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

Programme Specialist SES

Pretoria

  • Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
  • Location: Pretoria
  • Grade: Level not specified - Level not specified
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Environment
    • Aviation and Air traffic (planning/management/services)
    • Project and Programme Management
  • Closing Date: Closed

The Country Program Document (CPD) 2020-2025 was approved in June 2020 by the Executive Board and immediately initiated its implementation. The CPD aims to provide response to the most pressing development challenges of the country, with emphasis on unemployment, poverty and inequality. In other to operationalize these priorities, the country office intervenes through a range of projects covering the programmatic areas of Nature, Climate and Energy, Inclusive and Sustainable Growth, and Transformative Governance. With the new CPD, UNDP’s footprint in South Africa is expanding and hence, increasingly requires oversight, analysis and responsiveness for social and environmental safeguards, innovation and client-oriented solutions, particularly in the Nature, Climate and Energy portfolio, which is the largest in the country office.

Under the direct supervision of the Deputy Resident Representative, the Program Specialist will work in close collaboration with the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist and coordination with the Program Portfolio Managers to ensure that the country office projects design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation are fully compliant with UNDP Social and Environmental Standards.

UNDP’s Social and Environmental Standards (SES) underpin our support for sustainable development. The objectives of the standards are to:

  • Strengthen the social and environmental outcomes of Programmes and Projects
  • Avoid adverse impacts to people and the environment
  • Minimize, mitigate, and manage adverse impacts where avoidance is not possible
  • Strengthen UNDP and partner capacities for managing social and environmental risks
  • Ensure full and effective stakeholder engagement, including through a mechanism to respond to complaints from project-affected people

The starting point to ensure these standards are applied is through UNDP’s project-level Social and Environmental Screening Procedure (SESP), which is a requirement for projects. The objectives of the SESP are to: (a) integrate the SES Overarching Principles (human rights, gender equality and environmental sustainability); (b) identify potential social and environmental risks and their significance; (c) determine the Project's SES risk category; and (d) determine the level of assessment and management required to address potential social and environmental risks and impacts. All guidance on UNDPs Social and Environmental Standards can be found in the SES Toolkit.

The Programme Specialist will be responsible for first layer oversight (of the aforementioned portfolio), capacity building and knowledge management to strengthen SES implementation across the Country Office portfolio, from programme and project design through implementation. The Programme Specialist will not be responsible for the preparation and execution of SES instruments during NIM project implementation (as this is a project execution function under the Implementing Partner) but will rather quality assure project-level safeguards instruments prepared by the project teams, and monitor, advise and oversee the project teams in executing the relevant safeguard management measures.

  • Ensure the Stakeholder Response Mechanism is established and operational at the CO level.
  • Ensure project-level grievance mechanisms are established within the project governance structure and that relevant safeguard risks are monitored by Project Boards.
  • Establish roster of national social and environmental safeguards consultants.
  • Support and advise senior management in their engagement with partners and stakeholders (including affected people, implementing partners, donors) on issues related to the SES.
  • Advise and support senior management on any SECU/SRM cases.
  • Prepare communication materials and products that can be used to communicate the SES and UNDP’s Accountability Mechanism with partners and project affected people.
  • Present on the SES and Accountability Mechanism at inception workshops and support on-boarding of project-level safeguards experts.
  • Conduct an assessment of national capacities/safeguards to identify key gaps between the SES with guidance on how these gaps should be approached across the portfolio, as well as entry points for capacity building and use of national systems.
Review national grievance redress mechanism (GRM) capacities/entry points related to the CO portfolio.
 
Duties and Responsibilities
 
1.)SES Oversight and Quality Assurance
 

 

  • Conduct a quality review of early drafts of SESPs (or “pre-SESPs”) to ensure proper identification and categorization of risk.
  • Advise project design team and/or PMU on needed social and environmental assessments/management plans and safeguards expertise, including review of related ToRs. (e.g. ESIA, ESMP, ESMF, IPP, RAP, SEP, relevant ToRs, etc)
  • Confirm validity of any SESP exemptions.
  • Quality assure final SESPs prior to submission to PAC or Project Board (for Nature, Climate and Energy Vertical Fund projects, clearance will be prior to submission for Headquarters “Safeguards Clearance”).
  • Support recruitment, onboarding and oversight of safeguards consultants to the project management units hired to support SES execution in projects.
  • Quality assures draft and final SES documentation for projects (e.g. ESIA, ESMP, ESMF, IPP, RAP, SEP, relevant ToRs, etc) to ensure they meet technical standards and requirements (for Nature, Climate and Energy Vertical Fund projects, clearance will be prior to submission for Headquarters “Safeguards Clearance”).
  • Support project teams in responding to HQ/RBx SES oversight reviews and relevant audit/investigation/evaluation findings.
  • Identify risks for which additional technical support may be needed through the Global Policy Network, Regional Bureau, or external consultants (e.g. through ExpRess roster) and opportunities for projects to cost-share needed expertise.
  • Undertake safeguards oversight missions, as needed and per projects’ M&E plans etc.
  • Quality assures safeguards sections of progress reports and evaluations (e.g. donor reports, annual progress reports, GEF PIR/GCF APR, mid-term and final evaluations) and contribute substantively where in line with the oversight function (e.g. in support of relevant Team Lead)
  • Track progress of high/substantial risk and other priority projects’ implementation of required SES elements (ESIA, GRM, stakeholder engagement, disclosure, FPIC, etc.).
  • Regularly scan available data on SES implementation across the portfolio to identify emerging risks or High/Substantial Risk projects that may require additional oversight and support.
  • Escalate issues to second layer oversight (RBx and BPPS Nature, Climate, Energy team, where relevant) and advise CO senior management on safeguard risks where needed.

