Community Programme Specialist (Home-Based, Regular)

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.

UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels offers a spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in its Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in UNDP’s Strategic Plan.

Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages; represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora, including public-private, government and civil society dialogues; and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas.

UNDP’s 2022-2025 Strategic Plan highlighting our continued commitment to eradicating poverty, accompanying countries in their pathways towards the SDGs and working towards the Paris Agreement. As part of the Global Policy Network in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, UNDP’s Nature, Climate, Energy, Waste and Chemicals Hubs promote and scale up integrated whole-of-governance approaches and nature-based solutions that reduce poverty and inequalities, strengthen livelihoods and inclusive growth, mitigate conflict, forced migration and displacement, and promote more resilient governance systems that advance linked peace and security agendas.

BPPS’ Hubs on Nature, Climate, Energy Waste and Chemicals work with governments, civil society, and private sector partners to integrate natural capital, environment and climate concerns into national and sector planning and inclusive growth policies; support country obligations under Multilateral Environmental Agreements; and implement the UN’s largest portfolio of in-country programming on environment, climate change, and energy. This multi-billion-dollar portfolio encompasses:

• Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services including forests;
• Sustainable Land Management and Desertification including Food Systems;
• Water and Ocean Governance including SIDS;
• Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation;
• Sustainable Energy;
• Extractive Industries;
• Chemicals and Waste Management;
• Environmental Governance and Green/Circular Economy and SCP approaches.

This work advances crosscutting themes on innovative finance, digital transformation, capacity development, human rights, gender equality, health, technology, and South-South learning.

This position is anchored within BPPS Nature Hub’s Food Systems. The  Food Systems team works towards improving the national economic, social, and environmental performance of food systems and agricultural commodity sectors in ways that improve the livelihood of farmers and their communities, and protect high conservation value forests and important vulnerable ecosystems.

Within the Food Systems team, since 2014, the Food Systems Knowledge Solutions team (known as Pillar C) fulfills pivotal learning through sharing, knowledge management and connectivity functions and services which serve more than 750 individual practitioners and several large multi-country programmes. These programmes include the Food, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) Impact Programme led by the World Bank, the SECO- funded Sustainable Landscape Programme in Indonesia (SLPI) and Green Commodities Programme III (GCP), the Blue Green Islands Integrated Programme (BGI-IP) led by UNDP’s Inclusive Growth Team, and the Food System Integrated Programme (FS-IP) lead by FAO and IFAD.

The Food Systems Knowledge Solutions are delivered virtually and in-person through a dedicated Digital Collaborative Knowledge Platform where individual and project practitioners from international organizations, government, business, and civil society test, shape, share and learn good practices and solutions to change the future of food systems.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

The Community Programme Specialist , part of the Food Systems Knowledge Solutions team (pillar C), will work on the Food Systems Community and the Food Systems Knowledge Management Services.

• The Food Systems Community is a safe collaborative learning space welcoming global change makers, local leaders and practitioners from international organisations, government, business, civil society.
• The Food Systems Knowledge Management Services provide strategic support to multi-country programmes in areas such as global platform docking with country projects, capacity development and learning, south-south knowledge dialogues and exchanges, etc.

The Community Programme Specialist will be responsible for the following:

Lead and Oversee the Operations of the Food Systems Community: 

• Lead and oversee the operations of the community, its team and its main deliverables.
• Quality assure and monitor the delivery of all virtual learning events.
• Ensure that the community’s Digital Collaborative Knowledge Platform meets all functional requirements, runs smoothly and continuously improve users’ experience.
• Develop dissemination and strategies for the  the community including promotion  in social media, events, conferences, donor proposal, etc.

Establish Food Systems Knowledge Management Services (for multi-country programmes): 

• Establish and continuously improve knowledge management, coordination, integration and monitoring mechanisms to ensure collaboration between actors involved in the programmes.
• Support technical experts with activities related to knowledge management.
• Ensure that contractual deliverables are adequately planned, delivered and documented.
• Ensure the tracking of adequate indicators, the collection of required data and the preparation of donor reports

Lead  and Coordinate Capacity Development:  

• Lead the organization and coordination of capacity development and learning events and workshops as relevant.
• Ensure that lessons learned stemming from the above deliverables are captured and disseminated through relevant programme communities.

Other Duties: 

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

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT: 

• The incumbent will work remotely from his/her home-base;
• The incumbent will work under the supervision of the Senior Advisor Learning & Impact.
• The incumbent will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment.
• Given the global consultations to be undertaken during this assignment, the incumbent is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones.
• The incumbent will be responsible for providing her/ his own workstation (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to a reliable internet connection.
• The incumbent will engage regularly with their supervisor by email, Teams, and Zoom on a weekly and/or as needed daily basis.

COMPETENCIES

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

People Management Competencies: 

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

Cross-functional & Technical Competencies:  

Business Management: Project Management

• Ability to plan, organize, prioritize, and control resources, procedures, and protocols to achieve specific goals.

Partnership Management: Relationship Management

• Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust, and mutual understanding.

Business Management: Communication

• 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.

Business Management: Risk Management

• Ability to identify and organize action around mitigating and proactively managing risks.

Business Management: Monitoring & Evaluation

• Ability to systematically monitor results of strategies, programmes, and activities with a view to make sure that they are being implemented effectively;
• Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback and reporting on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme management and results.
• Ability to make independent judgment of the management and results of strategies, programmes and activities based on set criteria and benchmark, keeping in mind the needs and concerns of client, current and upcoming.
• Knowledge and understanding of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, concepts, methodologies, systems, processes, and tools.
• Ability to make an independent judgement based on set criteria and benchmarks.
• Ability to anticipate client’s upcoming needs and concerns.

Digital: Systems thinking & transformation

• Understand that complex problems need a non-reductionistic, holistic approach
• Ability to explore challenges from multiple perspectives by zooming in and out with a focus on relationships and flows rather than individual elements; understanding how certain dynamics and conditions are driving and influencing an issue.
• Ability to develop a collective understanding of mapping systems and their dynamics (e.g. flows or resources, information; power relations); is able to handle ambiguity and can help others navigate it.
• Being able to identify intervention points to leverage change and system transformation by setting out a coherent collection of multiple interventions to probe the system for desirable effects.
• Understand that change is not linear and unpredictable; being comfortable and able to work with emergence.

Business Direction and Strategy: Systems Thinking

• Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgment to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact other parts of the system

QUALIFICATIONS

Education: 

• An advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Economics, Science, Humanities, Arts, Social or Political Sciences, Administration, Information and Communications Technology, Agriculture, Environment or other related fields is required. OR
• A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the areas stated above, in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience, Knowledge, and Skills: 

• Minimum of five (5) years (with master’s degree) or seven (7) years (with bachelor’s degree) of professional experience working on food and agricultural commodities.
• Professional experience working in a knowledge management function is required.
• Professional experience organizing virtual and face-to-face capacity development and learning events is required.
• Professional experience curating content and facilitating knowledge exchanges in online or digital community platforms is desired.
• Experience at the UNDP is desired.
• Experience working with different stakeholders (UN agencies, NGO, bilateral donors, etc) is desired.
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation of community of practices is desired.
• Experience working with multicountry projects and/or initiatives is desired.

Languages:

• Fluency in oral and written English is required.
• Fluency in oral and written French or Spanish is required.
• Additional UN languages is an advantage.