Programme Specialist Home-based Position at UNDP

Finance December 11, 2023

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You must have the ability to:- Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience.

Programme Specialist Home-based Position at UNDP

Job Purpose and Organizational Context

The Joint SDG Fund supports countries as they accelerate their progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It operates through joint programmes (JPs) that provide the mechanism for transformative solutions implemented by governments and national stakeholders and supported by the UN Country Team led by Resident Coordinators (RCs). Strategic direction for the Fund is provided by the Strategic Advisory Group chaired by the Deputy Secretary-General as the chair of UN Sustainable Development Group. The Fund is managed by the Operational Steering Committee, comprised of representatives of UN entities, and with the support from the Secretariat of the Fund. The UN Development Coordination Office (DCO) hosts the Fund and provides for the alignment with the broader UN Development System reforms. The Administrative Agent of the Fund, in charge of financial management, is the Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF-O). Official documents (e.g. Terms of Reference and Operational Guidance) of the Fund and information on funding can be found on the Gateway portal.

To advance the dual mandate of supercharging the UN Development System reform to be fit for purpose and, in turn, supporting the acceleration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Fund incentivizes coherent and coordinated join UN action, anchored in the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks at country level under the leadership of Resident Coordinator (RC). Serving as the catalytic funding to piece together emerging policy priorities and financing strategies, the Fund aims to galvanize the UN Country Teams around integrated policies and identify the fiscal space to overcome the political and financial hurdles to scale and accelerate progress towards the SDGs.

The key objective of this position is to support the Head of the UN Joint SDG Fund Secretariat in aligning the work of the UN Joint SDG Fund with the Development Coordination Office (DCO) and the Executive Office of the Secretary-General (EOSG), as well as supporting the implementation of the strategy of the UN Joint SDG Fund in close collaboration with partners.

Duties and Responsibilities

Policy coordination and strategic alignment/positioning
- Contributes to the alignment between the UN Joint SDG Fund, the Development Coordination Office (DCO) and the Executive Office of the Secretary-General (EOSG.)
- Supports the implementation of the strategy of the UN Joint SDG Fund in close collaboration with DCO and EOSG.
- Produces comprehensive background notes and relevant material for the participation of the Joint SDG Fund Head of Secretariat, DCO Director, and the Deputy Secretary-General in various meetings.
- Provides strategic support to outreach activities and facilitates substantive contributions from a Joint SDG Fund perspective to UNDCO leadership and EOSG.
- Organizes and prepares written outputs on policy issues e.g. draft background papers, briefing notes, analysis, sections of reports and studies, inputs to publications, and key messages.
- Coordinates information management and knowledge sharing on Member State positions in different UN fora including ECOSOC, General Assembly, and specialized meetings.
- Contributes to the technical-level preparatory meetings and processes for UN Senior leadership visits and meetings relevant to the Joint SDG Fund.
- Facilitates knowledge management and exchange of best practices amongst the Joint SDG Fund, DCO and EOSG.
- Develops draft policy recommendations on UN Joint SDG Fund support issues, including the review and analysis of issues and trends; prepares evaluations or other research activities and studies.
Partnership management and support
- Provides strategic support to the Head of Secretariat and the partnership specialist in his/her work with expanding partnerships.
- Participates in working groups to ensure efficient support to DCO, EOSG, RCs/UNCTs by the Joint SDG Fund.
- Contributes to outreach activities; conducts training workshops, seminars, etc.; makes presentations on assigned topics/activities.
- Provides substantive backstopping to consultative and other meetings, conferences, including proposing agenda topics, identifying participants, preparation of documents and presentations on sustainable development issues.
- Support activities related to budget funding on strategic partnerships and programmes; prepares relevant documents/reports (e.g. pledging, work programme, programme budget, etc.)
Programmatic management and support
- Supports programmatic duties of the Joint SDG Fund on one or two transitions, in partnership with the relevant UN entities.
- Participates in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of assigned programmes/projects, etc.; monitors and analyses programme/project development and implementation.
- Reviews relevant documents and reports; identifies problems and issues to be addressed and proposes corrective actions; liaises with relevant parties; identifies and tracks follow-up actions.
- Leads and/or participates in field missions, including provision of guidance to external consultants, government officials and other parties and drafting mission summaries, etc.
- Performs other related duties, as required.

Institutional Arrangement

The Programme Specialist will report to the Head, Joint SDG Fund Secretariat.

Core
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

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in political science, international relations, social sciences, management science, development, law or related field.
Bachelor’s degree in the same fields with additional 2 years of experience will be accepted in lieu of the master’s degree.

Experience:

A minimum of 5 years with master’s degree or 7 years with bachelor’s degree of progressively responsible experience in providing reporting and coordination support in inter-governmental development organizations is required.
Experience working at regional or global level in multilateral organizations and/or the UN system is required. Specific experience in inter-agency coordination and international organizations is required.

Required skills

Ability to extract, analyse and visualize data (using excel or other tools) to form meaningful insights and aid effective decision making is required.
Knowledge of intergovernmental bodies (General Assembly, ECOSOC, UNDESA, etc.), including respective mandates, ways of working, and negotiation processes is required.
Knowledge of UN country planning processes and documents is required.
Evidence of strong writing skills and the ability to synthesize information is required.

Desired skills

Experience working in developing country settings is an asset.
Professional experience within governmental domains of development coordination is an asset.

Required Language(s)