Background
As the United Nations lead agency on international development, UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities, and to build resilience to achieve theย Sustainable Development Goals. Our work is concentrated in three focus areas: sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience. UNDP advocates for change, and connects countries to global knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.
UNDP has supported Kyrgyzstanโs development progress since 1992 and supports the country in charting future pathways towards greater prosperity, resilience, and social cohesion. As an impartial policy advisor and integrator, UNDP works within the UN system and with all stakeholders in government, civil society, and private sector to advance inclusive, fundamentally sound development solutions and reforms in complex settings. Our United Nations identity ensures neutrality and respect for peopleโs choices. Transparency and accountability in operations makes us a trusted partner for national and international development stakeholders.ย
UNDP encourages and enables collective intelligence, collaboration, integration, critical thinking, and thought leadership. We mainstream innovation, digitalization opportunities, gender equity and diversity/inclusion principles in all aspects of our work. Our staff consistently strive for excellence, effectiveness, efficiency and inclusion across all areas of work.
The Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions team supports senior management in shaping and implementing the UNDP Country Programme with the following key focus areas:
Advancing social cohesion and peacebuilding; Promoting inclusive and participatory governance; Strengthening the rule of law; Strengthening the health system; Supporting anti-corruption efforts; Supporting policy development;ย ย ย ย ย Supporting urban development.The team exercises leadership and support in ensuring strategic coherence in development of the portfolios, supervises project implementation, and plays a critical role in engagement to foster partnerships and mobilize resources.
The unit contributes to a collective engagement with other teams, partners, and clients to offer timely, well-planned, and efficient services that meet the standard and requirements of UNDP policies and procedures. The team harnesses innovation and digital solutions, while fostering an environment of continuous learning.
Position Purpose
Under the overall guidance of the Resident Representative and the direct supervision of the Deputy Resident Representative (DRR), the Programme Specialist, Team Leader - Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions acts as the senior technical advisor on Governance, Social Cohesion and Public Effectiveness for SDG acceleration in Kyrgyzstan. They lead the CO efforts to ensure the achievement of the country programme results and provision of thought leadership and strategic positioning on effective and accountable governance, anti-corruption, rule of law and justice, gender-sensitive and evidence-based social and human rights, the strengthening of government institutional frameworks, civic participation, crisis prevention and resilience, and cross thematic development.ย
Success in achieving results for this portfolio relies on the development of strong national and international partnerships from a wide range of diverse stakeholders. The Programme Specialist, is responsible for mobilizing joint advocacy, expertise and resources across UNDP global and regional initiatives in these fields, engaging with global and regional networks, and connecting with cooperating partners, academia, NGOs and private sector in involving them to successfully implement UNDP programmes in these fields. They will act as the thought-leader in their area of expertise in various fora including UNDP support to UN coherence and stronger UN Development System (UNDS) in Kyrgyzstan.
UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.
Duties and Responsibilities
Provide effective UNDP leadership in sector policy development and provision of high-quality technical and policy advisory services relevant to Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions focus areas to the Government, UNDP and the UN System and other key stakeholders:
Serve as the UNDP focal point for the provision of overall technical and policy support to the government on thematic matters and strategies into sector, national, and sub-national development plans and budgets, promotion of public effectiveness, responsive governance, and social cohesion and overall technical and policy advisory support for achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Provide top quality technical and policy advisory support to relevant Government institutions and counterparts with focus on strengthening institutional capacity for policy, strategies and programmes formulation, implementation, monitoring and reporting.ย Identify opportunities in the practice areas for new programme/project development including joint programming with UN agencies. Operationalize the implementation of UNSDCF/ CPD in collaboration with the main partners and other UN Agencies while seeking and identifying the possibilities for joint programming and interagency collaboration. Analyze and present thematic issues in coherence and adherence to UNDP policies and the Strategic Plan signature solutions in the focus areas. Keep abreast of all significant developments, both in Kyrgyzstan and internationally, on governance and social cohesion. Prepare regular strategic and technical notes, briefings to the attention of the Senior Management on emerging priorities, areas for strategic investments and development of new partnerships. Collaborate with UNDP Regional Hubs and HQ platforms to apply in country programming new global and regional initiatives, policies and knowledge products.Provide leadership to ensure (i) the strategic positioning of Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions team through development of new pipeline projects, (ii) the oversight of Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions portfolio, and its expected results and (iii) day-to-day management of the Responsive Institutions and Public Effectiveness team:
Strategic positioning of Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions team:
