Programme Specialist - Disaster Risk Reduction & Recovery

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Job Purpose and Organizational Context

UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan.

Within the GPN, the Crisis Bureau guides UNDP’s corporate crisis-related strategies and vision for crisis prevention, response and recovery. The UNDP’s Crisis Bureau supports emergency and crisis response and ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programmes. The Crisis Bureau assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. The CB’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, South-South and Triangular cooperation initiatives, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas.

The Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery for Building Resilience Team (DRT) within the Crisis Bureau provides integrated policy and programme support on disaster risk reduction and recovery in the context of UNDP’s broader approach to resilience building. The Team specifically fosters the integration of risk reduction as a key element in sustainable development and recovery at national, sub-national and sectoral level to strengthen resilience. It is also the responsibility of the team to support the regional hubs in their efforts to strengthen national capacities on disaster resilience and disaster risk reduction. The team provides high quality advice and programmatic support in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programmes. The team leads the development and coordination of policy in disaster risk reduction (DRR), and disaster recovery with a focus on resilience building and integrated approaches with climate adaptation.

The Programme Specialist is based in the Panama Regional Hub and provides day to day country office support and supports the implementation of regional or multi-country programs and projects. The Programme Specialist will work to ensure quality and coherent policy and programme advisory services within the LAC Region and across other regions, as well as alignment with the Strategic Plan and contribute to advance the credibility and recognition of UNDP’s capabilities in this knowledge domain and associated community of practice.
The Programme Specialist works under the direct supervision of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Advisor and the overall guidance of the Regional Hub Manager and DRT Team Leader in Geneva. S/he also works under the guidance of the global nodes on Disaster Risk Reduction (Bangkok) and Recovery (Nairobi) and maintains close coordination and collaboration with the Regional Climate Change, and other Advisors and Specialists in the Regional Hub, HQ, Country Offices and Global Policy Centers.
The Programme Specialist will support the Regional DRR Advisor to successfully provide technical expertise and policy and programme advisory services to requests coming from the Country Offices and, where appropriate, to government as well as key UN and external partners. S/he is responsible for supporting the following:

• Substantive delivery of DRR and recovery related technical assistance, and policy and programme support;
• Substantive development of DRR and recovery related tools and resources;
• Knowledge management and community of practice on DRR;
• Advocacy and partner engagement for effective policy positioning on DRR and recovery.

1. Substantive delivery of programme support and advice
Provide advice to Country Offices (COs) on disaster risk reduction, recovery and resilience related to programmatic services, and provision of support for their contribution to the implementation of UNDP’s strategic plan.
Provide technical inputs for the design, development, and implementation of UNDP disaster risk reduction, recovery and resilience building programmes at national and sub-regional levels.
Participate in field missions to countries in support of programme formulation, implementation and monitoring.
Support monitoring and advice on UNDP’s programme resources, including TRAC 1.1.3 and relevant trust fund and programme resources.
Appraise country office requests for TRAC 3 Category II support in case of disasters and contribute to the preparation of appeals in post-disaster situations, in coordination with OCHA’s regional advisors, ensuring that UNDP programme needs are adequately reflected.
Deploy as a first responder and surge support to country offices when requested.
Collaborate with UNDP global and regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery Advisors, as well as other thematic teams on programmes related to crisis and recovery preparedness, including linkages to climate change, livelihoods, displacement, urban risk, fragility and gender issues.
Contribute to the development of strategy and approaches to increase national capacities for disaster risk reduction and recovery, including integrating disaster risk in national and regional disaster risk reduction strategies, policies and legislative system,
Support the implementation of global and regional disaster risk reduction and recovery programmes and projects.
Support the establishment of partnerships and activities with UN agencies, regional NGOs, regional institutions and academic bodies as necessary.
Contribute to corporate processes such as ROAR, IWPs, Regional Program (evaluation, strategy, audit) and gender integration

2. Substantive development of tools and resources, from across UNDP’s network of expertise

• Support the identification, development and delivery of tools, methodologies and training support for programme countries and UNDP Country Offices to strengthen the disaster risk reduction and recovery practice at country and regional level.
• Support reporting, lessons learning and knowledge management products on disaster risk reduction and recovery, with linkages to resilience, climate change and other relevant themes.
• Provide technical expertise on the content development for regional/CO knowledge products through the analysis of data, case evidence, and research findings on disaster risk reduction and recovery.
• Review and assess policies in relevant thematic area with the objective to identify gaps and opportunities for development of new policies and to guide the overall team priorities and workplans.
• Support the capacity development of UNDP staff in application of tools and practices.

