Background
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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.
The International Security and Stabilization Support Strategy (ISSSS) was developed in 2008 to support the implementation of the National Stabilization and Reconstruction Programme (STAREC). The ISSSS aims to respond to the dynamics of conflict in eastern DRC, including dynamics around security dilemmas, land and identity, the exploitation of natural resources and regional dynamics. In the framework of this strategy and in the context of the DRC, “stabilization” is defined as “an integrated, holistic but targeted process that will eventually enable the state and society to establish mutual accountability, as well as the ability to address and mitigate existing or emerging vectors of conflict, creating the conditions for better governance and longer-term development”. In 2021 the STAREC programme has been replaced by a new national Programme of Demobilization, Disarmament, Community Recovery and Stabilisation (PDDRCS).
As part of its programmatic pillar on stabilization, conflict prevention and resilience, UNDP in the DRC set up a Stabilization and Resilience Unit to work with MONUSCO’s Stabilization Support Unit and other partners to support stabilization priorities in the DRC as defined by the PDDRCS). The UNDP Stabilization and Resilience offer is expected to also deploy projects in various provinces currently or previously affected by conflicts. To operationalize this contribution, a joint UN programme on Peace and Stabilization is under development, where UNDP, MONUSCO and other UN AFPs join forces to deliver peace and stabilization benefits to communities and reinforce the leadership and capacities of the governmental institutions throughout the MONUSCO transition.
To support the operationalization of its Stabilization and resilience offer, UNDP DRC recruits a (m/f) Team Leader with the double aim to (ii) strengthen strategic and operational partnerships with the donor community, the government, and the UN entities in the DRC around stabilization, and (ii) lead the stabilization support team by coordinating UNDP high-level advocacy and political engagement work towards the government of the DRC, the international community, MONUSCO, and other stakeholders.
Position Purpose
The Stabilization Advisor, Team Leader, provides the overall vision and advises the UNDP management team in country on conflict transformation and stabilization. S/he is the lead advisor on political engagement towards stabilization objectives and engages with high level officials nationally and internationally, in the government, the embassies and the UN. S/he also ensures liaison with MONUSCO for the implementation of the joint programme on stabilization. S/he leads the development of strategic partnerships and the resource mobilization efforts to develop the portfolio for the pillar and the joint programme. S/he also engages at the global and regional level on sharing lessons learned and capitalization on the DRC stabilization and conflict transformation model.
Under the direct supervision of the UNDP Deputy Resident Representative (Programme), the Stabilization Advisor is responsible for performing the following functions:
- Leads the development, strategy and management of the programmatic portfolio for the UNDP Country programme Pilar in the DRC on Stabilization and Resilience.
- Establishes and maintains strategic partnerships for resource mobilization to support the portfolio of the UNDP’s Stabilization and Resilience Pillar;
- Ensures provision of top quality and strategic advisory services, policy support, capacity building and facilitation of knowledge sharing on stabilization and resilience to UNDP management, the Government and other stakeholders focusing
- Assures quality of UNDP’s contribution to the UN efforts on transition for stabilization, conflict prevention and resilience, with a focus on conflict sensitivity and gender mainstreaming.
Duties and Responsibilities
Leads the development, strategy and management of the programmatic portfolio for the UNDP Country programme Pilar in the DRC on Stabilization and Resilience focusing on achievement of the following results:
- Leads the strategic development of UNDP’s response to the stabilization and Resilience needs in line with the CPD outcome and outputs, ensuring that UNDP’s contribution to the achievement of the different outputs is relevant and effective, and respects conflict-sensitivity and gender-mainstreaming.
- Leads the development, finalization and execution of the “Joint UN programme on Peace and Stabilization” as one of the joint delivery mechanisms for the MONUSCO transition and the implementation of the PDDRCS; ensures close collaboration with the government, MONUSCO, participating UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes and donors in this regard.
- Leads the roll-out of UNDP Stabilization and Resilience offer in different geographies with focus on the priority provinces where MONUSCO transition takes place first;
- Coordinates the development of concept notes, project briefs, project documents and maintains close relationship with the government and the international community.
- Supervises the effective implementation of all the projects in the portfolio, meeting of their respective governance bodies and reporting requirements.
- Ensures monitoring and evaluation requirements are respected for all components of the programmatic portfolio.
- Ensures the effective management and oversight of UNDP’s stabilization and resilience unit and the supervision of the unit team.
- Leads the timely execution of the operational and programmatic processes to implement the programme and related projects in accordance with relevant UNDP rules and procedures.
- Ensures the existence, quality, regular update, validation and timely execution of the corporate strategic planning documents related to the unit programmatic portfolio and operations, including integrated work plan, recruitment plan, missions plan, procurement plan, risk register, communication plan, resource mobilization and partnership plan, monitoring and evaluation plan, delivery, reporting and meeting calendar.
- Ensures the quality of contributions of the Stabilization and Resilience Pillar to UNDP corporate processes (Integrated Work Plans (IWP) Results Oriented Annual Reporting (ROAR), relevant QUANTUM modules, etc);
- Supervises the recruitment, effective onboarding, regular coaching and personal development of the unit team members;
- Ensures that individual workplans and objectives are set for/with all team members and that performance evaluation are conducted regularly.
- Supervises the regular meetings Stabilization and Resilience Pillar governance bodies at the strategic (steering committee, technical support committees, etc) and managerial level (team meetings).
- Takes part in the strategic level programme and operations bodies of the UNDP country office.
- Approves QUANTUM transactions under written delegated authority from the Resident Representative. Has QUANTUM manager rights as delegated.