 

 

2.) SES Capacity Building

  • Conduct a CO capacity assessment to identify baseline quality of SES documentation, capacity needs, priority risks, and opportunities.
  • Develop and coordinate implementation of an action plan to strengthen SES implementation across the aforementioned portfolio, clarifying the oversight and quality assurance process, roles and responsibilities, and a learning plan.
  • Ensure CO SES action plan is aligned with and contributes to global/regional SES implementation plans.

Support regular SES capacity development, awareness raising, trainings and other learning opportunities for the CO team and implementing partners

  • Ensure the Stakeholder Response Mechanism is established and operational at the CO level.
  • Ensure project-level grievance mechanisms are established within the project governance structure and that relevant safeguard risks are monitored by Project Boards.
  • Establish roster of national social and environmental safeguards consultants.
  • Support and advise senior management in their engagement with partners and stakeholders (including affected people, implementing partners, donors) on issues related to the SES.
  • Advise and support senior management on any SECU/SRM cases.
  • Prepare communication materials and products that can be used to communicate the SES and UNDP’s Accountability Mechanism with partners and project affected people.
  • Present on the SES and Accountability Mechanism at inception workshops and support on-boarding of project-level safeguards experts.
  • Conduct an assessment of national capacities/safeguards to identify key gaps between the SES with guidance on how these gaps should be approached across the portfolio, as well as entry points for capacity building and use of national systems.
  • Review national grievance redress mechanism (GRM) capacities/entry points related to the CO portfolio.

 

 

3.) SES Knowledge Management

  • Engage and coordinate with SES experts in Headquarters (including second layer oversight provided by RBx and BPPS Nature, Climate, Energy team and SES policy owner, BPPS Effectiveness Group) and other regions to ensure consistency in policy interpretation and oversight.
  • Document lessons learned, including from cases where things went wrong as well as good models of SES implementation.
  • Track and share precedents that have implications for the entire portfolio to ensure an aligned and consistent approach (e.g. identification of indigenous peoples).
  • Share lessons learned across the portfolio and also with regional, global teams to facilitate learning.
  • Maintain a library of project safeguards documents and examples that can be used as reference points.
  • Engage with CO Gender Specialist and/or Gender Focal Team to document and share lessons learned and good practice related to gender-related risks, including analysis of national gender and social inclusion issues and how these can be addressed across the portfolio.
  • Coordinate exchange between project-level safeguards experts to facilitate shared learning, consistency across the portfolio, and identification of opportunities to cost-share or combine efforts on risks faced by multiple projects.
  • Engage in safeguards networks and partnerships, including with UNCT, to ensure learning and exchange on safeguards with partners and UNDP’s leadership role in this area.
  • Prepare an annual report on SES implementation in the office, capturing key lessons learned and recommendations for how to strengthen SES implementation moving forward.

 

Core Competencies

Achieve Results LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline

 

Think Innovatively LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements

 

Learn Continuously LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback

 

Adapt with Agility LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible

 

Act with Determination LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident

 

Engage and Partner LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships

 

Enable Diversity and Inclusion LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

People Management:

UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.

 

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies 

Business Direction & Strategy

System Thinking

Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system

Business Development

Knowledge Generation

Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need

Business Management

Project Management

Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals

Partnerships Management

Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies

Risk Management

Ability to identify and organize action around mitigating and proactively managing risk

Working with Evidence and Data

Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making

 
Required Skills and Experience
 

Education

Master’s degree in International Development, Environmental or Social Studies, or other relevant areas.

 Experience, Knowledge, and Skills

 

  • 2 year’ experience in social and environmental safeguards or 4years combined with bachelor’s degree.
  • Knowledge of national social and environmental policies and strategies, and emerging issues;
  • Minimum 2 years’ experience in development projects/programs design, monitoring, and evaluation;
  • Experience in stakeholders’ engagement
  • Demonstrated skills in the use of information technologies, particularly excel and word. Familiarization with ERPs is an advantage;
  • Fluency in English Language
Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.
 
This vacancy is now closed.
However, we have found similar vacancies for you: