VAC-12411 Area Based Planning Expert

• After 9 years of conflict, Yemen still faces an unprecedented political, humanitarian & development crisis. Yemen’s conflict broke into a full blown civil war in March 2015. Despite the continued efforts by the UN to broker a peace deal, Yemen continues to be the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. An estimated 24 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance & Yemen already lost 21 years of developments gains just until 2019 after a four year of conflict. Our client forecasts that if the conflict persists unabated, Yemen will have the greatest depth of poverty (11.7 million people into extreme poverty) & second poorest in income inequality of any country in the world. The unextended truce of April 2022 still holds in the country, with renewed hope for a peace process to be launched under the auspices of the UN. 

• The ongoing armed & political conflict has significant institutional & programmatic implications for effective UN operations in the country, especially when the emphasis is slowly shifting from emergency interventions towards peace & development (the Humanitarian Peace Development Nexus (HPDN)). The international community, including the United Nations (UN), cannot continue functioning as an ersatz government, providing basic (social) services as this is the government’s role. Development requires a government counterpart. Peace requires a government partner to address the underlying political, social, economic & cultural root causes of the conflict beyond the negotiations with armed groups who often only represent themselves.   

• Given the current challenges (& with no intention to preempt the outcome of a future peace agreement), supporting, strengthening & collaborating with sub national institutions is a critical building block for Yemen, in conjunction with supporting the central authorities to rebuild their capacities.

• A Yemeni led Area Based Development (ABD) process that complements national efforts & contributes to building the state from the bottom up & operationalizes the HPDN. Our client on behalf of the UN has started to rollout the ABD approach in Taiz governorate.

• Since governorates have taken up many of the critical central state responsibilities & ABD seeks to support local authorities in developing & implementing support packages to improve local economic, social & environmental outcomes through an integrated, inclusive, participatory & adaptive approach, it is imperative that Lahj governorate has an overall strategic plan to provide guidance & direction. Our client on behalf of the UN has started the rollout of the ABD approach in Lahj governorate.

• The Area Based Planning Expert under the supervision of the Governance & Peacebuilding Team Leader will work with the Lahj Governorate Office to design this strategic plan, based on existing geographical & sectoral plans.

Our client in Yemen seeks to engage the services of highly skilled & experienced consultant:

• To support the consolidation of existing humanitarian, resilience, development, sectoral & district plans at the Governor’s office in Lahj.

• To support the development of a comprehensive strategic plan, outlining the government's needs, priorities, main areas of intervention & an initial list of priority activities for the coming five years.

• To ensure the comprehensive strategic plan aligns with the area based approach, reflects community needs, is comprehensive & realistically budgeted & contains an economic development component.

• To assist the Governor’s office in Lahj to prepare a visually appealing, bilingual (Arabic & English) version of the comprehensive strategic plan, including an executive summary & presentation.

• To support the Governor’s office in Lahj in organizing a well attended donor conference in Lahj to discuss the strategic plan & its implementation.

• To strengthen the capacities of the Governor’s office in Lahj to conduct the above mentioned results.

Scope of work:

• Develop a comprehensive, strategic 5 year plan that presents the government's needs in both English & Arabic.

• Participate in stakeholders’ meetings & workshops with key (sectoral) offices, districts & local communities.

• Collect & review existing data, assessment & plans from national & sub national authorities, UN agencies & Internaional Non Government Organisations (INGO's).

• Facilitate the analysis of the above by governorate authorities to identify gaps, inconsistencies & areas for improvement.

• Identify potential data sources that can be collected or acquired through collaboration with other agencies, government authorities & academic / research institutes.

• Ensure the quality of data collection by following established protocols & standards.

• Facilitate engagement & participation processes to gather inputs & priorities from local stakeholders.

• Support the consolidation of plans & data into a comprehensive area based strategic plan.

• Review the strategic plan to ensure consistency & coherence.

• Support the development of projects including budget that are derived from strategic plan & aligned with governorate’s priorities.

• Ensure that the projects are feasible, measurable, achievable, relevant & time bound (SMART).

• Develop a presentation that showcases the consolidated 5 year plan, budgeted projects, according to governorate’s needs.

• When & where necessary, provide capacity development to Lahj authorities on how to update the plan every 5 years.

• Support the establishment & establish a streamlined & user friendly system for the Lahj authorities to ensure the effective implementation & updating of Lahj 5 years strategic plan developed. This includes developing a dedicated tool or platform that enables seamless tracking & monitoring of plan progress.

• Prepare a presentation & training program for authorities on area based planning.

• Provide a comprehensive training to authorized personnel on the efficient use of this tool to facilitate accurate updates, data analysis & informed decision making.

• Support the development of a Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) framework to track progress against the strategic plan.

• Collaborate with other team members to develop technical documents, reports & presentations.

• Develop a comprehensive TOR (Terms of Reference) for a consultant to design & implement a robust data management system for the authorities' data collection, ensuring efficient & secure storage, retrieval & analysis of data." At all authorities’ levels of decision making.

• Provide general technical support to the project as requested by the Team Leader Governance & Peace Building Portfolio.

Deliverables & payment schedule:

• Comprehensive area based 5 years strategic plan, including budget, for Lahj Governorate in English & Arabic.

• Detailed project list for the strategic plan aligned with the area based approach, including descriptions & detailed budgets.

• Communication package, including presentation, booklet, summary etc., of the strategic plan for different audiences.

• User friendly template / system for updating the plan every 5 years.

• Training materials for overseeing & coordinating implementation.

• A M&E framework.

• A report on the findings & recommendations of the needs assessment.

• Master’s degree or equivalent in economics, social sciences, international relations, political sciences or a related field or a bachelor’s degree or equivalent in the same fields with an additional 2 years of relevant experience.

• 7 years of relevant experience at the national or international level in providing management advisory services, hands on experience in design, monitoring & evaluation of development projects.

• Previous experience of working in the development & / or humanitarian sector in Yemen is an asset.

• Knowledge about the UN systems would be an advantage.

• Experience in the usage of computers & office software packages, experience in handling of web based management systems.

• Fluency in English & Arabic is required.

• Demonstrating / safeguarding ethics & integrity.

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge & sound judgment.

• Self development, initiative taking.

• Acting as a team player & facilitating team work.

• Facilitating & encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively.

• Creating synergies through self control.

• Excellent skills in managing conflict.

• Learning & sharing knowledge & encourage the learning of others.

• Promoting learning & knowledge management / sharing is the responsibility of each staff member.

• Informed & transparent decision making.

This role has no team management responsibility.

• Payments will be made upon delivery of the respective report outlining the tasks completed & successful submission of deliverables as detailed above.

• Qualified female candidates are encouraged to apply for this role.