Background

UNDP has been working in India since 1951 in almost all areas of human development. Together with the Government of India and development partners, we have worked towards eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, strengthening local governance, enhancing community resilience, protecting the environment, supporting policy initiatives and institutional reforms, and accelerating sustainable development for all.

With projects and programmes in every state and union territory in India, UNDP works with national and subnational government, and diverse development actors to deliver people-centric results, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalized communities. As the integrator for collective action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the UN system, we are committed to supporting the Government of India’s national development vision and priorities and accelerating the achievement of the SDGs for the people and the planet.

UNDP India’s new Country Programme (2023-2027) builds on our prior work and aims to provide an integrated approach to development solutions in three strategic portfolios:  

• Strong, accountable and evidence-led institutions for accelerated achievement of the SDGs.
• Enhanced economic opportunities and social protection to reduce inequality, with a focus on the marginalized.
• Climate-smart solutions, sustainable ecosystems and resilient development for reduced vulnerability.

South-South cooperation, gender equality and social inclusion are promoted across the pillars. The programme is supported by a framework of renewed partnerships and blended finance solutions, strategic innovation and accelerator labs, and data and digital architecture.

You are invited to join a team of future-smart development professionals to support India in achieving the national and globally agreed goals. As part of the UNDP team, your focus will be to work with diverse stakeholders to find country-specific solutions that lead to sustainable development and reach those furthest behind first.

Office/Unit/Project Description  

The Action for Climate and Environment (ACE) Unit at UNDP is organized around the thematic areas of climate change adaptation and mitigation, natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, disaster management and resilience, and access to clean and efficient energy.

The ACE unit is currently supporting the Government of India in meeting national and global priorities on adaptation under several key multi-lateral agreements. In this context, UNDP is implementing a project in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to demonstrate an exemplar for India.

This project is primarily geared towards creating a model of climate change adaptation action that takes into consideration local knowledge that is further informed by the scientific information on climate change impacts. The premise being that local knowledge need to be better understood and evidenced throughout the adaptation process for better representation of the needs of small-scale producers. Hence, this project is designed to leverage capacities of local climate research community and involve them in the decision-making process for Climate Adaptation outcomes. The advanced and localized climate science to be integrated with local knowledge base –would be made available by the national technical institution like the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D). The project on Localizing Data Science for Climate Change Adaptation aims to demonstrate an exemplar for India and in turn, the region, that will enable interaction of various knowledge systems to develop robust and locally relevant climate adaptation actions which can be incorporated into policies and programmes.

Duties and Responsibilities

Reporting To:  National Project Manager, UNDP India
 

The Project Associate (Gender) will support the project team in ensuring that gender responsive and transformative considerations are mainstreamed and integrated across the project - in all aspects of climate action. Given the objective of the project, the role of the Associate will mainly include (but not limited to) analytical, support strategic and coordination functions. He/She/They, along with the National Project Manager and the Gender Analyst will also engage closely with the National Centre for Excellence and the four Regional Labs in ensuring the climate policies and practices are well informed by relevant local knowledge and gender transformative approaches. 

Gender Mainstreaming in Climate Adaptation Planning

• Support in conducting gender analysis to identify key common and differentiated climate vulnerabilities/opportunities and adaptive capacities of different genders and gender identities, especially small-scale farmers, marginalized communities etc. 
• Facilitate discussions and consultations with women farmers, SHGs, and other local institutions to gather information on local knowledge and thereby ensure its integration into decision-making processes.
• Provide technical inputs to identify project components where gender considerations are necessary and thereby ensure that they are mainstreamed and reflected in relevant documents.

Development of Gender Action Plan (GAP)

• Co-develop a Holistic Gender Action Plan for the full-scale intervention that includes a) Gender-transformative indicators, b) actionable strategies for inclusion and empowerment c) monitoring and evaluation framework etc
• Work closely with State project leads and regional CSO partners to align the GAP with national guidelines, UNDP gender equality strategy and donor requirements.

Research and Knowledge Generation

• Conduct secondary research and data analysis to inform the design of gender-responsive/ transformative adaptation strategies, drawing from people-centric approaches and local knowledge of climate adaptation. 
• Develop knowledge resources and evidence-based outputs such as policy briefs, case studies, and reports that document successful gender-transformative practices and women-led initiatives. 
• Support in designing relevant templates for quantitative and qualitative data collection that ensure gender-disaggregated and socially disaggregated data for baseline assessments and endline assessment and other monitoring and evaluation approaches as per requirement.

Capacity Building and Stakeholder Engagement

• Facilitate capacity-building workshops for project staff, lab researchers, and local government functionaries on gender and climate linkages.
• Support engagement with key stakeholders such as PRIs, State Climate Change Cells, and women-led groups and cooperatives, leveraging experience from grassroots coordination and community-based adaptation.

Reporting and Coordination

• Support the documentation of activities, consultations, and outcomes related to gender.
• Provide inputs for donor and UNDP reporting, particularly the gender-focused sections of progress reports.
• Act as a focal point for coordinating gender-related actions across the national technical institution and the regional CSO partners.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
 

Competencies

Core competencies:

• Achieve Results: Level 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
• Think Innovatively: Level 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements 
• Learn Continuously: Level 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
• Adapt with Agility: Level 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible 
• Act with Determination: Level 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
• Engage and Partner: Level 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: Level 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:

Business Direction & Strategy    

• System Thinking. Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system

Business Management    

• Project Management. Ability to plan, organize, prioritize, and control resources, procedures, and protocols to achieve specific goals.
• Monitoring. Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results

Business Development     

• Knowledge generation. Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for content or responsive to a stated need
• Human- centered design. Ability to develop solutions to problems by involving the human perspective in all steps of the problem-solving process

Partnership Management    

• Relationship Management. Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust, and mutual understanding

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Secondary education is required ,OR
• A university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in Environment and Development / Gender Studies / Development Studies or equivalent field will be given due consideration, but it is not a requirement.

Experience:

• Minimum of 7 years (with secondary education) or 4 years (with bachelor’s degree) relevant experience in projects pertaining to climate change adaptation and mitigation, gender, and resilience.

Required skills    

• Experience in conducting gender analysis, developing gender action plans, and integrating gender-responsive approaches in climate change and related development projects
• Skilled in developing gender focused strategic knowledge products, including proposals, concept notes, theories of change, action plans, and technical reports 

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section    

• Experience in community-level engagement, especially with SHGs (Self-Help Group), women's cooperatives, and Panchayati raj institutions on agriculture and gender equality. 
• Demonstrated experience of guiding project teams to identify gaps and opportunities in proposals and concepts and ensure the integration of gender-responsive components.
• Proven ability to coordinate with multiple stakeholders including technical institutions, state and local governments, NGOs, communities and community-based organizations

Required Language(s) 

• Fluency in English and Hindi is required.

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Scam alert

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