Background

UNDP Practice architecture:

UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2008-2013 and the 2008 regionalization paper articulate the corporate requirement to bring timely and effective substantive and technical services to the country offices through strengthened practice architecture at the global, regional and country level. 

The UNDP Practice Architecture is an evolving framework for organizing UNDP to provide consistent policy advisory services, relevant and substantive knowledge, better linking of policy and programming and capacity development. Monitoring and communicating results are important aspects of this practice architecture. 

The Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) plays a key role in helping countries to reach their development goals. It is responsible for articulating UNDP’s global policy on developmental issues using evidence gathered through country applications, regional experiences and global interactions.  It helps countries through a network of country offices that it connects to the best of knowledge and human resources on various thematic issues, in the design and implementation of programmes and projects that effectively contribute to policies and results at the national level.  Driven by demand, and working through the Regional Bureau and Regional Centres, BDP provides the global tools, analysis and capacities that country offices need to make a real difference in UNDP’s practice areas.

Within BDP, the recently constituted Knowledge, Innovation and Capacity Group (KICG) delivers a core set of services and solutions to the organization and UNDP’s ultimate clients with a view to strengthen the synergies between these different thematic areas:

• Fostering innovation – ensuring that the latest innovation expertise and methodologies are systematically identified, tested and made available.
• Capacity development support to meet the sustainable development and resilience challenges of today, with an emphasis on expanded collaborative and networking capacities across institutional, professional and constituency boundaries and the ‘how’ of capacity development
• Optimizing knowledge sharing (KS) and knowledge management (KM): internally in UNDP as a core internal capacity and externally as a service offering as part of all UNDP interventions, or, as recently evidenced in the Rio+ Dialogues, as a separate service delivered with other units in UNDP. 
• Enhancing internal Results Based Management, monitoring and evaluation, as part of streamlining agile business processes in UNDP, as well as assisting partners in strengthening their RBM capacity, 

The Knowledge Management Advisor will substantively engage on broader development issues and represent KICG complete portfolio to RCs, country teams and clients beyond his/her own subject matter expertise. Within the subject matter of KM and KS the Knowledge Management Advisor will be contributing to the further strengthening of a coherent and integrated knowledge management and knowledge sharing service structure, driven by users’ needs, where

• The best of UNDP’s collective knowledge, lessons learned and results achieved is made available when and where needed, increasingly in forms openly accessible to clients and the public at large.
• Knowledge networking technologies and platforms are increasingly integrated, easy-to-access and use, and optimally designed and deployed to deliver demonstrable business value
• UNDP’s recognized leadership in knowledge networking is leveraged and expanded
  staff and networks of partners and clients can access, use and add to this knowledge
• Knowledge sharing becomes actionable through the utilization of a broad set of tested KM tools, models and approaches that all staff are trained to use in their interventions, with a level of usability that increasingly make formal training redundant
• Results are translated into searchable lessons learned and added to UNDPs collective knowledge, allowing for iteration and continuous improvement of UNDP’s development interventions.

These services leverage UNDPs collective knowledge but also include KM tools, platforms, approaches and models to support clients in their own endeavours, as an integrated part of UNDP’s support to enhanced performance and capacities, or as a new stand- alone business service line when justified. 

Regional Context:

The magnitude of change across the region is enormous. Countries are facing tremendous challenges, yet, in a bigger picture, the Arab Spring has opened an unprecedented window of opportunity for positive transformation. In close partnership with the relevant Governments and in response to specific requests for support, UNDP is actively involved in supporting efforts to seize this opportunity by bringing to bear its expertise to meet country needs.

Responding to the events of the Arab Spring and the resulting transitions happening in the region, the Regional Bureau for the Arab States (RBAS) is implementing UNDP’s Strategy of Response to Transformative Change in the Arab States Region. Building on the four pillars of the Strategic Plan, practical experience and knowledge globally, in the region and at country level, including the farsighted analyses contained in its global, Arab regional and country-specific national Human Development Reports, as well as other of its relevant Arab region and country-specific reports, this Response Strategy outlines UNDP’s understanding of the issues underlying the wave of transformations in the region and its proposed programmatic response.

• Reorienting its established and new country programmes to support democratic reforms and inclusive growth, especially at their nexus;
• Deepening its ongoing initiatives to support inclusive political participation and dialogue between the state and its citizens;
• Developing new programmatic lines by bridging the gap between solid analysis and programmatic action;
• Stepping up and tailoring its conflict prevention and recovery support to the specific country contexts in the region;
• Bridging the gap between solid diagnostics, analysis, reflection, on the one hand, and programmatic action, on the other;
• Supporting bold Country Office leadership, able to seize opportunities;
• Facilitating UNDP’s agility for urgent and time sensitive interventions;
• Adopting a “business unusual” approach to rise up to the level of transformation and social change.

