Vacancy code VA/2014/B5004/4597
Position title Regional REDD+ Stakeholder Engagement Specialists, Multiple positions
Level ICS-10
Department/office GPSO, Development Group
Duty station Multiple
Contract type Fixed Term
Contract level P3
Duration One Year
Application period 15-Jan-2014 to 29-Jan-2014
Print United Nations Core Values: Integrity, Professionalism, Respect for Diversity
Background Information - UNOPS
UNOPS mission is to serve people in need by expanding the ability of the United Nations, governments and other partners to manage projects, infrastructure and procurement in a sustainable and efficient manner. Within these three core areas of expertise, UNOPS provides its partners with advisory, implementation and transactional services, with projects ranging from building schools and hospitals, to procuring goods and services and training local personnel. UNOPS works closely with governments and communities to ensure increased economic, social and environmental sustainability for the projects we support, with a focus on developing national capacity. Working in some of the world's most challenging environments, our vision is to advance sustainable implementation practices in development, humanitarian and peacebuilding contexts, always satisfying or surpassing partner expectations. We employ more than 6,000 personnel and on behalf of our partners create thousands more work opportunities in local communities. Through our headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark and a network of offices, we oversee activities in more than 80 countries. Background information - GPSOBased in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Global Partner Services Office (GPSO) develops and manages a portfolio of projects and services delivered in various locations across the globe. GPSO supports partners such as the World Bank, the European Union, the Department of Peacekeeping operations, the United Nations Mine Action Service, the Global Fund, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, amongst others. This global portfolio constitutes a substantial volume of UNOPS project delivery.
Background Information - Development Group Cluster
Development Group Cluster
The UNOPS Development Group Cluster is based in the North America Office and supports a diverse and complex portfolio including partners such as the United Nations Development Programme (the Bureau for Development Policy, the Human Development Report Office, and the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation), the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Capital Development Fund, the United Nations Secretariat and a broadening community of primarily New York-based UN partners in the delivery of project management, implementation and administration services.
Background Information - Job-specific
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, as defined by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is referred to as 'REDD+'. The UNDP REDD+ team is responsible for a growing portfolio of work and quality assurancee for UN-REDD Programme, a collaborative partnership with FAO and UNEP. The team also works closely with the UNDP-GEF team to provide guidance on GEF-funded projects related to REDD+ ; with the Low Emissions, Climate Resilient Development (LECRD) team to ensure UNDP's efforts on REDD+ contribute to broader transformational change; and supports other REDD+ initiatives of the regions and country offices on quality assurance of a full cost-recovery basis. UNDP's REDD+ Team is globally spread, with advisors in New York, Geneva and Oslo. Regional teams are located in UNDP's Regional Centres in Bangkok (Asia-Pacific), Panama City (Latin America and the Caribbean), and in Nairobi (Africa) co-located with UNEP's REDD+ Team. The regional teams support UNDP's country offices and partners in their region. Support to UNDP country offices is coordinated closely with the Regional Bureaux. With the expansion of the UN-REDD Programme globally, a wide range of services and a higher degree of technical assistance are being requested from partner countries. Needs include: 1) support and promote appropriate approaches for stakeholder engagement, participation, consultation, national dialogues and training of stakeholders and UN staffs; 2) implement normative guidance and design tools in collaboration with stakeholders to support national-level efforts; 3) systematically collect and analyze national-level generated lessons and good practices for effective knowledge sharing within and among the regions, the current evidence-based global negotiations, and discussions in shaping the REDD+ architecture and mechanisms at the global scale. UNDP, as the lead agency within the UN-REDD Programme responsible for fostering stakeholder engagement, as well as for supporting participation, consultation and national and local dialogue processes, is seeking two Regional REDD+ Stakeholder Engagement Specialists (SESs) to advance its work in the broad area of stakeholder engagement at the regional levels: (1) Bangkok and (2) Nairobi; The EFSs will have dual reporting lines to the Senior Regional Technical Advisor or Regional Coordinator for the region, and the UNDP Senior Policy Advisor responsible for Stakeholder Engagement for the UN-REDD Global Programme. SESs will work in close collaboration with members of UNDP's REDD+ Stakeholder Engagement team.
