Call for GPN ExpRes Roster (Climate, Peace & Security Risk Policy and Programming Experts)

Background

The multidimensional nature of climate change creates far-reaching consequences not only for the environment but also for development and, ultimately, for the security of people, communities and states. While climate change does not cause violent conflict in and of itself, it can multiply risks that contribute to insecurity, overburden state capacity, and make already vulnerable communities more susceptible to threats.

In the past 15-20 years, these interlinkages between climate change, prevention and sustaining peace have received a growing amount of attention both among researchers and increasingly also in policy circles. In the Security Council, for instance, a landmark Presidential Statement from 2011 (PRST/2011/15) paved the way for more regular engagement on this topic and set the stage for a series of formal outcomes over the past two years recognizing the adverse impact of climate change on stability and calling for “adequate risk assessments and risk management strategies by governments and the United Nations.”

While the debates on the climate-conflict nexus have extended beyond causality and contextual pathways, how climate action may contribute to peace, stability, and security in conflict-affected and fragile contexts needs to be better understood and documented. Communities suffer a “double exposure” and “double vulnerability” to climate change and conflict, viz extant socio-, economic- and political factors which make them vulnerable to conflict and also leave them susceptible to climate change.

Across the UN system, several departments, agencies, funds and programmes deal with the impact of climate-related security risks. However, there is currently no shared, overarching understanding of and approach to climate-related security risks. Responses tend to be ad-hoc and joint analysis and planning remain elusive. One of the main challenges is to connect analysis and assessments generated by the development/climate adaptation communities with the analyses of political and security risks by the peace and security entities to inform an integrated understanding of risks and develop coordinated response strategies. A concerted effort from across the UN system is needed to build bridges between different sets of mandates, expertise and capacities.

Addressing climate-related security risks represents a strategic focus on delivering innovative and cross-cutting approaches to promote climate action and sustaining peace for UNDP, the largest implementer of climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the largest conflict prevention and peacebuilding portfolio in the UN system. UNDP’s Climate Security Offer leverages the expertise of UNDP’s Global Policy Network on climate, environment, peace and security, and also builds on the Climate Security Mechanism’s work to: 

1. Climate-proof prevention and peacebuilding, 
2. Ensure peace-positive mitigation and adaptation, 
3. Deliver integrated approaches to climate action and sustaining peace, and 
4. Strengthen the capacity of regional entities and cross-border approaches to address climate-related security risks.

To address these risks, UNDP is putting together a pool of experts to support climate, peace & security risk policy and programme development. The roster of experts will be utilized in 2023 but will be positioned for the next two to three years to provide a continued pool of expertise to countries for implementation of climate and security policy and programming, focusing on supporting implementation of actions and delivering results on the ground.

The Global Policy Network Experts Roster for Rapid Response (GPN ExpRes) is a recruitment and deployment mechanism which maintains pre-vetted consultants on a roster and contracts them quickly for Country Office support. The primary purpose of this roster has been to deploy technical experts to UNDP Country Offices/regional teams/ HQ units on short notice.

Within the GPN, the Crisis Bureau guides UNDP’s corporate crisis and fragility-related strategies and vision for crisis prevention, response, and recovery. The Bureau is responsible for support to prevention, crisis response, resilience, recovery, and peacebuilding work under the auspices of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. Crisis Bureau staff provide global strategic advice to UNDP management and technical advice to Regional Hubs and Country Offices; advocate for UNDP corporate messages, represent UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora, and engage in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. As part of the Global Policy Network (GPN), the Crisis Bureau works in an integrated manner with UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS), ensuring that issues are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programmes.

The Conflict Prevention, Peacebuilding and Responsive Institutions (CPPRI) Team covers the following thematic/programming areas as part of the GPN:

1. Conflict prevention and peacebuilding
2. Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE)
3. Core government functions, including local governance in transition, conflict, and fragile settings
4. Climate security

Duties and Responsibilities

Tasks assigned in each individual assignment may include one or more of the following:

Climate security policy development, advocacy and strategic advisory roles

• Supports the implementation of the UNDP’s offer on climate, peace & security;
• Develop global, national and sub-national strategy and policy guidance for climate, peace & security implementation;
• Guides Country Offices in mainstreaming climate, peace & security and environmental peacebuilding approaches into national and local policy, strategy and planning;
• Review of policy literature on climate, peace & security and provide inputs to analysis and assessments
• Identification of barriers and solutions for proposed policy and interventions;
• Undertake climate security risk identification, assessment and index development, and prevention/mitigation programming;

