UNDP Jobs - 38230- Programme Specialist (Emergency Employment & Early

Programme Specialist (Emergency Employment & Early Recovery

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

28-Jun-13 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

one year

Languages Required :

English French

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 Livelihoods and Economic Recovery Group (LERG) is an integral part of the Conflict Prevention and Recovery Team (CPRT) and the Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery Team (DRRRT). It is responsible for practice development in the areas of livelihoods and economic recovery as they relate to crisis prevention and recovery in conflict and disaster settings. It provides high quality technical support to Country Offices for the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of crisis-sensitive employment and livelihood and reintegration programmatic activities. It is headed by a Group Leader with a dual reporting arrangement, the primary reporting line being with the CPRT and the secondary one with the DRRRT.

Under the general guidance of the Team Leader, Livelihoods and Economic Recovery Group (LERG), the Programme Specialist (Emergency Employment & Early Recovery) will work closely with UN agencies and other partners, particularly at country level, as well as other parts of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR), such as regional teams within the Country Support and Management Team (CSMT) and the CPRT and DRRRT regarding technical advice.

Duties and Responsibilities

Consolidates and designs programming tools for UNDP staff on sustainable emergency job creation in recovery situations, in line with the UN Policy on Post Conflict Employment, Income Generation and Reintegration;
Provides technical and strategic support to UNDP Country Offices (COs) in developing sustainable emergency employment creation planning and programming in early recovery contexts including the development, consolidation and dissemination of tools and approaches for pre-crisis recovery planning for early recovery and rapid return to sustainable human development;
Promotes a common understanding, within BCPR and with relevant UNDP Bureaux, on UNDP's role in sustainable livelihoods /job creation within an early recovery framework;
Builds partnerships and supports networks, within and beyond the UN, on sustainable livelihoods/job creation issues including leading/participation in PDNAs/PCNA;
Leads in UNDP's knowledge building and dissemination on sustainable livelihoods/job creation, and contributes actively to state-of-the-art debates on innovations in sustainable livelihoods/ employment assessment, analysis and programming.

Consolidates and designs programming tools for UNDP staff on sustainable livelihoods/emergency employment creation in recovery situations, in line with the UN Policy on Post Conflict Employment, focusing on achievement of the following results:

Consolidation and review of existing programmatic tools on sustainable livelihoods/emergency job creation, both within and beyond UNDP, to identify key gaps;
On the basis of this review, preparation of an emergency livelihoods/job creation programming toolkit with standardized emergency livelihoods/employment projects to guide COs in the rapid development of emergency livelihoods/employment inputs in Flash Appeals and CAPS;
Consolidation and dissemination of tools and analytical approaches to understanding and reducing crisis risks in post disaster and post conflict situations;
Review of UNDP emergency livelihoods/employment contributions to these appeals and provide recommendations for improvements to the appealing Country Office;
Collaboration with BCPR and UNDP colleagues, in consultation with key partners such as FAO and ILO, in the development of an immediate, short- and medium-term programming framework for sustainable emergency employment interventions in post-crisis situations;
Collaboration with ILO and FAO on the preparation of training for field-level staff on the use of the emergency livelihoods/employment assessment toolkit, and PDNA/PCNA in crisis and pots crisis;
Detailed guidance to UNDP on the parameters for BCPR involvement in the area of emergency employment creation and post-crisis recovery, and specification in detail of the types of interventions that BCPR will support;
Development of a mainstreaming methodology and approach for sustainable livelihoods/ employment, in collaboration with all BCPR units, other UNDP practice areas, and external partners;
Collaboration with BCPR's Gender Advisor(s) to ensure that programmatic guidance on emergency livelihoods/job creation is gender responsive, and active promotion of UNDP's Eight Point Agenda for Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality in Crisis Prevention and Recovery;
Ensuring the coherence of BCPR-supported livelihoods/emergency employment programmes, within the context of the LERG programme concept and framework, the overall BCPR strategy and the work plans of other BCPR units;
Monitoring and evaluation framework devised for BCPR-supported emergency employment programmes, with specific and measurable indicators, ensuring that all BCPR programming is monitored, reviewed and evaluated according to these procedures.

Provides technical and strategic support to UNDP Country Offices in developing sustainable livelihoods/ employment creation planning and programming including the development, consolidation and dissemination of tools and approaches for pre-crisis recovery planning for sustainable livelihoods/ employment creation, focusing on achievement of the following results:

Responses to requests from UNDP COs for the development of area-based approaches to early recovery, programme documents for ER and resource mobilization;
Development of training for UNDP COs for the application of the local level early recovery;
Programming tool currently being developed according to area-based recovery principles;
Provision of rapid support, following crises, to UNDP COs to assess needs and quick development of programming responses for most affected geographic areas;
Coordination of the technical appraisal of livelihoods/emergency employment projects formulated by UNDP country offices and recommendations to the BCPR Project Appraisal Committee, when appropriate;
Ensuring that appropriate technical support is provided to ongoing UNDP country office regarding their emergency employment strategies, approaches, livelihoods assessments, and monitoring and evaluation.

Promotes a common understanding, within BCPR and with relevant UNDP Bureaux, on UNDP's role in sustainable livelihoods/emergency employment creation within a recovery framework, focusing on achievement of the following results:

Promotion of livelihoods/sustainable emergency employment creation as a key element in the UNDP approach to recovery from crises;
Development of a set of guiding principles for UNDP's engagement in this area;
Support to livelihoods programmes for generation of employment and sustainable income-earning opportunities for crisis-affected urban communities;
Technical and programmatic support for short- to long-term employment/income generation;
Support to capacity strengthening of economic actors (government, CSOs, private sector), in particular capacity assessments of economic actors for enhanced employment creation and income generation;
Representation of BCPR in high-level meetings and advocacy for the promotion of sustainable emergency employment in early recovery and recovery settings.

