Preventing Violent Extremism Analyst

The Secretary-General presented his Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism (A/70/674-A/70/675) to the General Assembly in January 2016. The PVE Plan emphasizes the need to take an “All-of-UN” approach across the four core areas of work of the United Nations, namely peace and security, sustainable development, human rights and humanitarian action – since violent extremism impacts all of them. 

On 1 July 2016, the General Assembly adopted, by consensus, resolution 70/291 on the Fifth Review of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. In this resolution, the Assembly recognized the importance of preventing violent extremism as and when conducive to terrorism and recalled its resolution 70/254, in which it welcomed the initiative by the Secretary-General and took note of his Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism. The General Assembly recommended that Member States consider the implementation of relevant recommendations of the Plan of Action, as applicable in their respective national contexts.

The General Assembly encouraged United Nations entities, in line with their mandates, to implement relevant recommendations of the Plan of Action, including by providing technical assistance to Member States upon their request, and invited Member States, regional and sub-regional organizations to consider developing national and regional plans of action to prevent violent extremism as and when conducive to terrorism, in accordance with their priorities and taking into account, as appropriate, the United Nations Plan of Action.

The Secretary-General established a High Level PVE Action Group comprised of all 21 relevant heads of UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes to provide leadership and strategic direction on the PVE agenda to implement the PVE Plan across all four pillars of United Nations work at UN Headquarters and in the field. In order to operationalize the “All-of-UN” approach on PVE, he tasked the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Inter-Agency PVE Working Group to develop six concrete deliverables in support of the work of the Secretary-General’s High Level PVE Action Group. The Secretary-General tasked the CTITF Office (now Office of Counter-Terrorism) to act as Secretariat to his High Level PVE Action Group and the CTITF PVE Working Group.

Regarding the way forward, the Secretary-General highlighted that youth must be the main priority of the PVE agenda in its very different dimensions relating to education, skills-building, jobs and the prevention of radicalization. 

• Under the general supervision of the Director of OCT and direct supervision of the Team Leader of the OCT Policy and Coordination Unit, and over an initial period of six month, the consultant will support the development of concrete deliverables to support the “All-of-UN” approach in supporting Member States to implement the relevant recommendations of the UN PVE Plan of Action:  

1. The continuous interactive mapping of UN activities across all priority areas of the PVE Plan by bringing the existing UN PVE Matrix of Projects and Activities online;
2. The maintenance and updating of a virtual list of UN PVE Focal Points at relevant UN entities at Headquarters and in the field to increase information sharing and cooperation among the CTITF entities working on PVE;
3. The creation and maintenance of a virtual repository of best practices, lessons learned and experiences in preventing violent extremism;
4. The creation and maintenance of a Global PVE Resource Group consisting of international experts on preventing violent extremism from around the world.
5. The creation of virtual tools to facilitate collective resource mobilization to address all priority areas to prevent violent extremism to capitalize on synergies while avoiding duplication;
6. Making the PVE Reference Guide as outcome of the CTITF Inter-Agency Expert Retreat on the Development of National and Regional PVE Action Plans on 22 and 23 February 2017 accessible and editable for CTITF Entities online.

• Assist in the planning and deployment of the OCT PVE Programme for the development of national and regional PVE plans;
• Provide analytical and graphical summaries of the six deliverables of the CTITF Inter-Agency PVE Working Group;
• Support the development of the Secretary-General’s initiative to engage young people in preventing violent extremism, including the organization of a Youth Leaders’ Summit;
• Review and take into account the existing policies and programming relevant to preventing violent extremism at the national and regional level, as conducted by UNDP, UNESCO, OCHA, UNHCR, UNICEF, OHCHR and other CTITF entities;
• Review the UNDAF and UNCCA process as conducted by United Nations Country Teams and ensure the guiding principles complement and do not duplicate those efforts;
• Closely coordinate with the CTITF Office’s PVE team and other CITITF entities as may be relevant;
• Perform any other tasks as requested in relation to the development of the United Nations Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism by the PCU Team Leader and Director the UNCCT. 

• Advanced university degree in political science, international law, international relations or other relevant field. A first level university degree in relevant field with additional two (2) years of experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.

Experience:  

• Work experience in international affairs, and experience in drafting policy papers, reports and summaries on counter-terrorism or prevention of violent extremism matters, as well as in conducting research and providing timely input on policy questions are highly desired.

• Good knowledge of United Nations and other counter-terrorism conventions, instruments and documents, in particular the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and its four pillars desired

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat.  For this position, fluency in oral and written English is required.  Knowledge of other official United Nations languages would be desirable.

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

UNOPS supports the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to serve people in need by expanding the ability of the United Nations, governments and other partners to manage projects, infrastructure and procurement in a sustainable and efficient manner.

Working in some of the world’s most challenging environments, our vision is to advance sustainable implementation practices, always satisfying or surpassing our partners’ expectations.

With over 7,000 personnel spread across 80 countries, UNOPS offers its partners the logistical, technical and management knowledge they need, wherever they need it.

A flexible structure and global reach means that we can quickly respond to our partners' needs, while offering the benefits of economies of scale. 

Based in Geneva, the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECR) supports UNOPS offices throughout the region through: management, financial and programmatic oversight of global and country-specific portfolios, clusters and operations centres, including hosting services; fund and management advisory services; project implementation; procuring goods and services; and managing human resources.

ECR ensures that projects are executed to the highest standards, providing a shared knowledge base and ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are disseminated between business units and projects across the entire region.

 ECR strategy is to:

• Strengthen UNOPS role in operationalizing the Sustainable Development Goals with particular emphasis on health, environment and economic development.
• Position UNOPS in the Balkan sub-region, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
• Strengthen the implementation of ECR global and regional programmes, with revitalized partnerships in infrastructure, procurement and project management.

ECR operates global portfolios from offices in Geneva, Brussels and New York, and country-specific programmes from its operations and project centres located in Eastern Europe and Central Asian countries.