Details
Mission and objectives
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the lead agency on international development of the United Nations. UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Our work is concentrated in three focus areas; sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience. UNDP’s mandate is to end poverty, build democratic governance, rule of law, and inclusive institutions. We advocate for change, and connect countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.
Context
In a sub-region that was once considered to be relatively peaceful and stable, countries in the Gulf of Guinea (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo) have recently been confronted with the expansion of violent extremism, terrorism, transnational criminality, and other threats related to maritime piracy and drug trafficking, which are now threatening their stability. The increasing risk of the spread of extremist and terrorist groups from the Sahel (particularly from Burkina Faso and Mali) towards coastal states, raises fears of what is termed as a “spill-over” effect that could have serious consequences for the stability of these areas. With the increased threat of local radicalization into violent extremism and cases of terrorist recruitment documented in the region, as have the cross-border movements of extremist groups reported by local communities in border areas, as well as violent incidences, the prevention of violent extremism (PVE) is of paramount importance to mitigate the risk of violent extremism. Therefore, to bolster efforts to prevent violent extremism in this sub-region, the UNDP regional project, entitled “Preventing and Responding to Violent Extremism in the Atlantic Corridor“ (2023-2025) covering Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo, seeks to apply a complementary regional prevention approach to address the challenges of violent extremism at the national and sub-regional level through the following outputs: (1) National coordination and capacities on preventing violent extremism (PVE) strengthened in target countries to develop, coordinate and effectively implement PVE interventions at the national, subregional and local levels; (2) At-risk communities in target locations respond to radicalization factors leading to violent extremism and their resilience is strengthened to prevent radicalization at hyper-local levels; (3) National PVE strategies and programming are informed by regional research and analysis on violent extremism. As such, this project seeks to prevent and address the immediate drivers of radicalization leading to violent extremism in the sub-region, known to fuel and foster recruitment, while providing support to strengthening the ‘infrastructures for peace’, namely mechanisms for early warning, and early response, through dedicated support to NAP implementation and coordination, and enhanced crossregional collaboration and knowledge management. The project is positioned under the West Africa sub-regional window of the UNDP PVE Regional Project entitled “Preventing and Responding to Violent Extremism in Africa and Arab States: A Development Approach” 2022-2025. It is aligned with the Prevention and Early Action Pillar (1) of the Renewed Governance and Peacebuilding Framework for Africa 2022-2025, which aims to sustain support to regional and national institutions to implement existing frameworks for ensuring inclusive political transitions, addressing structural vulnerabilities, building resilience, strengthening infrastructures for peace and early warning, and encouraging early action to prevent conflicts and violent extremism. The PVE Project Officer will be responsible for providing technical and operational support in the day-to-day oversight, monitoring and implementation of the project, working closely with the country project management team in close coordination with implementing partners.
Task description
Under the direct supervision of the Peace and Governance Analyst and overall guidance of the Head of the Inclusive Growth & Accountable Governance cluster the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: I. Support implementation, Monitoring & Evaluation and reporting of PVE programmatic interventions in the regional project: Support the oversight and implementation of PVE programmatic interventions in the country office of the project, including through coordination, communication, and knowledge sharing, as appropriate. Support progress reporting based on project M&E framework in line with requirements and reporting schedule and contribute efforts to coordinate and facilitate regular inputs and data from implementing partners and field offices in the elaboration of reports, including in relation to baseline studies and SDG 16 indicator reporting. Support the elaboration of M&E and risk management plans while reflecting contextual indicators and measures for mitigation and contribute to the development of innovative project monitoring and data collections tools for more effective project management. Support the development of Terms of References for implementing partners, monitor the progress of activities delivered by the selected implementing partners Continuously promote conflict and gender-sensitive project perspectives in project oversight, implementation of activities and partner engagement. Assist in planning and organization of necessary administrative support to missions, workshops/webinars, other project activities. II. Stakeholder and partners coordination: Help to maintain relations with relevant national, regional/sub-regional and international stakeholders and partners including UN agencies, government, civil society, and PVE networks, including (updating stakeholders and partners’ mapping documents and spreadsheets). Support the close coordination with national and local counterparts and partners through regular engagement throughout the implementation of the project. Support the coordination of partnerships/relationships with a broad range of stakeholders, donors, and partners to understand needs, identify resources and gain support. Analyse and research of information on donors, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation; accompany the identification of opportunities for initiation of new areas of cooperation; support exchange at regional level through initiatives and sharing of lessons learned and good practices. III. Communication and knowledge management Provide support to enhance the visibility and strengthen concerted, joint communication efforts, in close consultation with UNDP regional and country-specific communications teams, including through providing support to the monitoring and implementation of country-specific communication action plans, while contributing with innovative ideas on advancing storytelling initiates and fostering greater visibility of the project. Contribute to update the Regional Crisis Risk Dashboard in the Gulf of Guinea as interactive data visualization tools, and contribute to the formulation of country-specific indicators to strengthen monitoring efforts and risk informed programming. Contribute to plan sessions under the sub-regional PVE Community of Practice (CoP) platform which seeks to promote cross-regional analysis, coordination and collaboration among experts, researchers, practitioners and key stakeholders to deepen the evidence-base of the project. Perform analysis and research in the thematic areas across the region through online sources and virtual libraries to help the team and network practitioners be abreast of trends and developments (both on VE policies and initiatives around issues of gender, human rights, rule of law, media, etc.). Contribute to research for various analytical and communication products including draft working papers, analysis, sections of reports and studies, issue de-briefings, inputs to presentations, publications, etc. Perform any other duties as assigned by his/her supervisor.