Builds partnerships and supports networks, within and beyond the UN, on sustainable emergency employment creation issues, focusing on achievement of the following results:

Active lead and participation in existing working-level groups on emergency employment and recovery issues, including the Working Group on Employment and Reintegration in Post-Conflict Settings, the sub-working groups on the Global Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery (CWGER) on Sustainable Livelihoods and Early Recovery;
Support to the development of new strategic partnerships and alliances with other UN organizations, multilateral organizations, regional organizations, NGOs, scientific, academic and technical organizations and with donors and programme countries;
Close co-operation with other BCPR units on emergency livelihoods/job creation; development of alliances and working partnerships within UNDP (thematic, advocacy and policy units, regional bureaux, sub-regional resource facilities, etc.);
Active support to the roll-out of the UN Policy on Post-conflict Employment Creation, Income Generation and Reintegration, including the development of Operational Guidance Note for the policy, development of proposals for the policy roll-out, recruitment of consultants for policy roll-out, support to policy roll-out in target countries, etc.

Leads in UNDP's knowledge building and dissemination on sustainable emergency livelihoods/employment creation, and contributes actively to state-of-the-art debates on innovations in sustainable emergency employment assessment, analysis and programming, focusing on achievement of the following results:

Mapping of existing knowledge products on emergency job creation, both within and beyond UNDP, such as lessons learned exercises, case-studies, comparative experiences, policy notes, practice notes, guidance notes, etc. Categorization of knowledge products according to post-conflict and post-natural disaster. On the basis of that research, identification of the key knowledge gaps in both settings;
In coordination with BCPR colleagues, retrieval of knowledge from UNDP emergency job creation programmes, through periodic reporting, meetings, analysis of documents produced, lessons learned exercises, and other means;
Documentation of retrieved knowledge, systematization and feed-back into programme development by contributing to knowledge networks both within UNDP and beyond, in particular to the evolving inter-agency community of practice on Early Recovery;
Supervision of the production of practice notes, publications and other knowledge products on emergency livelihoods/job creation, in close coordination with the Knowledge Management Team and BCPR's Policy and Planning Division (PPD).

The key results will have a decisive impact on the capacity of UNDP, the UN system and partners, to support programme countries in the design and implementation of strategies and activities to stabilize livelihoods and achieve a rapid return to sustainable human development in early recovery and recovery situations.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Building Strategic Partnerships:

Displays initiative, sets challenging outputs for him/herself and willingly accepts new work assignments;
Takes responsibility for achieving agreed outputs within set deadlines and strives until successful outputs are achieved.

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

Makes the case for innovative ideas documenting successes and building them into the design of new approaches;
Identifies new approaches and strategies that promote the use of tools and mechanisms.

Innovation and Marketing New Approaches:

Generates for regional and innovative ideas and effective solutions to problems;
Identifies new approaches and promotes their use in other situations.

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise:

Understands more advanced aspects of reintegration and recovery as well as the fundamental concepts of emergency livelihoods/employment creation;
Keeps abreast of new developments in area of reintegration and recovery and seeks to develop him/herself professionally;
Demonstrates comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the current guidelines and project management tools and utilizes these regularly in work assignments.

Client Orientation:

Works towards creating an enabling environment for a smooth relationship between the clients and service provider;
Keeps the client informed of problems or delays in the provision of services.

Core Competencies:

Ethics & Values:

Demonstrating/ Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity;
Demonstrates and promotes the highest standard of integrity, impartiality, fairness and incorruptibility in all matters affecting his/her work and status.

Organizational Awareness:

Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
Understands the structure and hierarchy of UN/UNDP, process flows throughout the organization, products and services, their measures of effectiveness, and perceptions of clients.

Developing & Empowering People/Coaching and Mentoring:

Self-development, initiative-taking;
Takes appropriate risk in developing new or adapting existing methods and approaches to more effectively perform tasks or to solve problems in new and unique ways.

Working in Teams:

Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
Works collaboratively with colleagues inside UN/UNDP as well as its partners and other stakeholders to pursue common goals.

Communicating Information and Ideas:

Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
Delivers verbal/written information in a timely, clear, organized and easily understood manner.

Self-Management & Emotional Intelligence:

Creating synergies through self-control;
Tolerates conditions of stress, uncertainty or ambiguity and continues to maintain a positive outlook and to work productively.

Conflict Management/Negotiating & Resolving Disagreements:

Managing conflict, remains calm, composed and patient, regardless of his/her own state of mind in the face of conflict.

Knowledge Sharing & Continuous Learning:

Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others;
Demonstrates commitment to ongoing professional development and keeps abreast of new developments in his/her professional field.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision-making:

Informed and transparent decision making;
Accepts responsibility and accountability for the quality of the outcome of his/her decisions.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

A minimum of a Master’s degree or equivalent in development economics, international development, sustainable livelihoods, public policy, or other relevant social sciences.

Experience:

At least 7 years of relevant professional experience in the field of sustainable livelihoods approaches with a focus on early recovery and reintegration in crisis and complex contexts, including experience at the international level;
Experience in partnership building and/or inter-agency coordination in post-conflict and/or post-natural disaster settings in particular at the field level and working with donors and NGOS;
Proven ability to interact at the highest governmental and inter-agency levels;
Familiarity with UN common procedures and tools, especially regarding livelihoods assessments, pooled funds and joint programming;
Experience in project design, implementations and evaluation;
Experience in the use of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc).

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English and/or French, both oral and written, is required;
Working knowledge of other UN official language (preferably Arabic and/or Spanish) is an asset.

FC: 26900