Background
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP:  we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories.
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.

The Crisis Bureau (CB) is galvanizing UNDP’s efforts to support countries to build resilience by strengthening capacities to anticipate, prevent, respond to, and recover from the impacts of crises and shocks on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These efforts are geared towards reducing countries’ reliance on external humanitarian relief and peace interventions, while risk-informing development planning and decision-making to minimize creation of new risks. UNDP seeks to ensure that development perspectives are introduced as early as possible in prevention, response and recovery cycles, including approaching prevention and recovery as opportunities to reset development practices onto more resilient, green and equitable pathways.

UNDP’s corporate Crisis Offer seeks to consolidate and upgrade UNDP’s crisis mechanisms to break the cycle of protracted crisis and fragility; to get ahead of the crisis curve through anticipating and preventing crises; and to sustain development throughout crisis by investing in hope – from jobs to justice. These efforts seek to mitigate potential shocks and disruptions, protect hard-won development gains, and to provide sustained accompaniment throughout crises, and to pursue pathways out of crisis and build longer-term resilience. The CB supports Regional Bureaux (RBx) and Country Offices (COs) to ensure risk-informed and preventive approaches are integrated into development plans, priorities and programmes.

Under the CB’s new structure, a new Risk Anticipation Hub is being established. The overall objective of the RAH is to produce futures-informed decision intelligence to transform warnings about current and emerging risks that could reverse development gains into anticipatory development actions – in particular in the context of multidimensional risks and complex crisis requiring integrated, multidisciplinary responses. Working across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus, the RAH will enable the organization to respond with agility, to adapt, and shift from being reactive to being risk informed and preventive. The RAH resource will first support UNDP (at HQ, Hub and CO levels), with an intent to grow to be offered to the wider UN system, governments and other stakeholders.

The Risk Anticipation Hub is specifically responsible for:

  • Predictive analytics: Building on data analytics and visualization capabilities, developing the forward-looking dimension of the Crisis Risk Dashboard architecture through machine learning applications to an expanded range of datasets, and other sensemaking approaches, to enable predictive analytics and foresight.
  • Sensemaking: Bringing together expertise and information flows horizontally (i.e. with insights from Regional Bureaux and across thematic areas, including conflict analysis, disaster risk reduction, political economy analysis, horizon scanning and foresight) and vertically (i.e. systematizing information flows from country offices) will produce comprehensive and actionable insights. This will follow clear and rigorous protocols agreed at corporate level and engage identified focal points across RBx.
  • Advise on anticipatory investments: Tailoring decision intelligence products to existing business processes and enriching them with rigorous risk assessments and recommendations for action and policy/programme investments to ensure anticipatory impact.

Position Purpose

The Senior Advisor and Head of the RAH reports directly to the Deputy Director, Crisis Bureau. S/he is entrusted with leading the RAH conceptually and operationally, through leveraging and synthesizing risk analytics across the CB and BPPS, with relevant teams across the Global Policy Network (GPN), and across UNDP Regional Bureaus and Country Offices. The Senior Advisor will promote a whole-of-organizational approach and maintain internal coherence to streamline and enhance corporate systems on risk anticipation.  The incumbent is expected to advance UNDP’s decision-making on risk-informed development, and well as contribution to global policy debates on the role of development in risk anticipation and prevention.

Duties and Responsibilities

Leadership on policy formulation and methodological approaches for predictive analytics, sensemaking and anticipatory investments related to crisis risks:  
  • Lead and coordinate the production of policy frameworks and methodological approaches for risk anticipation, including predictive analytics and sensemaking, leading a team of risk analysts, data scientists, and information management officers.
  • Lead on the application of data-driven risk analysis at HQ, regional hub and Country Office level, including through further development of Crisis Risk Dashboards, and collation of good practices on CRD-based analysis; and working with Crisis Risk Dashboard infrastructure to enable graduation from data aggregation to modelling for predictive analytics.
  • Support innovations and solutions that would promote integrated and systems-based approaches to risk anticipation and sensemaking across UNDP, to ensure coherence and integration of policies related to risk anticipation, and multi-disciplinary solutions to multidimensional crises; leading definition of new paradigms to address complexity and uncertainty.
  • Coordinate and ensure coherence and integration within the Crisis Bureau on issues of risk anticipation, and lead a cross-team Task Force drawing in particular on the expertise of CB’s Disaster Risk Reduction Team (DRRT), Conflict Prevention, Peacebuilding and Responsive Institutions (CPPRI) Team, and the Country Support Management Team (CSMT).
  • Work closely with the Regional Bureaus on analytical and sensemaking approaches for countries within their purview, and facilitate information sharing and cross-learning amongst these.
  • On behalf of the CB, act as an interface for UNDP’s SDG Integration Data Futures team, and the Executive Office’s Strategic Foresight Team, to ensure cross-fertilization and co-creation on issues of risk anticipation, futures, and strategic foresight.

