UNDP DRR Programme Specialist || Apply Now

The Programme Specialist will support the Regional DRR/Recovery Advisor/ Team Leader in providing technical expertise and policy and programme advisory services to requests coming from the Country Offices and, where appropriate, to government as well as key UN and external partners.

Duties and Responsibilities of DRR Programme Specialist

Ensure Policy development and positioning

• Advise and support development of regional policy documents on DRT’s thematic workstreams including DRR, recovery, resilience building and related aspects for regional, sub-regional and national level application in line with UNDP Strategic Plan, Signature Solutions, and other corporate guidance and to help identify opportunities for development of new policies and guide the overall team priorities and workplans.
• Fosters linkages with global policy documents, discussions and corporate guidance notes on these issues and undertakes in-depth analysis to orient them towards the African context for application at regional, national, and sub-national level through synthesized guidance and inputs.
• Works with other practice areas like sustainable development, poverty, livelihoods, conflict, climate change mitigation and adaptation, environment etc. and ensure integration of disaster and climate risk considerations into their regional and national policies and strategies.
• Engages with other GPN teams to foster cross-practice linkages and integration.
• Supports regional inter-governmental organizations and national counterpart ministries/agencies with specific guidance and inputs on issues related to DRR, recovery, resilience and risk-informed development for their national, sub-national and sectoral risk management and development policies and programmes.

Ensure Programme formulation, implementation, and capacity development.

• Analyzes regional, sub-regional and national risk management and development context to identify opportunities for expanding UNDP support on DRR, recovery, resilience, and risk-informed development.
• Advise and Support formulation of comprehensive regional, sub-regional, country and/or sectoral DRR programs or on specific thematic areas within the overall workstreams of DRT, UNDP Strategic Plan, Signature Solutions, and other corporate frameworks through programs/projects.
• Advise and support UNDP COs to develop DRR and recovery related programmatic interventions and helps respond to immediate needs and priorities identified by national governments and counterpart agencies.
• Improves program delivery by fostering coordination between UNDP, national government agencies working on DRR and recovery through a systematic analysis of national risk management context and development priorities.
• Identifies mission-critical roles for the thematic area in disaster response and recovery and provides timely technical policy and programme advice for crisis situations coordinated by the Crisis Bureau including contributions to UNDP SURGE for country offices.

Build strategic partnership development and resource mobilization.

• Supports strategic partnerships with regional inter-governmental organizations and regional teams of UN agencies particularly with UNDRR, UN Habitat, African Union, RECs, intergovernmental authorities, national governments, NGOs, etc. for greater coordination on policy and programmatic issues related to DRR and recovery and for mainstreaming risks into development and other regional priorities.
• Strengthens UNDP’s partnership with regional and national technical, academic and research institutions.
• Contributes to the global resource mobilization strategy developed by global DRT by providing timely information and intelligence about existing and emerging donor priorities.
• In collaboration with BERA, supports the Team Leader to engage with regional partners and develop/implement resource mobilization plan under corporate guidelines, including to fulfill corporate and donor reporting, advocacy, and information-sharing requirements.

Facilitates knowledge management, advocacy, and internal/external communications.

• Contributes to relevant GPN Community of Practices in the thematic areas of disaster risk reduction, recovery, and resilience, with a particular focus on supporting the regional Community of Practice on Crises Prevention and Resilience.
• Facilitates the development and sharing of knowledge-based tools and guidance to help influence/advance policy dialogue in the thematic area and present such material at various fora.
• Coordinates cross-regional exchange of knowledge by collaborating with policy teams in HQ on research.
• Contributes to the CoP on Resilience from regional and national perspectives and contributes blogs, write-ups, articles showcasing UNDP’s policy and programme initiatives, progress, and accomplishments.

Ensure Results management, monitoring, and reporting.

• Guides country offices with strengthening their results management capacities and processes through application of RBM, MSP and other programming principles.
• Guides regular monitoring and tracking of results from various regional, sub-regional and national projects/programs.
• Advises and supports COs meet their reporting obligations for various corporate, global and team reporting requirements as well as global reporting processes and tools.
• Develops country office capacity and familiarity with various corporate and global reporting tools like the Sendai Framework Monitor, ROAR, IWP, Dashboard etc.

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Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Economics, Business Administration, Climate Change, Disaster Risk Management/reduction, Social Sciences, or related disciplines. Is required. OR
• A first-level university degree in the areas mentioned above, in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum of 7 years (with master’s degree) or 9 years (with bachelor’s degree) of professional work experience providing policy advice and programme support in the general area of Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Risk Management, preferably in the region in different development contexts is required.
• At least 4 years’ experience in designing and delivering disaster risk reduction and recovery related policy and programme support that fosters linkages with resilience, climate change and other themes is required.
• Proven ability to turn knowledge of global and regional DRR and recovery policies, frameworks and principles into policy, strategic and/or practical guidance is desired.
• Ability to establish networks and partnerships with knowledge and experience of UNDP and UN system policies and programming is desired.
• Strong and relevant experience working in developing country settings and disaster-prone regions, including experience in disaster/crisis contexts is an asset.
• Experience working in the Africa region is an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in English, both written and oral is required.
• Working knowledge of another UN language preferably relevant to the region in which this position is based is an asset.

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