Job Vacancies at UNDP

Background

• Nigeria has continued to experience multidimensional escalating violent conflict and security challenges resulting in records of daily deaths, injuries, displacements and loss of properties, with the government finding it challenging to deal with the conflicts.
• According to the report of Nextier SPD from October 2020 to September 2021, the North-West zone of Nigeria has become the most violent part of the country with 274 incidents (31%) of the incidents in the period. While violent incidents relating to banditry is the most reported peace and security challenge, farmer-herder conflict and violent extremism are the second and third most reported conflict.  The mix of the three is evident in the North West zone of Nigeria, especially in Kaduna and Katsina states.
• The North West zone encompasses seven states – namely, Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna. Despite its high population, expansive land mass and economic potential, the North West has some of the worst development indicators in Nigeria.
• This includes the highest poverty and illiteracy rates of any geopolitical region, a higher unemployment rate than the national average, the highest fertility rate, and some of the most alarming statistics on gender inequality. As of 2020, all the seven states in the zone had poverty levels above the national average of 40.1 per cent, led by Sokoto (87.7 per cent), Jigawa (87 per cent) and Zamfara (74 per cent).
• Land and natural resource management issues, compounded by climate change risks are also key to understanding current peace and stability dynamics in the North West, particularly as they have evolved over the last decade. Rapid population growth has combined with an expanding desert, climate change, unchecked resource exploitation and ‘land grabbing’ to increase competition for farm and grazing land and heightened tensions between farmers and herders.
• The lack of, or unimplemented, policy frameworks - like the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) on land access, integrated grazing reserve projects; resource use and dispute resolution as well as a broader absence of social protection; has created a vacuum contributing to lawlessness and conflict.
• The subsequent mobilization of vigilante groups along ethnic and community lines, impunity, coupled with increased access to small arms and light weapons through the porous borders especially with Niger Republic has contributed to repeated and lethal cycles of communal violence, cattle rustling, banditry, abductions, and wider human rights violations and abuses especially against women and girls.
• Worryingly, climate trends have aggravated contemporary conflict drivers in the region through increasing desertification and drought - limiting traditional means of livelihoods for both herders and farmers. This, compounded with rapid growth in population, has impacted both the nomadic pastoral communities and farmers as they now have to compete over shrinking natural resources.
• The nomadic pastoralists have also had to shift their migratory routes in search of animal fodder and better grazing, creating new tensions in new routes adding to the conflictious situation in the region. Integrated natural resource governance through grazing reserves, fostering livestock value chain development and initiating programmes to foster mutually beneficial economic relationships between herding and family has been a common policy feature – at Federal and State level.
• Across the Sahel including northern Nigeria, women in pastoral communities play an essential role in economic activities and are key stakeholders in influencing community affairs in their community. Women play key roles in pastoral value chains, including milk processing, local commerce, and managing small ruminants.
• Yet, women are sparsely represented among governing bodies, trade associations, and customary institutions that handle disputes and manage natural resources.
• Women in pastoral communities often have fewer opportunities to serve as formal authority figures and are overlooked in development and conflict transformation initiatives. Despite their leadership in community affairs, women’s voices often go unheard when interveners prioritize traditional or public forms of leadership. 
• Pastoralist women are also more likely to stay behind in communities to manage the household and economic affairs while their relatives take the livestock on migration. This allows them to engage in sedentary trades (farming, taking animal products to market etc), and maintain social and economic bonds with neighboring farmers, a critical point to building or rebuilding the adversarial relationships between farmers and herders.
• The lives and livelihoods of youth have been negatively impacted upon by continued violent conflict. On one hand, the security vacuum caused by rising insecurity and the inability of the security agencies to respond to high levels of insecurity has forced young people – mostly men to assume ‘informal’ security responsibilities as community watch-guards[4]. While some of these mechanisms have proven useful, others have been accused of perpetrating violence and violation of rights.
• As the conflict has gone on and which is the case in most conflict contexts, legitimate means of livelihoods has continued to be curtailed, largely affecting young people, with dwindling livelihood prospects in the region – including in Kaduna and Katsina.
• The emergence of the ‘economy around banditry’ – including those serving as paid informants, commodity suppliers and other types of auxiliary supports to bandit groups risk being a pull factor for unemployed or unengaged youth.
• With minimal legitimate livelihood opportunities to serve as a disruptor of the bandit economy, this has served both as a driver and a symptom of the conflict. Increasing their access to sustainable livelihoods; positive income generation activities and providing platforms for their participation in peace processes is key in reversing this trend.

