Strategic Innovation and MEL Specialist- IPSA 11

New York City

Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
Location: New York City
Grade: Mid level - IPSA-11, International Personnel Services Agreement
Occupational Groups:
- Monitoring and Evaluation
- Innovations for Sustainable Development
Closing Date: Closed

Background

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.

Office/Unit/Project Description

Countries around the world are facing increasingly complex and multifaceted development challenges, ranging from climate change and circular economy transitions to the coronavirus pandemic and the future of work. To help UNDP evolve and improve the relevance of its offers and support to governments and communities, UNDP’s Innovation Facility (IF) is investing in efforts that seek to enable the organization to support partners in their “great transformations”. The IF was established in 2014 with donor support to catalyze the use of novel approaches for development impact and provide seed funding to foster country-based innovation.

The IF is envisioned as a vehicle providing catalytic funding that helps the UNDP and its partners better understand the dynamics of transformational, systemic change. This will entail not only a shift in the type of policy problems that the Facility addresses, but also how to think about understanding and engaging with these problems. This requirest a shift from single point solutions that provide incremental improvement within an existing paradigm, towards an approach seeking to plant the seeds for an entirely new paradigm. The IF’s approach is based on the premise that if UNDP will be able to work simultaneously on developing a new supply (offers to governments based on a system transformation logic) and a new demand (interest from governments and donors to go beyond single point solutions), then it will be able to increase its development effects and leverage the Facility’s investments to attract new funding for joint efforts and R&D by development partners.

To deliver on this mission, the IF is supporting Country Offices with catalytic funding to implement so-called Deep Demonstrations.¹ These seek to build new capabilities for system transformation that provide a different logic to addressing complex development issues. So far the IF has supported two cohorts of Deep Demonstrations, with the second cohort still ongoing. In these Demonstrations, COs have deepened their understanding of complex policy issues, designed portfolios to engage with these, and in this process developed new systems capabilities.

Through implementation of the Deep Demonstrations, the IF and UNDP have learned that using systems and portfolio approaches requires very different ways of doing monitoring, evaluation, and results measurement. Thishas led to the establishment of an M&E Sandbox.² The Sandbox was originally intended as an internal space for experimentation to support M&E innovations in UNDP, but due to great interest from external partners the Sandbox have become a global space for reinventing M&E. The Sandbox has members from over 100 different organizations, ranging from governments, bilateral aid agencies, and philanthropies to civil society organizations, private sector companies and research institutions. Geographically, Sandbox members come from all over Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas. The Sandbox has attracted interest and investment from donors, including a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Overall objective of the assignment

Under the overall guidance of the Global Advisor for Innovation, the primary function of the incumbent is to help UNDP develop strategic innovation and MEL frameworks, practices and capabilities that align with systems and portfolio approaches. This includes managing a small team, working in close collaboration with relevant corporate units and other parts of the SIU, and building / managing relationships with and reporting to external partners.

Duties and responsibilities

Policy and advisory support to country offices and other stakeholders
Provide hands on support to COs (and other business units) in developing MEL frameworks, practices and capabilities that are aligned with complexity and systems approaches and that enable a project to portfolio shif
Lead the development of UNDP’s MEL offering (internal and external facing) on systems and portfolios and build out mechanisms for harnessing MEL innovation across the organisation and beyond.
Nurture an internal network of MEL champions across the organization to create an enabling environment for their work and connection/influence with the corporate system and practices for MEL
Support engagement with other corporate innovation work-tracks to ensure the alignment with UNDP’s overall strategic approach to innovation

Identify and connect with latest MEL practices

Scan for and identify innovations and other promising and useful practices and frameworks for systems and portfolio MEL
Represent UNDP externally with MEL and innovation related stakeholders and at events
Conceptualize and oversee delivery of systems and portfolio MEL related webinars, other events, case studies and pilots

Relationship building and networking

- Build and maintain relationships and collaboration with relevant corporate teams such as the Independent Evaluation Office, Executive Office, Crisis Bureau, Accelerator Labs, and Effectiveness Group.
- Forge partnerships with leading innovation agencies, think tanks, funders, and experts that work on MEL frameworks and capabilities around systems and portfolios to ensure that UNDP has access to and is influencing the best available expertise in this field
- Engagement and relationship management with funders and other key partners, including Government of Denmark and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Support SIU fundraising for the IF and M&E Sandbox

Management

- Provide oversight of IF 2.0 and M&E Sandbox project management including financial and operational management, delivery, project governance, and reporting

- Provide day-to-day guidance and oversight for Operations and Procurement Support roles, M&E Coordinator role, and IF Management Support role
- Oversee the procurement under the IF and M&E Sandbox, including use and maintenance of Long-Term Agreements (LTAs), ad hoc tenders, and consultants

Travel

The assignment might require travel, but this will be determined on the needs basis and the travel arrangements will be processed in accordance with the corporate travel policy.

Institutional Arrangement

The position will report to the Global Advisor for Innovation, Strategic Innovation Unit, the Bureau of Policy and Programme Support. The role will be based in New York.

Competencies

Core

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

Technical Compentencies:

Proven expertise in the field of innovation for development, specifically in the area of strategic innovation and systems transformation, design and dynamic management of portfolios, and innovative/agile M&E;
Proven experience building and maintaining relationships with a wide range of stakeholders across thematic and geographical areas;
Extensive knowledge of established and emerging methods and approaches for monitoring, evaluating, learning and adapting systems and portfolio approaches;
Proven ability to plan, organize, and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals;
Ability to engage collaboratively with partners (including other UN agencies), donors, and other development stakeholders and forge productive working relationships;

Proven experience with advancing new ways of working in organizations and/or companies – especially large and geographically dispersed organizations;
Knowledge of project and fund management (budgeting, expenditure, reporting) related procedures to ensure that quality requirements and goals are fulfilled;
Strong communication and writing skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Education requirements	Master’s Degree or equivalent Advanced Degree in social sciences, international relations, economics or related field is required.
Min. years of relevant work experience	A minimum of 7 years of professional working experience in relevant fields related to international development; A minimum of 2 years of professional experience in the fields of strategic innovation and systems change; monitoring, evaluation and learning in the context of complexity and portfolios; and project management.
Required skills	Corporate: Demonstrates commitment to the UN’s values and ethical standards; Promotes the mission, vision and strategic goals of UNDP; Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability; Treats all people fairly and with impartiality. Technical Proven expertise in the field of innovation for development, specifically in the area of strategic innovation and systems transformation, design and dynamic management of portfolios, and innovative / agile M&E; Proven experience building and maintaining relationships with a wide range of stakeholders across thematic and geographical areas; Extensive knowledge of established and emerging methods and approaches for monitoring, evaluating, learning and adapting systems and portfolio approaches; Proven ability to plan, organize, and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals; Ability to engage collaboratively with partners (including other UN agencies), donors, and other development stakeholders and forge productive working relationships; Proven experience with advancing new ways of working in organizations and/or companies – especially large and geographically dispersed organizations; Knowledge of project and fund management (budgeting, expenditure, reporting) related procedures to ensure that quality requirements and goals are fulfilled; Strong communication and writing skills.
Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section	Extensive networks among individuals, groups and organizations working with systems transformation as well as innovative / agile forms of M&E and impact measurement is desirable; Existing relationships with funders working on systems transformation as well as innovative / agile forms of M&E and impact measurement is desirable; Experience working in low- and middle-income countries and fragile states is desirable; Prior experience working in UNDP is desirable.

Required Language(s)

Fluency in written and spoken English is required;

Working knowledge of other UN languages would be an asset.

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.

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