Tiered Approach
In line with the commitment to safeguard capacity and support personnel already in the Organization, a majority of UNDP UNCDF/UNV vacancies are advertised using a tiered application process whereby:
- Tier 0: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV IP staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments, whose posts will be abolished, or contracts will be terminated or not renewed during 2026.
- Tier 1: Other UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments
- Tier 2: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts, and Expert and Specialist UN Volunteers
- Tier 3 or no tier indicated: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates
Please make note of the Tier(s) indicated in the vacancy title, if any, and ensure that you satisfy the eligibility to apply.
Background
Yemen continues to face a severe humanitarian and development crisis driven by prolonged conflict, economic decline, and institutional fragility. These challenges have weakened governance systems, disrupted economic activity, and increased poverty, food insecurity, and vulnerability across the country.
While humanitarian assistance remains essential, sustainable recovery requires longer-term investments in livelihoods, economic resilience, local governance, institutional strengthening, and climate-resilient agriculture.
UNDP is implementing a portfolio of complementary projects to address these interconnected challenges. This includes the Resilient Economies and Sustainable Livelihoods for Empowerment in Yemen (RESOLVE) project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) ; the Local Governance for Area-based Development (LoGABD) project funded by the European Union (EU) ; and the Climate-Resilient Agriculture and Job Opportunities in Yemen (SANABEL) project, also funded by the EU. These projects are designed with a synergistic, area-based approach to maximize impact and efficiency.
RESOLVE (SDC) focuses on strengthening the resilience and economic empowerment of vulnerable communities in Marib and Hadramout governorates by promoting sustainable livelihoods through agribusiness development, agricultural value chain strengthening, improved access to finance, and enhanced local economic governance.
LoGABD (EU) aims to strengthen the capacity of local authorities across seven governorates (Aden, Hadramout, Lahj, Marib, Taiz, Al Mahrah, Socotra) to effectively plan, budget, finance, and deliver public services, manage IDP populations, and foster climate resilience. It focuses on institutionalizing training hubs, improving public financial management, completing community-prioritized public works, and operationalizing Local Economic Development Councils and Local Development Funds.
SANABEL (EU) is a joint FAO-UNDP project focused on climate-resilient agriculture and job creation. It aims to increase crop and livestock productivity through Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) and ecosystem-based adaptation (led by FAO) and strengthen climate-resilient agricultural value chains to generate decent jobs, formalized businesses, and inclusive economic growth (led by UNDP).
Position Purpose
By combining these three projects under one management umbrella, this position will ensure coherent and integrated implementation, maximize synergies, and leverage UNDP's expertise in governance, economic recovery, and resilience-building. This portfolio approach aligns with the Area-Based Development (ABD) framework, ensuring that local priorities, as articulated in Governorate Economic and Social Development Plans, are effectively addressed.
The incumbent will report to the UNDP Team Leader -- Governance & Peacebuilding Portfolio and will provide strategic leadership and day-to-day management to the combined project team.
The role requires exceptional leadership, strategic coordination, and stakeholder management skills, and the ability to deliver results across multiple complex and fragile environments.
UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.
Duties and Responsibilities
1.) Provide strategic directions to the project teams for efficient implementation of activities across the integrated projects:
• Provide overall strategic leadership and direction to the project teams for the RESOLVE, LoGABD, and SANABEL projects to ensure effective and timely implementation of activities in line with respective project objectives, results frameworks, and workplans.
• Lead strategic planning and ensure alignment of all project implementation with UNDP corporate priorities, donor requirements (SDC, EU), national development priorities, and the Area-Based Development (ABD) framework.
• Translate project goals into clear operational priorities, deliverables, and implementation milestones, ensuring complementarity and identifying synergies between the projects.
• Ensure effective coordination and integration across project components to maximize synergies, avoid duplication, and promote efficiency.
• Promote results-based management and ensure timely identification and resolution of implementation bottlenecks across the portfolio.
• Foster a collaborative, high-performing, and solution-oriented team environment that promotes accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.
2.) Oversee and manage the projects on a day-to-day basis, including achievement of financial and substantive targets and results, in line with corporate standards and guidance:
• Lead day-to-day management of the combined programme, ensuring delivery of outputs and achievement of project targets within approved timelines and budgets for RESOLVE, LoGABD, and SANABEL.
• Develop, implement, and monitor annual work plans, procurement plans, budgets, and activity schedules for each project.
• Ensure compliance with UNDP rules, regulations, policies, procedures, and specific donor requirements (SDC, EU).
• Monitor project expenditures and ensure efficient utilization of financial resources across all three projects.
• Oversee procurement, contract management, and project operational processes for the entire portfolio.
• Supervise project personnel, consultants, and technical experts and ensure quality performance and delivery across all projects.
• Identify and mitigate operational, programmatic, fiduciary, and contextual risks affecting project implementation, including those specific to each project context.
• Ensure accurate and timely reporting on project progress, results, risks, and challenges to donors and UNDP management.
3.) Build and manage partnerships
• Establish and maintain strong working relationships with key stakeholders, including: (i) government institutions at national (MoLA, MoPIC, MoA, MoF, etc.) and sub-national levels (Governorates, Districts, line ministries), (ii) development partners and donors (SDC, EU, FAO), and (iii) implementing partners and other stakeholders.
