UNDP Jobs - 23123- Knowledge Management Specialist, Environment and E

Knowledge Management Specialist, Environment and Energy Group

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

13-Jun-2011

Application Deadline :

30-May-11 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-3

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 year

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

1 year

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

The Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) is UNDP’s policy bureau and backbone of its global practices. BDP has a key role to play in helping country offices to accelerate human development through strengthening the practice areas within UNDP’s programmes.

BDP support of UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2008-2013 and its 6 thematic areas (Poverty Reduction, Democratic Governance, Environment and Energy, HIV/AIDS, Capacity Development, and Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment) together with the regionalization process require it to support a strong and vibrant practice architecture which can ensure that UNDP, at all levels, benefits from consistent and coherent policy direction, rigorous quality standards and valuable service platforms.

UNDP Environment and Energy Practice is responsible for providing leadership and technical support to the delivery of the Environment and Sustainable Development pillar of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. Its main focus is on helping countries develop the capacity to fully incorporate environmental sustainability into development not only at national and local levels, but also global and regional levels. The principal areas of work are in environmental mainstreaming, environmental finance, adaptation to climate change, and local governance of resources, including energy.
Knowledge management in UNDP is guided by a Knowledge Strategy that enables UNDP to share and leverage its knowledge and experience across countries, regions, practices, UN agencies and external partners. The Knowledge Strategy creates a human and technical infrastructure to enable staff and practitioners to learn, share, connect and contextualize knowledge by enhancing collaboration and creating a cultural change with regard to the organization’s approach to knowledge management. This represents the next stage in the evolution of Knowledge Management in UNDP. The Knowledge Management Specialist is at the centre of connecting the work within the Environment and Energy practice to the Knowledge Strategy.

The Knowledge Management Specialist will be the driving force within the practice, providing expertise in knowledge assimilation, development of communities of practice and knowledge dissemination as well as introducing new tools and technologies that can enhance the work of the practice in this regard. The Knowledge Management Specialist will work with the designated lead in his the practice as well as with the corporate Knowledge Management Group, under a matrixed management arrangement. The Knowledge Management Specialist’s individual work planning will be initiated by the KM Specialist and jointly developed with the Environment and Energy practice and with the Knowledge Management Group. Performance assessments will be jointly conducted, with the practice holding the primary supervisory role.

Duties and Responsibilities

More specifically, the Knowledge Management Specialist will be responsible for the following duties and responsibilities:

Knowledge Management:

Defines and implements, with the Environment and Energy practice and corporate Knowledge Management Group, a knowledge management approach and plan for the practice aimed at enhancing knowledge sharing and delivering of planned results;
Ensures editorial management and content scheduling of all online/web spaces (internet, intranet, extranet, etc) for the practice;
Promotes corporate knowledge sharing within BDP service areas and services offered by the practice, including cross-practice knowledge sharing;
Provides guidance to the practice on how to integrate knowledge management in the practice work;
Builds awareness through research and outreach on practice areas of work;
Keeps up to date on latest developments in relevant thematic areas and takes advantage of all mechanisms for contextualizing and sharing that knowledge;
Bridges people through thematic communities and encourages and facilitates peer-to-peer and group sharing;
Understands and communicates on new corporate knowledge sharing mechanisms;
Enables a cultural change from KM 1.0 (process oriented) to KM 2.0 (people oriented) so that staff transition successfully from maintaining tacit knowledge to consistently sharing explicit knowledge;
Expedites the transition to the new corporate knowledge strategy within the practice;
Flags opportunities for funding and thematic knowledge development;
Proactively engages with UNDP clients and partners in developing innovative knowledge-based services and builds capacity of clients to interact with new knowledge-sharing systems and lead knowledge exchanges;
Innovates and engages on new technology (multi-media) opportunities to receive, capture and share knowledge;Initiates and manages internal messaging and public advocacy on knowledge sharing developments and achievements, including by ensuring that content on websites is creative and current.
Provides strategic input into development of corporate policies on knowledge building, sharing and networking, in collaboration with the Knowledge Services Team in headquarters and in the Regional Service Centres, and in support to the implementation of UNDP’s Knowledge Strategy;
Helps to map processes of policy work and to define workflows for enhanced policy support; co-ordinates collection and publishing processes with advocacy support from the practice leadership and assistance from the Research Analyst;
Provides advice, technical assistance and backstopping for the improvement of knowledge management across UNDP, other agencies and with external partners;
Provides knowledge management training to practice members.

Practice policy advisory/programme support services:

Contributes to the development of new knowledge products, services and tools in order to continuously improve the services delivered to the practice community in response to newly identified needs, while learning from operational experience in order to improve these services;
Provides technical backstopping and substantive support in the practice area to country offices, which may include project and programme identification, formulation, monitoring and evaluation;
Supports the practice in communications and advocacy efforts.

Research/Content Development:

Supports multimedia approaches by which knowledge is produced, managed, communicated and shared;
Coordinates the knowledge management aspects of the practice knowledge products and services and supervises cross-practice knowledge activities;
Ensures the implementation within the practice of existing knowledge management quality assurance processes, including assessment of outcome and evaluation of impact of knowledge work with the country offices as clients.

Practice Co-ordination and Advocacy:

Builds relations with external professionals and institutions, including donors, UN system agencies and civil society organizations, in the substantive areas of the practice and in support of knowledge sharing and networking;
Expands the knowledge base by joining other global or regional networks and researching information from other COPs. Sharing relevant developments, innovations, best practices, lessons learned and content developed with the community when relevant.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modeling the UN/UNDP’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;.
Knowledge/experience of UN system, preferable.

Functional/Technical Competencies:

In-depth substantive knowledge of Knowledge Management and Development Policy issues, particularly in the principal focus areas of the Environment and Energy practice;
Solid familiarity with current Knowledge Management technologies, including Web 2.0 and social media-based systems;
Demonstrated capacity to strongly promote knowledge sharing and knowledge products and systems;
Ability to innovate online presence of the practice;
Ability to provide advocacy, outreach and capacity development on knowledge management;
Familiarity with the UNDP work and approaches in the area of Environment and Energy.

Other Relevant Competencies:

Takes initiative and demonstrates sound judgment;
Demonstrated ability to work in a diverse team setting;
Strong verbal and written communication skills;
Ability to work in a complex environment requiring liaison and collaboration with multiple actors;
Advanced computer skills;
Excellent team-building, diplomatic and inter-personal skills.
Ability to form partnerships, both within the organization, with other UN agencies and with the development community at large.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master's degree in a development related area such as Social Sciences, Economics, Public Policy or International Relations.

Experience:

5 years of overall relevant professional experience as well as a proven professional record in the areas of Environment, Energy and/or Sustainable Development in an international context ;
Experience in knowledge management in a development context;
Work experience within a developing country context;
A track record of extensive national/international working experience within UNDP’s practice areas;
Experience in leading/managing knowledge product development and dissemination;
Experience of knowledge sharing within a web 2.0 environment.

Language:

Fluency and proficiency in English;
Working knowledge of another UN language desirable.