UNDP Jobs - 99987- Technical Lead

Technical Lead – Urban Shifts

Location :

Prishtinë/Priština, Kosovo, UNSCR 1244 (1999)

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

15-Jul-2021

Application Deadline :

06-Jul-21 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

SB-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

12 Months, with a possibility of extension

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

12 Months, with a possibility of extension

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Please note that the person selected for this position will be offered a contract with UNDP under its National Personnel Services Agreement (N-PSA) modality (NPSA8 level). The UNDP Service Contract modality is phasing out over the coming year. More information about the N-PSA is available here: https://popp.undp.org/_layouts/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc=/UNDP_POPP_DOCUMENT_LIBRARY/Public/HR_Non-Staff_National%20Personnel%20Services%20Agreement_NPSA.docx&action=default

UNDP is seeking a Technical Lead to work on the City Experiment Fund initiative, to support the design of portfolio interventions in the cities, building on the city experiment fund, but also expanding to the overall UNDP Kosovo offer to pilot the urban shifts portfolio design.

Cities occupy only about 2% of Earth’s land area, but house between 60–85% of the world population. Change is accelerating — and with complex issues such as climate change, migration and inequalities challenging our ability to respond, cities are emerging as leaders. Because cities concentrate development challenges — access to services, participation in decision making, distribution of water and electricity — they also become a laboratory on how these can be addressed.

In Kosovo we are witnessing an increased interest of cities to engage around open cities initiatives, research on the impact of open data argues that for initiatives to be impactful, they require availability of relevant and timely data, an active civil society and informed citizenry. Our work in alternative governance confirms these findings, be it in air pollution, waste management, or in increasing transparency, to have transformative results in the lives of citizens and cities, it is important to integrate the power of crowds and technology in its design., UNDP is seeking to use innovative approaches in an integrated manner throughout its portfolio.

The overall aim is to build stronger ability to deliver cross-portfolio results and build synergies both within and across the UNDP Kosovo Programme outputs, while simultaneously ramping up capacity around initial key interest areas: partnership management, green economy, data and digital transformation, and urban shifts.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Support and provide quality assurance for the listening exercises (city research) and the continuous sense-making sessions:

Drafts the research intent, define the scope and expected outcome
Supports the engagement of external support to implement the research
Provides quality assurance for the research design and implementation
Facilitates and enable continuous deep dives discussions across the portfolio to ensure knowledge creation is feeding in the programme design

2. Support the implementation of experiments/intervention in the City of Prizren, as well as lead the design of the portfolio and learning in the new cities

Leads the mapping of the stakeholders and potentials
Leads the design of the city transformation ecosystem through the portfolio approach
Engages with the team to design portfolio approach interventions for other cities
Facilitates team coordination and knowledge sharing through a cross- portfolio team engagement
Engages with local stakeholders from each of the new targeted urban spaces

3. Support the expansion of the portfolio approach and sensemaking principles for the UNDP Kosovo Programme

Supports the establishment and running of data extraction protocols and co-analysis to inform the UNDP programme;
Supports the process documentation for UNDP global consumption
Co-leads new pilot themes for portfolio design;

4. Support partnerships activities at project level

Supports and coordinates with project team on day-to-day operations; with stakeholders and the contracted CSOs / private sector / public sector.
Creates proposals/frameworks as engagement models with local authorities and support articulation of portfolio design phase
Creates and produces the communication plans for visibility of the activities.

5. Support and oversee the implementation of the interventions, monitor the results and provide quality assurance

Supports and coordinates with project team on day-to-day operations; with stakeholders and the contracted CSOs / private sector / public sector.
Regularly reports on the project
Regular exchanges of information/experience with other projects, cross-learning and sharing results and good practices
Captures and shares lessons learnt during project implementation
Facilitates and organizes training for project staff to enable them to perform at the required level

Institutional Arrangement
Under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the Programme Analyst, and close coordination with the City Experiment Fund team, the Technical Lead will ensure a holistic design and implementation of a portfolio approach for piloting solutions for city sustainable transformation, with a specific focus on digitalization as an enabler.

The Urban Shifts Technical Lead works in close collaboration with the respective CO Programme and Operations teams ensuring successful CO performance and compliance in programme management and finance. This includes supporting the application of sensemaking principles and portfolio analytical approaches to the full UNDP 2021-2025 as a pilot demonstration for UNDP.

Support the Sustainable Growth and Climate Resilience Team to design the vision for the transformation of cities in Kosovo towards greener and people-friendly places. Initially pilot in Prizren and scale to multiple other municipalities.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning:

Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example
Committed to the highest regards of professionalism, impartiality, accountability, transparency, ethics, and integrity.
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, ethnicity, and age sensitivity and adaptability.
Demonstrates substantial experience in gender equality and social inclusion.
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

Ability to work effectively within a team and develop good relationships with counterparts and stakeholders.
Ability to synthesize research and conclude the related subjects.
Ability to pay attention to details.
Demonstrates transparency and provides feedback to all those who will contribute to the evaluation.
Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.
Ability to establish effective working relations in a multicultural team environment.
Commitment to accomplish work.
Responds positively to critical feedback.
Results and task-oriented.

Desired additional skills and competencies

Embraces the new thinking around portfolio approach and supports the office team.

Required Skills and Experience

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree (or BA with 2 years of experience) in urban studies, environmental management, climate change, social sciences, AI and data, or other relevant fields.

Experience:

Minimum 2 years of relevant experience with bachelor’s degree (or master’s degree with no experience) in programmes related any of the fields listed
Urban development,
Spatial Planning and design
Environmental Management
Development in general

Language Requirement:

Fluent in both oral and written English.
Excellent analytical and report writing skills in clear and fluent English and Albanian are required.
Knowledge of Serbian is preferred.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.P11 Form can be downloaded at http://www.ks.undp.org/content/kosovo/en/home/operations/jobs/
A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.
Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.

Application Instructions:

To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

Download and complete the the UNDP PERSONAL HISTORY FORM (P11);
Click on the "Apply now" button;
Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. You can type in, or paste your short Resume into the last box;
Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. On the next page, you will be asked to upload your Resume. Instead of uploading your Resume, please submit a fully completed and signed UNDP Personal History Form (P-11);
System will only allow one attachment. All docs (P11, academic qualifications/diploma) should be included as one attachment.