Peace and Development Advisors (PDAs) are essential assets for Resident Coordinators to mainstream peace in United Nations Country Teams’ work. They bring unique political, peacebuilding, and development skills, supporting Secretary-General’s reforms. In Kenya, the Peace and Development Team, led by the PDA with the support of the National Peace Officer, and technical, focuses on conflict prevention, supporting national and local peace and development capacities, and mainstreaming conflict sensitivity in development programs. The Peace and Development Team continuous to provide support to the UN Secretary General Peacebuilding Fund projects in Kenya with the recent one being the Promoting Peace and Inclusive Development in Borderlands Counties in North-Eastern Kenya. The project aims to strengthen community engagement and participation in human security and development initiatives. It will pilot a transformative model for community engagement and participation, building trust through Civil-Military Cooperation and strategic ‘peace dividends’ livelihood micro-projects. The project complements other interventions in Northeast Kenya, enhancing collaboration, coordination, and inclusivity among actors implementing projects under the World Bank’s North East Development Initiative.

The Peace and Development Team is further supporting the review of Kenya’s Peacebuilding Architecture Review to examine the policies, laws, structures, systems, resources, objectives, principles, values as well as processes relating to the prevention, management and resolution of crises and conflicts, and sustaining peace. The review will provide answers from Kenyans on how best to re-energize the infrastructures for peacebuilding to comprehensively address compounding and multi-faceted challenges. It will assess the extent to which the existing peace architecture is fit for purpose in the evolving context and provide a roadmap for addressing gaps identified in an inclusive and sustainable way.

In view of all the interventions and the complicated and uncertain environment that the Peace and Development Advisors work in, it becomes necessary to practically apply data for evidence-based policy and action. Influencing peace and security to contribute to sustainable development demands a data-driven approach. Moreover, the increasing access to and use of digital technologies continues to influence how conflict and insecurity are experienced by Kenyans at large as well as those living in the ASAL areas. As witnessed before, during, and after the 2022 elections, social media has been used to cause harm through incitement and spreading of hate speech, increasing polarization which could potentially escalate inter-communal violence. Through the support provided by the UN intervention: ‘Enhancing Early Warning & Prevention to Counter Hate Speech and Incitement Ahead of the 2022 Elections in Kenya’, it is evident that a well-coordinated monitoring and prevention campaign on social media that draws on state-of-the-art digital tools and influencers can positively contribute to countering the spread of hate speech, incitement, and mis/disinformation online through comprehensive monitoring and tailored prevention to targeted audiences at scale. It can further be an opportunity to enhance digital peacebuilding for all those actors who are key in peacebuilding processes.

As a result of the vast amount of data and analysis that the Peace and Development Team is producing, it will be necessary to present data and information visually in order to communicate different analyses by demystifying complex data, emphasizing key insights, contrasting various scenarios, engaging your audience, and assisting in decision-making and action planning.
Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Peace and Development Advisor in collaboration with the Peace and Development Team, the Technical Support Officer will be requested to perform the following key activities:

Data Management and Reporting 

• Interpret data, analyze results using statistical techniques and provide ongoing reports;
• Develop and implement databases, data collection systems, data analytics and other strategies that optimize statistical efficiency and quality;
• Acquire data from primary or secondary data sources and maintain databases/data systems;
• Identify, analyze, and interpret trends or patterns in complex data sets;
• Work with project teams to prioritize information needs;
• Locate and define new process improvement opportunities;
• Support the PBF project in the establishment of county and national-level dashboards;
• Conduct a survey to gain a comprehensive understanding of the data and innovation landscape and stakeholder linkages in Northeastern Kenya highlighting a detailed plan and entry points in line with project priorities.

Present data in a clear and compelling manner through data visualization

• Collaborate with other staff to develop data visualizations for decision making, for public understanding of data, and policy;
• Visualizations for the Peacebuilding Architecture Review (data for action, data for insight, data for foresight);
• Related data visualization related to specific initiatives and projects and web-based assets;
• Support the projects under the PDT in selecting datasets and analysis that yield visualizations for public dissemination;
• Support projects in developing data visualizations and other visual materials to accompany data-driven stories for a variety of purposes, including blogs, press releases, and social media.

Provide support in social media monitoring, analysis and reporting to identify and address trends and patterns in peace and security 

• Use open-source tools for content analysis on social media platforms;
• Conduct stakeholder mapping and trend analysis of key driving factors of conflict, misinformation, disinformation, and other triggers of violence;
• Produce periodic comprehensive reports highlighting key incidents, trends, and actors related to the triggers of violence;
• Engage with relevant departments at the County government and the Office of the Deputy President, and Development partners on the social media analysis and insights for action.

Support in the development, implementation, and evaluation of a training module on digital peacebuilding targeting local peace structures, peace committees, elders, religious leaders, women, youth, and Civil Society in Mandera, Wajir, and Garissa Counties 

• Provide technical support to designing a training module for digital peacebuilding targeting local peace actors in Mandera, Wajir and Garissa Counties to respond to competency;
• Provide support to the development of learning resources for the digital peacebuilding trainings;
• In collaboration with the project team provide support to the facilitation and implementation of the trainings in the three counties as well as support in the evaluation to ensure the quality of learning resources and how well they accomplished the objectives focusing on participation, learning, and performance;
• Identify data needs of a diverse set of project stakeholders, including national and county governments, civil society, private sector, and international donors.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangement

Under the guidance of the Peace and Development Advisor in collaboration with the Peace and Development Team, the Technical Support Officer will be responsible for managing data and digital peacebuilding workstreams on behalf of the Peace and Development Team.

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
Technical and Cross-functional 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.

Partnership Management: Strategic Engagement: Ability to capture and sustain attention, interest and agreement of high-level, influential policy and decision makers and secure their buy-in of high-level vision and objectives.

Business Development: Knowledge Facilitation: Ability to animate individuals and communities of contributors to participate and share, particularly externally.

Business Management:

Client Satisfaction/Management: Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers’ needs. Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy. Look for ways to add value beyond clients’ immediate requests. Ability to anticipate client’s upcoming needs and concerns.

Results-Based Management: Ability to manage programmes and projects with a focus at improved performance and demonstrable results.

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

Portfolio Management: Ability to select, prioritize and control the organization as programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity; ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimizing return on investment.