;
• Under the overall guidance of DCD (P) assist CO to develop a long-term programme that respondsto conflict risks, and supports medium and long-term peace building strategies;
• Assist in building a network of partners and stakeholders to strengthen the incorporation of a conflict-sensitive lens across all development programmes and a collaborative conducting of a regular strategic conflict assessment in conjunction with other key actors (GoSS, donors, UN agencies, NGOs, CBOs, traditional authorities, etc.).

Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, regional and international actors and development partners:

• Support the building of strategic alliances and partnerships for peacebuilding related strategies and initiatives;
• Maintain close liaison with relevant donors and other actors supporting peacebuilding efforts in Sudan;
• Support the CO mobilizing resources for the implementation of multi-year peacebuilding and conflict initiatives in Sudan.
• Maintain close contact with relevant staff in Headquarters, including UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery and UN DPA.

Competencias

• 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  

• Substantive and technical expertise in one or more of the following areas:
• Conflict analysis and assessment.
• Facilitating multi-stakeholder national/local dialogues for tension reduction.
• Building national capacities to manage/prevent/reduce conflict.
• Conflict sensitive programming.
• Sound knowledge of and exposure to a wide range of post-conflict, peace-building, good governance, human rights and development-related issues;
• Good knowledge of the country and region of assignment, including the political, economic and social dimensions, and their relation to the main engines of conflict;
• Ability to advocate and provide timely policy advice;
• Ability to identify issues and to use sound judgment in applying technical expertise to resolve a wide range of problems;
• Ability to work under extreme pressure in a highly stressful environment.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting
• Strong analytical capacity, including the ability to analyze and articulate conflict management, peace-building, recovery and development dimensions and related issues that require a coordinated UN response
• Good knowledge of institutional mandates, policies and guidelines pertaining to peace-building, recovery and development issues and sound knowledge of the institutions of the UN system;
• Willingness to keep abreast of new developments in the field.

Management and Leadership:

• Excellent communication (spoken and written) skills, including the ability to draft/edit a variety of written reports and communications and to articulate ideas in a clear, concise style.
• Ability to plan own work, manage conflicting priorities and work under pressure of tight and conflicting deadlines.
• Fully proficient computer skills and use of relevant software and other applications.
• Very good interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations.
• Very strong leadership capacities to guide a multi-cultural team in difficult circumstances

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Advanced University degree (Masters Degree) preferably in political or social science, international studies, public administration, economics; 

• Minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in conflict analysis, conflict and crisis prevention and management, peace-building, recovery and development, and related areas.
• Proven experience in development programming, including good understanding of UNDP programming modalities, and rules and regulations. 
• Previous work experience in UN system and UNDP in particular is preferable. 

• Fluency in oral and written English is essential; good knowledge of Arabic (spoken and written) is an asset.