Knowledge creation, research and documentation

• Undertake primary/secondary research in key thematic areas and in the new areas of concern on climate, peace & security;
• Develop research design, research questions and scope of work for undertaking primary research in new areas;
• Document good practices, case studies, innovations and pilot models for wider dissemination and sharing;
• Supports UNDP knowledge generation, lessons, innovations, policy developments, programmatic offers and practice experiences on climate, peace & security;

Project design, formulation & other programme related technical support

• Prepare conceptual framework/concept notes on new area of work/developmental challenge;
• Provide technical assistance in identification of developmental challenges, target areas, beneficiaries and partners and formulation of implementation strategy for UNDP climate, peace & security programmatic and advisory support;
• Provide technical support in development on new interventions/projects with Implementation; (operational plan, monitoring and resource requirement) Institutional and management arrangements;
• Facilitate consultations and support for programme/project proposal preparation and submissions;
• Identify issues, formulate and implement interventions that focus on various activities;
• Conduct studies on project/programme highlights, activities and processes involved;
• Prepare and review project documents;
• Monitor and evaluate effectiveness of global, regional, national and/or sub-national policies and programmes on climate, peace & security;
• Prepare project proposals to ensure innovation in concepts, strategies and incorporation of best practices;

Capacity development/training

• Develop capacity assessments and plans to achieve the milestones identified and address the identified capacity gaps;
• Develop target specific training tools/toolkits and manuals based on training needs assessment;
• Design training curriculum, conduct and/or coordinate trainings programmes for various stakeholders;
• Conduct capacity assessments for development of strategic interventions for institutional strengthening;
• Design and delivery of training toolkits, products etc.
• Conduct and/or Coordinate trainings, events and workshops;

Partnerships and Resource Mobilization

• Identify opportunities for resource mobilization on global/regional/country levels;
• Identify areas/beneficiaries and partners; timing, sequencing of activities; mobilization of finance;
• Ensures compliance with partner’s requirements, including monitoring, narrative and financial reporting, and evaluation;
• Prepares presentations, updates and project briefs for as per donor’s requirements;

Communications and advocacy

• Identify opportunities for advocacy on global/regional/country levels;
• Prepares briefing notes, presentations, talking points and periodic updates as necessary;
• Develop literature on best practices and case studies and contribute to Communities of Practice, including UN Community of Practice on Climate and Security

Prepares media and communications products (articles, stories, press releases, reports, human-interest stories, social media, inputs to publications, etc

Competencies

COMPETENCIES

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

• Experience in climate, peace & security policy, programming and/or research in one or more relevant region/sub-region: Arab States, Asia, Central Asia, the Pacific, South Asia and/or Sub-Saharan Africa
• Good track record in project management
• Understanding of policy, government functioning and national processes
• Familiarity on various international projects across one or more areas of expertise
• Working knowledge of objectives-oriented project planning, or results-based management
• Leadership skills
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Strong analytical and reporting writing skills
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback
• Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines
• Candidates should possess the basic gender competencies including clarity on gender equality concepts, commitment to work in a gender-sensitive manner; they should be able to demonstrate ability to conduct gender analysis within specific development areas through their work experiences
• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards

Required Skills and Experience

Education/academic qualification:

• An advanced university degree preferred in conflict prevention/ peacebuilding, climate change, environmental management, security, international relations, political science, international development, environmental policy or a similar field.

Education, experience and skills:

• Band 1, Implementation Support: Master’s Degree in relevant field with minimum 5 years of relevant work experience, or Bachelor’s Degree in relevant field with minimum 7 years of relevant work experience.
• Band 2, Specialist Support: Master’s Degree in relevant field with minimum 7 years of relevant work experience, out of which minimum 3 years of international experience as a requirement.
• Band 3, Senior Advisory: Master’s Degree in relevant field with minimum 12 years of relevant work experience, out of which minimum 5 years of international experience as a requirement.

Knowledge and skills: 

• Experience in research and policy advice for UN, government, thinktank and research institutes in climate, peace & security in different regional and country contexts
• Field experience in developing country, fragile and conflict affected contexts is an asset
• Demonstrated experience in organizing and facilitating multi-stakeholder/consultative processes
• Strong analytical and research skills
• Data collection/analysis and data visualization skills is an asset
• Ability to work independently and achieve quality results with limited supervision and within tight schedules
• Excellent spoken and written English, knowledge of other UN official languages is an asset

EVALUATION OF APPLICANTS

Applicants will be screened against qualifications and the competencies specified above and may be requested to participate in a brief interview. Interested candidates are advised to carefully review this advertisement and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described above.

Qualified women are encouraged to apply.

Applications should include: 

A cover letter, clearly identifying the “Areas of Expertise” as mentioned in the background section above.

Updated P11 and Personal CV, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references

Daily professional Fee.