Description

Background
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.

UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan.

Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDP’s Crisis Bureau (CB) to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programmes. BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven including in its programme support efforts.

In this regard, UNDP has committed to support the UN system and its country and regional offices in COVID-19 response. UNDP seeks to streamline goals across the four pillars of response: Digital, Climate, Social Protection and Economic Inclusion so that programmes are designed to meet targets in multiple pillars at the same time. This coordination requires knowledge and expertise in all four areas be provided to regional hubs and country offices as well as inter-agency work, so that linkages can be identified in a timely manner and included in the design of recovery programmes and projects.

Duties and Responsibilities

As part of UNDP’s Nature, Climate and Practice, UNDP is seeking to recruit a professional to support the NCE Director to coordinate, track, monitor and report on an ambitious workplan for 2023. This support will include:

Coordinate with various technical leads across the NCE Practice as well as other BPPS Practice Leads to prepare briefing/executive summaries as needed;
Ideate, organize, conduct and follow up on regular NCE leadership and management meetings to advance the 2023 workplan;

Relationship management: address and where possible resolve areas of difficulty where these arise;
Support the NCE Director to build collaborative team ethos and ensure that staff feel able to fulfil their own roles well and develop their own skill sets;

Implement and manage, in support of Executive Coordinator/Director, a re-structure of the team to improve workflows to deliver integrated solutions and assistance to Regional Bureaus and in turn, COs;

Provide management support and re-orient external communications element of UNDP's results-based management team;

Working with various units in UNDP, including BERA, support ongoing efforts to strengthen the relationship between Member States and UNDP, and other donor governments as required, in the context of UNDP’s Strategic Plan and the Nature, Climate and Energy Practice, by providing information on results and impacts, data etc;
Organize trainings for NCE Staff on various policy and programme related changes that have been introduced as part of Audit management actions in 2021;
Support Directorate efforts to contribute towards and respond to Audits planned in 2023;
Support the NCE Director to respond to internal and external engagements in a timely manner and help elevate critical engagements so that they can be actioned appropriately;

Provide input to the development of UNDP’s integrated policy and programme support in the context of Nature, Climate and Energy;

Provide substantive and content input to contribute to mobilizing, fostering and strengthening strategic partnerships with UN entities and other relevant bodies and provide inputs to those partnerships in support of UNDP initiatives;
Support the GPN in its engagement with UN interagency coordination mechanisms in relevant policy areas by drafting briefing, preparing for and participating in meetings;

Coordinate analysis of data, case evidence and research findings to distil relevant lessons from projects and programmes to inform policy formulation and guidance;
Develop relevant analysis and guidance, in close collaboration with BPPS strategic policy and engagement team, on emerging issues of global significance and contribute to new research, including through working with the Global Policy Centers (as necessary);

Provide substantive inputs related to global external partnerships in the area of work, including leading on UNDP’s role and contribution to other stakeholders’ initiatives; and Develop implementation plan to foster strategic partnerships with UN and external partner institutions, Governments, private sector, academia, NGOs, and CSOs;

Coordinate team contributions and support to corporate KM activities, whether at the global, cross-regional or region-specific level to help influence/advance policy dialogue in the thematic area of NCE in collaboration with policy teams at HQ and in Regional Hubs;
Contribute to the relevant Community of Practice by consolidating country cases, experiences, good practices of relevance to the area of leaving no one behind and Nature, Climate and Energy.

Institutional Arrangement:

The Strategic Policy Specialist will work in collaboration with the BPPS/NCE team;
The Strategic Policy Specialist will report to, and be directly supervised by, the Head of NCE;
The Strategic Policy Specialist will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
The Strategic Policy Specialist will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, assignment specific software, etc.) and must have access to a reliable internet connection
Given the global scope of the work to be undertaken during this assignment, the Strategic Policy Specialist is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability taking into consideration different time zones.

Competencies

Core

Achieve Results:

LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact

Think Innovatively:

LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems

Learn Continuously:

LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences

Adapt with Agility:

LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands

Act with Determination:

LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results

Engage and Partner:

LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration

Enable Diversity and Inclusion:

LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Thematic Area

Name

Definition

Business Direction and Strategy

Entrepreneruial Thinking

Ability to create clarity around UNDP value proposition to beneficiaries and partners and to develop service offers responding to client needs based on UNDP’s organizational priorities and mandate

Business Development

Knowledge Generation

Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for content, or responsive to a stated need

Business Development

Integration within the UN

Ability to identity, and integrate capacity and assets of the UN system, and engage in joint work; knowledge of the UN System and ability to apply this knowledge to strategic and/or practical situations

Business Management

Partnerships Management

Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies
Required Skills and Experience

Min. Academic Education

Master’s degree in Economics, International Relations, Politics or development-related area of study or a first-level university degree in combination with additional 2 years of qualifying experience.

Min. years of relevant Work experience

At least 5 years of relevant professional experience (or first-level university degree in combination with at least 7 years of experience) in communications, negotiations, policy formulation, political engagement;

Required skills

Experience in delivery strategic policy advice in international organizations/governments/NGOs

Experience in producing reports relevant to this assignment;
Experience in negotiations and engagement at in political settings;
In gap analysis, policy review and formulation

Desired additional skills

Prior experience in policy analysis, development and/or consultancy would be an advantage
Experience with UNDP policies, procedures and practices particularly in relation to policy development and implementation and/or working experience is an advantage
Prior experience in knowledge management activities is an advantage

Required Language(s) (at working level)

Excellent command of written and spoken English and French
Knowledge of other UN languages is highly desirable

Professional Certificates

N/A