Background

Signing of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) political agreement in November 2011 signaled the beginning of a new period in Yemen’s history but the post conflict transition period, that it heralded, is fraught with challenge in Yemen as the poorest country in the Arab world.

The future of the country depends upon its ability to transition from a war torn state to a fully functional democratic state as outlined in the GCC agreement. However, the country still faces a humanitarian crisis mainly, but not wholly, as a result of the 2010-11 political crisis. The Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan (YHRP) is targeting more than six million people who have been severely affected by the crisis and in need of life saving support.

The revised YHRP has emphasized that ER including capacity-building is a key strategic component if progress toward self-reliance is to be achieved. Early recovery programmes must be increased to provide a platform for durable and effective transition as outlined in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) agreement.

The humanitarian strategy has been adjusted to align to the humanitarian pillar of the Government’s GCC linked to transitional Program for Stabilization and Development (TPSD) and the United Nations transitional framework for Yemen 2012-2014. During the period of the transition plan the balance of humanitarian assistance will continue to shift away from relief and into ER.

As stability increases and access to new areas opens up the need for, and ability to deliver, ER in Yemen is expanding. New opportunities to assist additional conflict affected populations to return to normal life have arisen following the recent re-establishment of government authority in the south thus increased the scope and geographical coverage of ER needs.

In particular UNDP’s role to provide strategic leadership, coordination as well as a direct implementer, has become an increasingly critical factor in the success of the transition from relief to ER humanitarian assistance and onward to development. UNDP’s ability to provide credible leadership is dependent on maintaining a robust coordination system in Sana’a HQ linked to that in regional offices.

A comprehensive coordination system has been established which enables the ‘pooling of effort and maximization of the comparative advantage’ of Government, UN and NGO agencies. Within the framework of the UNCT vision for support of the Government TPSD several working groups have been created including the Sustainable Livelihoods and Employment Generation working group co-chaired by UNDP and WFF. Within the HCT cluster coordination system UNDP is increasingly taking a taking a leadership role through the Early Recovery cluster, its three main technical working group sub-components, and the Early Recovery Network.

The coordination system is core to the success of the joint efforts of the UN and international community to maximize strategic and cost effective impact in respond to immense needs in Yemen.

Duties and Responsibilities

  • Ensure the strategic alignment of the ER response to the UN Vision for Support to the TPSD and Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan and other strategy documents;
  • Maintain and enhance all early recovery coordination systems within both the Humanitarian Country Team and UN Country Team systems including ad hoc working groups;
  • Engaging on a bilateral basis with coordination stakeholders to ensure understanding, participation and reliable contributions to coordination groups;
  •  Support needs assessments, priority identification, activity mapping and monitoring;
  • Managing the coordination system, including: Setting agendas: All logistical arrangements; Minute taking and Action follow up;
  •  Assist in the development and drafting of strategic documents, briefing notes and advocacy materials;
  • Support a coordinated fund raising strategy;
  • Maintain the ‘institutional memory’ of coordination activities;
  • Undertake additional tasks at the request of the CPR unit Manager.
Expected outputs and Deliverables:
  • Revise and develop in a coordinated manner HCT Early Recovery (ER) strategies, including but not limited to the Yemeni Strategic Response Plan, the Humanitarian Needs Overview, ER cluster implementation plan;
  • Two meetings of the ER cluster and respective cluster working groups;
  • Regular participation to the ICCM meetings;
  • All ER contributions to UNCT and HCT agreed products are delivered at high quality in a timely manner;   
  • All Coordination support documentation is completed to high quality in a timely manner, including: Agendas, Minutes, Follow-up records etc;
  • Internal briefing notes for UNDP units are prepared and distributes as agreed by CPR unit manager;
  • Other outputs as requested by the CPR unit manage.

Competencies

  • Proven communication and interpersonal skills;
  • Excellent organizational skills and ability to handle effectively multiple tasks without compromising quality, team spirit and positive working relationships with all colleagues;
  • Proven capacity to produce strategic documents in a participatory manner;
  • Ability to think analytically, synthesize information and clearly present findings to heterogeneous audiences;
  • A demonstrated capacity to deal with colleagues and counterparts from different backgrounds and to work under tight deadlines;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  • Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Master/Bachelor degree in relevant social science, administration or relevant discipline;
Experience:
  • Minimum five years’ work experience in early recovery, humanitarian and project management;
  • Minimum of two years of inter-agency coordination, preferably within the Humanitarian cluster system;

Language requirements:
  • Excellent writing skills, both Arabic & English.