Background

Those who previously applied need not apply again.


On 22 March 2012, a coup d’état plunged Mali into a constitutional crisis.  The coup d’état accelerated the collapse of the state in the north, allowing the MNLA to overrun government forces in the regions of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu and proclaim the independence of the “State of Azawad” on 6 April 2012. The situation has caused mass displacement of the population and human rights violations and is affecting neighboring countries. In an attempt to address the multifaceted challenges, the Economic Community of West-African States (ECOWAS) brokered a political solution that paved the way for the establishment of Transitional authorities and a roadmap for the transition. In addition, ECOWAS opened channels of communication with some elements in the northern Mali, with a view to peacefully resolving the security crisis.

On 20 December 2012, the Security Council adopted Resolution S/2012/946 authorizing the deployment of an African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) for an initial period for one year and requesting the Secretary-General to establish a multi-disciplinary United Nations presence in order to provide coordinated and coherent support to i) the ongoing political process and ii) the security process. In January 2013, the Parliament approved a road map for the transition calling for the restoration of territorial integrity and the organization of free and fair elections on 28 July.

On 11 January, the French Operation Serval” and the deployment of African forces (AFISMA) pushed the armed Islamic groups out of the major population centres, facilitating the return of Malian Defence and Security Forces.  However, the armed Islamic groups continue to pose an asymmetric and insurgent threat.  These groups have clashed with their former MNLA allies.  Predatory militia, made up in large part by youth, threaten the population.  Tensions between Arab and Tuareg communities are on the rise.  Both have suffered violent reprisals, in some cases at the hands of the Malian security forces.

The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), which deployed on 1 July, is tasked with protecting civilians, preventing the return of armed groups to population centers, and helping the Malian authorities re-establish state control throughout the country. The mission will also have human rights monitoring component, as well as a political dimension focused on assisting with presidential and legislative elections scheduled for July, and the starting of a national reconciliation process. The African-led force in Mali, AFISMA, will be integrated into MINUSMA (which will have, at full capacity, 12,000 troops and police).

Mali signed a ceasefire deal with Tuareg separatist rebels on 18 June, paving the way for government troops to return to the northern, rebel-held town of Kidal before a presidential election planned for 28 July. There is widespread opposition in Bamako to any deal that would make concessions to the MNLA. Although the ceasefire will likely hold, Tuareg nationalists are unlikely to fully disarm, and government-Tuareg ceasefire and cooperation arrangements will remain fragile and reversible before elections. At present, about 3 cantonment camps have been set up in the northern region, each holding about 200-400 Tuareg combatants, with currently no plans for a DDR process. Larger challenge still remains in the shape of Islamist insurgents who continue to hide out in northern Mali.

Uncertainty currently hangs over Mali's political and economic future. Economic activity has been severely disrupted, especially in the North, and the country's credibility with foreign investors and appeal to tourists has been profoundly undermined. Divisions in Bamako and across communities across north and the south run deep.  A credible national political process is required to address the roots of conflict and grievance, reconcile communities and rebuild the legitimacy of the state. This will require the engagement of all key population groups (including some armed elements), a framework for talks on future governance of the North, and an electoral process with international support and observation. Despite the myriad challenges -- especially in northern regions -- of conducting a credible poll, the alignment of local political and foreign (especially French and EU) strategic interests still points to the election occurring as scheduled. A fraught but broadly manageable process of political accommodation and attempted national reconciliation is expected to follow.

The conflict has exacerbated a grave humanitarian situation framed by severe regional vulnerability (recurring droughts and food crises). An estimated 19 million persons are at risk of food insecurity and malnutrition in the Sahel region, of which some 4.6 million are in Mali.  The conflict in northern Mali has further affected the already impoverished communities. The livelihoods of the communities have been severely disrupted by a slowdown in cross-border trade and remittances and by the disruption of seasonal livestock migration to summer pastures. Insecurity has hampered market access. Price increases and losses of livelihoods have reduced households’ means to purchase needed food. There are an estimated 292,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mali and an estimated 175,000 refugees from Mali in the region. With more than 60 percent of the population under 25 years of age, it is estimated that youth (15-40 years) constitute the majority of displaced persons and refugees.  The presence of refugees is creating additional pressure on land and water, especially where refugees outnumber the local community.

