UNDP Jobs - 55954- Policy Advisor

Policy Advisor

Location :

Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

10-May-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-5

Duration of Initial Contract :

One year

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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 UN Resident Coordinator's Office (UNRCO) supports the UN Resident Coordinator in delivering on his/her roles and functions. The UNRCO in Ethiopia provides inter-agency coordination support to the UN Country Team (UNCT) and its various sub-groups. The support includes strategic planning, programme and operations management, policy guidance, as well as knowledge management, advocacy and communications, all seeking to enhance UN coherence and improve overall programme impact to better achieve results.

In July 2016, the new United Nations Development Assistance Framework in Ethiopia (2016-2020) will be launched; it is currently under preparation. This development framework will be closely aligned with the national priorities of the Government of Ethiopia as articulated in its national development plan. Partnership building and resource mobilization will be key to the success of the new UNDAF as well as strengthening engagement with donors, the private sector, foundations, civil society, and the promotion of south-south and triangular cooperation.

The UN Country Team in Ethiopia is composed of 26 agencies, funds and programmes. Ethiopia is a Delivering as One (DaO) country, having voluntarily adopted this approach in 2009.

Under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the UN Resident Coordinator (UNRC), the Policy Advisor will strengthen the capacity of the UN Country Team in Ethiopia, and provide support to the RC in planning, coordinating and implementing an integrated and more effective UN in Ethiopia, in accordance with Delivering as One principles. He/she provides strategic advisory services to the RC and the UNCT. He/she will also support the UNRC in his/her function as Humanitarian Coordinator as needed, liaising closely with OCHA, especially with a view to building resilience and creating better linkages between development and humanitarian interventions.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

The Policy Advisor will report directly to the UNRC. The core functions will include:

Provide ongoing policy advice and support to the UNRC on priority and emerging trends, challenges and opportunities in Ethiopia;
Ensure coordinated planning and programming and implementation of Delivering as One, in line with HQ-approved Standard Operating Procedures;
Oversee the finalization of the next UNDAF, and support and coordinate work planning, results monitoring, reporting, and communication of the UNDAF;
Support UNRC and UNCT in building strong partnership and ensure mobilization of resources to implement the next UNDAF (2016-2020);
Management of staff and budget.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Under the direct supervision of the UN Resident Coordinator, the incumbent will:

Provide ongoing policy advice and support to the UNRC on priority and emerging trends, challenges and opportunities in Ethiopia:

Facilitate the meetings of the Joint Policy Advisory Team, which acts as an internal think tank to the UNCT, providing regular policy advice and developing position papers for the UNCT;
Support strengthening of linkages between development and humanitarian activities of the UN and more broadly, helping to build resilience;
Provide on-demand policy advisory support to the UNRC and the UNCT;
Build and maintain excellent working relations with all agencies and their senior policy advisers;
Support strategic communications and speechwriting.

Ensure coordinated planning and programming and implementation of Delivering as One, in line with HQ-approved Standard Operating Procedures:

Coordinate planning of activities for the UN in Ethiopia, including through joint work planning, joint progrmames, and other joint activities and initiatives. Overall, support implementation of the HQ-approved Standard Operating Procedures, to ensure Ethiopia remains at the forefront of Delivering as One;
Guide the UNRC in the coordination of development activities of the UN agencies; support coordination meetings, including UNCT meetings, ensuring follow-up on decisions taken, common solutions to shared problems and information sharing to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and outreach of the UN programmes in Ethiopia;
Provide support as needed to high-level UN missions.

Oversee the finalization of the next UNDAF, and support and coordinate work planning, results monitoring, reporting, and communication of the UNDAF:

Support the finalization of the next UNDAF (2016-2020) and its associated work plans, and coordinate implementation of the UNDAF in Ethiopia, providing guidance to the UNDAF strategic results groups, supporting the M&E process and keeping the UNDAF benchmarks on target;
Ensure annual and other reviews of the UNDAF, and implementation of ensuring recommendations;
Ensure linkages between the UNDAF and the next Business Operations Strategy, so that the UN continues to improve how it delivers its goals;
Support the communication of strategic information regarding the activities of the UN in Ethiopia to give visibility to the work of the UN and to disseminate important information on the contribution to Ethiopia development agenda;
Contribute, on behalf of the UNCT, in efforts to establish and strengthen coordination and implementation as well as monitoring mechanisms of joint funding mechanisms and report progress of UN activities in the country;
Collaborate closely with Communication Team to ensure linkages and synergies between donor/partner outreach and communication needs.

Support UNRC and UNCT in building strong partnership and ensure mobilization of resources to implement the next UNDAF (2016-2020):

Oversee development and implementation of joint resource mobilization strategy;
Oversee maintenance and raise profile of One UN Fund in Ethiopia as a funding channel of choice through which to channel resources to joint programmes;
Enhance partnerships with Government, donors, NGOs, and private sector;
Promote national and local ownership of programmes through increased consultation and participation of key stakeholders;
Establish strategic partnerships with all key players and maintain excellent relations with a range of external partners such as civil society, media and academia;
Support the UNRC in the management of high-level meetings with the UNCT, as well as external partners, including through the UNDAF High-level Steering Committee;
Support coordination and monitoring implementation of partnership building activities with a coherent strategic approach, providing advice to the UNRC and other units on the strategic directions on partner engagement and networking;
Provide strategic advice and policy recommendations with a view to positioning UNCT strongly to existing and potential partners.

Management of staff and budget:

Provide strategic guidance to the RC Team;
In liaison with the UNRC, establish the team's annual work plans and set objectives & performance indicators for achievement of planned results. Promote teamwork to facilitate harmonization, integration & linkages. Ensure that RCO staff are provided with sufficient information, guidance and support to perform and deliver results accordingly;
In consultation with the UNRC, ensure effective budgeting, reporting and management of RCO resources;
Ensure effective local agency cost-sharing for RCO and UNCT activities, plus continued donor support;
Support UN One programme pillars, Results Groups, inter-agency Programming Team; M&E working group, Operations Management Team; and UN Communications Group as appropriate for the efficient functioning of the UN system;
Undertakes other tasks as may be requested by the UNRC as relates to the UNRCO.

Competencies

Core competencies:

Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents;
Building support and political acumen;
Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
Creating an emotionally intelligent organization;
Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning;
Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member;
Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking.

Functional Competencies:

Advocacy/advancing a policy-oriented agenda:

Advocates the inclusion of UN's development priorities in the public policy agenda;
Brings visibility and sensitizes decision makers to relevant emerging issues;
Builds consensus concerning UN's strategic agenda with partners on joint initiatives;
Leverages UN's multidisciplinary expertise to influence the shape of policies and programmes;
Demonstrates political/cultural acumen in proposing technically sound, fact-based approaches/solutions;
Develops internal organizational policies promoting strategic approaches to UN's development agenda;
Dialogues with national counterparts and other stakeholders to strengthen advocacy efforts, incorporating country, regional and global perspectives;
Demonstrates cultural sensitivity, political savvy and intellectual capacity in handling disagreements with UN's policy agenda in order to promote and position UN in complex environments.

Building strategic partnerships:

Identifies and prioritizes opportunities and obstacles in the political scene (government, civil society, parliamentarians, pressure groups) to advance UN/UNCT's strategic agenda;
Identifies common interests and goals and carries out joint initiatives with partners;
Promotes comparative advantages of UN agencies to strengthen partnerships;
Builds partnerships with non-resident agencies and non-traditional sectors by translating UN/UNCT priorities into messages that reflect the pertinence of their values and interests;
Creates networks and promotes initiatives with partner organizations;
Leverages the resources of governments and other development partners for UN/UNCT strategic priorities.

Results-based programme development and management:

Identifies country needs and strategies using a fact-based approach;
Sets performance standards, monitors progress and intervenes at an early stage to ensure results are in accordance with agreed-upon quality and timeframes and reports on it;
Makes use of a variety of resources based on UN/UNCT priorities to achieve results, such as cross-functional teams, secondments and developmental assignments, and collaborative funding approaches;
Oversees and documents the process of strategy formulation for programmes at country level;
Ensures the integration of strategic concern in interagency, other multilateral initiatives and multi-sectoral development frameworks such as PRSPs, SWAPs and MDGs.

Resource mobilization:

Develops innovative approaches and strategies for fund raising activities to increase the resources of the organization;
Actively develops partnerships with potential donors in all sectors seeking to encourage their commitment to UN;
Formulate strategies to develop a stable and diversified donor base, including governments, private sector, foundations, corporations, philanthropists, etc.;
Conducts donor negotiations for core and multi-bi funds demonstrating UN's comparative advantages and reflecting priorities of donor countries.

Global leadership and advocacy for UN's Goals:

Advocates for the inclusion of development and concerns in the public policy agenda;
Brings visibility and sensitizes decision makers to relevant emerging issues;
Advocates for increased priority given to SDGs and other international agreed frameworks in national planning frameworks;
Advocates increased resources at national level;
Develop strategies to advance UN's principles and goals.

Conceptual innovation in the provision of technical expertise:

Designs policy models to support comprehensive interventions linking UN/UNCT's policy objectives to programme delivery and capacity development objectives;
Ensures that the design of policies are appropriate to national social and development context;
Demonstrates the ability to engage development partners at all levels in conceptual and methodological innovation that is pertinent to the global, national and local context.

Job knowledge/technical expertise:

Possesses expert knowledge of advanced concepts in primary discipline, a broad knowledge of related disciplines, as well as an in-depth knowledge of relevant organizational policies and procedures;
Applies knowledge to support the unit/branch's objectives and to further the mandate of the organization(s);
Applies a broad knowledge of best management practices; defines objectives and work flows, positions reporting relationships in such a way as to obtain optimum effectiveness for the unit/branch;
Keeps abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself personally;
Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
Demonstrates expert knowledge of the current programme guidelines and project management tools and manages the use of these regularly in work assignments.

Promoting organizational learning and knowledge-sharing:

Actively seeks and promotes innovative methodologies and leads the development of supporting policies/tools to encourage learning and knowledge sharing;
Develops and/or participates in the development of policies and new approaches and participates in training of staff in their application throughout the organization;
Promotes knowledge-sharing.

Client orientation:

Anticipates constraints in the delivery of services and identifies solutions or alternatives;
Proactively identifies, develops and discusses solutions for internal and external clients, and persuades management to undertake new projects or services;
Consults with clients and ensures their needs are represented in decision-making processes;
Advises and develops strategic and operational solutions with clients that add value to UN/UNCT programmes and operations.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master's Degree or higher in Development, International Relations, Political Science, Economics or a related subject.

Experience:

A minimum of 10 years progressive professional work experience in international development, coordination and provision of management advisory services;
Experience representing and mediating across complex stakeholders and establishing inter-relationships among international organization and national governments;
Proven experience working in in challenging contexts and promoting development coordination and resource mobilization;
Sound knowledge of the UN system's procedures and operational activities for development;
Hands-on experience in the design, monitoring and evaluation of development projects is desirable;
Knowledge about the UN reform agenda.

Language:

Fluency in English;
Knowledge of another UN language is an advantage.