Health, Safety, Social and Environmental Specialist - Environmental Management (Lumpsum contract)

UNOPS supports partners to build a better future by providing services that increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of peace building, humanitarian and development projects.  Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations.  

New York Service Cluster (NYSC) supports the United Nations Secretariat, as well as other New York-based United Nations organizations, bilateral and multilateral partners in the delivery of UNOPS mandate in project management, infrastructure management, and procurement management.

The Sustainable Development Cluster (SDC) supports diverse partners with their peacebuilding, humanitarian and development operations. It was formed by combining the following portfolios: Grants Management Services (GMS), UN Technology Support Services (UNTSS), Development and Special Initiatives Portfolio (DSIP). It provides Services to partners' programmes that are designed, structured, and managed with a global perspective and primarily serving partners that are headquartered in New York.  The SDC has a footprint of approximately 130 countries.

UNOPS has signed an agreement with the UNDO CO of Mexico to implement the project activities for the Small Grants Programme.

A community-based approach to sustainably managing local production landscapes has emerged from SGP’s more than 20 years of experience helping communities collectively nurture and benefit from local ecosystems, while building social capital and expanding the capacity of local civil society. SGP’s Seventh Operational Phase (OP-7) offers an opportunity to refine and broadly apply this community-based landscape approach, taking advantage of these countries’ SGP experience in certain sectors and geographic regions, their well-developed civil society and market networks, and their access to Full Size Project funding from the GEF.

This phase of the SGP in Upgrading Country Programme will focus on building social, economic, and ecological resilience in landscapes and seascapes by supporting community organizations to develop and implement adaptive management projects based on, and reinforced by, global environmental and local sustainable development benefits. Community organizations’ activities that promote climate change adaptation and mitigation, sustainable land management, including agro-ecosystem management and integrated water resources management, and biodiversity conservation, will be supported and synergized to achieve results at the landscape level. 

The UCP community-based landscape management approach is rooted in the methodology of the Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS) programme. The COMDEKS programme seeks to improve landscape-level resilience through community action, while recognizing the inter-connectedness of ecosystem services, local food production, natural resource use, income opportunities and culture. 

There are three defining aspects of the COMDEKS programme, which the UCP design will integrate into its own programming:

• Community-based organizations are the driving force in rural development strategies and must take the lead in project planning, landscape governance, project execution and monitoring.
• Participatory landscape governance represents an effective foundation for the organization of community-based, multi-stakeholder approaches to land and resource management.
• Integrated solutions are effectively addressed through action at the landscape level, as the scale is large enough to include various communities, processes and systems that underpin ecosystem services, rural economic production, and local cultures.  

The incumbent of this position will be personnel of UNOPS under its full responsibility.

Under the supervision of the Portfolio Manager, the overall aim of the baseline assessment should be to coordinate the methodology and integration of the 2 landscape strategies under design, as well as the update and dissemination of the five strategies developed during GEF-6. 

The objective of the assignment is to assist SGP National Coordinator and National Steering Committees to:

1. Support the development of two landscape-wide baseline based on a developed set of indicators for resilience in socio-ecological production landscapes in Oaxaca and Puebla. 
2. Ensure cohesion in the Landscape Strategy development following the template and guidelines provided for this purpose and considering the 5 strategies already developed during GEF-6.
3. Coordinate a process of consultation to evaluate and update the 5 land/seascape strategies.
4. Update the Mexico´s country strategy document, which is based on the 7 landscapes / seascape strategies

• Advanced university degree preferably in  in conservation planning, biology or the environment, or other related fields. 
• A Bachelor’s degree may be accepted with additional 2 years’ experience in the related field.

Contract type: Local Individual Contractor Agreement (LICA) - Lumpsum contract (per products)
Contract level: LICA 10
Duty station to Home-Based (Merida, Mexico)
Contract duration: Two years (1st January 2023 up to 31 December 2024)

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions 

• 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 (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. For more information on a retainer contract here.

• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.