Economic Recovery Specialist

BACKGROUND

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works in about 170 countries and territories, helping to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and exclusion, and build resilience so countries can sustain progress. As the UN’s development agency, UNDP plays a critical role in helping countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. In Ukraine, UNDP operates along three programmatic areas of support: Inclusive development, recovery and peacebuilding; Democratic governance; and Energy and environment.

The war in Ukraine has already resulted in significant loss of life, unprecedented displacement, internally and towards neighbouring countries, and devastating destruction of infrastructure. Early UNDP projections suggest that if the war deepens and expands, up to 90 percent of the population of Ukraine could be facing poverty and vulnerability to poverty by the end of 2022, and 30 percent of the population are likely to require life-saving humanitarian assistance. Eighteen years of socio-economic achievements in Ukraine are at risk. UNDP’s core engagement is to preserve development gains as fully as possible, and to return Ukraine to pathways achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as quickly as possible.

UNDP has been active and present in eastern Ukraine for the past decade, prior to the conflict which started in 2014, with a focus on community development, civil society development, and environmental protection. Work on addressing the specific conflict-related development challenges built on this earlier engagement, established partnerships, and started in 2015 through the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP). The UN RPP is a multi-donor funded framework programme formulated and led by the UNDP in collaboration with the Government of Ukraine and in cooperation with a number of partnering UN agencies (UN Women, FAO, UNFPA).

UN RPP’s interventions are grouped under the following key Programme components, which reflect women’s and men’s priority needs in the region:

Component 1: Economic Recovery and Restoration of Critical Infrastructure

Component 2: Local Governance and Decentralization Reform

Component 3: Community Security and Social Cohesion.

In October 2018, UNDP signed an agreement for a multi-year project under the EU Support to the East of Ukraine programme. In 2021, the EU-funded project was amended to extend its scope though the EU4Resilient Regions programme. It has recently been amended to ensure that the approach implemented under UN RPP can help address the devastation and increased needs of the civilian population as a result of the ongoing war, and where it will be required.

This endeavor will be achieved through the pursuit of the following specific objectives:

1)         To enhance local capacity for gender-responsive decentralization and administrative reforms to improve governance, local development and the delivery of services.

2)         To stimulate employment and economic growth by providing assistance to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) development through demand-driven business development services and professional skills training.

3)         To enhance social cohesion and reconciliation through promotion of civic initiatives.

4)         To support sector reforms and structural adjustments in health, education and critical public infrastructure to mitigate direct impacts of the conflict.

POSITION PURPOSE

The Economic Recovery Specialist will work under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the Programme Manager (Recovery and Peacebuilding), and will ensure strategic guidance, technical oversight, planning and management in a gender-responsive manner for UN RPP Component 1: Economic Recovery and Restoration of Critical Infrastructure.

The incumbent contributes to the sound implementation of all related joint UN interventions, as well as the overall impact, coherence and quality of the joint UN RPP especially in the area of economic recovery and economic development, but also support to MSMEs, development of technical and vocational educational training (TVET) etc. In addition, the incumbent will ensure close linkages to other UN RPP components listed above, as well as with other UN/DP business development interventions such as private sector development projects under UNDP’s Inclusive Development, Recovery and Peacebuilding portfolio. This post requires a combination of substantive technical advisory knowledge and managerial competencies to recommend effective approaches and formulate new initiatives in the subject area. In addition, it is expected that the incumbent has experience providing advice to government officials, not least at a sub-national/regional/municipality level. The staff member will be based in Dnipro, Dnipropetrovsk oblast, with occasional travel to other regions of the country, including Kyiv.

The Economic Recovery Specialist will prioritize gender equality and women’s empowerment within all implementations and promote UN as a gender-responsive organization with zero tolerance to any kind of discriminatory and abusive behaviour, including sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse.

