By continuing to browse this site, you agree to our use of cookies. Read our privacy policy

Peace & Development Advisor

Bujumbura

  • Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
  • Location: Bujumbura
  • Grade: Senior level - P-5, International Professional - Internationally recruited position
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Governance and Peacebuilding
    • Peace and Development
  • Closing Date: Closed

Background

Job Purpose and Organizational Context

Peace and Development Advisors (hereafter PDA) engage with national stakeholders to build, strengthen, and sustain nationally owned and driven efforts to prevent violent conflict and build just and peaceful societies. The range of countries to which PDAs are deployed vary considerably, with some deployed to countries emerging from conflict, others where violence is escalating, and others to countries where there is no violent conflict but underlying structural causes of conflict are present. PDAs are also deployed in countries where political and developmental challenges exist around issues related to elections and constitutional processes, exclusion and inequality, environment, climate change and natural resource management.

PDAs are deployed through a partnership between the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), under the Joint UNDP-DPPA Programme on Building National Capacities for Conflict Prevention.  PDAs support Resident Coordinators (RC) and UN Country Teams (UNCTs) in their efforts to work with national partners on conflict prevention and sustaining peace. They support early warning and risk management measures, and ensure that UN assessments, frameworks (mainly UN Cooperation Frameworks), strategies and programmes are conflict-sensitive and informed by high quality analysis. They are located in the Resident Coordinators’ office, with a direct reporting line to the RC, and a secondary reporting line to the UNDP Resident Representative and DPPA-DPO regional divisions.

In 2021, PDAs will have been deployed to more than 50 countries through the Joint Programme. While most PDAs are deployed at country-level, there are a number of PDAs who cover multiple countries.  In some contexts, PDAs are part of a small Peace and Development Advisory team composed of a PDA and a substantive national or international officer/analyst. PDAs also receive additional support from a Joint Programme Secretariat based at UN Headquarters in New York, from UNDP and DPPA technical advisors/specialists globally, and from a cadre of regional programme specialists supporting their regions from Amman, Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Dakar, Istanbul, and Panama. 
 

PDAs at the P5 level will be deployed in: a) particularly complex political, conflict and security settings as determined by the Joint Programme criticality assessment and analysis carried out by DPPA and UNDP b) in contexts of UN mission/mission transition settings or with other political presences, c) when regional/sub-regional functions are required, or d) when engagement with high-level officials is expected.

Country’s context

From 20 May to 24 August 2020, Burundi held general elections in a relatively peaceful environment, that resulted in a smooth transition of the key State institutions leadership, including the Presidency, Parliament, as well as communal and local councils. This is a positive development in terms of the peace and stability compared to the 2015 crisis.  It was in this context that at the request of the Security Council, and in agreement with President Evariste Ndayishimiye, the Secretary-General deployed to Burundi from 14 to 19 September 2020, a Strategic Assessment Mission (SAM), co-led by Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region, Mr. Huang Xia,  and Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Ms. Bintou Keita (DPPA-DPO), to explore avenues for enhancing United Nations support to the country.  The report and recommendations of the SAM were submitted to the Security Council on 2 November 2020.

On 17 November 2020, the Government of Burundi (GoB) sent a Note Verbale requesting the Secretariat to close and liquidate by 31 December 2020, the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Burundi (OSESG-B). OSESG-B was established in 2016 to support the EAC-led inter-Burundian dialogue to help Burundi and the region find a peaceful and lasting solution to the crisis triggered by the 2015 elections. Through direct engagements between the President and Special Envoy Xia, the Government agreed to allocate adequate time for an orderly transition of the Office. Nevertheless, Government’s cooperation with OSESG-B on its mandate was set to end on 30 June 2021. 

On 4 December, the Security Council issued a Presidential Statement (S/PRST/2020/12) in which it recognized the improved security situation in Burundi and the gains made thus far. However, the Council stressed that there is important work ahead to advance national reconciliation, promote the rule of law and an independent and effective judiciary, preserve the democratic space and respect of fundamental freedoms for all Burundians, such as freedom of expression, including for members of the press and civil society actors, as well as peacebuilding, social cohesion and development. In its PRST, the Security Council also called on the GoB to cooperate with the United Nations to tackle these challenges.  It underscored the importance of continued support to Burundi as the country embarks on the next stage of its development. Furthermore, the Council welcomed the willingness of the United Nations, alongside the African Union (AU), the East African Community  and the international community to continue its engagement with the country, in an effort to support Burundi in achieving durable  peace, reconciliation, and sustainable development.