Provide substantive input to defining the strategic direction of the Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions team. Provide technical expertise and lead the development of new initiatives in the areas of Social Cohesion, Public Effectiveness and Responsive Governance followed by strategies to build partnerships and mobilize resourcesย through a portfolio approach that is systematic and leverages innovation and acceleration. Ensure effective and agile leadership of the team to meet the challenges experienced during implementation of the programmesย and ensure implementation of projects in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations. Guide the development of unit strategy/position papers and prepare presentations in line with the developed mandate to present to a variety of audiences. Contribute to UNDP integrator role and make substantive technical contribution to Result Groups (RGs) of the UN Country Team (UNCT) as appropriate. Ensure operationalization of the CPD through timely development of relevant pipeline projects and effective and efficient implementation of ongoing governance and social cohesion programmes and projects in collaboration with the main partners and other UN sister Agencies. Provide leadership to design and formulate UNDP Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions programmes, translating UN/UNDP and national priorities into sector and sub-national / local interventions. Represent the Unit in meetings as well as with donor coordination meetings related to the Unit thematic areas.Oversight of Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions Portfolio:
Review the Unit portfolio projects and suggest necessary programmatic changes/ amendments to ensure alignment with National Priorities, UNSDCF, UNDP strategic Plan, CPD, in addition to ensuring the proper incorporation of cross cutting themes. Lead the development of new initiatives and programmes in the areas of Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions Ensure mainstreaming of governance and social cohesion issues into all aspects of the COโs programmatic interventionsย Ensure timely and well-sequenced execution of approved work plans and programmes, including the development of strategies to ensure delivery acceleration and timely reporting of results while managing risks of exposure to audit recommendations and maintaining UNDP standing and reputation. Ensure effective utilization of technical and financial resourcesย Ensure strategic and operational oversight of planning, budgeting, implementation and monitoring of the programme, tracking use of financial resources as per commitments with key partners and in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations, and with the respective approval rights in the ERP as per Internal Control Framework. Monitor the implementation of the portfolio Work Plans, undertake regular reviews, report on progress and make necessary revisions. Prepare financial projections and monitor progress and delivery of the portfolio in close collaboration with Partnerships and Results team. Ensure the effective implementation of the cost-recovery strategies and systems, including the systematic set-up and implementation Direct Project Costing (DPC) or Delivery Enabling Services (DES) in close collaboration with Partnerships and Results team and the Operations teams. Advise the senior management team on delivery implementation challenges and seek support from the other team leaders to resolve obstacles and bottlenecks. Ensure the timely organization of project audits under the portfolio and follow-up for prompt implementation of audit recommendations including updates in the Comprehensive Audit and Recommendation Database System (CARDS). Oversee the timely periodical progress and financial reporting in compliance with UNDP rules and regulations to all cooperating partners, donors, Government stakeholders and UN counterparts while ensuring the need for informative, clear and transparent reporting against signed project documents and committed resources and timetables highlighting transformational changes.ย Systematize the effective application of RBM tools throughout the full programme cycle from the design to implementation and reporting and during the timely closure of projects. Lead the preparation of public communication and advocacy materials in close collaboration with the Communication Unit. Oversee and ensure maintenance of risks and issues logs of each programme/project within the Unit, including the management and mitigation of risks and issues timely and appropriately while raising them to senior management attention as required.ยEnsure coordination, build synergies, expand, and strengthen strategic partnerships and support resource mobilization and innovative financing models to support effective implementation of relevantย Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions and their scaling up:
Coordination and Synergy Building
Ensure coordination and build synergies within the unit and across the country programme as well as with UNCT and other stakeholders including the private sector, the civil society, the academia, and beneficiaries. Coordinate with the other unit heads to ensure complementarity/harmonization with the activities and plans of the other units. Coordinate and build partnerships with UNCT Result Groups (RGs) to enhance programmatic synergies in the areas of Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions. Coordinate with the Communications unit to ensure proper visibility programmes' activities and timely reporting to Cooperating Partners. Engage regularly with the Partnerships and Results team, to ensure alignment of programme goals with the governmentโs and UNSDCF/UNCT priorities. Maintain close coordination with both Programme and Operations teams by providing technical and programme support including the development of joint programmes when needed.ยPartnerships Strengthening and Resource Mobilisation
Develop and consolidate strategic partnerships, with government, non-government and private sector entities, development partners for joint programming and resources mobilization to achieve CPD outcomes/outputs. Determine and develop programmatic areas of cooperation based on strategic goals of UNDP, country needs and development partnersโ priorities. Initiate, nurture, and coordinate partnerships with UN Agencies, IFIโs, government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors and other relevant trust funds, private sector, civil society for programme support and implementation. Prepare substantive briefs, advocacy materials and technical reports to report on the areas of cooperation, and for identifying further opportunities for collaboration. Represent UNDP on the UN Joint Team Task Forces, Result Groups (RGs) and contribute to joint planning, programme, and policy development, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and advocacy activity.Strategic results management and facilitation of knowledge management and sharing:
