Job Description

Agency: UNDP

Title: Early Recovery Advisor/Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment Technical Coordinator

Job ID: 8355

Practice Area - Job Family: UN CoordinationPoverty ReductionCrisis Prevention and RecoveryManagementEnvironment&Disaster ReductionPeace Building

Vacancy End Date: 07/03/2017 (Midnight New York, USA)

Duty Station: Yaounde, Cameroon

Education & Work Experience: I-Master's Level Degree - 7 year(s) experience

Languages Required: English, French

Grade: P4

Vacancy Type: TA International

Posting Type: External

Bureau: Africa

Contract Duration: 364 DAYS

Background

Cameroon is at a turning point. Despite its important economic potential, sustained economic growth, increasingly diversified economy and relative stability, the country faces a multitude of risks as it grapples with the sub-region’s crises. In the Far North, the violence unleashed by Boko Haram has strained Cameroon’s least developed region where over a quarter of a million people are displaced.  Persistent poverty, which has increased over the past decade, and other forms of vulnerability have placed increased pressure on already limited local capacities to respond to the crisis and maintain Cameroon’s strong tradition of social cohesion. Similar challenges face other parts of the Septentrion region as well as the East, where over a quarter of a million refugees have escaped the violence in the neighboring Central African Republic. 

The Far North region and other parts of the Septentrion combine one of the largest populations in Cameroon with some of its most inhospitable conditions--a semi-arid, Sahel desert climate with little infrastructure and few jobs or schools. In addition, since the beginning of 2014, there have been regular and recurrent armed assaults, including suicide attacks, by Boko Haram, which is now in direct confrontation with Cameroon’s armed forces. Over 1,500 civilians have been killed. Through school closures, the destruction of physical infrastructure and villages, cattle raiding and other forms of violence, the extremist group has put additional stress on poor and vulnerable groups in the area. As a result, internal displacement and food insecurity have doubled in the last year and increased pressure on the state to deliver services to the internally displaced, their host communities and refugee camps.

In addition, the Far North, the North, Adamoua and the East are characterized by a large youth population which years for access to knowledge, guidance, and development of skills that are crucial to their social, educational, and economic development. Unemployment or under-employment levels are very high among youth, leading to feelings of frustration and often hindering youth engagement and youth inclusion in local governance and community development. A fear exists that with limited opportunities, youth may radicalize or become susceptible to violent extremists.

With Japan’s support, UNDP launched an early recovery project in 2015 to strengthen community resilience in the East and in the Far North. Concrete achievements were made in the areas of local economic recovery and livelihoods. Social cohesion and environmental protection were also supported. More than 200 households benefited from income generating activities and 5 markets were built to improve the social interaction and economic relationships between IDPs, refugees and local populations.

UNDP supported the establishment of the Early Recovery (ER) sectoral working group in mid-2015 in Maroua and later on in Yaoundé. The ER group is co-led by UNDP and MINEPAT. The ER group organizes a monthly meeting in Yaoundé while actors in Maroua meet every two weeks. Members share information on activities like intervention zones and targets to coordinate activities and avoid duplication. An important achievement last year was the initiative of experience exchange and accumulation on cash for work enabling actors to share the best practices and lesson learned from respective activities.

In July 2016, the Government of Cameroon requested support from the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank Group (WB) concerning a possible Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment (RPBA) for Cameroon. The three institutions agreed to support the Government’s request in August 2016 based on a tripartite agreement.  Subsequently, the EU, UN and WB conducted a joint scoping mission and developed a roadmap together with the Government of Cameroon to support the RPBA process, which will be officially launched in early 2017 and cover the three regions of the Septentrion and the East.

Duties and Responsibilities

To support both strands (namely the RPBA and Early Recovery Coordination) of UN engagement, UNDP Cameroon seeks an Early Recovery Advisor/Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment (RPBA) Technical Coordinator to (i) strengthen its capacity on ER coordination, project development and implementation in Yaoundé, the Far North and the East; and (ii) to provide day-to-day support to the RPBA process including support to the RPBA Senior Coordinator’s engagement with the Government, capacity development, and coordination between the three institutions. In both strands, the ER Advisor/RPBA Technical Coordinator will lead ER project development and advisory support to mainstreaming of ER in the humanitarian response as a whole and support the coordination and technical quality of the RPBA process, under the leadership of government and the Senior Coordinator. 

Under the direct supervision of the UNDP Resident Representative (RR) and working closely with the RPBA Senior Coordinator and the UN Senior Peace and Development Advisor; the ER Advisor/Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment Technical Coordinator will be responsible for: 

EARLY RECOVERY 

1. Coordination of the ER Sector Working Group

• Co-lead along with national counterparts the ER sector working group, covering issues such as livelihoods, local governance, social cohesion, extreme violence prevention and conflict sensitivity, depending on the situation and exact needs in the country;
• Manage ER sector working group building on national capacities and facilitate participation of stakeholders from all sectors (e.g. local and international NGOs, UN agencies, Development Partners);
• Ensure that the ER sector working group interventions are properly mapped, and gaps/sectorial needs are identified and updated on a regular basis;
• Facilitate adequate monitoring mechanisms to review impact of the ER sector and progress against implementation plans and ensure effective reporting and information sharing;
• Closely coordinate with other Sector working group leads on sectoral needs, arising priorities as well as current and planned interventions;
• Establish contact with all relevant stakeholders, inter alia representatives of affected populations and ensure utilization of participatory and community based approaches in sectoral needs assessments, analysis, planning, monitoring and response
• Promote within all sector members strong synergy through timely communication and tools/platforms to avoid duplication and value comparative members advantages
• Identify areas where immediate implementation of activities is possible and ensure timely delivery of results;
• Facilitate consultations with Government entities, civil society, I/NGOs, donors, UN agencies and IFIs, including for resource mobilization;
• Contribute to building the ER capacities of relevant government counterparts; civil society, including decision makers, staff, sectoral group partners
• Ensure effectiveness of ER as a cross cutting theme within all sectoral groups
• Participate in government-led meetings to plan multi-stakeholders engagement; and
• Ensure gender-sensitivity in project formulation and implementation.

2. Mainstreaming of ER in programme development and implementation and supporting a joint UN approach to resilience

• Provide technical support to the UN Country team in the ER area and assure the capacity development of the various actors on ER and other related themes (i.e. resilience, livelihoods, governance, human security, PVE, rule of law and social cohesion);
• Provide support to the development and implementation of the joint UN programme on resilience (under the UNDAF);
• Ensure ER is well integrated and coordinated across humanitarian response, in particular:
• Support the national counterpart in drafting strategies on ER and resilience;
• Identify core advocacy concerns, including resource requirements, and contribute key messages to broader advocacy initiatives and resource mobilization;
• Support all initiatives towards ER approach better comprehension, implementation and ownership inter alia link with universities, production of training documents and outreach sessions.

RECOVERY & PEACEBUILDING ASSESSMENT

3. Technical and Coordination support for the RPBA process

• Under the direct supervision of the RR, provide overall support to the Joint, EU, UN, WB Senior Coordinator for RPBA to prepare the ground for and support the roll out and implementation of the RPBA, including through the development of an implementation and financing strategy;
• Working closely with the Joint Senior Coordinator, ensure optimal coordination with Government, UNCT and HCT;
• Support the Joint Senior Coordinator to strengthen collaboration and cooperation between humanitarian and development partners to ensure that the humanitarian-development nexus is optimally captured in the RPBA;
• Ensure that arrangements are put in place to foster participatory processes, including with civil society, that result in inclusiveness;
• Contribute to impact and needs assessments in close cooperation with local partners/authorities including to support the RPBA. Engage local communities in assessments to ensure accountability;
• Provide technical support and advice to the RPBA team including deployed experts, the UNDP RR;
• Develop materials to support senior management to engage with donors for resource mobilization;
• Provide support to the Joint Senior Coordinator on the finalization of the final RPBA assessment report; ensure adequate consultation from the UNCT and HCT; and
• Help to support the follow-up to the RPBA process.
• Support additional tasks as requested by the supervisor

Competencies

Interpersonal and communication skills:

• Strong communication skills and proven ability to collaborate with different actors (senior management, UNCT, HCT, Government, civil society, etc);
• Flexibility, discretion, and tact;
• Experience in managing a multi-cultural team.

Professional skills:

• Good analysis and judgment;
• Teamwork, proven management and results-orientation;
• Proactive in problem-solving and recommendation for conflict prevention and resolution;
• Strong ability in managing confidential and politically sensitive issues, in a responsible way.

Technical aptitude:

• Strong technical skills in the field of ER, including rule of law, community security, livelihoods recovery, reintegration and economic recovery, crisis governance, community infrastructures building/rehabilitation; crisis/disaster prevention; capacity development and social cohesion;
• Strong understanding and experience with ER coordination in complex emergencies and cooperation with humanitarian partners;
• Strong aptitude of recovery and peacebuilding issues and ability to provide substantive inputs on a range of recovery and peacebuilding issues;
• Capable of mainstreaming gender and human rights in ER and RPBA processes.

Management and Leadership:

• Capable of bringing together various actors from both humanitarian and development practice areas;
• Ability to stay focused on impact and results in the face of day-to-day operations;
• Demonstrated ability to work across agencies and sectors;
• Capacity to work under pressure and with tight deadlines;
• Demonstrated openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Proven track record in coordination of complex interagency processes;
• Able to respond positively to critical feedback and differing points of view.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master's degree in economics, social studies, humanitarian action and development assistance, law, political science or in related areas. 

Experience:

• A minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in coordination of complex interagency processes.  Previous experience of coordination of RPBAs and/or Early Recovery Clusters would be preferred.
• Demonstrated technical expertise in areas related to early recovery and RPBAs including, but not limited to, humanitarian coordination and early Recovery, livelihoods and economic recovery, rule of law and community security, restoration of state authority and conflict prevention/ social cohesion. Experience must include field experience, especially in fragile or conflict-affected settings.
• Previous experience with Post Conflict Needs Assessments/RPBAs or similar type of assessments and knowledge of working with the EU and/or WB an asset.
• Experience with UNDP programming and project development preferred.

Language Requirements: Fluency in written and spoken French and English.

Summary of Critical Competencies for Immediate Response situations:

Possess a comprehensive set of competencies that enable the incumbent to quickly coordinate ER efforts and RPBA technical coordination including results orientation, strong inter-personal skills, sound judgment, solid analytical skills, proactive engagement, innovation, and a high tolerance for change, complexity and unpredictability.

TO APPLY

All interested candidates are invited to apply online through the following link: 

https://jobs.partneragencies.net/erecruitjobs.html?JobOpeningId=8355&hrs_jo_pst_seq=1&hrs_site_id=2