In this context, the PDA’s main priority will be to assist the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) and Resident Coordinator Office (RCO) in identifying gaps and opportunities for UN-system wide support towards working alongside national stakeholders to build,  strengthen and sustain nationally-owned and driven capacities to generate consensus around strategies for building peace, promoting reconciliation, national cohesion and governance, and advancing sustainable development. Specifically, the PDA will assist the Resident Coordinator (RC) and the UNCT in designing strategies to implement initiatives that support the country’s efforts to tackle the above-mentioned challenges. 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities

There are three broad functions of the position:

1.Undertake socio-political risk-informed analysis and provide strategic advice to the Resident Coordinator in his/her engagement with high-level government officials, academia, civil society including youth and women’s networks, UN Country Team, HQ, and other relevant stakeholders. Submit the analysis and reporting to the RC, UNDP RR and DPPA.

2.Identify opportunities to build national capacities for sustaining peace, including  areas of strategic, programmatic and policy engagement with national stakeholders, and support the RC and the UNCT in areas of peacebuilding, human rights, humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus, Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) among others.

3.Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with key national stakeholders, regional and international actors and development partners on issues related to Sustaining Peace and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

PDAs have a primary reporting line to the UN Resident Coordinator, and secondary reporting lines to the relevant DPPA-DPO regional division and UNDP Resident Representative. Under their guidance and agreed workplan, and in close collaboration with the Country Team, the PDA will:

1.         Undertake socio-political risk informed analysis and provide strategic advice to the Resident Coordinator in his/her engagement with high-level government officials, academia, civil society including youth and women’s networks, UN Country Teams, HQ, and other relevant stakeholders. Submit the analysis and reporting to the RC, UNDP RR and DPPA.

  • Provide risk-informed analysis to the RC and the broader UNCT (and in some contexts, the Humanitarian Country Team) as well as the UN Headquarters (and regional level as relevant) on political and socioeconomic developments, and conflict dynamics. This would also require identifying appropriate ‘entry points’ for conflict prevention and sustaining peace, proposing concrete, actionable and timely recommendations for consideration by the UN leadership;
  • Strengthen and support the capacity of the UNCT, including through training, to undertake socio-political context and political economy analysis, ensuring that gendered and human rights dimensions are reflected in both analysis and programming, and inform early warning and response mechanisms;
  • Provide updates to the UN Headquarters (and regional level as relevant) in line with the Joint Programme’s reporting guidelines with advice on political and socioeconomic developments and dynamics. 
  • Support the regular update of the Common Country Assessment (CCA), which informs the design and implementation of the UN Cooperation Framework, including lead the socio-political risk-informed analysis part of the CCA;
  • Regularly brief the UNCT on political developments, and provide strategic advice on integrated approaches across the UNCT in the context of SDG 16 – Peace Justice and Strong Institutions;
  • Participate on behalf of the RC, in relevant national fora and represent the UN system where necessary, including through engagement with high-level government officials;
  • Facilitate the linking of political economy considerations, social and political analysis and strategies, as well as risk-informed approaches to the UN’s programmatic and policy engagement at the country-level; and
  • Engage with academia and think tanks in research and analyses on peace and conflict related themes, including areas such as climate-related security risk.
  1. Identify opportunities to build national capacities for sustaining peace, including areas of strategic, programmatic and policy engagement with national stakeholders, and support the RC and the UNCT engagement in areas of conflict prevention and peacebuilding, human rights, humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus, Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) among others
  • Provide strategic and technical advice, and support the design and initiation of peace-promoting initiatives or engagements in areas such as conflict prevention and sustaining peace; infrastructures for peace; dialogue processes; confidence-building measures, electoral violence prevention; social cohesion; reconciliation; countering violent extremism; and stabilization;
  • Support the design and facilitation of national multi-stakeholder processes, building national and local capacity for negotiation, mediation and dialogue; and strengthening networks of mediators and facilitators (including female mediators) at national and local levels;
  • Identify opportunities and options for UN preventive diplomacy engagement as required;
  • Support connecting local and national level conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts, as well as regional and/or cross-border initiatives as appropriate;
  • Identify and engage civil society actors in the peace and development agenda supported by the UN and work with other UN entities, including OHCHR and UN Women, to protect human rights and expand civic space;
  • Support the UNCT in their efforts on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and gendered dimensions of peacebuilding and SCR 1325 (and related resolutions) as well as Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) and SCR 2250;
  • Support the design and implementation of strategies for identifying entry points for mainstreaming of sustaining peace, prevention and conflict sensitivity in the work of the UNCT (including within the CCA, Cooperation Framework, Country Programme Documents (CPD), etc.); and where relevant, support UN’s resource mobilization efforts for conflict prevention;
  • Provide strategic guidance and quality assurance to the design and implementation of programmes funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), where applicable, and engage closely with PBF governance mechanisms; as well as with DPPA regional divisions and UNDP Country Offices and HQ on the implementation; and
  • In contexts of a UN Mission transition, work closely with relevant stakeholders to ensure that the activities of the UNCT incorporate a conflict prevention dimension to sustain the peacebuilding gains achieved during the mission’s presence.

3. Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with key national stakeholders, regional and international actors and development partners on issues related to Sustaining Peace and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

  • Establish and maintain networks and strategic partnerships for sustaining peace related strategies and initiatives and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and national SDG plans;
  • Liaise closely with national, regional, and local stakeholders including civil society, academia, think tanks, women’s and youth networks and key international actors (including International Financial Institutions and regional organizations) to identify entry points, foster dialogue and strengthen strategic alliances and partnerships on conflict prevention, trust- and confidence-building, and reconciliation initiatives;
  • Maintain close liaison with relevant development partners, the diplomatic corps, regional organizations and other actors supporting the UN’s conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts;
  • Maintain close contact with relevant staff in UN Headquarters as well at the regional level including relevant focal points at UNDP, DPPA-DPO, DCO and work closely with the regional programme specialists based in the region;
  • Maintain close contact with Special Envoys, Special Representatives of the Secretary-General, political missions and offices where relevant;
  • Support the mobilization of peace building resources for the UNCT through Peace building and other Fund or mechanisms
  • Liaise with the DPPA-Peacebuilding Support Office together with the respective DPPA-DPO regional division in countries where PBF activities are being developed and/or implemented; and
  • Contribute to the results-based management efforts of the Joint UNDP-DPPA Programme, including through setting up mechanisms to assess and measure impact of peace and development initiatives and providing the Joint Programme secretariat with inputs on progress at the country level.

 

 

 


 

Competencies

Competencies

Core

  • Innovation

Level 6: Exercises stakeholder-centered design approaches for office / programme / division

  • Leadership

Level 6: Ensures teams are resourced for success  and empowered to deliver

  • People Management

Level 5: Models high professional standards and motivates excellence in others

  • Communication

Level 6: Creates confidence among stakeholders by delivering authoritative positions, compelling analysis, and contextual acumen

  • Delivery

Level 6: Accepts accountability for the outcomes of programme delivery and facilitates improvement and innovation in the delivery of products and services

 

Technical/Functional

  • Social Cohesion

Level 6: Integrate & Empower: Leads integral work of teams utilizing expertise, vision, problem-solving capability, and collaborative energy in professional area of expertise

  • Peacebuilding and Reconciliation

Level 6: Integrate & Empower: Leads integral work of teams utilizing expertise, vision, problem-solving capability, and collaborative energy in professional area of expertise

  • Conflict-Sensitive Programming

Level 6: Integrate & Empower: Leads integral work of teams utilizing expertise, vision, problem-solving capability, and collaborative energy in professional area of expertise

  • Political Economy Analysis

Level 6: Integrate & Empower: Leads integral work of teams utilizing expertise, vision, problem-solving capability, and collaborative energy in professional area of expertise

  • Knowledge Management

Level 5: Originate: Catalyzes new ideas, methods, and applications to pave a path for innovation and continuous improvement in professional area of expertise

  • Relationship Management

Level 6: Integrate & Empower: Leads integral work of teams utilizing expertise, vision, problem-solving capability, and collaborative energy in professional area of expertise

  • Resource Mobilization

Level 5: Originate: Catalyzes new ideas, methods, and applications to pave a path for innovation and continuous improvement in professional area of expertise

  • Gender

Level 5: Originate: Catalyzes new ideas, methods, and applications to pave a path for innovation and continuous improvement in professional area of expertise


 

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Advanced university degree (Master’s Degree) in political science, sociology, international relations, international economics, law, public administration, or other related social sciences

Experience

  • At least 10 years of experience in conflict analysis, strategy development, risk informed/conflict sensitive development and/or conflict prevention & sustaining peace in a governmental, multilateral or civil society organization;
  • Proven policy, advisory and advocacy experience and track record of engagement with senior officials, such as in the United Nations, government and external partners;
  • Experience in programming and project management, such as programme design and results monitoring, in areas related to conflict prevention, peacebuilding and/or development;
  • Experience working within a UN Agency/Fund/Programme or Department and/or field experience would be a major asset;
  • Experience in national and community-level conflict prevention and peacebuilding initiatives and programming; with experience in gendered dimensions of peacebuilding being an asset;
  • •Excellent knowledge of and extensive experience in Burundi/Great Lakes Region, including in dialogue and conflict prevention initiatives, is an advantage.

Language requirement

Fluent written and spoken English and French is required. Knowledge of another UN language is an advantage

Other

Qualified female candidates are especially encouraged to apply.


 

Disclaimer

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

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

 

This vacancy is now closed.
However, we have found similar vacancies for you: