Project Management Support - Senior Analyst [Research Analyst]

The Global Programme on Nature for Development brings together three different initiatives – the Equator Initiative, the New York Declaration on Forests Global Platform, and the National Biodiversity Initiative under one program in order to identify, foster, showcase and celebrate nature-based solutions that help achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at local, national, and international levels. The work of the Global Programme on Nature for Development contributes to UNDP's Strategic Plan 2018-2021 by charting sustainable development pathways through the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of biodiversity and ecosystems; and by promoting inclusive and effective democratic governance in the area of natural resources. 

The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, businesses and grassroots organizations to recognize and advance indigenous and local sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities. The Equator Initiative seeks to recognize the success of local and indigenous initiatives; create opportunities and platforms to share knowledge and good practice; inform policy to foster an enabling environment for local and indigenous community action; and develop the capacity of indigenous peoples and local communities to scale-up their impact.

The Equator Initiative is built upon three equally important pillars:

-         The Equator Prize is awarded biennially to recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities. As local and indigenous groups across the world chart a path towards sustainable development, the Equator Prize shines a spotlight on their efforts by honoring them on an international stage.

-          Equator Dialogues are an ongoing series of community-driven meetings and exchanges, held in conjunction with related international forums. Equator Dialogues provide opportunities for people to share experiences, develop capacities, and influence policy.

-          Equator Knowledge is a research, documentation, and learning program focused on local best practice in sustainable development. The Equator Initiative works with partners to identify, document, and analyze the success factors of local best practice, and to catalyze ongoing peer-to-peer learning, knowledge exchange and replication of best practice.

The Global Platform for the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), is a partnership of governments, multinational companies, civil society and indigenous peoples who strive to halve deforestation by 2020 and to end it by 2030. The NYDF outlines ten ambitious global targets related to protecting and restoring forests. The Global Platform for the New York Declaration on Forests seeks to fill an important gap in multi-stakeholder engagement and collaboration necessary to achieve the goals of the NYDF. The NYDF Global Platform works to increase ambition, forge new partnerships, and accelerate progress on the NYDF goals by responding to NYDF endorsers’ requests for a dedicated, multi-stakeholder platform to re-invigorate political endorsement of the NYDF, to facilitate coordination and communication, to share best practices, resources and lessons, and to support ongoing monitoring of progress. 

The National Biodiversity Initiative supports countries to manage their ecosystems and biodiversity in order to improve national planning and governance of biodiversity, ecosystems, and development, and to promote resilience for sustainable development. The National Biodiversity Initiative works in three project areas: National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) Support, National Reporting, and Capacity Building. The use of spatial data for spatial planning is a cross-cutting theme across these project areas, including work through our flagship platform UN Biodiversity Lab, created in partnership with UN Environment and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Knowledge `Sharing is a main goal of the Equator Initiative, NYDF, and the National Biodiversity Initiative. The Equator Initiative has a large series of research papers, books, and other publications focusing on local approaches to poverty reduction and conservation, informed by community-based initiatives.180 case studies in over 30 languages have documented the Equator Prize winners’ innovative practices that deliver the win-win-win solutions that ensure social, economic, and environmental sustainability. The National Biodiversity Initiative share knowledge on the role of spatial data in biodiversity planning, policymaking, and reporting through blogs, case studies, and story maps. The NYDF Global Platform aims to use case studies about NYDF endorsers from a variety of stakeholder groups, including companies, governments, indigenous peoples and NGOs in order to share best practices and challenges in implementing the NYDF goals.

Learning for Nature is a capacity-building offer provided by the Global Programme on Nature for Development, cutting across the three areas of work. This program connects biodiversity policymakers, change-makers, and on-the-ground subject matter experts to facilitate the delivery of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Access to the global multi-stakeholder networks mobilized by the Equator Initiative, NYDF, and the National Biodiversity Initiative allows Learning for Nature to circulate knowledge while promoting best practices. Building on our learnings on the ground, Learning for Nature seeks synergies, build linkages, and engage thousands of course participants through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), webinars, self-paced e-learning modules, and private training courses.

