Summary
Date Posted: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
Programme Specialist, Head of Unit – Inclusive and Sustainable Growth
Background
UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.
UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
UNDP Zambia is strategically repositioning its country programme implementation based on emerging opportunities and UNDP’s comparative advantages that maximizes partnerships, resource mobilization and impact in keeping with UNDP’s mandate as it embarks on the development of its next programme cycle to contribute to the UN support the Government of Zambia through the formulation of the first ever UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) as part of the UN Development System (UNDS) Reform and the 8th National Development Plan (8NDP).
In addition, the review of the current UNDP programme portfolio also showed a pressing need to recalibrate the programme implementation in Zambia through a more integrated vision aligned with the current CPD, the six (06) signature solutions of the current Strategic Plan and the RBA’s strategic offer and where UNDP will fully play its integrator role for accelerating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Zambia.
As the recently elected New Dawn Government together with its Cooperating Partners including UNDP Zambia move into 2022, and advance further into the Decade of Action with only 8 years left to achieve the SDGs, the world and individual countries are still grappling with COVID-19 response and socio-economic recovery. In the context of such fluid and changing environment, it is more pressing that UNDP Zambia revisits its approach to programming and delivery to ensure constant relevance and effectiveness in supporting the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) to address key issues and most important priorities, while concurrently exploring innovative and creative ways to accelerate the achievement of the objectives set out in both Agenda 2030 and the upcoming 8 NDP using a strategic approach to planning resulting in an efficient and effective delivery of the Country Programme to promote sustainable human development.
As a member of the CO Management Team (COMT), s/he provides effective UNDP leadership in sector policy development and provision of quality technical and policy advisory services to the Government, UNDP and the UN System and other key stakeholders in relevant focus areas including Inclusive sustainable Growth and SDGs, local integrated sustainable development, livelihoods, job creation and economic diversification especially for vulnerable groups, youth and women, private sector development, reduction of poverty and inequality.
Against this backdrop and building upon the lessons learnt over the past years, UNDP Zambia is strengthening its Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Unit to rollout the vision of repositioning its CO programme to ensure that UNDP delivers on its mandate effectively in Zambia.

Position Purpose
The Inclusive and Sustainable Growth is one of three pillars of the Programme Unit along with the Governance and Gender and the Environment and Energy Units. Each Unit is headed by a Programme Specialist, Head of Unit and supported by a Programme Analyst and a Programme Associate in addition to the dedicated personnel of projects under each pillar.
The Programme Specialist, Head of Unit – Inclusive and Sustainable Growth, reports to the Deputy Resident Representative (DRR) and acts as the senior technical advisor on sustainable and inclusive growth for SDG acceleration in Zambia. S/he leads the CO efforts to ensure the achievement of the country programme results and provision of thought leadership and strategic positioning on sustainable and inclusive growth issues, including resilience, livelihood, community development, social protection, private sector engagement and cross thematic problematics.
As a member of the Country Office Management Team (COMT), s/he also helps drive integration of work at all levels, from the overall direction by setting to ideas generation, design, implementation to reporting on results, driving and developing partnerships and contributing to the communication for development results. S/he supervises a diverse team with various profiles and manages the deployment of additional long and short-term expertise when required.
Success in achieving results for this portfolio relies on the development of strong national and international partnerships from a wide range of diverse stakeholders. The Programme Specialist, Head of Unit, is responsible for mobilizing joint advocacy, expertise and resources across UNDP global and regional initiatives in these fields, engaging with global and regional networks, and connecting with cooperating partners, academia, NGOs and private sector in involving them to successfully implement UNDP programmes in these fields. S/he will act as the thought-leader in her/his area of expertise in various fora including UNDP support to UN coherence and stronger UN Development System (UNDS) in Zambia.

Duties and Responsibilities
Provides effective leadership, technical and policy advisory services to UNDP, UN Agencies and the Government.
• Serve as the UNDP focal point of for the provision of overall technical and policy support to the GRZ on matters related to inter alia integrated sustainable development, inclusive and sustainable growth, local development, job creation and livelihoods, women/youth economic empowerment, economic diversification, reduction of poverty and inequality, resilience and promotion of green and sustainable growth;
• Provide top quality technical and policy advisory support to relevant Government institutions and GRZ counterparts with focus on strengthening institutional capacity for policy, strategies and programmes formulation and implementation;
• Conduct thorough socio-economic analysis of inclusive and sustainable growth issues, challenges and opportunities given the situation in the country and contribute to collaborative preparation/revision of Common Country Analysis (CCA), UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), UNDP Country Programme Document (CPD), project documents, Annual Work Plans (AWPs) and other documents;
• Identify opportunities for new programme/project development including joint programming with UN agencies;
• Operationalize the implementation of UNSDCF/ CPD in collaboration with the main partners and other UN Agencies while seeking and identifying the possibilities for joint programming and interagency collaboration;
• Analyse and present thematic issues in coherence and adherence to UNDP policies in the focus areas;
• Identify, in close collaboration with national and international partners, strategic programme areas of cooperation;
• Keep abreast of all significant developments, both in Zambia and internationally, on integrated development, inclusive and sustainable growth and SDGs, local development, job creation and livelihoods, women/youth economic empowerment, economic diversification, reduction of poverty and inequality and coordinate closely with counterpart GRZ institutions, international stakeholders, lead agencies and adapt work plans and programme strategies, as required;
• Prepare regular strategic and technical notes, briefings to the attention of the Senior Management on emerging priorities, areas for strategic investments and development of new partnerships;
• Collaborate with UNDP Regional Hubs and HQ platforms to apply in country programming new global and regional initiatives, policies and knowledge products.
Provide leadership to ensure (i) the strategic positioning of the Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Thematic Area, through development of new pipeline projects, (ii) the oversight of Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Thematic Area and its expected results and (iii) day-to-day management of the Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Team;
• Strategic positioning of the Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Thematic Area
• Assist in defining the strategic direction of the Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Thematic Area;
• Provide technical expertise and lead the development of new initiatives in the areas of sustainable and inclusive growth followed by strategies to build partnerships and mobilize resources;
• Ensure effective and agile leadership of the Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Thematic Area to meet the challenges experienced during implementation of the programmes and projects with positive responsiveness to opportunities and promptly address of externalities;
• Draft unit strategy/position papers and prepare presentations in line with the developed mandate to present to a variety of audiences;
• Contribute to UNDP integrator role and make substantive contribution to Result Groups (RGs) of the UN Country Team (UNCT);
• Ensure operationalization of the CPD through timely development of relevant pipeline projects and effective and efficient implementation of ongoing sustainable programmes and projects in collaboration with the main partners and other UN sister Agencies;
• Provide leadership to design and formulate UNDP poverty reduction/inclusive growth & SDG acceleration programmes, translating UN/UNDP priorities and SDG analysis into local interventions;
• Represent the Unit in meetings as well as with donor coordination meetings related to the Unit thematic areas.
• Oversight of Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Thematic Area and its expected unit results
• Provide leadership and directions to ensure effective and efficient management of the Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Thematic Area;
• Review the Unit portfolio projects and suggest necessary programmatic changes/ amendments to ensure alignment with National Priorities, UNSDCF, UNDP strategic Plan, CPD, in addition to ensuring the proper incorporation of cross cutting themes (i.e. environment/climate change, youth/women employment, human rights, gender mainstreaming etc).
• Lead the development of new initiatives and programmes in the areas of Inclusive and Sustainable Growth
• Prepare Unit work-plans while ensuring complementarities and coordination within the portfolio and with other CO Thematic Areas;
• Ensure timely and well-sequenced execution of approved work plans and programmes, using multiyear framework for planning, budgeting and reporting, including the development of strategies to ensure delivery acceleration and timely reporting of results while managing risks of exposure to audit recommendations and maintaining UNDP standing and reputation;
• Ensure effective utilization of technical and financial resources of the Unit to achieve the unit expected outputs;
• Ensure strategic and operational oversight of planning, budgeting, implementation and monitoring of the programme, tracking use of financial resources as per commitments with key partners and in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations;
• Perform effective monitoring of results to measure the impact of poverty reduction/inclusive growth acceleration programmes including the coordination of necessary evaluation exercises (Results of monitoring and evaluation used to draw crucial lessons and constructive learning for timely readjustment of programme);
• Monitor the implementation of the portfolio Work Plans, undertake regular reviews, report on progress and make necessary revisions;
• Prepare financial projections and monitor progress and delivery of the portfolio in close collaboration with Programme Compliance and Oversight Unit (PCOM);
• Ensure the effective implementation of the cost-recovery strategies and systems, including the systematic set-up and implementation Direct Project Costing (DPC) or Delivery Enabling Services (DES) in close collaboration with PCOM and the Operations;
• Advise the senior management team on delivery implementation challenges and seek support from the other Unit team leaders to resolve obstacles and bottlenecks;
• Ensure the timely organization of project audits under the portfolio and follow-up for prompt implementation of audit recommendations including updates in the Comprehensive Audit and Recommendation Database System (CARDS);
• Oversee the timely periodical progress and financial reporting in compliance with UNDP rules and regulations to all cooperating partners, donors, Government stakeholders and UN counterparts while ensuring the need for informative, clear and transparent reporting against signed project documents and committed resources and timetables highligting transformational changes;
• Systematize the effective application of RBM tools throughout the full programme cycle from the design, to implementation and reporting and during the timely closure of projects;
• Lead the preparation of public communication and advocacy materials in close collaboration with the Communication Unit;
• Oversee and ensure maintenance of risks and issues logs of each programme/project within the Unit, including the management and mitigation of risks and issues timely and appropriately while raising them to senior management attention as required.
• Day-to-day management of the Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Team
• Provide day to day direction and leadership to guide and support the work of the unit team (including advisors, technical and programme specialists and support staff, consultants etc.), quality assurance, troubleshooting and supervision to the unit team.
• Advise on staffing requirements and administer recruitment processes in collaboration with PCOM and the Operations Section including the preparation of job descriptions, the composition of panels, the assistance with the written tests and interviews, etc;
• Ensure timely preparation and finalization of the Performance Management Document (PMD) or performance evaluation assessments for the Inclusive and Sustainable Growth personnel;
• Regularly organize unit meetings, document the deliberations as well as agreed action points and ensure the timely follow-up of their implementations programme;
• Lead and coordinate the Inclusive and Sustainable Growth contribution to cross-unit activities including the office response to corporate requests or periodical exercises such as the Results Oriented Annual Report (ROAR), the Integrated Workplan (IWP) exercises or similar processes.
Ensure coordination, build synergies, expand and strengthen strategic partnerships and support resource mobilization and innovative financing models to support effective implementation of relevant Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Thematic Areas and their scaling up. Specifically s/he will:
• Coordination and Synergy Building
• Ensure coordination and build synergies within the unit and across the country programme as well as with UNCT and other stakeholders including the private sector, the civil society, the academia and beneficiaries;
• Coordinate with the other unit heads to ensure complementarity/harmonization with the activities and plans of the other units;
• Coordinate and build partnerships with UNCT Result Groups (RGs) to enhance programmatic synergies in the area of sustainable and inclusive growth;
• Coordinate with the Communications unit to ensure proper visibility programmes’ activities and timely reporting to Cooperating Partners;
• Engage regularly with the Strategic Policy Unit, to ensure alignment of programme goals with the revised GRZ and UNSDCF/UNCT priorities;
• Maintain close coordination with both Programme and Operations Sections by providing technical and programme support including the development of joint programmes when needed.
• Partnerships Strengthening and Resource Mobilisation
• Develop and consolidate strategic partnerships, with government, non-government and private sector entities, development partners for joint programming and resources mobilization to achieve CPD outcomes/outputs;
• Determine and develop programmatic areas of cooperation based on strategic goals of UNDP, country needs and development partners’ priorities;
• Initiate, nurture and coordinate partnerships with UN Agencies, IFI’s, government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, private sector, civil society for programme support and implementation;
• Prepare substantive briefs, advocacy materials and technical reports to report on the areas of cooperation, and for identifying further opportunities for collaboration;
• Represent UNDP on the UN Joint Team Task Forces, Result Groups (RGs) and contribute to joint planning, programme and policy development, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and advocacy activity.