Identify sources of information related to policy-driven issues and make a synthesis of good practices and lessons learned directly linked to programme and policy applications. Ensure a robust evidence base documented experience from the projects implemented under the portfolio, with research and analysis carried out, where possible. Coordinate capacity development support to national implementing Partners (IPs) and Responsible Parties (RPs) in collaboration with the national partners, the Partnerships and Results team and the Operations team. Draft and advocate the adherence to UN/UNDP policy positions on relevant issues. Establish an advocacy network at national level and linking to regional and global networks.ย Contribute to local and global knowledge networks and communities of practice. Capture and analyse results, and produce timely results reports for office reporting, with special focus on tracking capacity change and gender equality impact. Communicate results using multi-media channels to share results and knowledge products. Organize learning and training relating to the Unitโs area of expertise for COโs staff and implementing partners Supervise the recording, documenting and dissemination of best practices and lessons learned.ย Ensure the visibility of unit activities through regular updating on achievements, and provide advice on the visibility materials (newsletters, publications, blogs etc.). Proactively participate in UNDP regional and international fora on relevant thematic areas (This could include engaging in thematic discussions, contributing with analytical papers, publications, knowledge networksโฆetc).ยLeadership and management of the Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions team:
Provide day to day direction and leadership to guide and support the work of the unit team (including advisors, technical and programme specialists and support staff, consultants etc.), quality assurance, troubleshooting and supervision to the unit team. Advise on staffing requirements and administer recruitment processes in collaboration with Partnerships and Results, and the Operations team including the preparation of job descriptions, the composition of panels, the assistance with the written tests and interviews, etc. Ensure timely preparation and finalization of the Performance Management Document (PMD) or performance evaluation assessments for the Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions personnel. Regularly organize unit meetings, document the deliberations as well as agreed action points and ensure the timely follow-up of their implementations programme. Lead and coordinate the Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions contribution to cross-unit activities including the office response to corporate requests or periodical exercises such as the Results Oriented Annual Report (ROAR), the Integrated Workplan (IWP) exercises or similar processes.Perform other duties within your functional profile as assigned and deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the office.
Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: As a team leader, the incumbent also helps drive integration of work at all levels, from the overall direction by setting to ideas generation, design, implementation to reporting on results, driving and developing partnerships, collaboration across teams, and contributing to communication for development results. They supervise a diverse team with various profiles and manages the deployment of additional long and short-term expertise when required.
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Competencies
Core Competencies:ย
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.ย 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 Managementย
Cross Functional & Technical Competencies:
Portfolio Management:
Ability to select, prioritise and control the organization's programmes and projects in line with its strategic objectives and capacity.ย Ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives with regular activities for optimal return on investment.ย Knowledge and understanding of key principles of project, programme, and portfolio management.ยPartnerships 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.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.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.Resource mobilization:
Ability to identify funding sources, match funding needs (programmes/projects/initiatives) with funding opportunities, and establish a plan to meet funding requirements.ยGovernance
Core Government FunctionsPublic Sector Strengthening and Innovation
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Required Skills and Experience
Education:
Advanced university degree (Masterโs Degree or equivalent) in Public Administration, Political Studies, International Relations and Development, Law, Economics, Business Administration, Social Sciences or related disciplines or related field is required, OR; A first-level university degree (Bachelorโs Degree) in the above-mentioned fields in combinationย with an additional 2 years of relevant experience will be given due consideration in lieu of Masterโs Degree.Experience:
Minimum 5 years (with a Masterโs Degree) or seven (7) years (with a Bachelorโs Degree) of experience in working in the areas of: democratic governance, anti-corruption, access to justice, rule of law, human rights, accountable institutions, civic participation, crisis prevention and resilience, and gender-responsive and inclusive approaches for sustainable development is required. Sound expertise in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of complex governance projects involving strategic national stakeholders and international organizations is required. Relevant experience at the national or international level in providing technical and policy advisory services in the general areas of Public Effectiveness and Responsive Institutions is desired.Management Experience
Proven experience in leading teams is highly desirable. At least 3 years of track record of successful project/programme management experience with teams and budgets of comparable complexity and scope is desired. Hands-on experience in designing, planning, monitoring and evaluation of development projects is required.Partnership Building and Resource Mobilisation
Experience in establishing effective relationships between the international organizations, national governments civil society organizations and the private sector for sustainable development agenda is desired. Successful experience in establishing partnerships and mobilising resources among international organizations, national government, financing institutions, private sector is desired.Experience with Government and International Organisations
Experience with international organizations or government institutions or UN agencies is an asset.ยRequired Languages:
Fluency in English,ย Russian and Kyrgyz is required.ยEqual opportunity
As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination.ย
UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.
Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority
UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles.ย
Probation
For all new UNDP fixed term appointments (FTA), including for staff members being transferred or seconded to UNDP under the Inter-Organization Agreement concerning Transfer, Secondment or Loan of Staff, on an appointment of more than one year, continuation of the appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.
Right to select multiple candidates
UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.ย 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.
Scam alert
UNDP does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process. For further information, please see www.undp.org/scam-alert.
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