Functional Responsibilities Summary of Key Functions:- Provide support to the implementation of the UN-REDD Programme Global Strategy's Outcome 4;
- Provide technical and policy advisory services on stakeholder engagement to national and regional teams, institutional partners and stakeholders;
- Ensure national and regional knowledge generation and sharing in stakeholder engagement; and
- Provide support to monitoring and reporting on Outcome 4
1. Implementation of Outcome 4 of the UN-REDD Programme Global Strategy Under the guidance of their supervisors the Stakeholder Engagement Specialists will:
- Facilitate the application of all UN-REDD Programme guidelines related to stakeholder engagement, and support grievance mechanisms for complaints and concerns arising from National Programme activities in the region;
- Ensure stakeholder engagement activities in UN-REDD Programme countries, including: supporting stakeholder engagement in National Programme Documents (NPD) and/or Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) elaboration and implementation, targeted support activities, identification and sourcing of technical expertise, contributing to the dissemination and application of UN-REDD Programme safeguards, supporting the representation and organization of stakeholders, facilitating access to information and learning on REDD+, stimulating national dialogue processes, fostering participation in the building of REDD+ mechanisms, and supporting the basis for national consensus on REDD+;
- Ensure the regional IP and CSO representatives to the UN-REDD Programme Policy Board are regularly updated on stakeholder engagement related issues and supported to coordinate effectively with IP and CSO stakeholders nationally and regionally;
- Facilitate synergies and coordination with FAO and UNEP counterparts in the UN-REDD Programme; within UNDP, including with REDD+ related UNDP-GEF projects and the GEF Small Grants Programme; and with other UN initiatives that promote the rights of IPs and engagement of stakeholder for REDD+ readiness; and
- Monitor funding needs for Outcome 4 at the regional and national levels, draft funding requests as needed, support the establishment of relationships with potential UN-REDD Programme donors and contribute to regional fund mobilization efforts for the UN-REDD Programme.
2. Technical and Policy advisory service
- Collaborate with regional and national UN-REDD Programme counterparts, including FAO and UNEP counterparts, to ensure that there is alignment and coherence in terms of stakeholder engagement approaches and practices in UN-REDD Programme and UNDP REDD+ efforts;
- Liaise with IP and civil society organizations that work in relevant areas nationally or regionally. Assess and ensure the needs and concerns of IPs and civil society are appropriately addressed in the work of the UN-REDD Programme;
- Liaise with FCPF counterparts to support harmonized processes (e.g., application of the joint Guidelines on Stakeholder Engagement in REDD+ Readiness; use of the harmonized R-PP document);
- Contribute to an understanding of the substantive technical issues related to stakeholder engagement, institutions, and processes within the region, including developing partnerships with other agencies, donors, NGOs, the private sector, scientific institutions and the like;
- Peer review, comment on, and seek to improve, the technical quality of projects, policies, practices, guidelines, advisory notes, publications and the like, to ensure they reflect the objectives of the Stakeholder Engagement work area; and
- Ensure the development of UN-REDD Programme and UNDP policy position papers and internal briefing notes, and contribute to the development or amendment of UN-REDD Programme and UNDP policies and procedures as relevant to stakeholder engagement.
3. Knowledge Management
- Communicate the UN-REDD Programme approach to and achievements in stakeholder engagement and safeguards, and develop knowledge products (e.g., reports, publications, presentations, newsletters, maintaining up-to-date regional/national website and workspace content, etc.);
- Evaluate, capture, codify and synthesize lessons and stimulate the uptake of best practices and knowledge on stakeholder engagement, including the development of knowledge materials and implementation of knowledge exchanges and other learning events;
- Ensure the development of regional and country-specific tools to build the awareness and capacity of UN-REDD Programme staff and national counterparts for strengthened stakeholder participation in the planning and implementation of UN-REDD Programme activities; and
- Ensure timely and adequate access to information on UN-REDD Programme activities and policies by stakeholders, including serving as liaison/contact person for queries.
