Social-Economic Development Specialist (Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme)

Background

The ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine has had a direct and highly negative impact on social cohesion, resilience, livelihoods, community security, and the rule of law. Recognizing the need to urgently address reconstruction, economic recovery and peacebuilding needs in areas affected both directly and indirectly by the conflict, in late 2014 the Government of Ukraine requested technical assistance and financial support from the international community to assess priority recovery needs. In late 2014, the United Nations, the World Bank and the European Union conducted a Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment, which was endorsed by the Cabinet of Ministers in mid-2015.In response to the situation, in 2016, UNDP has established a Project Office in eastern Ukraine with a view to consolidate and deliver the various recovery and governance projects through a comprehensive, area-based Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (RPP) in five conflict-affected oblasts: Donetsk and Luhansk (Government Controlled Areas), as well as Zaporizhzhya, Dnipro, and Kharkiv oblasts. RPP frames UNDP’s interventions in Eastern Ukraine to address the recovery needs of conflict affected population and communities. The Programme Component has three components focusing on: (1) economic recovery and restoration of critical infrastructure; (2) restoration of governance and support to decentralization reform; (3) strengthening community security and social cohesion.UNDP Ukraine invites applications from highly qualified and experienced Ukrainian professionals for the post of the Social-Economic Development Specialist, to provide capacity development support and technical assistance on fiscal decentralization to newly amalgamated communities, rayons and the regional civil-military administrations of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. This position falls under the second component of the RPP – i.e., Local Governance and Decentralization Reform (LGDR). Planned outputs and activities under the LGDR component are funded by the Government of Sweden, the Government of Switzerland and the European Commission.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Programme Coordinator of the Local Governance and Decentralization Reform (LGDR) Component, the Social-Economic Development Specialist in close cooperation with Fiscal Decentralization Specialist, Administrative Decentralization Specialist and Territorial Amalgamation Specialists, will perform the following key tasks:

• Proactively contribute to capacity assessment, capacity building and technical assistance for improvement of local public social service provision and support to IDPs by local authorities and communities from cities and towns as well as the administrative centres of the (newly) amalgamated hromadas;
• Provide substantive advisory support in development  of Social-economic strategies for newly amalgamated hromadas, integration of human rights and gender equality in analysis, development of targets, baselines and indicators in the socio-economic strategies of the newly amalgamated hromadas;
• Facilitate inclusive social economic development and investment planning of the newly amalgamated hromadas;
• Develop  local government capacity in planning and investment development  plan basing on participatory, inclusive and transparent principles;
• Proactively and substantively support and implement creation of pilot models of Social Public Service Centres and models for mobile administrative service provision for small and remote settlements to pilot creation of social service centres, service standards, the implementation of mobile administrative offices for small settlements, and to examine opportunities for provision of services by local NGOs with special focus on further implementation of e-Governance tools;
• Maintain close liaison with local and oblast partners in structuring the social service system in target hromadas, the increasing of number and diversity of social services, new forms of service provision developing, and the number and capacity of institutions providing services at the local level involving;
• Contribute in piloting of innovative approaches and technologies through an assessment of applicability and identification and development of e-tools for improving local services and increasing transparency;
• Support piloting elaboration and implementation of community (local) social-economic profiles and development of  image strategy of the target communities;
• Ensure pilotelaboration and implementation of marketing strategies focused on key unique ideas for target territories and support in development of a local brand of newly created Amalgamated Territorial Communities (ATC);
• Actively facilitate creation of small grants programme for implementation of the Local strategic plans in local social-economic development;
• Contribute to introduction of a participatory investment project selection model at local level and  lead the organization of e round tables for discussion and dissemination of the model;
• Facilitate analysis of the possibilities of using credit resources at hromada level for social and economic development of target communities and facilitate a comprehensive assessment of credit resource potential in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, covering all target hromadas;
• Facilitate and maintain on-site expert discussions in the financial service and banking spheres, interviews with target hromadas' population and data analysis with recommendation of the ways and potential to use credit resources at hromada level for their social and economic development;
• Jointly with UN Women organize trainings events for representatives of local councils and administrations on human-rights and gender-responsive local social-economic development;
• Provide expert advisory support inestablishment of administrative structure and functioning model of the newly created target hromadas;
• Provide hromadas' administrations with tools and knowledge on effective and efficient local administrating;
• Proactively support establishment of the Local Integrative Model of Social Service Provision in pilot hromadas and continuously build their capacities to participate in the decentralized local planning and budgeting;
• Contribute in elaboration of methodology for the number of hromadas' administration staff structure for determining the optimum total number of employees in hromadas' administrations;
• Organize and facilitate trainings on organizational skills for hromadas' administrations to introduce the concept of management and to build capacity for work flows analysis, devising strategies for simplifying and resolving them through charting the existing and desired process;
• Contribute in development and use of e-democracy and eGovernment toolst: electronic services, registration in pre-school institutions, hospitals, access to public information, electronic petitions; public budget; Geographic Information Systems (GIS);
• Provide substantive support inimplementation of the participatory program-based and gender-responsive budgeting in the pilot Hromadas in cooperation with UN Women personnel and consultants;
• Provide and coordinate the training and technical support to beneficiary institutions for efficient local financial management and transparent budgeting and procurement;
• Monitor, coordinate and supervise field activities and provide technical support to ensure the Component objectives are met;
• Contribute to the selection processes of Implementing Partners (IPs), Consultants or Contractors and regularly oversee, supervise and monitor their work and delivery of assignments (training, seminars/workshops, surveys, data collection, etc.), as well as coordinate their work in target Oblasts. Ensure that the budget allocated for relevant activities is efficiently and properly utilized;
• Ensure that all activities are implemented in line with UNDP rules and regulations;
• Facilitate programme monitoring and evaluation, as well as audit activities;
• Prepare sections of the Programme/Component reports, including progress and annual reports, as well as any ad-hoc technical reports;
• Perform other activities as requested by Programme Coordinator and UNDP Management.

