Social and Environmental Safeguards Analyst

UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations build integrated, lasting solutions for people and the planet. UNDP has been working in Afghanistan for more than 50 years on climate change and resilience, gender, governance, health, livelihoods, and the rule of law. Under the broader framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in close coordination with other UN agencies, UNDP supports the Afghan people’s aspiration for peace, prosperity, and sustainability. UNDP is currently implementing its flagship crisis response programme, ABADEI (Area Based Approach to Development Emergency Initiatives), as part of the ongoing UN-led response to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and the breakdown of Afghanistan’s economy following the August 2021 shift in power and subsequent early recovery and stabilization.

Energy poverty affects the quality of lives of women and men differently in varying degrees and impacts their health, employment, and many basic services. Currently, the demand for energy in the country far exceeds its supply, the transmission and distribution grid are unreliable, and load shedding and outages of electricity supply are common. Many provinces are not connected to the grid and are therefore largely served through local diesel generating units that increase the costs of supply. Thus, lack of access is linked to affordable energy and impedes economic, social, and educational opportunities for the poor and rural residents.

The Federal Republic of Germany has made available funds to the project “Sustainable energy services for education and health in Afghanistan (SESEHA)” of UNDP through KfW, Germany’s State-owned Investment and Development Bank.   The key objective of the project SESEHA is adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency measures in public facilities (primarily in health and education sectors) for sustained delivery of essential services for basic human needs in Afghanistan. This proposed project will contribute to better energy access and enables improvements in basic energy supply services in the stated sectors. 

The project is aligned with UNDP’s signature solution on Energy and is further conceptualized in the priority area of sustained essential services of the UN’s Strategic Framework for Afghanistan 2023-2025 that directly contributes to the two outcomes: Outcome 1: By the end of 2025, more people in Afghanistan, particularly the most vulnerable and marginalized, including women and girls have their basic human needs progressively met through the sustained delivery of essential services. Outcome 2: By the end of 2025, people in Afghanistan, especially women, youth, and other marginalized groups, and those at risk of being left behind benefit from a more equitable, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient employment-rich economy and shared economic opportunities with enhanced productive capacities for improved livelihoods and decent work.

The Social and Environmental Safeguards Analyst will undertake the following tasks to ensure the success of the project: 

• Coordinate with experts for finalization of environmental social management framework (ESMF)/ environmental social management plan (ESMP), Grievance redressal mechanism GRM, stakeholder engagement plan (SEP);
• Review and follow up with vendors for ESMP implementation;
• Monitor the overall SES compliance;
• Report on new risks.

• Assist and coordinate the technical working group meetings with different stakeholders including donors and relevant partners of SESEHA;
• Assist and support the financial team as the ESMP will be part of the bidding documents. The bids will be required to allocate financial resources towards mitigation measures/ compliance with the ESMF;
• Provide the assistant to support in undertaking desk based and onsite environment and social screening of the identified project location and provide individual (site specific) report based on risk assessment and mitigation measures as part of site specific ESMP;
• Verify the effectiveness of grievance mechanisms and that all grievances and responses are tracked;
• Provide technical assistance to the consulting firms related to SEP/ GRM so that they can organize national/regional training workshops and run other capacity-development-related events;
• Conduct spot checks and field visits to project location sites.

2. Review and follow up with vendors for ESMP implementation:

• Assist the organization of meetings, seminars, and other events on social and environmental standards issues;
• Review the technical support inputs and follow up with quality assurance measures, including spot-checking and screenings of ESMP implementation;
• Participates in international, regional or national meetings related to social and environmental standards in humanitarian contexts;
• Review tailored ESMF operational tools and checklists as needed.

3. Monitor the overall ESS compliance:

• Assist in monitoring and ensure that the ESMP would be customized during implementation based on site specific conditions identified during feasibility analysis prior to its installation, commissioning and operation and maintenance arrangements;
• Review the monitoring plan for ESMF as per the Social and Environment Standard (SES);
• Support improved sub-project monitoring, recording, and reporting, including tracking of incidents and response measures;
• Work with Third Party Monitoring (TPM) agent to ensure ESMF implementation is considered in monitoring activities;
• Review TPM reports to ensure findings and lessons related to ESMF implementation.

4. Report on new risks

• Assist in providing specialized environmental and social safeguards related inputs to feed into UNDP knowledge and learning systems;
• Review the risks and impacts of Climate Change and Disaster Risks;
• Follow all the project activities in field site to ensure that adequate measures would be undertaken at every stage of site identification, selection.

Institutional Arrangement

The Social and Environmental Safeguards Analyst will report directly to the Social and Environmental Safeguards Specialist, UNDP Afghanistan Country office in Kabul.

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making 

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

2030 Agenda: Engagement & Effectiveness: Effectiveness              

• Social and Environmental Standards.

Partnership management: Relationship management      

• Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust, and mutual understanding.

2030 Agenda: Planet: Nature, Climate and Energy Environment: 

• Environmental and social impact assessments and safeguards.

Business Management: Results-based Management        

• Ability to manage programmes and projects with a focus at improved performance and demonstrable results.

Business Direction and Strategy  Business Acumen            

• Ability to understand and deal with a business situation in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome. Knowledge and understanding of the operational frameworks in the organization and ability to make good judgments and quick decisions within such frameworks.

2030 Agenda: Prosperity: Inclusive Growth          

• Social Inclusion.