Organizational Context

• The "Strengthening Local and State Level Peace Architectures For Peacebuilding and Prevention in Katsina and Kaduna States of North West Nigeria Project” with funding from the Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund Project aims to reinforce non-military responses to conflict and insecurity in Kaduna and Katsina States by strengthening existing infrastructures for peace, providing safe spaces for inclusive (inter-and-intra)-community dialogue, enhancing the resilience of communities directly affected by conflict through the provision of psychosocial support and increasing access to sustainable livelihoods.
• The inter-agency project is implemented jointly by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women and International Organisation for Migration (IOM), with UNDP being the coordinating agency. Additionally, UNDP has entered into a UN-to-UN agreement with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN OHCHR).
• In this context, the livelihoods assessment will inform and feed into the project component aiming to contribute to affected communities in sampled Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Kaduna and Katsina states having increased access to sustainable livelihoods opportunities, particularly in ensuring that this engagement is based on data and evidence.
• Stemming the Tear- A Pragmatic Approach to Solving Nigeria’s Security Challenges. Background Paper for the 27th Nigeria Economic Summit October 2021
• Violence in Nigeria’s North West: Rolling Back the Mayhem (2020) - International Crisis Group
• Violence in Nigeria’s North West: Rolling Back the Mayhem (2020) - International Crisis Group. https://gsdrc.org/document-library/the-politics-of-protection-perspectives-on-vigilantism-in-nigeria/

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the overall guidance of the joint UN PBF Project Management Unit led by UNDP’s Conflict & Political Economy Specialist, the consultant will have the responsibility of performing the following duties:

• Designing the methodology for the assessment
• Collecting the data (both quantitative and qualitative) for the assessment, using a sample representative of the population in the selected LGAs
• Analyzing the data and formulating the findings to form the basis of the framework for model economic livelihoods programme designed and piloted in two selected LGAs in Katsina and Kaduna States
• Based on the findings, formulate a proposed way forward for the following project activities:
  • Establishing and building the capacity of community-based cooperatives as sustainability structures and collaborative leadership platforms;
  • Establishing community-empowerment hubs (one each in the target states), to facilitate the provision of model integrated livelihood opportunities for youth and women affected by violence in sampled LGAs.
• The assessment is expected to provide answers (with gender and age disaggregation) to questions including the following:
  • What are the current sources of livelihoods in the selected LGAs?
  • How are the means of livelihoods organized?
  • What are the main livelihood challenges and reasons for them? How are they currently being addressed?
  • What opportunities exist in mutually beneficial economic relations? How can different income generation activities complement each other in a constructive way?
  • What needs exist in the selected LGAs in terms of improving livelihoods?
  • What are seen as priorities in the means of livelihoods – how do people want to make their living?
  • What is the link between livelihoods and violent conflict – how does violence affect livelihoods and vice versa?
  • What are the key value chains in the selected LGAs? What is their gender composition?
  • What is the situation regarding market access and potential challenges therein?
  • What are the economic aspects of banditry? What kind of income generation exists in relation to banditry?
  • What is the number/percentage of households with a) sustainable access to livelihoods; b) precarious/unsustainable access to livelihoods; c) no access to livelihoods?
  • What is the number of existing community-based cooperatives? What is their formation and structure? What are their internal dynamics? What challenges do they face and how can they be improved?
  • What is the number/percentage of households headed by an adult woman / adult man / young woman / young man? What kind of intra-household dynamics exist in terms of livelihoods?
  • What kind of access to and types of livelihoods do victims of violence have? What types of livelihoods do they prefer and what types of livelihoods did they leave behind?
  • Which gaps and expectations are there towards public sector efforts in supporting sustainable livelihoods?
  • What capacity building needs do the existing community-based cooperatives have?
  • What leadership models are being used in community-based cooperatives?

Coordination and Supervision:

• Coordination And Supervision:Given that the assessment seeks to inform the joint UNDP - UN Women - IOM project, the consultant will need to work collaboratively with the mentioned agencies, both in Abuja Country Office as well as in the field.
• The Project Management Unit hosted by UNDP under the overall guidance UNDP’s Conflict & Political Economy Specialist will ensure effective coordination and liaison with Agencies.

Qualifications
Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Peace and Conflict Studies, Political Sciences, International Development, Political Economy, Economics, Social Sciences, Public Administration, or related fields.

Required Experience:

• At least 7 years of experience in the field of livelihoods, peacebuilding, international development, governance or related field
• Extensive experience of conducting evidence-based livelihoods assessments and market surveys
• Extensive experience of using quantitative and qualitative research methods, with gender and age disaggregation
• Demonstrated understanding of the context in the North West of Nigeria (experience with Kaduna and Katsina states an asset)
• Demonstrated understanding of and experience of applying the Human Rights Based Approach and Conflict Sensitive and Gender Sensitive approaches to assessments

Language Requirements:

• Fluency (written and spoken) in English and Hausa required.