Recognizing that youth comprises the majority of the Malian population, and to accompany the transitional priorities of the Government, UNCT has developed a Joint Programme on Youth and Resilience (2013-2014) to strengthen the resilience of youth. The lack of constructive future prospects or options for employment and other income-generation opportunities is increasing the already high risk of youth turning to violence or engaging in militia groups in the North. Within the framework of the CCAT (a “Joint Framework to Support the Transition in Mali“(Cadre Conjoint d’Appui à la Transition au Mali - CCAT) and in the spirit of « United in Action », the Joint Programme on Youth and Resilience will support the national and local actors and partners including the Government, local collectivities, and NGOs, in interventions aimed at socio-economic reintegration of youth with particular focus in Gao, Mopti/Sevare, Doeuntza and Timbuktu. The Joint Programme will have three priority areas: 1) Youth and Civil Education; 2) Youth and Economic Opportunities; and 3) Youth and Health (including Sexual Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS).

UNDP has deployed SURGE support to design and implement large scale job creation schemes for youth to enhance the social contract between the Government and its citizens while utilizing the capacity of the affected population as an active force for building a better future under the Joint Programme on Youth and Resilience. Emergency job creation schemes (Cash for Work) through community infrastructure rehabilitation to support reconstruction efforts at the local level, will also serve to provide quick and visible peace dividend, inject cash into society and contribute to kick starting the local economy after the crisis. UNDP is also supporting the design enterprise recovery schemes including enterprise recovery grants for micro/small businesses in the crisis affected areas to boost the wider local economy and help improve the livelihoods of the affected population. This will allow for the critical transition from emergency employment into longer term prospects, including the national or local labor markets, national employment schemes or conditional cash transfers.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

• Provide strategic direction and lead the coordination for the startup and implementation of the Joint Programme on Youth and Resilience on behalf of the Programme Board, with accountability for the overall delivery of the JP results;
• Provide technical quality assurance and advice on sustainable socio-economic reintegration of youth at community level (including youth at risk and ex-combatants), with particular attention to integrating short-term, environmentally friendly livelihoods initiatives with sustainable and resilient mid-to-longer term economic opportunities and employment generation options, and appropriate linkages and coherence made with ongoing interventions by the UN and partners;
• Support partnership-building and resource mobilization for the Joint Programme;
• Ensure knowledge building and management on JP results and lessons learned;
• Provides strategic direction and lead the coordination for the startup and implementation of the Joint Programme on Youth and Resilience on behalf of the Programme Board, with accountability for the overall delivery of the JP results;
• Leads the Joint Programme Team in programme implementation and networking to ensure that the activities and results are relevant, in line with UNCT practice areas and is responsive to changes in the country context in the areas of security, recovery and development;
• In close collaboration with implementing agencies and national partners and in consultation with the Joint Programme Board (Comite de Pilotage) and the Technical Advisory Group (Comite Technique et de Suivi) specifically set up for the JP (UNCT including UNFPA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Youth, Sport, and Culture), elaborates results-based annual workplans according to the Programme Document and in line with the CCAT;
• Ensures cohesion and synergies of the interventions, under the JP, in close liaison with the CP and CTS;
• Supports the RCO in establishing and maintaining effective consultations with governments, partners, stakeholders and donors to achieve active collaboration, cooperation and alliances on programme development and implementation, and sustained partnerships;
• Coordinates and implements the start-up of the recruitment and deployment of experts to support programme implementation;
• Directly supervises the JP staff, including the regional staff;
• Works with stakeholders to ensure local/ national ownership of the JP and the initiatives, while providing for accountability and tracking of expenditures;
• Ensures the design and establishment of an effective and results-oriented monitoring and evaluation system, that allows periodic monitoring of the projects’ results, performance, achievements, risks and challenges;
• Ensures timely and adequate reporting against the workplan, including providing timely and articulate progress reports and inputs to the Strategic Results Framework and Results Oriented Annual Report;
• Ensures regular monitoring and evaluation of the projects, including but not limited to regular visits and the participation of Project Board and/or Steering Committee meetings and also actively participates in UNCT meetings and events representing the interests of the JP;
• Ensures Integrity of financial and administrative operations in the programme area by oversight of financial and budgetary aspects of the projects, under advice of the UNDP Country Director and Deputy Country Director Programme, and other support staff;
• When possible, community bodies and other key stakeholders should be engaged during the whole JP cycle providing for accountability and tracking of expenditures;
• Participates in internal control mechanisms for adherence UNDP rules and regulations in contracts, assets, procurement, recruitment, etc. as required;
• Approval of financial transactions for the JP in ATLAS, up to the designated level;
• Prepares of high quality project documents and proposals related to the JP, encouraging adequate peer review of the same through established mechanisms (LPAC) in line with identified national priority programming efforts;
• Ensures a strict and consistent application of UNDP rules and regulations and ensuring the implementation of clear accountability mechanisms throughout the programme portfolio;
• Design mitigation measures to overcome identified disaster, environmental, conflict, gender and poverty risks and devise strategies to overcome challenges presented in the execution of the project.