- Performs any other related task assigned by the supervisor.
Establishes and maintains strategic partnerships for resource mobilization to support the portfolio of the UNDP’s Stabilization and Resilience Pillar focusing on achievement of the following results :
- Contributes to the development of strategic partnerships and resource mobilization on Stabilization and Resilience for UNDP, the UNCT and for the PDDRCS at large, in support to the national priorities and institutions.
- Determination of programmatic areas of cooperation based on national priorities, strategic goals of UNDP, the country’s recovery needs and donors’ priorities.
- Establishes strategic partnership with relevant governmental entities at the national, provincial and local level to support national priorities and reinforce national leadership.
- Contributes to the analysis and research of information on donors priorities, preparation of concept notes and substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost-sharing, in a spirit of joint development and co-creation;
- Participates in the identification of strategic opportunities and potential stabilization programme areas of cooperation, including opportunities for joint programming with UN agencies and other development partners (IFIs, INGOs etc.);
- Contributes to the development and implementation of partnerships and resources mobilization strategies to achieve Stabilization and resilience programme outcomes.
- Creates and coordinates partnerships with the UN Agencies, IFI’s, government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, private sector, civil society etc.;
Ensures provision of top quality and strategic advisory services, policy support, capacity building and facilitation of knowledge sharing on stabilization and resilience to UNDP management, the Government and other stakeholders focusing on achievement of the following results :
- Strategic development of UNDP’s response to the stabilization and Resilience needs;
- Provision of strategic policy advisory services to the Government, including the PDDRCS national coordination and other governance bodies, and facilitation of knowledge and capacity building on stabilization and resilience issues, including on democratic dialogue and community-based reintegration;
- Thorough analysis of the political, social and economic situation in the immediate response context and provision of strategic advice to CO Management, the RC, UNCT and MONUSCO in the area of stabilization.
- Ensures alignment and coordination of stabilization programme with other programme activities of the CO as well as those of other UN Agencies and capitalizes on synergies where possible;
- Ensures mainstreaming of cross-cutting UN/UNDP priorities in stabilization/peacebuilding programmes, in particular gender, conflict sensitivity, human rights and disaster risk reduction;
- Ensures that conflict prevention and peace building is mainstreamed into the UNDP Country Programme, Stabilization and Recovery Strategy, Transitional Matrix and/or other relevant programming frameworks;
- Leads the development of relevant strategies to ensure the effective programmatic and operational interface and complementarities between humanitarian, transitional and recovery interventions of the UN system, and where necessary, the development or exit and hand-over strategies.
- Advocacy for and strengthening of national capacity for planning, coordination and strategy of the stabilization response.
- Provision of top-quality policy and strategic advice to Government on development and implementation of stabilization policies and strategies.
- Identification, sharing and application of international best practices and lessons on recovery related issues relevant to the country’s recovery needs and goals;
- Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.
- Capacity building for country office staff (programme and operations).
Assures quality of UNDP’s contribution to the UN efforts on transition for stabilization, conflict prevention and resilience, with a focus on conflict sensitivity and gender mainstreaming focusing on achievement of the following results :
- Ensure that the Country Office responds in a conflict sensitive manner to the transition challenges and contributes to peace building.
- Leads UNDP’s involvement in and substantively contributes to joint needs assessments and development of UN transition Strategy and related deliverables.
- Participates in UNDP representation in the governance bodies set up for the MONUSCO transition
- Ensures coherence between the different UNDP thematic areas contributing to the MONUSCO transition (justice and rule of law, police reform, stabilization, etc).
- Ensures UNDP contribution to the UNSDCF is relevant, strategic and timely.
- Maintain substantive and strategic contacts with the UNDP’s crisis bureau, ensuring that UNDP DRC’s work is sufficiently captured and informs UNDP’s global reporting and communication efforts on stabilization.
Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:
The position directly supervises a diverse team of international and national officers comprised of both the different project managers attached to the unit and the unit management team. S/he ensures smooth collaboration with all members of the CO senior management and operations leads.
Competencies
Core Competencies
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
People Management
UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.
Cross-Functional & Technical competencies
Business Direction & Strategy-System Thinking: Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system
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
Business Management-Portfolio Management: Ability to select, prioritize and control the organization as programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity; ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimizing return on investment
2030 Agenda: Peace-Conflict Prevention, Peacebuilding and Responsive Institutions: Peacebuilding and Reconciliation
2030 Agenda: Peace-Conflict Prevention, Peacebuilding and Responsive Institutions: Political Mediation
2030 Agenda: Engagement & Effectiveness-Crisis and Fragility Policy and Engagement: UN Transitions
2030 Agenda: Engagement & Effectiveness-Crisis management / Country Management Support: Resilience based programming
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Advanced University Degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in business administration, Public Administration, Economics, Political Sciences, Social Sciences, Development Studies or related field. OR
- A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.
Experience:
- Minimum 10 years (with Master’s degree) or 12 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of relevant field experience in conflict or post conflict contexts, or special development situations is required.
- Extensive experience at the national or international level in providing management advisory services, hands-on experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of development, recovery and conflict prevention/peace building strategies
- Experience in strategic engagement with senior levels of government, donors, and civil society is required.
- Experience with conflict prevention, peace building, reintegration and conflict sensitive development, including in mediation, negotiation and political engagement processes is desirable.
- Experience in DRC and Great Lakes region is desirable.
Language:
- Proficiency in oral and written French is required.
- Good knowledge of English would be an asset.
Note: Please upload copies of your academic qualifications and 3 latest Performance Evaluations (if applicable).
Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.
Disclaimer
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.
Non-discrimination
UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
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