• Promote strategic partnerships to enhance project implementation, sustainability, and impact, particularly through the operationalization of Local Economic Development Councils (LEDCs) and Local Development Funds (LDFs).
• Facilitate coordination and collaboration among relevant stakeholders across the governance and economic recovery sectors to ensure alignment and complementarity of interventions.
• Represent the projects in meetings, consultations, and coordination forums with donors (SDC, EU), government counterparts, and other partners as required.
• Support policy dialogue and strengthen institutional collaboration on governance, economic recovery, and systems reform.
4.) Facilitate knowledge management and promote gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Promote effective knowledge management and institutional learning within the programme.
• Document lessons learned, best practices, and key achievements from all three projects to support adaptive management and continuous improvement.
• Facilitate knowledge sharing among project stakeholders, partners, and relevant institutions across the governance and resilience sectors.
• Ensure project knowledge products, reports, and technical outputs are well documented and disseminated appropriately.
• Support institutionalization of knowledge and sustainability of project results through strengthened systems and local capacities.
• Ensure gender equality and women's empowerment principles are integrated into project planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting across the entire portfolio.
• Promote inclusive approaches that ensure meaningful participation of women, youth, IDPs, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups in all project activities.
• Support gender-responsive programming and contribute to equitable access to project benefits and opportunities.
• Ensure project interventions contribute to advancing inclusion, equality, and non-discrimination
5.) Promote and facilitate elaboration of resilience-building initiatives of UNDP
• Support the design and implementation of broader resilience-building initiatives within the UNDP programme framework, contributing to the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus approach.
• Ensure project interventions contribute to strengthening institutional resilience, governance effectiveness, and sustainable economic recovery.
• Promote integrated approaches that support long-term resilience, capacity development, and sustainable development outcomes, linking governance, livelihoods, and climate action.
• Identify opportunities for synergies and complementarities with other UNDP programmes and initiatives, including the MPISY project.
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: Manage and supervise the project team.
Competencies
- Core Competencies:
Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact
Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems
Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands
Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity
- Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:
Business Direction and 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-Portfolio Management: Ability to select, prioritize and control the organization’s programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity; ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimizing return on investment
Business Direction & Strategy & Effective Decision Making: Take decisions in a timely and efficient manner in line with one's authority, area of expertise andresources and take into consideration potential wider implications.
Business Development & UNDP Representation: Effectively represent and advocate for UNDP, its values, mission, work, and positions with various constituencies/audiences, shares UNDP knowledge and activities.
Business Management & Results-based Management: Ability to manage the implementation of strategies,programmes, and projects with a focus at improved
performance and demonstrable results. Knowledge and understanding of relevant theories, concepts, methodologies, instruments, and tools.
Audit & Investigation & Financial and Managerial Accounting and Finance key concepts: Key concepts and principles of financial accounting, interpret financial analysis, managerial accounting, etc.
Audit & Investigation & Fraud awareness and investigation techniques: Basic knowledge to understand the foundations of fraud, how to detect red flags and conduct initial fact findings.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Advanced university degree (master's degree or equivalent) in Economics, Development Studies, Agricultural Economics, Business Administration, Public Administration, or related field is required. OR
- A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas stated above, in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.
Experience:
- Minimum of 7 years (with master’s degree) or 9 years (with bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience of progressively responsible professional experience in project/programme management, development programming, or a related field is required.
- Proven experience in managing complex, multi-donor development projects in fragile, conflict-affected, or crisis settings is required.
- Demonstrated experience in at least two of the following thematic areas: local governance and institutional strengthening; local economic development and private sector engagement; agribusiness, agricultural value chains, and livelihoods; climate-resilient agriculture and natural resource management; resilience-building and economic recovery is required
- Demonstrated experience in project planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting, and results-based management for large-scale programmes (over €5 million) is required.
- Experience and strong knowledge of local governance systems, public financial management, and decentralization frameworks is desirable.
- Experience in financial management, budget oversight, procurement planning, and donor reporting, preferably with experience in EU and SDC reporting requirements is desirable.
- Proven experience in partnership building and stakeholder coordination with government institutions at national and sub-national levels, development partners (UN agencies, donors), private sector, civil society, and local communities is desirable
- Experience working in fragile, conflict-affected, or crisis settings is desirable.
- Previous experience with UNDP, UN agencies, or international development organizations is desirable.
- Experience in Yemen is an asset.
- Experience and knowledge of gender-responsive and inclusive programming is desirable.
- Strong project management and leadership experience, with the ability to manage multiple projects and teams simultaneously is desired.
Languages:
• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of Arabic is an asset
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.
Probation
For all new UNDP fixed term appointments (FTA), including for staff members being transferred or seconded to UNDP under the Inter-Organization Agreement concerning Transfer, Secondment or Loan of Staff, on an appointment of more than one year, continuation of the appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.
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.
Use of AI by candidates
Applicants are invited to read UNDP’s guidance for candidates on using AI responsibly in UNDP recruitment and selection
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