3. Knowledge management and community of practice networking

• Compile, analyze, report and codify disaster risk reduction and recovery experiences and lessons learned from various country offices, foster cross-country learning and collaboration, and also seek for cross-regional exchanges under the new GPN structure
• Support the development and effective application of Crisis Bureau’s knowledge management products and policy documents.
• Provide relevant substantive inputs to the UNDP Community of Practice on Crisis Prevention and Resilience and strengthen linkages with DRR, recovery and climate change communities of practice, both inside and outside of the UN system.
• Advocate and enable South-South facilitation of exchanges and experiences sharing where valuable.
• Provide inputs to country offices with requests for information on best practices and experiences on disaster risk reduction and recovery together with partners and expert institutions.
• Provide substantive inputs from experiences across the region for the development of a roster of outsourced personnel for recovery purposes including post disaster needs assessments.
• Encourage and support COs to capture good practices through blogs, videos, photo essays etc. and promote on social media and other regional channels as well as the COPs.
• Conduct capacity mapping and stock-taking of country and regional level status related to disaster risk reduction, recovery and resilience

4. Advocacy and partner engagement for effective policy positioning in the region

• Contribute to the development and nurturing of partnerships with the EU, World Bank, UN agencies and regional intergovernmental organizations, bilateral partners, think tanks, academic institutions and non-governmental organizations to foster and strengthen the practice of recovery.
• Support consultations on and drafting of joint agreement and MOUs and statements of intent on disaster risk reduction and recovery, including monitoring of implementation.
• Foster partnership through attendance in regular meetings, contributions to joint knowledge products and joint conferences and workshops.
• Proactively coordinate with other regional teams on integrated missions and support to the COs.
• Support the DRT’s engagement in partnership through reporting and developing briefing notes and background information when required.
• Support resource mobilization efforts through development of project concept notes and proposals and contribute to the DRT’s resource mobilization plan under corporate guidelines, including adherence to corporate and donor reporting, advocacy and information-sharing requirements.
• Carry out any other relevant tasks assigned by the supervisor.

Core

Innovation

• Ability to make new and useful ideas work.

Leadership

• Ability to persuade others to follow.

People Management

• Ability to improve performance and satisfaction.

Communication

• Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform.

Delivery

• Ability to get things done while exercising good judgement.

Technical/Functional

Primary

Disaster Risk Reduction

• Knowledge of DRR concepts, frameworks and principles and ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.

Recovery

• Knowledge of core recovery principles and frameworks, and ability to guide delivery at strategic and country levels.

Resilience

• Knowledge of how multiple risks and impact on development, and the delivery of resilience to communities and countries through reducing vulnerability and reducing risk.

Representation

• Ability to productively share UNDP knowledge and activities (at UN and other venues).

Partnerships

• Ability to engage with other agencies and forge productive working relationships.

Knowledge Management

• Ability to efficiently handle and share information and knowledge.

Secondary

Advocacy

• Ability to advocate a point of view and influence others.

Resource Mobilization

• Ability to identify and organize programmes and projects to implement solutions and generate resources.

Trends and emerging areas analytics

• Ability to scan the horizon and identify approaches and initiatives to bring into policy and programme design.

Education:

• A Master's degree, preferably in international development, law, international affairs, business administration, development economics, public administration, Engineering or other relevant field, or extensive compensating experience in Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery is required.

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of professional work experience supporting policy and programme advice, including approaches and mobilizing resources in the general area of disaster risk reduction and recovery, or related areas of environmental economics or natural resource management in different development contexts.
• Experience in either, public sectors (national or multilateral, including UN), or private sectors (academia, non-governmental sector, corporate),
• Proven track record, knowledge and experience in the field of disaster risk reduction and recovery.
• Understanding of the international and regional disaster risk reduction systems, networks and key stakeholders.
• Excellent writing, negotiating and communication skills and ability to mobilize support from a wide range of partners (public, private, academic, civil society, business community leaders) Experience in resource mobilization;
• Working experience in developing countries is required. Working experience in Latin America and the Caribbean would be an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Proficiency in English and Spanish, oral and written. Working knowledge of French language will be an asset.

Other:

•  
• Proven ability to write reports and formulate proposals
• Ability to make presentations and handle discussions with counterparts and partners in both English and Spanish
• The UNDP Regional Hub enjoys a non-smoking environment.

Important information for US Permanent Residents ('Green Card' holders)

Under US immigration law, acceptance of a staff position with UNDP, an international organization, may have significant implications for US Permanent Residents. UNDP advises applicants for all professional level posts that they must relinquish their US Permanent Resident status and accept a G-4 visa, or have submitted a valid application for US citizenship prior to commencement of employment. 

UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications.

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: 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 warning