Provides strategic guidance and advice, as well as technical quality assurance on existing and potentially new interventions related to sustainable socio-economic reintegration of youth at community level (including youth at risk and ex-combatants), with particular attention to integrating short-term, environmentally friendly livelihoods initiatives with sustainable and resilient mid-to-longer term economic opportunities and employment generation options, with appropriate linkages and coherence made with ongoing interventions by the UN and partners:

• Promotes JP results, ensuring maximum and appropriate levels of visibility and public awareness on results and ongoing activities;
• Provides high level senior policy advice to RCO and UNDP senior management, government counterparts, donors and other partners on issues related to socio-economic reintegration of youth at community level;
• Contemplate transparent selection and targeting mechanisms of vulnerable and asset poor groups, including women, female headed households, unemployed youth, ex-combatants, Internally Displace Persons (IDPs), depending on the specific conditions;
• Promote environmentally friendly options for livelihoods recovery (i.e. green jobs), including the building on resilience against any future environmental shocks such as droughts, where possible
• Work with the national and local authorities as well as NGOs to develop their capacity and support national ownership of the reconstruction process;
• Support community empowerment and participation in the process.
• Promote training, skills, security and equity, working closely with national partners and with relevant UN staff to prepare and facilitate training modules and recruit required consultants;
• Develop secure, transparent and reliable payment modalities, based on appropriate MIS;
• Promote a cooperative entrepreneurial, saving incentive and circle;
• Design an exit strategy and linkages with other program that support mid- to longer term recovery efforts Initiate and lead relevant capacity building programmes for government and NGOs for the JP;
• Provide inputs for the UNDP recovery and livelihoods strategy and ensure cohesion with the general recovery initiatives;
• Provides strong leadership and an overall strategic vision on community-level reintegration of ex-combatants when the DDR process starts with the identification of potential entry points for interventions based on the JP, while strengthening the collaboration, coordination and coherence with UNDP, the Government and MINUSMA on DDR;
• Establishes and ensures key programmatic linkages with various security, reconstruction, and recovery interventions with particular focus on programme efforts by MINUSMA and UNCT on local governance and decentralization, access to justice, community security and social cohesion, as appropriate;
• Develops durable relationships with national and local counterparts including, but not limited to the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, local authorities, local NGOs and CSOs (and national body on DDR, when this is set up).

