Technical Officer – Socioeconomic Recovery
Qualifications of Technical Officer – Socioeconomic Recovery:
- Location: Syria
- Vacancy No: 27634
- Salary: N/A
- Organization: UNDP United Nations Development Programme
- Deadline: 07/21/2025
Brief details about Technical Officer – Socioeconomic Recovery:
About
Information about the organization that has offered the job:
Office/Unit/Project Description:
The primary role of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is to support country-led efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The work of UNDP in 170 countries around the world is anchored in diverse and effective partnerships, which are vital to our two critical roles at country level: (a) as an integrator across policy, programmatic and organizational silos; and (b) as an operational backbone for the United Nations and other partners.
In Syria, UNDP has adopted a highly principled approach to the delivery of its mandate in providing critical support to crisis-affected communities. Acknowledging the sensitivities of the operational context, UNDP’s activities in Syria are further informed by bespoke measures to mainstream a do-no-harm approach based on a thorough context analysis, to ensure effective safeguarding measures are applied across all areas of operation in response to the multifaced challenges of the Syrian context in terms of economic development, social protection, service delivery, local governance, as well as climate change. In this regard, UNDP Syria is looking for a Technical Officer who can support UNDP’s immediate interventions on Economic Development.
Scope of Work:
Lead, manage, coordinate, and develop effective activity planning, implementation and monitoring
- Act as a technical and project lead for the socioeconomic recovery activities in the field office, including on reviving and supporting MSMEs, job creation and livelihoods as well as engaging with the private sector.
- Collect and analyze relevant technical information, data and/or statistics to support the identification of Economic Development priorities as well as delivery of project outcomes/outputs.
- Develop project documents and concept notes related to Economic Development using collected and analyzed data.
- Monitor progress of activities and report challenges and concerns in a timely manner.
- Oversee project finance, accounting, and other administrative works related to Economic Development activities.
- Follow up on procurement needs, ensuring value for money, transparency, and competition as per UNDP rules and regulations, including preparing or clearing terms of references and technical specifications.
- Contribute to and coordinate implementation of all economic development gender related work.
- Manage risks at the local level and inform Area Manager about any issues that would impede implementation.
- Ensure all project documentation (progress reports, consultations, lessons learns and other technical reports, minutes of meetings, etc.) are properly maintained in hard and electronic copies in an efficient and readily accessible filing system.
- Proactively engage with UNDP-led Early Recovery Sector in terms of needs assessments, joint programming, monitoring and evaluation and meetings.
- Actively liaise with local authorities, NGOs, community groups, cooperatives, civil society organizations, and local technical government entities to support project implementation.
- Coordinate with area office technical officers working on other projects to ensure integration and comprehensiveness in planning and implementation of activities.
- Identify funding opportunities and support the Area Manager with programme resource mobilization efforts with donor partners, including the development of advocacy/communication tools in support of resource mobilization.
- Implement the required activities under the direction of Area Manager in line with the area office strategy, Country Office Strategy and CPD.
- Support the design and implementation of the Early Recovery and Livelihoods (ERL) sector strategy for the geographic area, ensuring integration with socioeconomic recovery programming.
- Coordinate and follow up with sector partners on ERL-specific activities such as needs assessments, joint programming, monitoring, and reporting processes (including 4Ws, questionnaires, and sector reporting tools).
- Identify ERL sector needs and support the design of demand-driven responses, ensuring alignment with sector priorities and humanitarian response plans.
- Assist sector partners and field teams to identify capacity gaps and channel feedback to national coordination structures to inform capacity development planning.
- Support sector-specific monitoring and evaluation activities, liaising with partners and M&E officers to track progress against ERL objectives.
- Perform any other duties related to goals and objectives as requested by the supervisor.
Strategic partnerships and coordination with key stakeholders
- Map, identify, and prioritize potential partners, engaging in discussions and negotiations with stakeholders such as government bodies, local authorities, private sector entities, microfinance institutions (MFIs), associations, NGOs, and community-based organizations (CBOs).
