The Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA) leads and supports the organization in cultivating, building and nurturing strategic relationships and alliances that are essential to advancing and successfully achieving the mission of UNDP. These relationships encompass a wide range of key constituencies, including programme countries, existing and prospective donor countries/emerging economies and multilateral institutions. 

The Partnerships Group (PG) in BERA is responsible for relationships between UNDP and its donors and partners. PG acts as a facilitator and catalyst of partnership strategies with UNDP’s donors and partners and actively supports new partnerships and resource mobilization to maximize UNDP’s development impact.

Within PG, the Financial Institutions Team (FIT) was established in mid-2015 to work across UNDP to help support corporate, regional and country-specific collaboration with International Financial Institutions (IFIs). For the purpose of this document, IFIs includes multilateral development banks, regional, sub-regional and national development banks.

The Partnerships and Funding Analyst will work under the supervision of FIT’s Team Leader.

Information on the receiving office

BERA has over 111 staff and consultants. The Partnerships Group (PG) is made up of 19 staff and consultants, within which the FIT team is a team of 3. The JPO will be working primarily on data analysis and funding related to IFIs (global, regional, sub-regional and DFIs),  supporting implementation of the UNDP IFI Strategy, and support internal and external communications efforts on partnerships with IFIs. The JPO will also be invited to provide inputs to and/or attend partner consultation meetings.

Lead research and analysis on IFI partnerships and trends (funding and programmatic)

• Regularly research and analyse IFIs’ past, current and future development cooperation priorities and new/relevant announcements or initiatives launched, with a special emphasis on sub-regional development banks with which UNDP has had limited engagement, as well as on Development Financial Institutions (DFIs);
• Contribute to the development of UNDP’s engagement strategies/approaches to working with new sub-regional development banks, DFIs and Islamic finance partners;
• Develop new profiles for relevant sub-regional development banks and/or update existing IFI and DFI profiles, partnership notes and case studies;
• Contribute to high-level presentations and briefing notes to strengthen UNDP’s position and engagement with IFIs, DFIs and Islamic Finance;
• Research and analysis on innovative entry points for engagement, to help governments leverage new sources of development financing for Agenda 2030, including with National development banks, new development banks, and regional efforts;
• Contribute to analysis of IFIs’ crisis financing instruments and trends, to better understand IFIs’ financing and non-financial instruments and modalities in crisis response.

Support the implementation of UNDP’s global IFI strategy and IFI and DFI-specific action/engagement plans 

• Support the development of guidance and policy notes and other material in relation to corporate priorities relevant for effective donor and IFI relations;
• Serve as secretariat for inter-bureau coordination on the implementation of the IFI Strategy and development of the DFI strategy;
• Develop IFI, DFI and Islamic finance partner-specific action plans as needed;
• Monitor follow-up actions related to the implementation of the IFI Partnership strategy, including managing ongoing and new mapping initiatives, in particular to support crisis response; and reporting to corporate efforts (including Annual Business Plans, Integrated Work Plans and Resource Mobilization Strategies.).

Contribute to the strategic communication of IFI partnerships results, and develop related materials for internal and external partners:

• Update the IFIs and Islamic finance intranet resource centre and the IFIs Toolkit as needed;
• Liaise with UNDP corporate communications team to update UNDP’s website pages on IFIs and Islamic finance;
• Support the development and dissemination of new e-learning tools;
• Support editing, translation, printing and dissemination of publications, online and audio-visual materials;
• Support the preparation of visuals, flyers and other outreach materials for programme activities;
• Research and compile media updates and news on IFIs and Islamic finance, and post them on the enterprise social networking platform;
• Maintain and update the database of relevant media and communications partners and the communications calendar;
• Draft social media messages (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn);
• Update all IFI online platforms for internal and external audiences and help to grow UNDP’s Community of Practice.

Content and methodology of supervision:

As part of the UNDP JPO programme overall framework, the JPO will benefit from the following supervision modalities:

• Structured guidance provided by the supervisor, especially in the beginning of the assignment, with the purpose of gradually increasing the responsibilities of the JPO;
• Establishment of a work plan, with clear key results;
• Effective supervision through knowledge sharing and performance/development feedback throughout the assignment;
• Easy access to the supervisor;
• Participation in Unit/Team/Office meetings to ensure integration and operational effectiveness;
• Guidance and advice in relation to learning and training opportunities within the field of expertise;
• Completion of the yearly UNDP Performance Management Document (PMD);
• If more than one supervisor; clear agreement of the roles and responsibilities between the relevant parties.

Core Competencies

• Innovation (Ability to make new and useful ideas work): Level 4: Adept with complex concepts and challenges convention purposefully;
• Leadership (Ability to persuade others to follow): Level 4: Generates commitment, excitement and excellence in others;
• People Management (Ability to improve performance and satisfaction): Level 4: Models independent thinking and action;
• Communication (Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform): Level 4: Synthesizes information to communicate independent analysis;
• Delivery (Ability to get things done): Level 4: Meets goals and quality criteria for delivery of products or services.

Technical/Functional Competencies

Primary Competencies

• Written communication (Superior written communication skills, including the ability to write in a clear, simple, concise way for non-technical external audiences) : Level 4: Apply & Adapt Contributes skills and knowledge with demonstrated ability to advance innovation and continuous improvement, in professional area of expertise;
• Visual communication (Superior computer skills and ability to produce compelling visual information including infographics): Level 4: Apply & Adapt Contributes skills and knowledge with demonstrated ability to advance innovation and continuous improvement, in professional area of expertise;
• Knowledge Management (Ability to efficiently research, analyse and share information and knowledge):Level 4: Apply & Adapt Contributes skills and knowledge with demonstrated ability to advance innovation and continuous improvement, in professional area of expertise;
• Organizational skills (Ability for problem-solving, multi-tasking, meeting deadlines and working under pressure):Level 4: Apply & Adapt Contributes skills and knowledge with demonstrated ability to advance innovation and continuous improvement, in professional area of expertise.

Secondary Competencies

• Specialized background knowledge (Sound understanding of global and donor specific development, economic, and political issues): Level 4: Apply & Adapt Contributes skills and knowledge with demonstrated ability to advance innovation and continuous improvement, in professional area of expertise
• Teamwork (Ability to engage with other units/teams and forge productive working relationships Ability to work as part of a team in a constantly evolving work environment): Level 4: Apply & Adapt Contributes skills and knowledge with demonstrated ability to advance innovation and continuous improvement, in professional area of expertise.

Training and Learning

As part of the UNDP JPO programme overall framework, the JPO will benefit from the following training and learning opportunities:

• Participation in a two-week long Programme Policy and Operations Induction Course in New York within the first 3 to 6 months of assignment;
• Use of yearly JPO duty-related travel and training allocation (DTTA), as per the online DTTA guide;
• Other training and learning opportunities, as presented in the UNDP JPO Orientation Programme;
• In addition, the JPO will benefit from the following specific training and learning modalities/opportunities in the receiving office: An online learning system with a plethora of courses on specific development topics and management will be available throughout the assignment to the successful candidate. Mentoring would also be a possibility if desirable.

Education

• Master’s or Bachelor’s Degree in international affairs, economics, development studies or a related area.

Experience:

• Minimum 2 (with Master’s Degree) or 4 (with Bachelor’s Degree) years of relevant experience in development, international relations, social science, economics, communications, or related field;
• Experience in development and/or funding sectors;
• Knowledge of and/or professional experience in data analysis and funding projections is highly desirable;
• Professional experience within the United Nations System is desirable;
• Understanding of political, social and economic research tools and instruments.

Language Requirements:

• Full proficiency in English;
• Working knowledge of at least one other UN language is desirable.

Other desirable education, languages and work experience:

• Experience in the use of a business intelligence tool, developing presentation materials with visuals, and mastery of Excel are highly desirable.