Background

UNDP is a key implementer of peacebuilding initiatives to support Nepal’s peace process.  Nepal is in a critical transition phase after a decade long internal conflict claiming more than 16,000 lives. Although the signature of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in November 2006 brought a halt to the immediate violence there are still many issues to be resolved and new challenges are emerging as Nepal’s post-conflict transition continues to unfold.   At the national level, there is a lack of consensus among key stakeholders on many complex and challenging issues.   At the district and local levels, there are multiple drivers of tension including social and identity issues, as well as multiple difficulties related to creating consensus around development priorities.
 
In 2010 UNDP established a Conflict Prevention Programme (CPP) to address precisely the kinds of situations and concerns mentioned above.  The CPP has three programmatic pillars:
 
Collaborative Leadership and Dialogue (CLD):

This component works with political, civic, government, youth, women and ethnic leaders at both central and local levels, strengthening capacities in constructive negotiation, mediation, facilitation of dialogue processes, consensus building, communications, leadership and trust building. The capacity will further be developed through support for accompaniment, mentoring and coaching as these skills are applied to key contemporary issues.  In the longer, term institutional mechanisms will be created and/or supported to sustain the promotion and application of collaborative leadership and related skills.
 
Mainstreaming Conflict Sensitivity into UNCT and GoN programming, policy and processes (CS):

The overarching aim is to change the way UN and government programmes and projects are designed and implemented using a conflict-sensitive approach. This pillar focuses on capacity development of key UN personnel in charge of planning and implementation of programmes, and government training institutions, to ensure that the civil service of Nepal is equipped with the tools and know-how in integrating conflict sensitivity in their policies and in their projects and activities. By doing such, development programmes in Nepal would have a direct positive impact to the efforts of peace consolidation at the national and local levels.
 
Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) to localized conflict:

This pillar works to support a government-led, civil society supported EWER system to enable a move towards pro-active, inclusive, dialogue-based prevention engagements. Such a system will involve building accurate, timely conflict detection and analysis capabilities among relevant local and national government and civil society stakeholders and a mechanism to share these effectively with responders and to plan action. It will also build appropriate types of conflict response capacity among local government and civil society leaders and link such capacities into local and national mechanisms for their effective, coordinated deployment.

Recognizing that development, humanitarian assistance, and peacebuilding activities interact closely with the context where are taking place, the United Nations is adopting a coherent and coordinated approach to ensure that development efforts are conflict-sensitive so that they minimise unintended negative consequences and maximise their development and peacebuilding impact.  The 'Do No Harm' (DNH) approach is now is now considered an essential tool to secure conflict sensitivity in development and humanitarian aid activities.  Mainstreaming conflict sensitivity has also been identified as an urgent imperative among development partners in Nepal, as articulated through the Peace and Development Strategy for International Development Partners 2010-2015. 
 
In the spirit of ‘delivering as one’, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator’s Office in Nepal have teamed up to implement the first phase of a UN Interagency Programme on Mainstreaming Conflict Sensitivity.  The programme has adopted an interagency approach from inception, reflecting the manner in which the UN aspires to deliver its development assistance as part of the broader UN reform agenda.  The Interagency Programme is set within the strategic framework and of the UNDP Conflict Prevention Programme.

Duties and Responsibilities

In coordination with the Resident Coordinator's Office and the UNDAF Outcome Coordinators, and within the strategic framework of UNDP's Conflict Prevention Programme, support the design and implementation of the UN Interagency Programme on Mainstreaming Conflict Sensitivity:

Provide technical support for staff and consultants working on conflict sensitivity and ‘Do No Harm’ (DNH) mainstreaming
Implement the Interagency Work Plan:
  • Support a process of reflective assessment and adjustment of programme implementation to ensure strategic flexibility;
  • Provide input into planning of new activities, including identification of new target related initiatives.
Prepare reporting needs related to the Interagency Programme
Contribute to preparation of relevant training materials
Contribute to knowledge management activities and documents related to Conflict Sensitivity
 
Provide support on establishing institutional partnerships and institutional capacity for mainstreaming conflict sensitivity in the Government of Nepal:

Support the implementation of partnership agreements with Government of Nepal:
  • Assist in developing training designs as per training needs assessments;
  • Ensure relevance of mainstreaming conflict sensitivity through periodic reviews and adjustments;
  • Advise on implementation and monitoring of CS capacity development in civil service through close collaboration with the Nepal Administrative Staff College (NASC).
Develop initial technical capacity on conflict/peace sensitivity in government ministries / commissions through:
  • Take leadership in initiating Training of Trainers to key personnel in each government ministry or commission;
  • Develop and produce publication of Nepali-specific training modules in English and Nepali languages;
  • Conduct periodical review and adjustment of training methodology training modules.

Provide technical expertise, as part of the Interagency Technical Support Team, to mainstream conflict-sensitive approaches into key UNDP, UNICEF and UNCT-wide organizational mechanisms, processes and procedures:

Review policy and procedures to mainstream conflict sensitivity:
  • Analyze organizational mandates to inform internal advocacy and familiarization;
  • Review related UNCT-wide policy and procedures to ensure that conflict-sensitive principles are integrated and implemented;
  • Advise management on the introduction of conflict-sensitive systems and approaches within the programme management cycle, starting at the programme conception, design and appraisal process.

Establish organizational accountability measures for conflict-sensitive programming:

  • Provide technical support to embed internal accountability mechanisms in agencies, programmes and projects;
  • Support introduction of public accountability mechanisms in programme cycles
Introduce conflict sensitivity into corporate literature, language and communications, and strengthen external partnerships:
  • Collate lessons learned and facilitate wider institutional learning;
  • Build networks with UN and external organizations that analyse local contexts to feed into regular context analysis and updates;
  • Strengthen partnership with organizations that could benefit from and contribute to building capacity in conflict-sensitive development approaches in Nepal.
 Impact of Results:

The Conflict Sensitivity Specialist will have significant impact in the implementation of the mainstreaming conflict sensitivity pillar which, over five years, will strengthen the way UNDP and the UN delivers its development assistance in Nepal though more relevant, effective and sophisticated development programming.
 
Specifics include:
  • Mainstreaming conflict sensitivity pillar is well coordinated, designed to meet international best practices and aligned to the broader Conflict Prevention Programme;
  • Conflict sensitive approaches are mainstreamed into the UN Country Team and different GoN ministries;
  • Workshops and trainings on conflict sensitivity are independently rolled out by partner government training institutions;
  • Lessons learned are collated and knowledge products developed to facilitate institutional wide learning.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Capacity Building and Development
  • Knows how to design capacity building activities for UN and Government partners;
  • Ability to perform training needs assessments and tailor fit training initiatives according to its result;
  • Adheres to a high standard of training and training material production;
  • Has skills in creating spin-off trainings from original materials and other related tools.
Leadership and Self- Management
  •  Focuses on result for the client;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
  • Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
  • Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view;
  •  Solicits feedback from staff about the impact of his/her own behavior.
  • Strong analytical and strategic planning skills;
  • Strong interpersonal skills, particularly focused on ability to build and maintain personal and institutional relations;
  • Strong written skills, particularly focused on the ability to produce high quality written documents;
  • Cultural and political sensitivity and the ability to exercise sound judgment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Ph.D or Master’s Degree in Peace and Conflict studies, International Development, Law or related fields.

Experience:

  • At least eight years experience for Ph.D. holder or ten years experience for Master’s Degree in development work related to conflict, peacebuilding or transitional issues in Nepal;
  • At least two years experience directly related to conflict sensitivity and ‘Do No Harm’ approaches, including experience in mainstreaming these concepts into development programming in Nepal;
  • Experience in conflict analysis and experience in applying such analysis to local development contexts in Nepal.
  • Expertise with training modules on ‘Do No Harm’ approaches, in Nepali preferably;
  • Good understanding of Nepal’s peace process, and the political, social and economic aspects of peacebuilding and development efforts in Nepal;
  • Direct experience in the design and/or implementation of development programmes;
  • Experience working in the United Nations an advantage.

Language Requirements: 

  • Excellent oral and written proficiency in English and Nepali.