Strategic results management and facilitation of knowledge management and sharing. This includes:
• Identify sources of information related to policy-driven issues and make a synthesis of good practices and lessons learned directly linked to programme and policy applications;
• Ensure a robust evidence base documented experience from the project implemented under the portfolio, with research and analysis carried out, where possible;
• Coordinate capacity development support to national implementing Partners (IPs) and Responsible Parties (RPs) in collaboration with the national partners, PCOM and the Operations Section;
• Draft and advocate the adherence to UN/UNDP policy positions on relevant issues;
• Establish an advocacy networks at national level and linking to regional and global networks;
• Contribute to local and global knowledge networks and communities of practice;
• Capture and analyse results, and produce timely results reports for office reporting, with special focus on tracking capacity change and gender equality impact;
• Communicate results through the use of multi-media channels to share results;
• Organize learning and training relating to the Unit’s area of expertise for CO’s staff and implementing partners
• Manage the dissemination and application of knowledge, best practices and programme results for advocacy, resources mobilization, learning and practice development;
• Supervise the recording and dissemination of best practices and lessons learned;
• Ensure the visibility of unit activities through regular updating on achievements, and provide advice on the visibility materials (newsletters, publications, etc.);
• Proactively participate in UNDP regional and international fora on relevant thematic areas (This could include engaging in thematic discussions, contributing with analytical papers, publications, knowledge networks etc).
Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:
• As a member of the Country Office Management Team (COMT), s/he also helps drive integration of work at all levels, from the overall direction by setting to ideas generation, design, implementation to reporting on results, driving and developing partnerships and contributing to the communication for development results. S/he supervises a diverse team with various profiles and manages the deployment of additional long and short-term expertise when required.

Competencies
Core
• Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity
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
• Business Development – Advocacy/Advancing A Policy-Oriented Agenda: Ability to design and implement strategic short/long term campaigns and carry out customized activations to highlight UNDP’s position and support issue-based advocacy
• Business Management – Results-Based Programme Development and Management: Ability to manage Programmes and projects with a strategy aimed at improved performance and demonstrable results
• Partnership management – Building Strategic Partnerships: Ability to engage with other agencies, donors, and other development stakeholders and forge productive working relationships
• Partnership management – Innovation and Marketing New Approaches: Ability to manage organizational resources and deployment in pursuit of innovative approaches and initiatives. Ability to scan the horizon and identify approaches and initiatives to bring into policy and programme design
• Partnership management – Resource Mobilization (Field Duty Stations): Ability to identify and organize Programmes and projects to implement solutions and generate resources
• Inclusive Growth – Prosperity: Political Economy Analysis: Knowledge of the interaction of political and economic processes in a society; including distribution of power and wealth between groups and individuals, and the processes that create, sustain and transform these relationships over time, and how these dynamics both affect, and are affected by, UNDP’s development support
• Business Management – Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Knowledge of organizational development concepts, issues and principles and the ability to apply them to strategic and/or practical situations
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Business Administration, Public Administration, Economics, Development studies, Engineering, Political Sciences, Social Sciences or related field.
Experience:
• Minimum 5 years of experience at the national or international level in any of the following areas: integrated sustainable development, inclusive and sustainable growth and SDGs, local development, job creation and livelihoods, women/youth economic empowerment, economic diversification, reduction of poverty and inequality;
• Proven experience in middle/upper management positions providing technical and policy advisory services.
• Proven track record of successful project/programme management experience with teams and budgets of comparable complexity and scope;
• Hands-on experience in designing, planning, monitoring and evaluation of development projects.
• Proven ability in establishing partnerships and mobilising resources among international organizations, national government, financing institutions, private sector.
• Experience in strategic planning and identification of entry points for targeted interventions for maximum benefit and leveraging of Programme resources;
• Good communication skills, leadership, prioritization, organizational and effective people management.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.
• Experience with UNDP/UN, Government Institutions or International organizations will be an asset
Language:
• Proficiency in oral and written English
Important
Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.
Disclaimer
Scam warning
The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 60

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Job application procedure
To apply for this job please visit estm.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com.

All Jobs

QUICK ALERT SUBSCRIPTION