GPN ExpRes Profile – Conflict Prevention and Peace Building

Duty Station: Multiple
 

Successful applicants should:

• Have a Master’s degree with a minimum of five years’ experience in the respective field relevant to the ToR or possess seven years’ experience with a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.
• Be prepared for potential deployment to crisis settings with short notice.
  

Additionally, specific preferences include:

• Proficiency in Arabic, French, or Spanish, with Russian and/or Portuguese considered advantageous.
• Encouragement is particularly extended to female applicants. In addition to candidates from the Global South.
  

Qualification:

Master’s Degree in social sciences with a focus on international relations or relevant field. Experience in conflict prevention, including relevant field experience, especially in crisis or post-conflict settings, and in conflict-sensitive programming.

 

WHAT IS CONFLICT PREVENTION AND PEACEBUILDING?

1. Peacebuilding Advisor/Facilitator, Political Transitions/National Cohesion, Reconciliation and Dialogue Advisor/Programme Design Specialist/Trainer, Conflict Analysis and Conflict Sensitivity

The consultant will work with the UN Resident Coordinator, the UN Country Team, and UNDP in conflict or immediate post-conflict situations to support the integration of the conflict dimensions in strategy developments and needs assessments in an integrated manner. The consultant will identify and explore possible entry points for peacebuilding and conflict preventive interventions by the UNCT and/or UNDP. He/she will assist relevant stakeholders in identifying relevant risks and opportunities for peace building and conflict management and in strengthening the capacities of selected actors, institutions and mechanisms for conflict management, consensus building and peacebuilding. The consultant will facilitate processes in situations of political deadlock or high political complexity, where more formal mediation engagement is challenging. The assignments can take place in multiple locations, including HQ, or be home-based.

 

2. Climate And Security Risk – Policy And Programming Experts

The multidimensional nature of climate change creates far-reaching consequences not only for the environment but also for development and ultimately for the security of people, communities, and states. While climate change does not cause violent conflict in and of itself, it can multiply risks known to contribute to insecurity, overburden state capacity, and make already vulnerable communities more susceptible to threats.
 

In the past 15-20 years, these interlinkages between climate change, prevention and sustaining peace have received a growing amount of attention both among researchers and increasingly also in policy circles. In the Security Council, for instance, a landmark Presidential Statement from 2011 (PRST/2011/15) paved the way for more regular engagement on this topic and set the stage for a series of formal outcomes over the past two years recognizing the adverse impact of climate change on stability and calling for “adequate risk assessments and risk management strategies by governments and the United Nations”.
 

Across the UN system, a number of departments, agencies, funds and programmes deal with the impact of climate-related security risks. However, there is currently no shared, overarching understanding of and approach to climate-related risks. Responses tend to be ad-hoc and joint analysis and planning remain elusive. One of the main challenges is to connect analysis and assessments generated by the development/climate adaptation communities with the analyses of political and security risks by the peace and security entities to inform an integrated understanding of risks and develop coordinated response strategies. A concerted effort from across the UN system is needed to build bridges between different sets of mandates, expertise and capacities.
 

Together with DPPA, UNEP and DPO, UNDP comprises the core capacities of the Climate Security Mechanism. As the largest implementer of peacebuilding and climate action within the UN system and beyond, including the Climate Promise, UNDP hosts the only global climate security team within the UN, with dedicated specialists/advisors covering all geographic regions. In particular, it supports hotspots and contexts underserved by the climate security agenda thus far in: Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
 

UNDP’s work on climate policy and finance for peace has catalyzed a new field of practice and practice-driven research on climate finance in conflict-affected and fragile contexts and has captured the interest, including of the COP27 and COP28 hosts/Presidencies, the Security Council, the World Bank, the Aswan Forum, the Stockholm Forum for Peace and Development and Stockholm+50, and ASEAN.

UNDP provides dedicated support to regional entities from the Global South on climate security, including the African Union Commission, the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the League of Arab States, and the Liptako Gourma Authority, including through the CSM. Working closely with Cairo International Centre for Conflict Prevention, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding, and the AUC, UNDP is key focal point for UN system to the Egyptian COP27 Presidency initiative, “Climate Responses for Sustaining Peace“, a first-of-kind initiative focused on peace and security in the context of the climate change COPs, led by a country and key interlocutor from the Global South. UNDP has been working closely with the lead focal point, the Cairo International Centre for Conflict Prevention, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding and the African Union Commission on developing a roadmap to COP28 and beyond.

UNDP is putting together a pool of experts to support climate, peace and security policy and programme development. The roster of experts will be utilized in 2023 but will be positioned for the next two to three years to provide a continued pool of expertise to countries for implementation of initiatives on climate, peace, and security, focusing on supporting implementation of actions and delivering results on the ground.
 

The Experts Roster for Rapid Response (ExpRes) is a recruitment and deployment mechanism which maintains pre-vetted consultants on a roster and contracts them quickly for Country Office support. The primary purpose of this roster has been to deploy technical experts to UNDP Country Offices/regional teams/ HQ units on short notice.
 