Payment Modalities and Specifications:

• An individual contract will be issued by UNDP. The financial proposal must be expressed through a lumpsum (all inclusive). 
• Payments will be linked to deliverables. The contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components.

Required Skills and Experience
Technical / Ffunctional Competencies:

Results-Orientation and Development Effectiveness:

• Plans, prioritizes and produces quality results on time.
• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting.
• Ability to lead multiple stakeholders in the design process of a comprehensive multi-year programme.
• Ability to lead formulation of budgets.

Management and Leadership:

• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
• Builds strong relationships with stakeholders, focuses on impact and results and responds positively to feedback.
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills.
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
• Sets clear performance goals and standards; executes responsibilities accordingly.

Innovation and Judgment:

• Conceptualizes and analyses problems to identify key issues, underlying problems and how they relate.
• Contributes creative, practical ideas and approaches to deal with challenging situation.
• Strives for quality client-centered consultative services (internal/external) in programme design.

Job Knowledge and Expertise:

• Demonstrates substantive and technical knowledge to meet responsibilities and post requirements with excellence.
• Proves knowledge of peacebuilding programming, conflict analysis, stakeholder engagement and community mobilization

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Job Description
Office / Unit / Project Description  (max 300 words):

• Under the guidance and supervision of the Project Manager, the Driver will provide reliable and safe driving services ensuring high accuracy of work. The Driver will demonstrate a client-oriented approach, high sense of responsibility, courtesy, tact and the ability to work with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
•  The Driver will provide driving services to the operations and programme staff in the Lagos (Field) Office, with Consultants, Experts and UN staff on mission.

Duties and Responsibilities
Scope of Work:

Ensures provision of reliable and secure driving services by:

• Driving office vehicles for the transport of authorized personnel and delivery and collection of mail, documents and other items and
• Meeting official personnel and visitors at the airport, visa and customs formalities arrangement when required.
  • Ensures cost-savings through proper use of vehicle through accurate maintenance of daily vehicle logs, provision of inputs to preparation of the vehicle maintenance plans and reports.
  • Ensures proper day-to-day maintenance of the assigned vehicle through timely minor repairs, arrangements for major repairs, timely changes of oil, tyre check, brakes, car washing, etc.
  • Ensures availability of all the required documents/supplies including vehicle insurance, vehicle logs, office directory, map of the city/country, first aid kit, necessary spare parts
  • Ensures that all immediate actions required by rules and regulations are taken in case of involvement in accidents.

Institutional Arrangement:

• The Driver will be based in the duty station mentioned above and we would be looking out for a driver that is resident in Lagos and rendering driving services for a good number of years.
• Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Required Skills and Experience
Education:

• Minimum of Secondary Education.
• Valid Driver’s license. 

Experience:

• 3 years work experience as a driver in an international organization, or UN system with a safe driving record.
• Experience driving within the city of Lagos for over 03 years is an added advantage/must
• Knowledge of driving rules.
• Experience driving 4x4 vehicles in rough terrain.
• Experience driving high profile dignitaries is an added advantage.

Language Requirement:

• Proficiency in English as the UN language of the duty station.

Competencies
Core:

• Achieve Results - Level 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
• Think Innovatively - Level 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements
• Learn Continuously - Level 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
• Adapt with Agility - Level 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible
• Act with Determination - Level 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
• Engage and Partner - Level 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion - Level 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination.
• People Management (Insert below standard sentence if the position has direct reports.): UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.

Cross-Functional & Technical Competencies (Insert up to 7 Competencies):
Thematic Area - Name - Definition:

Business Management - Operations Management:

• Ability to effectively plan, organize, and oversee the Organization's business processes in order to convert its assets into the best results in the most efficient manner.
• Knowledqe of relevant concepts and mechanisms

Business Management - Customer Satisfaction/Client Management:

• Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers' needs.
• Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy.
• Look for ways to add value beyond clients' immediate requests.
• Ability to anticipate client's upcoming needs and concerns.

Business Direction & Strategy - Strategic Thinking:

• Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP's objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions
• Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP

Business Direction & Strategy - Business Acumen:

• Ability to understand and deal with a business situation in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome.
• Knowledge and understanding of the operational frameworks in the organization  and ability to make good judgments and quick decisions within such frameworks

Business Direction & Strategy - Entrepreneurial Thinking:

• Ability to create clarity around UNDP value proposition to beneficiaries and partners and to develop service offers responding to client needs based on UNDP's organizational priorities and mandate

Business Development - Communication:

• Ability to 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

Business Development - Integration within the UN:

• Ability to identity, and integrate capacity and assets of the UN system, and engage in joint work;
• Knowledge of the UN System and ability to apply this knowledge to strategic and/or practical situations.