Substantially contribute to the strategic direction and oversight of development, planning and implementation of the Economic Recovery component of the UN RPP and other UNDP economic development programmes:

• Identify and analyze the impact of the war on the UN RPP’s current programming and assess new challenges which UN RPP can address;
• Conduct thorough analysis and research of the political, social, environmental and economic situation of women and men across Ukraine and provide technical inputs in the development of gender-responsive policies related to economic development and reform;
• Provide technical advisory services and technical guidance to the UN RPP team and UNDP CO in the field of economic development and MSME support with due attention to gender equality considerations;
• Provide technical advice to government counterparts and other partners, especially in support of economic recovery, SDG localization/the 2030 Agenda.
• Under the supervision of the Programme Manager (Recovery and Peacebuilding), support donor outreach and coordination with national and international partners, including actively contributing to developing new funding opportunities, especially those focusing on building resilience of women, reducing structural vulnerabilities to shocks and crisis, as well as preventing and addressing the issue of sexual and gender-based violence;
• Contributes continuously to keeping the Partnership and Resource Mobilization (PRM) strategy relevant, including inputs to the planning tools to implement the strategy;
• The oversight functions include supervision of the assigned team, coordination of multi-agency joint implementation; strategic oversight of planning, budgeting, implementing and monitoring, tracking use of financial resources in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations based on the gender-responsive approach.
• Supervise and guide the preparation or revision of key planning, monitoring and evaluation documents such as the Annual Work Plans (AWPs), the Results and Resources Framework (RRF), progress reports, monitoring and review reports based on the gender-responsive results-based management (RBM) principles;
• Ensure technical guidance and supervision for a timely and efficient delivery of the AWPs for the assigned thematic component of the UN RPP programme;
• Oversee project implementation process through close monitoring of results and assessment of impact; ensures effective application of RBM tools, management of scorecard targets and other benchmarks;
• Contribute to further strengthening the capacity of national stakeholders’ to effectively tackle challenges related to regional economic development and MSME support in a gender- and conflict-sensitive way.

Provides expert leadership on the Programme knowledge management, communication and M&E:

• Provide technical support on producing quality communication materials, visuals and publications based on the corporate principles of gender-responsive communications and non-discriminatory language;
• Provide inputs and necessary substantive support to the Programme and CO team during audits, international missions, assessments, evaluations and similar other events;
• Identify and formulate lessons learned and document best practices to be integrated into programme reports and publications;
• Identify strategic opportunities and potential new areas of cooperation, including joint programming with UN agencies and other development partners. Actively coordinate with other UN agencies on the subject matter and contribute technical expertise to the work of the UNET (Eastern Ukraine UN Country Team);
• Contribute to knowledge networks and communities of practice.
• Contribute to the work of the Innovation Lab and Gender Focal Team.

Contributes strategically to the programme’s research and innovation:

• Provide technical oversight and review assistance to ongoing studies and reports commissioned by the Programme and partners, in the areas of economic development, economic value chains’ development, MSME support etc.
• Guide the Programme team in preparing strategy papers and implementation manuals or guidelines that include clear indicators for gender equality;
• Contribute to the development and introduction of innovative digital technologies for MSME support and development and private engagement.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:

• Core Competencies

Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact

Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems

Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences

Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands

Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results

Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration

Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

• Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:

Business Direction & Strategy - Strategic Thinking: Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP’s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions

Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP.

Business Management - Project Management: Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals.

Business Management - 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.

Business Management - Communication: Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience

Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.

Digital & Innovation - Innovation management: Being able to create the strategies, conditions, structures and systems to enable innovation at an organizational level. Ability to navigate uncertainty and ambiguity, is able manage projects-based principles of adaptation and emergence. Ability to shape demand for innovation services, navigate political constraints and make the case for allocation of resources to innovation, connect the appropriate innovation approaches based on business needs and make the case for innovation to be integrated at the planning level within their context. Having in-depth theoretical and experiential knowledge of innovation processes, methods, capabilities.

2030 Agenda - Gender: Gender mainstreaming.

2030 Agenda - Recovery Solutions and Human Mobility: Economic recovery.

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Economics, Business Administration, Public Administration, Social Sciences or related field or Bachelor’s degree with additional two years of progressively responsible experience will be given due consideration in lieu of Master’s degree.

• Minimum 7 years with Master’s degree or equivalent or 9 years with Bachelor’s Degree of relevant managerial and advisory experience in the field of Economic Development.
• Experience working with MSME development, economic policy formulation or related fields.
• Experience in TVET development is an asset.
• Experience in providing technical advice on economic recovery and development to government authorities, especially at sub-national level, is a strong asset.
• Experience in working with conflict-affected populations, as well as implementing recovery and peacebuilding initiatives, is a distinctive advantage.
• Experience in Gender mainstreaming is an advantage.
• Management experience with international recovery and development programmes and projects (preferably with the United Nations) is an advantage.
• Previous work experience in Ukraine or neighboring countries is a strong advantage.
• Previous work experience with EU accession is a strong asset.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advance knowledge of web-based management systems.

Language Requirements

• Fluency in in written, oral, and spoken English is required.