Capacity Development
Vacancy End Date
(Midnight New York, USA)
11/12/2020
Time Left
15d 9h 0m
Duty Station
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Education & Work Experience
I-Master’s Level Degree – 7 year(s) experience
Languages
Required:
Desired:
English
French
Grade
P4
Vacancy Type
TA International
Posting Type
External
Bureau
Africa
Contract Duration
364 Days
Background
The Regional Programme for Africa is a flagship programme for UNDP that responds to challenges and opportunities facing the African Continent and to the priorities and aspirations of Africa as articulated by the African Union and other regional organs.
Underpinned by African ownership and leadership and cognizant of the rich diversity of the continent, UNDP regional work is based on five mutually reinforcing rationality principles, which define the added value of regional or sub-regional approaches to addressing development challenges. These are: (a) promotion of regional public goods and services, based on strengthened regional cooperation and integration; (b) management of cross-border externalities (challenges and opportunities) and spill-overs – such as trade, the environment and conflict prevention that are best addressed collaboratively on an inter-country basis; (c) advancement of awareness, dialogue and action on sensitive and or emerging development issues that benefit strongly from multi-country and regional experiences and perspectives; (d) promotion of experimentation and innovation to overcome institutional, financial and/or informational barriers that may be too high for an individual country to surmount; and (e) generation and sharing of development knowledge, experience and expertise – for instance, through South-South and triangular cooperation – so that countries can connect to, and benefit from, relevant experiences from across the region and beyond. The current Regional Programme for Africa (2018-2021) contributes directly to the UNDP Strategic Plan (SP) by focusing on the three priority areas/outcomes:
- African Union and RECs deliver on their mandate, especially cross-cutting issues related to resilience-building (SP Outcome 2);
- Regional growth is inclusive, transformational and sustainable with reduced economic inequalities, and characterized by structural transformation (SP Outcome 2);
- Regional and sub-regional institutions sustain peace and build resilience to crises and shocks (SP Outcome 3).
As part of priority area three to strengthen resilience to shocks and crisis and support SP and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA), through its Regional Service Centre for Africa (RSCA), developed
a PIP on AU-UNDP to address COVID-19. As part of the efforts to strengthen Africa response and preparedness in combating COVID-19 pandemic the African Union Commission through the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNDP have jointly designed a programme to support on-going efforts in Africa.
The programme aims to coordinate the COVID-19 response and recovery efforts with Member States, Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms as well as Civil Society Organisations and Faith-based Organizations to ensure holistic cooperation and communication approaches to the pandemic. Six areas of intervention are proposed for this joint project:
- Joint coordination and operations support;
- Impact assessments of COVID-19;
- Capacity building through knowledge sharing and virtual academy;
- Public communications campaigns;
- Preparedness and response in cross-border areas;
- Sexual and Gender based violence.
The Capacity Development Specialist will be based in UNDP Regional Service Center for Africa and will report directly to the Regional Programme Coordinator. The Capacity Development Specialist will support the development of numerous flagship programmes with the Africa Union including the implementation of COVID-19 PIP The Capacity Development Specialist will be responsible for providing substantive policy and programme advisory services to the African Union, Africa CDC to implement the PIP. S/he will led on catalytic support of the project and expand the partnership with the African Union on new flagships initiatives in broad areas of AU priorities consistent with the Regional Programme Document, such as but not limited to, sustaining peace, peacebuilding, stabilization, climate-security, regional approaches to prevention and peacebuilding, situations of protracted conflict, promoting social cohesion, preventing violent extremism and supporting institutional capacity building within the framework of the ongoing institutional reform of the African Union.
Duties and Responsibilities
Summary of Key Functions:
- Programme Support and Policy Advice;
- Knowledge Management and Innovation;
- Partnerships, Representation and Resource Mobilization.
Duties and Responsibilities:
1. Programme Support and Policy Advice:
- Provide programme support to the African Union on COVID-19 PIP and ensure implementation of activities;
- Provide programme and policy advice in the thematic area of COVID-19, Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding to the African Union to strengthen their capacity;
- Provide technical support for the conceptualization and design of post-COVID recovery initiatives and identify new regional initiatives on peacebuilding and conflict prevention;
- Collaborate with other teams in the Hubs in Africa and other regions, and HQ, for the delivery of technical policy advice and programme support to the African Union, to respond to member state’s needs;
- Identify and recommend new opportunities for policy advisory directions and programming to support the African Union and RECs;
- Provide substantive policy support to the RSCA in the development of and roll-out of UNDP-AU flagship initiative on Silencing the Gun beyond 2020 and enhancing capacities of the AU in reducing conflict;
- Support in shaping the design of the new Regional Programme Document (2022-2025) based on technical engagements and priorities of the African Union and regional economic communities and regional mechanisms.