The ExpRes roster provides pre-selected and technically vetted consultants across 21 profiles and 79 sub-profiles to support the work of UNDP and other UNDP partner agencies in the area of crisis prevention and recovery.

 

SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED WORK

1. Peacebuilding Advisor/Facilitator, Political Transitions/National Cohesion, Reconciliation and Dialogue Advisor/Programme Design Specialist/Trainer, Conflict Analysis and Conflict Sensitivity

This is the generic profile outlining potential areas of responsibility. The consultant should be able to cover the requirements of one of the areas as outlined below:

• Conduct analysis of the political situation and conflict trends, including political, economic, social, and security factors; conduct the analysis of conflict actors, including their interests, relations, capacities, peace agendas and incentives.
• Based on this analysis, identify relevant stakeholders and issues for dialogue processes to address the immediate crisis situation in addition to long-term processes.
• Design and facilitate the multi-stakeholder dialogue process to address the immediate crisis situation among relevant stakeholders, including government, UNCT, and civil society, and provide strategic recommendations for further UNCT engagement.
• Provide strategic analyses and recommendations to the UN Resident Coordinator and the UNCT on issues relating to peace and development, with a view to identifying relevant “entry points” for UN interventions for conflict prevention and peacebuilding and propose appropriate strategic responses.
• Under the direction of the RC/RR, engage with international and national organizations to promote a common approach towards supporting conflict prevention and peacebuilding in the country.
• Support the design and formulation of concrete conflict prevention, social cohesion, and peacebuilding programmatic interventions, and, as appropriate, assist relevant stakeholders in identifying relevant risks and opportunities for conflict prevention and peacebuilding programming.
• Assist the UN Country Team, the UNDP Country Office, and relevant national counterparts in integrating conflict prevention elements into the formulation and implementation of the CCA, UNDAF, and CDP frameworks, including the M&E system.
• Provide technical support to the development of conflict prevention mainstreaming strategies for UNDP offices, and the design and implementation of conflict sensitive UNDP programs.
• Support UNDP Country Offices in the review and evaluation of conflict management and peacebuilding programmatic initiatives.
• Strengthen, through training, the capacities of the UNCT, UNDP CO and relevant stakeholders to undertake multi-stakeholder participatory conflict analysis processes as the basis for conflict sensitive programming and for the identification of key programmatic areas of engagement for conflict prevention and peacebuilding.
  

2. Climate And Security Risk – Policy And Programming Experts

Tasks assigned in each individual assignment may include one or more of the following:

1. Climate, peace and security policy, advocacy and awareness raising

• Develop global, national, and sub-national strategies and policy guidance for climate, peace, and security;
• Review policy literature on climate, peace, and security; including consideration of cross-cutting thematic issues such as finance, gender, youth, human mobility, etc.
• Identification of barriers and solutions for proposed policy and interventions;
• Support developing of strategies to strengthen access to climate finance in conflict-affected and fragile contexts;
• Undertake climate security risk identification, assessment and index development, and prevention/mitigation programming;
• Identify opportunities for advocacy and resource mobilization on global/regional/country levels.

2. Knowledge creation, research, and documentation

• Undertake primary/secondary research in the new areas of concern on climate, peace, and security, based on reviews of existing literature and needs assessments;
• Develop research design, research questions and scope of work for undertaking primary research in new areas;
• Document good practices, case studies, innovations and pilot models for wider dissemination and sharing;
• Design and implement multi-stakeholder consultation processes for testing, validation, and advocacy;
• Develop literature on best practices and case studies; and
• Contribute to Communities of Practice, including UN Community of Practice on Climate and Security.

3. Project design, formulation & other programme related technical support

• Prepare conceptual framework/concept notes on new area of work/developmental challenge;
• Provide technical assistance in identification of developmental challenges, target areas, beneficiaries and partners and formulation of implementation strategy for UNDP climate and security programmatic and advisory support;
• Provide technical support in development on new interventions/projects with Implementation (operational plan, monitoring, and resource requirement) Institutional and management arrangements;
• Identify issues, formulate, and implement interventions that focus on various activities;
• Conduct studies on project/programme highlights, activities and processes involved;
• Prepare and review project documents;
• Identify areas/beneficiaries and partners; timing, sequencing of activities; mobilization of finance;
• Monitor and evaluate effectiveness of global, regional, national and/or sub-national policies and programmes; and
• Prepare project proposals to ensure innovation in concepts, strategies, and incorporation of best practices.

4. Capacity development/training

• Develop capacity assessments and plans to achieve the milestones identified and address the identified capacity gaps.
• Develop target specific training tools/toolkits and manuals based on training needs assessment.
• Design training curriculum, conduct and/or coordinate trainings programmes for various stakeholders.
• Carry out capacity assessments for development of strategic interventions for institutional strengthening.
• Design and delivery of training toolkits, products etc.
• Conduct and/or Coordinate trainings, events, and workshops.

 

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION:

At UNDP, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UNDP recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNDP, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UNDP’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UNDP personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference checks.

 

Requirements and skills

Global Call

-Conflict Prevention and Peace Building

 

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