Background
Duties and Responsibilities
Reporting to the Field Coordinator of the project, and onwards to the Project Manager of the AVRSCS project, the Project Officers will provide analysis and advice on programmatic, administrative issues related to the implementation of the AVRSCS Project in the priority districts and make technical recommendations in writing in addition to advising on implementation of such activities.
Objectives of the assignment
- Provide technical support and lead the implementation of project activities in the target districts- Kailali, Kanchanpur, Banke, Bardiya, Bara, Parsa, Dhanusha, Morang and Sunsari over the project implementation period;
- Under the guidance of Project Senior management, develop appropriate coordination channels with government, civil society and other relevant stakeholders for the implementation of project activities in the area of AVRSCS;
- Provide the senior management of the project with updated and high quality analysis on matters relating to AVRSCS.
Key objectives of assignment are:
Under the overall supervision of the Field Coordinator of AVRSCS, the Project Officer will have the following responsibilities:
- Government Liaison;
- Exploration of synergies and development of partnerships in project districts;
- Lead Project implementation as per the project’s quarterly and annual work plan;
- Regularly update project Management with high quality of analysis on all matters relating to the armed violence reduction and community security sector;
- Support the M& E and Communications function.
Government Liaison
- Liaise directly with the relevant Government counterparts for project implementation;
- Provide necessary technical input to the project senior management for the smooth implementation of the project activities to accomplish project targets at Kathmandu as well as the field level;
- Provide necessary analysis in developing sound working relations with the GoN implementing partners and offer policy and technical support for responsible national institutions.
Exploration of synergies and development of partnerships
- Explore synergies with all related programmes, policies and activities currently being implemented or planned by GoN and other development partners in the project districts;
- Contribute to the development of a collaborative environment with development partners and implementing organizations, national and international, contributing to the effective implementation of the project.
Regular engagement with relevant organizations (GoN and Non Governmental) to build relations, share information and experiences, explore avenues for collaboration to ensure maximum project impact through participatory and inclusive community security planning and implementation processes.
- Convene partners and relevant stakeholders for joint community security agenda setting, planning and implementation processes and documents the discussions and agreement thereof;
- Build on the existing work and avoid duplication;
- Assess the capacity building needs of the partners and stakeholders and make recommendations to the project senior management for the delivery of those sessions;
- High quality research and analysis on international AVRSCS processes compiling relevant lessons for the Nepali context and the development of relevant documents.
Project Implementation:
- Lead the implementation of the project work plan adopting room for strategic flexibility;
- Based on assessed needs, organize and coordinate capacity building workshops, trainings, seminars and meetings for relevant stakeholders as well as target groups;
- Offer guidance on the preparation of accurate and reliable financial reports for project implementation activities;
- Lead the preparation of quarterly reports to update the Project Senior Management of the progress towards the targets;
- Provide needed technical support for staff and consultants working on AVRSCS;
- Provide needed support to the project related assessment teams, evaluation teams and auditors;
- Provide input to the planning of new activities including the identification of new targets and related initiatives.
- Contribute to the preparation of quarterly reports to update the Project Senior Management of the progress towards the targets;
- Ensure high quality and timely project delivery;
- Regular progress updates to project management;
- Status reporting to project senior management at all stages on a monthly basis;
- Monitor and report on security/policy environment change on a regular basis, noting any significant changes
- Contribute to the preparation of relevant proposals, project documents and other key materials for resource mobilization;
- Track targets against the deadlines and ensure early detection of potential problems in terms of delivery and activities implementation and appraise the Senior Management;
- Support to M& E and Knowledge Management;
- Liaising with the M&E officer and Communications Officer contribute to the knowledge management activities related to AVRSCS;
- Help identify the success stories from the fields to be used for resource mobilization and awareness raising purposes and coordinate with communications and M&E colleagues to raise their profile;
- Ensure that the project activities are planned and implemented in a gender sensitive and social inclusive manner and that all the implementing partners are sensitized and trained in gender and social inclusion.
Competencies
Corporate competencies
- Demonstrated high moral integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards, sound political judgment as well as diplomacy, impartiality and discretion and proven capacity of initiative, discretion and autonomy;
- Promotes the vision, mission and strategy of UNDP;
- Displays cultural, gender, religious, race, nationality and age sensitivity.
Functional Competencies
- Experience in community security sector;
- Ability to coordinate with multiple stakeholders on the design, development and implementation of the programs.
- A deep understanding of the particular sensitivities of the various stakeholders in the complex area of AVRSCS and community security;
- Cultural and political sensitivity and the ability to exercise sound judgement;
- Strong analytical and strategic planning skills;
- Strong writing skills particularly focused on the ability to produce high quality written documents;
- Maintenance of productive working relations with all the relevant partners and UN agencies;
- A drive for results and the ability to deliver on time.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Masters Degree in Conflict and Peace Studies,Social Science, peace building, conflict management, security studies, human rights, development studies or related field;
Experience:
- 7 year’s experience of working in the following areas: armed violence reduction, community security, human rights, conflict transformation, and peacebuilding;
- Good understanding of Nepal’s peace process and the political, social and economic aspects of peace building and development efforts in Nepal;
- Knowledge and understanding of international AVR practices and frameworks would be an advantage;
- Experience in working with international organizations like UN/UNDP, INGOs is a strong advantage.
Language requirements:
- Proficiency in spoken and written English and Nepali.