- Substantively contribute to the harnessing of effective partnerships and lead the identification and onboarding process for implementing partners.
- Provide technical support to the implementing partners and act as a liaison between UNDP and the partners.
- Support the Area Manager in key operational procedures, including drafting grant and partnership agreements, processing payment requests, and handling other essential operational tasks.
- Develop effective information-sharing mechanisms with ERL sector partners (UN agencies, NGOs, local authorities, and others) to ensure common understanding of sector priorities and programmatic responses.
- Act as a focal point for collecting partner inputs for ERL-specific reporting products, including situation reports (SITREPs), fact sheets, periodic monitoring reports, and sector updates.
- Advocate for strong early recovery action among sector/UNDP partners, promoting recovery-focused interventions within the broader humanitarian response.
Facilitate knowledge building and management
- Provide technical advice and facilitate capacity-building activities for partners and team members to foster discussions at the governorate level and enhance coordination among stakeholders.
- Assist the communications team in identifying success stories and creating communication materials, including human interest stories, audio-visual content, and key messages that reflect on-ground implementation progress.
- Promote knowledge sharing among UNDP staff and field project teams to ensure effective dissemination of experiences and insights.
- Promote advocacy for UNDP’s work and opportunities for collaboration in addressing development trends in coordination with partners, stakeholders, and UNDP communications staff.
- Maintain and regularly update knowledge of the area profile (demographic, socio-economic, needs, resources, and stakeholder mapping) to inform ERL and socioeconomic programming.
- Support the establishment and maintenance of a Management Information System (MIS) (if rolled out) to track ERL needs and partner interventions across the geographic area.
- Contribute to documentation of ERL sector best practices, lessons learned, and success stories to enhance sector knowledge sharing and visibility.
Institutional Arrangement:
Under the direct supervision of the Area Manager and technical coordination with the relevant projects Manager(s) for Socioeconomic Recovery
Competencies:
Core
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
Cross-Functional & Technical competencies
Thematic Area: 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.
- Project Management: Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals.
Thematic Area: 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 activities and programme management and results.
- Ability to make independent judgment of the management and results of strategies, programs 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.
Thematic Area: Business Development (Knowledge Generation)
- Ability to research information and to turn it into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need.
- Ability to apply existing concepts to new situations, and to develop new concepts to generate workable solutions and new approaches.
- Knowledge of relevant concepts, conceptual models, and theories that can be useful in addressing new situations.
Thematic Area: Business Management (Communication)
- Communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; 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.
Thematic Area: Business Management & Advocacy (Partnership Management(
- Build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts, and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies.
Thematic Area: Finance (Budget management)
- Ability to support budgetary aspects of work planning process, drawing and management of team budgets.
Thematic Area: Administration & Operations (Events management (including retreats, trainings and meetings)
- Ability to manage events, including venue identification, accommodation, logistics, catering, transportation, and cash disbursements, etc.
Minimum Qualifications of the Successful NPSA:
Min. Education requirements:
- Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Business Administration, Public Administration, Economics, Political Sciences, Social Sciences, or related field is required, or
- A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.
Min. years of relevant work experience:
- Applicants with a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in economics or related fields are not required to have professional work experience.
- Applicants with a Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in economics or related fields are required to have a minimum of two (2) years of relevant professional experience in the design, supervision and implementation of Economic Development projects.
Required skills:
- Experience in the design, supervision and implementation of projects,
- Experience in the use of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advanced knowledge of web-based management systems.
Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section:
- Six years preience in the design, supervision and implementation of Economic Development projects is highly desirable.
- Experience in developing project documents, strategies and concept notes;
- Experience in community and stakeholder engagement -especially women- will be an asset.
- Experience in the preparation of donors´ or other technical and financial reports will be an asset.
- Experience and knowledge of project management processes is desirable.
- Experience and knowledge of monitoring and evaluation tools is desirable.
- Experience with the UN system will be an asset.
- Good knowledge of the duty station is highly desirable.
Required Language(s):
Fluency in written and spoken English and Arabic is required.