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Job Description

• Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Resident Representative, the Program Assistant to the Resident Representative ensures effective and efficient functioning of the Resident Representative’s office.
• S/he maintains full confidentiality in all aspects of assignment, maintenance of protocol procedures, management of information flow and follow-up on deadlines and commitments made and undertaking office administration and program support function in the Resident Representative’s office.
• The Program Assistant works in close collaboration with the Resident Representative’s Front Office, the Programmes and Operations teams, UN Agencies and national authorities to ensure efficient flow of information, actions on instructions and agendas.
• The incumbent will approach work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude and display a strong client orientation. As such s/he will display flexibility in performing other emerging tasks assigned by the Resident Representative or supervisor/manager.

Duties and Responsibilities
Ensures effective and efficient functioning of the Resident Representative’s office focusing on the achievement of the following results:

• Management of the Resident Representative’s office ensuring an environment of professionalism and teamwork at all times and setting exemplary standards of conduct for the Country Office team.
• Efficient and discreet management of the Resident Representative’s schedule with due regard to a balanced load.
• Organisation of regular and ad-hoc management and staff meetings, preparation and circulation of agendas, preparation of minutes and summaries of actions to be taken, tracking of progress on planned issues and follow-up with focal points.
• Ensure smooth meeting and event management, including relationship management for the Resident Representative’s office.
• Screening of all incoming communications, filter outgoing correspondence for the Resident Representative’s signature, clearance and further action by other staff; wherever possible.
• Adherence to appropriate protocol and correspondence guidelines by the Country Office team when communicating with Government and other external partners.
• Use of automated office management system.

Ensures provision of effective communications and administrative support to the office focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Maintenance of the filing system ensuring safekeeping of confidential materials. Use of automated filing system.
• Coordination of the information flow in the office and dissemination of corporate and interoffice communication to staff as required.
• Follow up on deadlines, commitments made, actions taken and coordination of collection and submission of the reports to the Country Director.
• Draft routine correspondence, interoffice circulars, general briefing notes, documents, reports, and minutes of meetings when requested, translations when required; Administration of travel, meetings, appointments and briefings of Country Director.
• Including drafting of background notes.
• Maintenance of Teams' status reports, best practices, lessons learned, publishing on section intranet and compiling of information for resource mobilization and communications officers.
• Support to organization of advocacy events if required

Ensures facilitation of knowledge building and management focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.
• Organization of specialized trainings for team members.
• Facilitation of information sharing with Management Support and Business Development, Programme and Operations Teams.
• Organization of trainings to UNDP staff on coordination, administration and protocol issues.

Impact of Results:

• The key results have an impact on the success of the programmes and activities of the office of the Resident Representative while ensuring the synergy with the Operations and Programmes unit of the CO for efficiency and effectiveness.

Required Skills and Experience
Education:

• Secondary Education is required. 
• University Degree or equivalent is desirable, but it is not a requirement.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in secretarial, administrative activities that include general office management.
• Experience in supporting programme activities at the national or international level on behalf of the Head of Office and coordinate activities around programmes.
• Strong experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (including but not limited to Microsoft Word/Excel/Powerpoint/Outlook etc).
• Experience in handling web based management systems.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
• Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.

Competencies
Core:

• Achieve Results - Level 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline.
• Think Innovatively - Level 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements.
• Learn Continuously - Level 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback.
• Adapt with Agility - Level 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible.
• Act with Determination - Level 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
• Engage and Partner - Level 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships.
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion - Level 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination.

Cross-Functional & Technical Competencies:
Thematic Area - Name -Definition:

Business Direction and Strategy - Strategic Thinking:

• Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP's objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions
• Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP

Business Direction and Strategy - Business Acumen:

• Ability to understand and deal with a business situation in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome
• Knowledge and understanding of the operational frameworks in the organization  and ability to make good judgments and quick decisions within such frameworks

Business Management - Operations Management:

• Ability to effectively plan, organize, and oversee the Organization's business processes in order to convert its assets into the best results in the most efficient manner.
• Knowledqe of relevant concepts and mechanisms

Business Management - Resource Management:

• Ability to allocate and use resources in a strategic or tactical way in line with principles of accountability and integrity

Business Management - Change Management:

• Ability to prepare, support, and help individuals and teams in designing and implementing organizational change

Business Management - Communication

• Ability to 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.

Business Development - Integration within the UN:

• Ability to identity, and integrate capacity and assets of the UN system, and engage in joint work; knowledge of the UN System and ability to apply this knowledge to strategic and/or practical situations.