The demand for innovative approaches to development has accelerated and UNDP country offices require up-to-the-minute access to the latest evidence-backed solutions from within and outside the region. The main KM initiatives will focus on strengthening the exchange of knowledge and experience through transparency of development projects, Communities of Practice, supporting their work with necessary tools, including Web 2.0 presence; facilitating the building and exchange of knowledge with an Expert Exchange scheme and by managing the Expert Roster of the region.
It is recognised that as the Practice Architecture evolves in respect of the Knowledge, Innovation and Capacity Group, this position will increasingly have a role that bridges across teams, practices and clusters. The Advisor position, organisationally located in the Knowledge Management and Innovation Cluster, will have matrix supervision over a P4 Capacity Development Specialist in the governance team. S/he has dual reporting lines to the Manager of the Regional Center Cairo and the Director of the Knowledge, Innovation and Capacity Group in New York.

BDP advisors in regional centres matrixed to the KICG will explore synergies and coordinate their work closely, also when they are performing their main tasks integrated in other clusters in the RCC. 

The Advisor will work with the Knowledge, Innovation and Capacity global team (KICG) and will collaborate with UNDP’s country offices, regional bureau and other practice teams to realize the above and be responsible for delivering quality services.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Advisor’s role is to lead from the front with quality policy, knowledge and technical services delivered to countries. S/he has other roles of practice co-ordination with connecting countries to global experiences. The incumbent will ensure the quality and relevance of programme and project services in the Arab States region, ensuring consistency at the global level. To that end the Advisor‘s functions are fully integrated in the Regional Centre Cairo structure, results planning and delivery. As a result, the incumbent will be accountable for the delivery and quality of results to both the regional Center Manager and the Director of KICG in Headquarters.

This integrated approach translates into joint work planning and joint performance assessment. 
The incumbent will be responsible for the following functions:

• Policy Advisory/Programme Support-Delivery;
• Policy Development;
• Team Management/Coordination;
• Advocacy;
• Partnership Building;
• Quality Control and Assurance

Policy Advisory/Programme Support-Delivery

• Provide and manage policy advisory services to country offices,  RCC practices, the Governments and other partners in the region on knowledge management and knowledge sharing ;
• Provide policy advisory services in the context of the Regional Bureau for the Arab States’ regional programme;
• Contribute to the design and formulation of CO programmes/regional programmes drawing upon lessons from programmes and other initiatives in the region and from global experiences;
• Provide effective support and backstopping for, and timely feedback and reporting on implementation of programmes in support of the practice architecture;
• Strengthen internal CO capacity to implement UNDP corporate knowledge management strategy, including a focus on effective ways of incorporating next generation M7E  approaches, aligning with policies and work in monitoring and evaluation at the corporate level in UNDP, as well as in regional networks and communities of practice
• Support the Corporate Knowledge Strategy, including the development of a regional KM strategy, including the development of a diverse knowledge network recorded and facilitated in the corporate knowledge networking system, Teamworks.
• Support roll out of effective RBM and M&E approaches in close cooperation with other advisors in the RSC, including the Capacity Development Specialist

Policy Development

• Monitor business needs and identify opportunities for the development of new KM/RBM/M&E products and services in response to new needs
• Provide substantive inputs to international fora to help shape global and regional development strategies, policies, norms and standards.
• Provide training and outreach on corporate KM products and services to the RCC, COs and UNCT; and other UN agencies in the region.
• Advise the Regional Center Manager and Practice Leaders on global knowledge management strategies and regional knowledge management needs and opportunities.
• Support policy advisory and regional programme delivery through knowledge management advice
• Advise on M&E and RBM in the Arab region as well as promote exchange among COs on RBM and M&E

Team Management/Coordination:
 
Substantive Leadership:

• Represent KICG in the RCC management team
• Provide substantive and content leadership in UNDP corporate discussions and Inter-Agency coordination on knowledge management ;
• Collaborate with the KICG Director and policy advisors in headquarters to ensure that the RCC-based team is up to date on evolving policies;
• Lead on knowledge management in the region UNDP’s credibility in delivery in this area in its Strategic Plan 2014-2018;

Coordination and Management:

• Develop and implement  team work plans including for the global programme and RBAS regional programmes;
• Lead and manage the KICG team at the Regional Center Cairo, including direct supervision,
• Identify sub-regional and inter-country development and integration opportunities and translates them into initiatives to address cross border issues;
• Support the Global Tracking system;
• Manage all financial resources allocated to the team
• Co-ordinate Regional KICG activities with other regional centres and with HQ.
• Report on results, delivery and system usage.

Mobilizing the Community of Practice:

• Lead and promote the development of communities of practice (COP) on KM and KS, as relevant integrated with other COP areas under KICG’s purview at the regional level and catalyze and connect to global experiences including cross-regional/practice collaboration;
• Be appraised of and leverage the approaches and tools in other practices.