Supports partnership-building and resource mobilization for the Joint Programme:

• Ensures sufficient resource mobilization for the programme in close consultation with Senior Management and is responsible for reaching the yearly fund mobilization targets;
• Acts as an interlocutor and spokesperson on behalf of the Programme Board to promote the Joint Programme to the media, the public, and donors and bi-laterals for resource mobilization efforts;
• Liaises continually with and forges close linkages with other UN offices, programmes, agencies and entities, and other international and national stakeholders concerned with or providing assistance on issues related to socio-economic reintegration of youth and interventions in the JP;
• Contributes to the harnessing of effective partnerships and competitive selection of partners for implementation of UNDP projects;
• Analyzes alternative sources of funding and map potential donors and their interest in the JP, with identification of conditions for access to different sources of financing;
• Ensure high-quality and timely reporting to donors and other partners involved in the JP;
• Acts as spokesperson for the CSP programme, vis-à-vis media, the public, UN.

Ensure knowledge building and management on JP results and lessons learned:

• Promotes identification and synthesis of best practices, lessons learned, and areas of emphasis from the JP to guide  program improvements and future programmes on socio-economic reintegration on youth and resilience-building, for organizational sharing and learning as well as external information;
• Manages the process of collecting and sharing lessons learned on socio-economic reintegration of youth and resilience to build knowledge and capacity of partners and stakeholders;
• Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture at UNCT, and designs and implements capacity building training activities to enhance skills and knowledge in Results Based Management, Results based budgeting and systematic quality assurance;
• Supports capacity- and knowledge building of national counterparts;
• Actively participates in the knowledge networks and takes advantage of best practices and lessons learned that are available in the region and globally, and encourages staff in the programme area to do so by creating a culture of knowledge and learning.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

Development and Operational Effectiveness

• Ability to lead strategic planning, change processes, results-based management and reporting;
• Ability to lead formulation, oversight of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects;
• Ability to apply development theory to the specific country context to identify creative, practical approaches to overcome challenging situations.

Management and Leadership:

• Demonstrates team-building capacity including interpersonal and communication skills and ability to cope with a difficult environment where formal institutions of government are at the embryonic stage;
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Deals diplomatically with challenging bureaucratic processes, and pressure to meet strict deadlines;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Ability to lead effectively, mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills;
• Capacity to work under pressure, manage stress and adapt to rapidly evolving situations;
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment with sound understanding and capability to empower and develop the capacity of national counterparts;
• Excellent written and spoken communication.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced University Degree in economics, political science, sociology, international relations, anthropology, public administration or any other related field.

Experience:

• Sound understanding of CPR issues with a capacity to foster concrete linkages with community based reintegration with livelihoods/economic recovery/employment generation interventions and related security and governance issues in post-conflict settings, as demonstrated by at least 7 years work experience in related area;
• Knowledge and practical experience of implementing reconstruction initiatives in conflict-affected societies, preferably on DDR, with international/ UN agencies or government institutions, with particular focus on community-based reintegration programmes;
• Demonstrated expertise in developing policy platforms, as well as all strategic partnerships and coordination mechanisms guiding a community based reintegration effort, that includes gender mainstreaming in all reintegration initiatives;
• Possesses the ability to serve as an effective advocate for Ex-Combatants’ inclusion in QIPS and similar food/money for work stop gap projects that serve to bridge the gap between the DD and R phases of the DDR effort;
• Familiarity with UNDP’s approach to area based approach to reintegration that includes gender-specific options and opportunities for employment absorption at the community level;
• Well versed in the work on gender that is being undertaken by the UN to ensure a gender-based approach to socio-economic reintegration efforts that complement and synergize with psychological and social reintegration aimed at social cohesion;
• Familiarity with major gender issues in Mali and commitment to gender equality;
• Experience in humanitarian and development environments ;
• Experience in post-disaster/conflict context;
• Experience and knowledge of the region a plus;
• Knowledgeable about UNDP’s programme management/strategy regulations, systems and procedures, including execution modalities;
• Experience in procurement and programme design, execution and financing with UNDP and IFIs will be considered as an asset;
• Familiarity with Joint Programmes, and One UN approach;

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken French;
• Proficiency in English.