For further information please go to: www.equatorinitiative.org, www.nbsapforum.net, www.learningfornature.org, www.unbiodiversitylab.org, or www.nydfglobalplatform.org.

The Government of Sweden, through Sida, has agreed to fund a four-year, USD$40m global Strategic Collaboration Programme designed to strengthen UNDP capacities to achieve its overall vision for poverty eradication through a more integrated, coherent approach to the environmental and climate dimensions of the UNDP Strategic Plan. Sida funds will be used to finance country programming in ways that leverage synergies across UNDP work on biodiversity, water and oceans, climate change, and energy, as well as cross-cutting themes of gender equality, safeguards, sustainable food systems, resilience, DRR, and green financing.

This is a position to support a project which UNOPS is implementing for the United Nations Development Programme. The incumbent of this position will be personnel of UNOPS under its full responsibility.

UNOPS is seeking the services of a Project Management Support - Senior Analyst [Research Analyst] to facilitate the delivery of project activities at the intersection between the Global Programme on Nature for Development, and UNDP’s Ecosystems and Biodiversity (EBD) team. The incumbent will support on and lead selected research and project activities related to the implementation and promotion of nature-based solutions; a distinct focus will be placed on the incumbent’s support to UNDP’s engagement at the CBD COP 15 in 2021. In addition, they will contribute to improving synergies between EBD and Nature for Development teams.

The incumbent will carry out the following tasks:

• Lead research and contribute ideas for the UNDP “Open Planet” portal, a public database that showcases UNDP environmental projects
• Support organization of UNDP’s engagement in Convention of Biological Diversity’s COP 15 in China in 2021, including research, event organization support, liaison with country-level partners etc.
• Research and develop solution pieces from the ecosystems and biodiversity portfolio for PANORAMA solution site
• Analyze and synthesize latest research papers, studies, and major reports on natural capital and biodiversity management to help inform project development, implementation, messaging, briefings, publications and other knowledge products
• Support management of EBD portfolio to increase synergies with the Nature for Development portfolio
• Coordinate knowledge management efforts and gathering and dissemination of best practices, including data analysis.
• Coordinate communications efforts, such as drafting of press releases, talking points, articles for magazines and journals, social media materials and photo stories.
• Perform other duties as may be reasonably required and in line with the incumbent’s scope of services above.

*FEMALE CANDIDATES ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY

*CANDIDATES WITH NO UNITED NATIONS OR UNOPS EXPERIENCE ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY.

• Advanced University degree (Master’s degree), preferably in environmental management/sciences, natural resource management, international development, civil engineering with environmental focus, or other closely related field relevant for biodiversity planning and management is required.
• Two (2) additional years of relevant work experience, in combination with a relevant first level university (Bachelor’s degree or equivalent), may substitute for the requirement of a Master's degree. 

• Two years of practical working experience working on biodiversity management or climate change is required.
• Experience with research and publication of scientific research is required.
• Experience with communications/public relations is required.

Desirable experience (the following experience is optional, candidates who do not have it are welcome to apply)

• UN experience is an asset.
• Experience working with governments in an international setting is an asset.

Language skills:

• Fluency in English with excellent oral and written communication skills is required.
• Professional proficiency in Chinese is required.
• Fluency in additional languages, in particular if UN languages or Portuguese, is an advantage.

Contract type: Individual Contractor Agreement  - ICA retainer modality. A retainer contract is issued for a period of time during which the services of the individual contractor are required intermittently. The individual contractor agreement on retainer basis will specify a “unit price” per day worked. For budgetary purposes, a monetary cap will be determined when the contract is awarded and issued. Please note that the retainer contract will not provide for a minimum, and payment will be made only after completion of work Contract level: IICA-1/LICA-9/ICSC-9
Contract duration: up to 125 days, ASAP - 30 July 2021 (retainer)

• 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.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• 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.