MEASURABLE OUTPUTS OF THE WORK ASSIGNMENT:

• Full and appropriate implementation of the respective administrative decentralization activities within Local Governance and Decentralization Reform component of RPP;
• Results, experiences and lessons learned during implementation of the Local Governance and Decentralization Reform component of RPP disseminated at the national and regional levels;
• Reporting and quality monitoring activities completed.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR EVALUATION OF RESULTS:

• Respective sections of the annual work plan for the Local Governance and Decentralization Reform component of RPP is fully and timely implemented;
• Funds delivery allocated for fiscal decentralization support activities reached 100%;
• Programme and Component activities are carried out in strict accordance with UNDP rules and procedures. 

Competencies

COMPETENCIES EXPECTED OF THE INDIVIDUAL:Corporate Competencies:

• Communication;
• Delivery;
• Innovation;
• Leadership;
• People Management;
• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge Management and Learning;
• Development and Operational Effectiveness;
• Conflict Management;
• Result orientation;
• Teamwork;
• Self –management and emotional intelligence.

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Generates new ideas and approaches, researches best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things;
• Documents and analyses innovative strategies and new approaches.

Client Orientation:

• Researches potential solutions to internal and external client needs and reports back in a timely, succinct and appropriate fashion;
• Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines.

Innovation and Marketing New Approaches:

• Generates new ideas and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things;
• Documents and analyses innovative strategies/best practices/new approaches.

Global Leadership and Advocacy for UNDP’s Goals:

• Performed analysis of political situations and scenarios, and contributes to the formulation of institutional responses;
• Uses the opportunity to bring forward and disseminate materials for global advocacy work and adapts it for use at country level. 

OTHER:

• Ability to implement project/programmes components for results, including the ability to translate strategic aims into achievable annual work plans; and prepare inputs to project/programme reports in a timely manner;
• Good interpersonal communication skills;
• Ability to handle politically sensitive issues and establish partnership with government authorities and CSO’s and within UNDP;
• Sound judgment and maturity to foster a positive work environment;
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team;
• Familiarity with national legislation on recovery issues;
• Demonstrated strong analytical, coordination and facilitation skills;
• Excellent usage of computers and office software packages. 

Required Skills and Experience

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Public Administration, Political Sciences, Law, Economics, Finance, Social Sciences, or other relevant areas;
• At least 3 years of proven experience in analysis and research in the field of decentralization, public finance, inter-governmental fiscal relations, local service delivery, public administration, territorial administrative reorganization or other relevant area;
• Sound knowledge of public sector reforms and in particular public finance/fiscal reforms currently undertaken by the Ukrainian government is required;
• Experience in delivering capacity development, advisory and advocacy services to the Government in the relevant fields would be a strong asset;
• Experience of working with international organizations, relevant stakeholders from the governmental and non-governmental institutions involved into governance issues at the national and sub-national levels would be an asset;
• Fluency in English, Ukrainian and Russian is required.

Application Instructions:

• Click on the "Apply now" button.
• Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. You can type in or paste your Resume into the last box.
• Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. On the next page, you will be asked to upload your Resume. Instead of uploading your Resume, please submit a fully completed and signed UNDP Personal History Form (P-11). When completing the Form and, even though not currently requested, please include email addresses for your Supervisors.
• Without the completed and signed P11 your application will not be considered. The UNDP Personal History Form can be downloaded at link. Failure to disclose prior employment or making false representations on this form will be grounds for withdrawal of further consideration of his/her application or termination, where the appointment or contract has been issued.
• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted and please ensure that copies of your educational qualifications are available when contacted.

This is a locally recruited position and no expatriation benefits will apply.DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS 31 MAY 2018UNDP will use a transparent and competitive screening process, though will only contact those applicants in whom there is further interest. Applications may only be submitted for specific vacancy. Qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply.