Jobs

Chief Technical Advisor at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life for themselves. It provides expert advice, training and grants support to developing countries, with increasing emphasis on assistance to the least developed countries. It promotes technical and investment cooperation among nations.

Headquartered in New York City, the status of UNDP is that of an executive board within the United Nations General Assembly. The UNDP is funded entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states. The organization operates in 177 countries, where it works with local governments to meet development challenges and develop local capacity.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Chief Technical Advisor

Job Identification: 16176
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Job Schedule: Full time
Grade: P5
Vacancy Type: Fixed Term
Contract Duration: 1 Year with Possibility for extension

Position Purpose

The Chief Technical Advisor (CTA), Rule of Law, Justice and Security will work under the supervision of and report to the UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Programmes. In close collaboration with UNDP Senior Management and the Team Lead, Governance, Peace and Security (GPS), the CTA shall provide high-level policy advice, internally at UNDP and to the relevant national counterparts, provide programmatic oversight, lead policy advocacy, and liaise with UN Agencies, Government officials, technical advisors and experts, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors and civil society in the areas pertaining to the Rule of Law, Justice, Security and Human Rights, critical components of the Governance, Peace and Security portfolio.
S/he will also assume responsibilities for the management of the UNDP Rule of Law, Security and Human Rights portfolio, strategic planning and technical oversight to the strategy and ensure coherence and coordination with programing in the context of the GPS programme, with other relevant UN entities and international partners.
The CTA will further assure coordination and close collaboration with UNDP's HQ and Addis Ababa Regional Hub Units in the respective areas. S/he will perform the quality assurance role for the justice and security projects, ensuring coordinated work-plan development and delivery.
S/he will coordinate and further develop Rule of Law, Access to Justice, Security and Human Rights Programming for Nigeria in close consultation with national partners, the DRR Programme, Team Lead, GPS and the programme team. S/he will guide and support resource mobilization for the programme as pertains to the GPS programme.
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

Strategic guidance and advice for the implementation of the country office’s rule of law portfolio focusing on a coordinated approach to access to justice, justice reform; community security, reform of the police, as well as, overall capacity development of rule of law institutions (including judiciary) and actors focusing on achieving the following:
Oversight and implementation of Country Office rule of law programming including UNDP’s Police Reform Project, engagement with the Nigerian Human Rights Commission (including on BHR) and rule of law initiatives ongoing at the State Level.
Lead development of new opportunities for rule of law work including at the level of policy and programming. Provide advice on identifying entry points to achieve a mixture of short-term, medium-term and long-term results which produce tangible improvements to restoring basic justice and security functions and improving access to justice and security at local and national level;
Provide strategic guidance and advice to national justice sector institutions and actors on policy issues; strategic planning, research and monitoring and evaluation, including key performance indicators, strategic plans for various organizations and research into various issues which impact on institutional performance;
Provide strategic guidance and advice to UNDP Senior management on the ongoing support to the justice and rule of law sector, on strategies and responses to changes in the rule of law area, oversee rule of law programming approach;
Ensure the integration of cross-cutting issues, such as, gender, peace building, youth and human rights into programme/project design, monitoring and evaluation;
Ensure that technical work undertaken across projects is adapted to the local context and in line with international good practice; and
Contribute to building a strong understanding of the political dimension of the rule of law sector to identify the drivers and blockers of change and develop strategies to ensure that project implementation achieves impact.

Strategic Planning, Quality Assurance of the Strategic and Results framework of Rule of law and Access to Justice projects including joint projects and coordinate the day to day management and achieve the following:

Provide advice and guidance for the strategic planning and the implementation of the programmes/projects under the rule of law portfolio, including joint projects and workplans, ensuring appropriate coordination and integration with the country programme components and stabilization efforts;
Ensure the results specified in the annual work-plan of the Programmes/Project meet the required standard of quality, in a coordinated way and within the specified constraints of time and cost;
Develop and maintain an effective monitoring and evaluation system of the project and report on progress, including reporting to UNDP, UN entities, development partners and national stakeholders on progress;
Facilitate and ensure quality assurance of reports including Progress Reports, Financial Reports, Annual Progress Reports, etc. and ensure timely completion of technical reports for the Programme/Project portfolio in the area of responsibility;
Facilitate and lead the coordination mechanisms put in place with UN entities to ensure coherence and coordination on issues pertaining to rule of law, access to justice, security and human rights.
Coordinate day to day management and guidance of the rule of law, access to justice, security and human rights portfolio;
Supervise and support the work of the UNDP Project Managers and their teams in the area of responsibility;
Advise UNDP Country Office on the overall implementation of the Rule of Law and Access to Justice, Security and Human Rights Project and supervise the team accordingly;

Resource mobilization and partnerships across the Rule of Law sector (justice, security and human rights) focusing on achievement of the following results:

Engage in dialogues with development partners and donors, identifying funding opportunities and endeavour to ensure sufficient resource mobilization for the programmes/projects in close consultation with Senior Management and be responsible for reaching the annual resource mobilization targets.
Support UNDP efforts for resource mobilization for current and envisaged programmes/projects in the rule of law, access to justice, security and human rights portfolio;
Liaise regularly and forge close linkages with other UN programmes, agencies, funds, as well as, other international and national stakeholders concerns with or providing assistance on justice, access to justice, security and human rights issues.
Develop pilot initiatives for functional partnerships between justice and security sector stakeholders and non-governmental organisations, local media and the public;
Support joint communication efforts.
Ensure high-quality and timely reporting to donors and other partners involved in the programmes/projects;
Contribute to harnessing effective partnerships for implementation of UNDP programmes/projects, and promote joint programming, and collaborate effectively in established frameworks for UN and other international coordination.
Coordinate programme activities with other UNDP initiatives, as well as, other United Nations agencies, donors, and other international partners, to develop inter-agency synergies and build complementarities with other programs;
Advocate for UNDP work in the area of responsibility and raise visibility of the Rule of Law Project through knowledge sharing and well -developed communication materials;

Strategic engagement in strengthening the GPS portfolio approach focusing on achieving the following result:

Provide advice and guidance for the strategic examination of GPS pillars, existing initiatives, projects and activities on: options, approaches, learnings from implementation, mechanism for their continued alignment with a systems approach linked to implementation of an effective portfolio of integrated GPS interventions.
Provide strategic guidance and advice to UNDP Senior management on practice emerging from previous successful GPS component implementation and options for optimizing a GPS integrated portfolio approach for scale and replicability in line with the CPD.
Provide coordination support on the rule of law portfolio initiatives, partnerships and overall implementation with other UNDP initiatives in the context of a systems approach.

Ensure knowledge management focusing on achieving the following results:

Identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learned from the programme/project area for organizational sharing and learning, as well as, external information;
Active participation in UNDP knowledge networks and taking advantage of best practices and lessons learned that are available in the region and globally, and encouraging project staff to do so by creating a culture of knowledge sharing and learning;
Promoting the participation of UNDP Nigeria in regional programmes and regional activities related to the project area as appropriate; and
Supporting capacity and knowledge building of national counterparts.

Required Skills and Experience
Educational Qualification

Master's Degree or equivalent in the areas of Law, Political Science or related discipline is required. Or
A 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.

Experience:

Minimum of 10 years (with masters degree) or 12 years (with bachelors degree) of progressively responsible experience in rule of law, access to justice and democratic development related fields;
Previous experience in conflict affected areas is an asset;
Demonstrated programme management skills including: results-based orientation, preparation of work plans, monitoring and evaluation is desired.
Experience with UN/UNDP programmes in the area of rule of law, access to justice, security, and stabilization is an asset
Experience in managing and supervising programmes and projects aimed at enhancing rule of law, developing the capacities of the justice sector is desired.
Experience working with all of the major actors of the justice sector is required;
Experience of working in a technical advisory, policy development and capacity building is an asset.

Competencies
Core Competencies:

Achieve Results - LEVEL 4: Prioritize team workflow, mobilize resources, drive scalable results/strategic impact
Think Innovatively - LEVEL 4: Easily navigate complexity, encourage/enable radical innovation, has foresight
Learn Continuously - LEVEL 4: Create systems and processes that enable learning and development for all
Adapt with Agility - LEVEL 4: Proactively initiate/lead organizational change, champion new systems/processes
Act with Determination - LEVEL 4: Able to make difficult decisions in challenging situations, inspire confidence
Engage and Partner - LEVEL 4: Construct strategic multi-partner alliances in high stake situations, foster co-creation
Enable Diversity and Inclusion - LEVEL 4: Create ethical culture, identify/address barriers to inclusion

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