Advocacy and learning

• Lead advocacy for knowledge management in the region including promotion of global policies, norms and standards and the sharing of global experience;
• Mobilize external partnerships behind UN/UNDP initiatives
• Advocate and provide training for knowledge management functions to enable all staff to share knowledge in operational activities.
• Ensure that knowledge management, innovation and capacity development are appropriately integrated into the RSC business processes and the job description of personnel.
• Promote practical synergies between Knowledge Management and learning including the corporate learning and knowledge management platforms.

Partnership Building

• Effectively position UNDP within the UN system to foster consistency in approach at the regional level by scanning and assessing activities of non-UNDP players in local context and in support of UNCTs and UNDP CO programming arrangements with government counterparts;
• Engage national and regional partners in KM policy and programme responses under the leadership of the country offices and the UNCT;
• Lead partnership building with regional and local institutions, consultancies, and civil society organizations, in support of knowledge management, in consultation with and/or in response to requests from Country Offices where these partnerships are being forged and fostered
• Promote UNDP’s work in the area of Knowledge Mobilizations and other citizen empowerment initiatives
• Develop with staff an expert roster for the region
• Develop multi-partner proposals;

Quality Control and Assurance

• Provide Quality Assurance to ensure alignment with global development policies, norms and standards;
• Co-ordinate delivery of demand-driven service delivery to country offices and regional programmes ensuring professionalism in support – e.g. timelines, responsiveness, quality in deliverables, etc;
• Promote quality standards including long-term locally driven initiatives;
• Ensure cross-practice approach and cross-regional collaboration back into the global level
• Advocate for adoption and implementation of KM corporate standard products and services; support the rollout of corporate KM initiatives; and at the same time provide feedback on regional needs that feed into the identification of such products and services.
• Support the quality development of knowledge products/publications and their application for development;  Work closely with the regional practices, ensure that knowledge is tied to UNDP’s value chain (through providing   methodology, know-how and ongoing support to the knowledge exchange).
  

Competencies

Competencies

Corporate:

• 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.

Functional:

• A self-starter with demonstrated credibility to carry missions and country support
• Strong ability to apply various practice/thematic area related development theories to the specific context, including translating practice principles into effective policy and programme interventions in the field;
• Strong substantive knowledge and experience of capacity development and ability to link knowledge to UN/UNDP global policies, processes and frameworks;
• Capacity to interact with senior officials and credibly influence senior decision makers in UNDP programme countries and other international development organizations;
• Strong analytical, negotiation and communication skills, including ability to produce high quality practical advisory reports and knowledge products, represent the organization and present global policies, norms and tools;
• Professional and/or academic experience in one or more of the areas of capacity development.

Leadership

• Demonstrated ability to think strategically and to provide credible leadership;
• Innovative approaches/experience on global development issues;
• Demonstrated flexibility in leadership by performing and/or overseeing the analysis/resolution of complex issues;
• Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of development experience;
• Knowledge and expertise/recognized expert in practice area.

Managing Relationships

• Demonstrated well developed people management and organizational management skills;
• Ability to coordinate teams; creating an enabling environment, mentoring and developing staff;
• Excellent negotiating and networking skills with strong partnerships in academia, technical organizations and as a recognized expert in the practice area;
• Resource mobilization and partnering skills and ability to accept accountability for management of financial resources.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a matrixed environment balancing regional and global priorites and assignations.

Managing Complexity

• Ability to address global development issues;
• Substantive knowledge and understanding of development cooperation with the ability to support the practice architecture of UNDP and inter-disciplinary issues;
• Demonstrated substantive leadership and ability to integrate knowledge with broader strategic, policy and operational objectives;
• A sound global network of institutional and individual relationships.

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Ability to strongly promote and connect knowledge to situations;
• Promote knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;
• Seek and apply knowledge, information and best practices from within and outside of UNDP;
• Provide constructive coaching and feedback.

Judgment/Decision-Making:

• Mature judgment and initiative;
• Proven ability to provide strategic direction in practice area;
• Independent judgment and discretion in advising on handling major policy issues and challenges, uses diplomacy and tact to achieve results.

Required Skills and Experience

• Master's degree in a knowledge management and/or development related area – (Information, Communication, Economics, Public Policy, Development Management, International Relations, Business Administration etc.)

• 10 years of overall relevant professional experience, including in knowledge management.
• Experience in developing/managing knowledge management systems/programmes
• Advanced experience with current KM technologies, including Web and Enterprise 2.0.
• Work experience in the region is highly desirable;
• A track record of national and international working experience with increasing responsibilities in the development arena and UNDP’s practice areas and the ability to link to global policy development for UNDP;
• Experience in leading/managing knowledge product development and dissemination.

• Fluency (both written and verbal) in English and Arabic. Working knowledge of French is an asset.