2. Knowledge Management and Innovation:
- Coordinate and contribute to knowledge extraction, analysis, documentation, codification of results/lessons learned on COVID-19 including post-recovery interventions;
- Support the identification, development and adoption of innovative solutions, including new technologies, for COVID-19 response and recovery, Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding in UNDP Africa;
- Coordinate and support cross-regional exchange of knowledge, develop and share knowledge-based tools and guidance to help influence/advance policy dialogue in the thematic area and present such material to AU, RECs and at various fora.
3. Partnerships, Representation and Resource Mobilization:
- Under the guidance of the RBA Regional Coordinator support the mobilization, fostering and strengthening of strategic partnerships with the African Union and RECs in response to COVID-19;
- Provide substantive support to the RBA Regional Coordinator to engage with partners and in resource mobilization initiatives, including through preparation of funding proposals, briefing notes, timely corporate and donor reporting, advocacy and information-sharing requirements;
- Contribute to UNDP engagement in UN interagency coordination on the COVID-19 interventions with the the aim to advance UNDP’s corporate response to COVID-19;
- Advocate for policy and positioning of the Conflict Prevention, Peacebuilding area with the AU and RECs as well as in various fora and through programme efforts, including academia and civil society.
Competencies
Core:
Innovation:
Ability to make new and useful ideas work.
Level 5: Creates new and relevant ideas and leads others to implement them.
Leadership:
Ability to persuade others to follow
Level 5: Plans and acts transparently, actively works to remove barriers
People Management:
Ability to improve performance and satisfaction.
Level 5: Models high professional standards and motivates excellence in others.
Communication:
Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform:.
Level 5: Gains trust of peers, partners, clients by presenting complex concepts in practical terms to others.
Delivery:
Ability to get things done while exercising good judgement.
Level 5: Critically assesses value and relevance of existing policy/practice and contributes to enhanced delivery of products, services, and innovative solutions.
Technical/Functional:
Result-based Management:
Ability to manage programmes and projects with a strategy aimed at improved performance and demonstrable results.
Level 5: Originate: Catalyzes new ideas, methods, and applications to pave a path for innovation and continuous improvement in professional area of expertise.
Knowledge Management:
Ability to efficiently handle and share information and knowledge.
Level 5: Originate: Catalyzes new ideas, methods, and applications to pave a path for innovation and continuous improvement in professional area of expertise.
Partnership Management:
Establishing, maintaining, and utilizing a broad network of contacts. Building partnerships and strategic alliances. Leveraging the resources of partners.
Level 5: Originate: Catalyzes new ideas, methods, and applications to pave a path for innovation and continuous improvement in professional area of expertise.
Resource Mobilization:
Ensuring that UNDP has the resources it requires to implement programmes and advance a policy-oriented agenda.
Level 5: Originate: Catalyzes new ideas, methods, and applications to pave a path for innovation and continuous improvement in professional area of expertise.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in human rights, political science, development studies, public administration and public policies, governance, social sciences or related disciplines.
Experience:
- 7 years of professional work experience providing programme support and policy advice in the general area of Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention in different development contexts. Experience working on pandemic crisis would be an asset;
- Experience with working with the AUC, RECs and other regional institutions and bodies is required;
- Experience working in the African context on issues relevant for this position would be desirable;
- Experience with working in crisis contexts would be desirable;
- Experience in programme management at the field level would be an asset;
- Experience with working with UN and/or government in developing country settings would be an asset.
Language Requirements:
- Proficiency in English;
- Fluency in French or at least one AU working language will be desirable.
Disclaimer
Important information for US Permanent Residents (‘Green Card’ holders)
Under US immigration law, acceptance of a staff position with UNDP, an international organization, may have significant implications for US Permanent Residents. UNDP advises applicants for all professional level posts that they must relinquish their US Permanent Resident status and accept a G-4 visa, or have submitted a valid application for US citizenship prior to commencement of employment.
UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications.
Applicant information about UNDP rosters
Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.
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More Information
- Address Addis Ababa
- Experience Level Senior
- Total Years Experience 5-10
- Qualification BA/BSc, MBA/MSc/MA
