Job Title: SENIOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT ADVISOR
Location : Nairobi, KENYA
Application Deadline : 19-Feb-12
Type of Contract : FTA International
Post Level : P-5
Languages Required :
English
Starting Date :
(date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 01-Apr-2012
Duration of Initial Contract : 1 year.
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Background
The Senior Peace and Development Advisor (PDA) will report directly to the UN Resident Coordinator/ UNDP Resident Representative, in close consultation and regular communication with a UNHQ-level group comprised of representatives of DPA, UNDP (Bureaux for Africa and Crisis Prevention and Recovery) among others. These entities supported the establishment of the programme “Consolidating the Peace Process and Establishing the Foundation for a Successful Political Transition 2010-2013” with which the PDA will be engaged.
Following the 2007/2008 general elections and the post-election violence, UNDP Kenya in collaboration with UNHQ deployed a Senior Peace and Development Advisor in the Office of the Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of UNDP. Under the supervision and guidance of the Resident Representative, the PDA provided advisory and technical services to consolidate a stabilization of the existing situation, and working closely with national actors and partners began a process of strengthening national capacity to manage and prevent the occurrence of further violence. More than 100 District Peace Committees have been created, equipped and supported to become very active in their communities anticipating and preventing the occurrence of conflict and violence. The National Steering Committee on Peace Building and Conflict Management has undergone a transformation and capacity development process that has strengthened its ability to be more effective in coordinating efforts to anticipate and respond to conflict in any part of the country. An early warning and early response architecture has further been developed which was tested and proved to be extremely successful during the 2010 national referendum on a new constitution. A National Cohesion and Integration Commission has also been established and is increasingly able to respond to instances of hate speech by political actors. It is further providing political leadership in efforts to deepen capacity to anticipate and respond to violence wherever it may occur. The Office of the National Focal Point on Small Arms and Armed Violence has been strengthened and a national small arms survey has just been completed. A crime observatory has been established beginning initially with Nairobi and extending to other parts of the country. The highlight of the achievements made in Kenya is represented by the Uwiano Platform, a network that brings together statutory commissions, civil society through the Partnership for Peace and Security and Peacenet and the Government through the National Steering Committee on Peace Building and Conflict Management, located in the Office of the President. The Uwiano Platform is the single most important interlocutor in conflict prevention in the country. These initiatives represent a remarkable departure from the experience of 2007/2008. Kenya presents today a powerful example of what could be accomplished with technical support from UNDP supporting national efforts.
In spite of these achievements, challenges to peace, cohesion, reconciliation and security still remain in Kenya. The challenge of ethnicity is still a major problem. Despite commitments made by the coalition government in the context of the implementation of the peace agreement following the post-election violence, issues of marginality and exclusion have not been sufficiently addressed. While a new constitution has been approved and is operational, realizing the promises of the constitution will be critical in ensuring that the country remains stable.
More importantly, Kenya will embark on another general election in 2012. Under the new constitution, opportunities for ethnic alignment and trade-offs have been reduced. This has the potential of increasing the competition for important state offices, marked by ethnic outbidding and violence. A newly established Independent and Elections Commission will have to address the contentious issue of boundary limitation, and the organization of elections to six different public offices all in one day. While its predecessor institution, the Interim Independent Electoral Commission won public commendation for organizing the constitutional referendum and a host of by elections to Parliament, the conduct of the next general elections presents the most serious challenge and threat to national stability, peace and cohesion in Kenya.
Duties and Responsibilities
The duties and responsibilities indicated below will be subject to amendment by the RC/RR, in consultation with the UNHQ colleagues as the situation on the ground evolves. Under the direct supervision of the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Nairobi, the Senior Peace and Development Advisor will perform the following functions:
* Provide strategic analyses on issues relating to peace and development for the Resident Coordinator and UN headquarters (DPA, BCPR, RBA), with a view to enabling the best support from the wider UN system for peace-building and reconciliation in Kenya;
* Assist the Resident Coordinator and the UN Country Team in identifying “entry points” for peace-building and reconciliation initiatives and developing appropriate strategic responses;
* Provide substantive leadership for strategic initiatives on conflict prevention, including convening on behalf of the RR/RC dialogue processes; assisting conflict resolution activities in conflict-affected communities; building skills for negotiation and mediation for leadership at national and local level, especially political party leadership, and for the relevant branches of government as deemed necessary; establishing and extending the capacities of networks of mediators and facilitators at the national and local levels; and undertaking confidence-building measures;
* Provide technical advisory services to the Programme on Consolidating the Peace Process and Establishing the Foundations for a Successful Political 2010-2013, and facilitate stronger collaboration with other UN agencies and development partners on other existing or new peace-building efforts of the UN system;
* Help ensure coherence between components of the Programme on Consolidating the Peace Process and Establishing the Foundations for a Successful Political Transition, including but not limited to issues of militias and armed gangs, small arms and light weapons, the role of Uwiano Platform and of the Partnership for Peace and Security;
* Providing technical and advisory support to programme implementation partners (including devoting agreed times in their offices), and more especially to the National Steering Committee on Peace Building and Conflict Management, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, Uwiano Platform and the Partnership for Peace and Security among others. Further to provide advisory and technical support to district peace committees and the local coordination mechanisms of civil society and the peace committees working to prevent violence around the 2012 elections;
* Provide leadership in the implementation of the project that engages members of parliament and other political actors to build their capacity for collaborative leadership;
* Work closely with the conflict advisor to the recruited for the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission in ensuring the capacity development of staff of the IEBC for conflict prevention generally and ensuring strategic linkage of the work of the advisor/IEBC to the work of Uwiano Platform and other national partners;
* Provide leadership in the documentation of the work of the Programme, and of national counterparts providing relevant briefings and reports to the RC and to UNHQ and the writing of reports and facilitating publication and dissemination of their work;
* Engage with relevant national counterparts to assess the situation of women affected by violent conflict, and especially sexual violence, and support the building of national and local capacities for addressing the impact of conflict on women;
* Continue to support the work of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission trough the provision of technical expertise, and supporting the developing of an implementation matrix for the report of the Commission;
Under the direction of the RC/RR, engage with other international and national institutions and initiatives in order to promote a common approach towards supporting peace-building and reconciliation including participating in donor working groups and meetings;
Assist the UN Country Team, the UNDP Country Office, and relevant national counterparts in integrating conflict prevention elements into the next UN Development Assistance Framework and developing capacity of their staff on implementing all development programmes in a “conflict-sensitive” manner;
Competencies
Corporate Competencies:
* Good knowledge of UNDP/UN rules, regulations, policies, procedures and practices;
* Good understanding of UNDP programming modalities, particularly in crisis and post-conflict settings.
Functional/Technical Competencies:
Substantive and technical expertise in one or more of the following issues:
* Conflict analysis/assessment tools;
* Developing and delivering experiential conflict resolution/transformation skills-training to different levels of audiences, including training-of-trainers;
* Mainstreaming conflict prevention into national development programmes;
* Building national capacities to manage/prevent/reduce violent conflict;
* Facilitating multi-stakeholder national/local dialogues for conflict management;
* Outstanding knowledge of facilitation/training, process and co-ordination skills;
* Extensive experience of providing policy advice (including report writing) at international level;
* Experience of UN inter-agency policy processes.
Managerial Competencies:
* Ability to establish effective working relations in a multicultural team environment;
* Excellent team-building, diplomatic, and interpersonal skills. Resourcefulness, initiative and maturity of judgment.
Behavioral Competencies:
* Strong communication and advocacy skills;
* Ability to work in a complex environment requiring liaison and collaboration with multiple actors;
* Ability to demonstrate sensitivity, tact and diplomacy;
* Excellent analytical, organizational and negotiation skills, especially resource management systems;
* Excellent networking skills.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
* Advanced university degree in social sciences with a focus on international relations, political science, development studies or peace and conflict or related fields.
Experience:
* A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in conflict prevention, including relevant field experience, especially in crisis or post-conflict settings, and in conflict sensitive programming. Specific experience in building national capacities for conflict prevention would be an asset;
* Extensive field and programming experience;
* Specific experience involving the facilitation of multi-stakeholder consensus, preferably in crisis situations;
* Specific experience with designing and implementing conflict resolution interventions;
* Demonstrable ability to work in a team environment, and to strengthen team cohesion through collective action and individual initiative;
* Demonstrable ability to engage with sensitivity, strategic foresight, and political acumen in situations involving multiple - especially political - actors and stakeholders;
* Prior experience in the sub-Saharan African region.
Language Requirements:
* Full working knowledge of English, including excellent writing skills, is required.
How to Apply:
http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=28077
Deadline:19th February 2012
