Job Vacancy: UNDP POLICY SPECIALIST, INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT

Background

The area of Inclusive Development – Strategies and Policies for Poverty Reduction, explores the intersection between employment, social protection and the options for financing social protection mechanisms that can help the poor cope with the risks they face from different sources. Sometimes, a shock to household income can come from an unexpected illness of one of the members of the household (idiosyncratic risk) but it could also come from changes in macroeconomic conditions, such as the current global economic crisis (co-variant risk, affecting whole communities). Work in this area is also directed towards the reduction of inequality with special attention to the different needs of women and men. The main areas are i) Employment and Social Protection, ii) Economic Governance, iii) Poverty Assessment and Monitoring and iv) Mainstreaming Human Rights.

In this overall context the Policy Specialist will support work in the areas of employment and social protection and economic governance both substantively and operationally and contribute to all aspects of UNDP’s work in these areas. This includes public and private provisioning of basic social services, strengthening institutions to ensure provisioning and equitable access to basic services and contributing to research and projects on employment issues.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Policy Development and Advisory Services
• Policy Advisory Support
• Operational Work
• Policy Advocacy

Support analytical research and the substantive work of the Inclusive Development Cluster, mainly in the areas of human development impacts and policy responses to crisis and economic governance.

• Substantively contribute to the drafting of relevant policy papers and other knowledge products relating to human development and policy responses to the crises and economic governance.
• Support and facilitate the analysis and drafting of the Vulnerability Report.

Policy Advisory Support

• Contribute to analysis and suggested recommendations for policy responses to the crisis and economic governance
• Identify key bottlenecks and propose solutions for how UN country teams can work together on responding to the crisis and on issues related to economic governance.
• Develop (and contribute to existing) service delivery platforms that can effectively translate UNDP’s approach to human development impacts and policy responses to crises, and economic governance into the work of UNDP country offices and UN country teams.

Operational Work

• Formulation, implementation and management of projects in the Inclusive Development Cluster including coordination of work planning inputs and preparation of periodic reports.

Policy Advocacy

• Establish or further develop partnerships with other practice areas within BDP, UN agencies and external partners.

Competencies

• Understanding of human development impacts and policy responses to crises, and economic governance
• Sound understanding of international development processes and challenges, in particular strategies and policies for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and support for MDG-aligned national development strategies
• Skills and experience in project management
• Analytical thinking and research skills;
• Diverse organizational work experience is an asset

Corporate:

• Familiarity with the UN system, in particular with UNDP and its mandate;
• Commitment to UNDP’s core values.
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment.

Managerial:

• Demonstrated ability to work independently, ability to organize work efficiently and deal with multiple tasks
• Ability to work effectively with colleagues in various regions and offices
• Ability to contribute to building and nurturing partnerships

Behavioral:

• Strong (oral and written) communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills to promote effective cross-practice collaboration and interagency coordination
• Pro-active attitude towards continuing personal learning and development and applying newly acquired skills

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s Degree in International Development or related field.

Experience

• A minimum of five years of international development and substantive experience

Language

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required; Spanish strongly desirable.