UNDP Jobs - 55389- Project Officer

Project Officer

Location :

Kathmandu, NEPAL

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

01-Jun-2015

Application Deadline :

12-Apr-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

SC-8

Duration of Initial Contract :

Up to December 2015

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Up to the end of the project

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

In Nepal, after the end of a ten years armed conflict, the victims of human rights violations started to organize themselves with the support of human rights NGOs working on transitional justice (TJ) issues. There are more than 50 victims groups organized in different forums in Nepal. Victims of human rights violations during the conflict have increasingly felt that they are largely excluded in addressing their real needs and aspirations in the transitional justice debate which was highly focused on issues of justice. Despite their involvement in the discussion around the transitional justice, the different conflict victims felt that they were not recognized as an independent actor or the beneficiary of the whole transitional justice process, but were treated as a secondary element in the TJ process. Thus, they have remain fragmented, their voice was ignored and their concern was never regarded as a common voice.

Despite the lack of trust among some conflict victims’ groups, the conflict victims’ groups have established a working relationship to advocate for a victim centric transitional justice process asking for their recognition in the overall transitional justice process. While their demand is for the participatory, inclusive and transparent transitional process, they are also actively involved in the advocacy for the TJ mechanisms to be incompliance with the international human rights principle.

The Transitional Justice Resource Center (‘TJRC’) was launched in July 2011 and closed in 2014. The TJRC was established to enhance local knowledge of TJ issues, support effective public participation, especially of the conflict victims in the TJ process, and contribute towards the objective of promoting and protecting the voices of those who seek truth, justice and peace in Nepal. The objectives of the TJRC were:

To provide a learning and platform for victims of human rights violations and abuses, civil society, academia, researchers, lawyers, and decision makers to develop a broad based consensus in compliance with international principles of TJ;
To support efforts to build capacity of practitioners involved in peace building and TJ initiatives; and
To provide a liaison office for the referral of victims of human rights violations and abuses to appropriate institutions, networks and service providers.

This project will establish the TJRC as a centre to support the work of victims groups and in particular the Conflict Victims Common Platform to advocate and run activities to support victims of the conflict in Nepal.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Transitional Justice Project Manager and in close coordination and cooperation with the Chief Technical Adviser of the Rule of Law and Human Rights Project, the Project Officer has the overall responsibility for implementing project activities and helping guide the strategic direction of the project.

Functions / Key Results Expected

Support the coordination of activities to ensure they are implemented in a timely and satisfactory manner;
Facilitate the collaboration and liaison between implementing partners, CSOs, victims groups and UNDP Nepal to ensure implementation of project activities;
Contribute to the preparation of the project work-plans in collaboration with the project partners;
Support substantive monitoring and evaluation of the approved work-plan for achievement of results and ensure capturing of gender disaggregated results;
Contribute in developing the implementation strategies for the assigned components of the project, ensuring that gender-sensitive approaches are integrated;
Indentify changes in the external environment and promptly advise the project manager on necessary solutions/actions;
Support Project Manager in monitoring and identifying project risks;
Support the fielding of national and international consultants and follow up on recommendations to be implemented;
Support the project manager in preparing donor reports regularly on activities, outputs and outcomes as per UNDP rules and regulations and ensure that gender dimensions are highlighted in all products;
Identify and analyze relevant social media platforms for the project to become involved with;
Contribute to knowledge management activities and capturing of lessons learned during programme implementation;
Contribute to organizing regular Programme Board meetings to perform regular progress reporting;
Related work experience in Human Rights/justice sector/legal area ( in this TOR this area is not mentioned)

Impact of Results

The results of the work of the Project Officer have a direct impact on the implementation of the project and the achievement of results. Specifically, the results have an impact on the planning, implementation, monitoring and coordination of project activities and resources (human, financial, material assets etc.) in order to meet expected results, and contribute to the overall success and impact of the UNDP office work in Nepal.

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:

Ability to conduct strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
Ability to lead monitoring of management projects;
Ability to lead business process;
Ability to affect staff behavioral/attitudinal change;
Proven ability to coordinate complex programs with diverse range of partners;
Ability to analyze and apply social media concepts to the local development field;
Ability to perform a variety of specialized tasks related to Results-Based Management, including support to design, planning and implementation of the programme, managing data, reporting;
Analytical and strategic thinking/results orientation;
Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing;
Ability to establish effective working relations in a multicultural team environment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree in law/Human rights, social science, political science or related field.

Experience:

At least 3 years of relevant working experience in project management, and/or establishing relationships among international organization and transitional justice;
Proven track record in a field such as community development or public administration;
Previous experience in development assistance or related work for an international agency or donor organization or NGO;
Good knowledge of Nepal’s political issues and challenges concerning transitional justice;
Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web based management systems

Language Requirements:

Fluency in both oral and written English and Nepali.