4. Monitoring and Reporting
- Ensure that stakeholder engagement processes at the national level fulfill the terms of key UN-REDD Programme guidelines on stakeholder engagement and that UN-REDD Programme safeguards are appropriately applied;
- Support annual and semi-annual reporting on stakeholder engagement and track regional expenditure in stakeholder engagement under the UN-REDD Programme; and
- Monitor progress towards achieving outcomes in the area of stakeholder engagement under the UN-REDD Programme and report qualitative and quantitative results.
Impact of Results The results of the work will directly impact on the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement in UN-REDD Programme partner countries. The knowledge, skills, networks, and decisions of the SESs will influence whether or not the UN-REDD Programme and UNDP is effective in assisting developing countries to: 1) ensure that effective stakeholder engagement is central in their participation in a future UNFCCC REDD+ mechanism; and 2) use REDD+ financing for transformational change and development outcomes that are beneficial to all relevant parties. Given the complex technical and political nature of the inclusion of groups that are historically marginalized from decision-making processes and the unique collaborative nature of UNDP's REDD+ work, the position of the SESs requires a combination of technical, policy, diplomatic and networking skills together with a full understanding of the challenges and opportunities for stakeholder inclusion within the regions they are operating with, at the national and regional levels.
CompetenciesTechnical Competencies:- Strong knowledge of indigenous peoples' issues, particularly their rights, cultures, belief systems, institutions and decision mechanisms;
- Specific understanding of the concept and practice of REDD+, and broad knowledge on climate change;
- Capacity to work with multiple stakeholders across a wide range of disciplines;
- Excellent writing, communication and presentation skills, including the ability to defend and explain sensitive and complex issues with respect to policy positions and safeguards to staff, senior officials, indigenous peoples and civil society; and
- Full computer literacy.
Corporate Competencies:
- Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards;
- Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP; and
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Functional Competencies: Development and Operational Effectiveness
- Ability for strategic plan, process change, results-based management and reporting; and
- Ability on the formulation and oversight of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects.
Knowledge Management and Learning
- Ability to promote knowledge management and a learning environment in the office;
- Ability to actively work towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, apply learning plan and newly acquired skills; and
- Ability to seek and apply knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of UNDP.
Management and Leadership
- Ability to build strong relationships with governments and stakeholders;
- Consistency to work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
- Openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
- Ability to remain calm and good humored under pressure;
- Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills;
- Demonstrated facilitation and coordination skills; and
- Demonstrated ability to work in an independent manner as well as part of a team.
- Master's degree or equivalent in community development, international law, international affairs, development policy, environmental policy, natural resource management, climate-change policies, gender and/or other relevant field. Candidates with a Bachelor's degree or equivalent may be considered for the position with two additional years of relevant professional experience.
EXPERIENCE:
- A minimum of 5 years practical working experience with stakeholder engagement in development projects and processes, in particular with indigenous peoples, local communities and civil society organizations that represent them and a minimum of 2 years work experience in developing countries are required.
- Demonstrated ability to foster dialogue between governmental actors, indigenous peoples, civil society, private sector and community constituencies and to manage development and environment-related initiatives;
- Experience with project development, implementation and management;
- Understanding of the REDD+ agenda in the context of UNFCCC negotiations, challenges and opportunities;
- Understanding of stakeholder engagement and indigenous rights issues related to forest and biodiversity conservation/natural resource management and governance systems;
- Experience in an international organization is an advantage as is in-depth knowledge of UNDP policies, procedures and practices.
LANGUAGES:
- An excellent command of written and spoken English is required;
- Proficiency in French is required for posts covering Africa.
- Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time (CET)
- Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
- Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
- Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
- For staff positions UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
- The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.
It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.