Oversee corporate procedures and systems to translate analytics and sensemaking into actionable decision intelligence, with link into corporate decision making mechanisms:

  • Oversee design, preparation and quality assurance of high-quality products on key emerging risks to development progress (country, regional, thematic, etc.), in collaboration with relevant internal and external partners, including inter alia monthly global heat maps, quarterly and annual thematic and regional forecasts and horizon scanning, tailored to inform decision-making.
  • Coordinate and oversee engagements with Regional Bureaus on sensemaking of risk analytics to agree risk assessment levels, treatment and elevation within corporate decision-making hierarchies (Country Offices, Regional Bureau Directors, corporate Risk Committee for high-level risks), identifying appropriate approaches to govern risks, whether through mitigation, elimination or adaptation.
  • Work with CB and GPN technical teams and Regional Bureaus to advise on risk treatment options, policy positions and programme engagements, including preparedness and preventive responses, and technical/financial investments.
  • Work with Regional Bureaus to support preparations and inputs to the UN’s prevention architecture, including Regional Monthly Reviews (RMRs), and Deputy Committee and Executive Committee (EC/DC) discussions on prevention priorities in specific country and thematic contexts.

Leadership on partnerships with early warning organizations and networks, inside and out of the United Nations System:

  • Act as senior focal point for partnerships with humanitarian, development, and peace-building organizations focused on risk assessment, early warning, and foresight; contributing to the maintenance and deepening of a network of contacts and partnerships.
  • Contribute to UN system-wide coherence and cross-pillar integration on risk and analytics, to strengthen engagement and leverage greater collective coherence and impact across UN and multilateral system; promoting consistent positioning of UNDP at related inter-agency partnerships and fora.
  • Consolidate and deepen partnerships with stakeholders on key initiatives, including inter alia: co-leading with OCHA the INFORM Warning project to be hosted in RAH; strengthen RAH’s role in CRAFd; and explore partnership opportunities with member states and donors.
    Coordinate and support UNDP’s engagement and support to UN system and other international processes on early warning and risk analytics (IASC, RMR/EC/DC processes, etc.).
  • Lead and support the preparation of high-quality strategic papers, policy and guidance notes, background briefs, speeches, and talking points for UNDP Senior Management on risk anticipation and foresight for relevant fora; and provide regular and substantive contributions to UNDP’s Communities of Practice, in particular CoP on Crisis Prevention and Resilience and COP on Governance for Peaceful, Just, and Inclusive Societies.

Oversight and Management of the Risk Anticipation Hub:

  • Lead the Risk Anticipation Hub, and set the direction for the team, including roles and responsibilities, accountability and reporting.
  • Promote a collaborative work culture within the Hub, with other teams in the CB, and across the GPN as a whole.
  • Lead and manage staff in the team in the formulation and implementation of the substantive work plan of the team and oversee staff accountability.
  • Ensure that the technical capacity of the advisors and specialists is optimally aligned with business needs and that team members are encouraged to seek new client opportunities and amplify the value and reputation of UNDP in the area of risk anticipation, data and analytics.
  • Encourage the team to critically assess itself against emerging trends and thinking in the profession.
  • Ensure that Performance Assessments are carried out according to UNDP procedures.
  • Establish and maintain an enabling environment for staff well-being, harmonious working relationships and team building, by promoting consistent and constructive communication, open information sharing, and coordination among all staff.
  • Ensure that the work of the team is conducted in accordance with relevant business processes and that high-quality outputs are delivered on time
     
Competencies

Core:

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

Think Innovatively:

  • Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems

Learn Continuously:

  • Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences

Adapt with Agility: 

  • Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands

Act with Determination:

  • Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results

Engage and Partner:

  • Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration

Enable Diversity and Inclusion:

  • Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

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


Cross-Functional & Technical:

Business Direction and 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.  

Business Development - Knowledge Generation:

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

Business Development - Knowledge Facilitation:

  • Ability to animate individuals and communities of contributors to participate and share, particularly externally

Programme and Policy - Crisis and Fragility Policy and Engagement:

  • Crisis risks and early warning

Programme and Policy - Crisis and Fragility Policy and Engagement:

  • Data/ Analytics for early warning and crisis management

2030 Agenda: Engagement & Effectiveness   Crisis and Fragility Policy and Engagement:

  • Recovery and Peace Building Assessments  

Digital & Innovation - Innovation ecosystem curation:

  • Ability to identify key players in an ecosystem, engage with them and mobilise them to build a community and over time a movement around a common mission that can bring about changes at the system level.  Ability to give sense of purpose and build trust, develop programmes of activities and platforms to build and strengthen relationships.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
  • Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in either Public/Business Administration, International Development, preferably with specific education in Risk Management, Data Science, and/or related fields.
Experience:
  • Minimum of ten (10) years of relevant experience in policy development and management, in an international development context, preferably including UN experience with a focus on crisis and fragility.
  • Demonstrated track-record of excellence in crisis early warning, risk anticipation, foresight, research and analysis is highly desirable.
  • Strong political acumen and experience working in or on politically complex environments is an asset
    Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of early warning and risk anticipation global policy debates and processes is an advantage.
  • Prior experience and knowledge of international crisis and fragility inter-agency mechanisms and architecture, and experience on inter-agency and multistakeholder processes is highly desirable.
  • Knowledge and experience of UNDP and UN system policies and programming is required.
  • Proven experience working on the ground in different geographical areas, and development settings, including in crisis and fragile environments, is highly desirable.
     

Language:

  • Excellent communication skills, both spoken and written in English required.  Fluency in another UN language strongly desirable.
 Note
Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.
Disclaimer

 
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.
Non-discrimination
 
UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.  
 
UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
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