Research Associate

As the United Nations lead agency on international development, UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Our work is concentrated in three focus areas; sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience. UNDP’s mandate is to end poverty, build democratic governance, rule of law, and inclusive institutions. We advocate for change, and connect countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.

UNDP has entered a partnership with the Government of Jammu and Kashmir by bringing on board required technical sectoral expertise to the Department of Planning Development and Monitoring to work across departments to drive an integrated development agenda to promote faster achievement of Sustainable Development Goals in the UT. In line with the Indian model of SDG localization led by NITI Aayog, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir intends to establish a Sustainable Development Goals Coordination Centre (SDGCC) under the Directorate of Economics & Statistics. UNDP proposes technical support to SDGCC in Jammu and Kashmir guided by the MOU signed between NITI Aayog and UT of Jammu and Kashmir and through the partnership model agreed by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. The team is expected to catalyze the actions around achieving the Global Goals by 2030 by performing the role of a think tank and solutions provider to the UT. SDGCC is envisaged as a think tank, for providing high quality, cutting-edge policy and integrated advisory services to the State and UT departments to accelerate economic, social, and environmental goals. It seeks to promote whole of the government approach by bringing together various departments and communities to create sustainable solutions to social problems. SDGCC will promote data driven decision making by undertaking high quality analytics based on granular data. It will also establish tech enabled monitoring tools for greater effectiveness. UNDP proposes to engage a National UN Volunteer Research Associate to support SDGCC Jammu and Kashmir leading the activities related to Research and Documentation of the center. S/He will have multi-sectoral experience and possess programme management, partnership development, and coordination skills to manage the UNDP proposes to engage Research Associate to support SDGCC Jammu and Kashmir in research and aid the team in knowledge management. The Research Associates will provide overall policy research support, preparation of background notes, coordinate with stakeholders and support organization of knowledge events and trainings.

The National UN Volunteer Research Associate will work under the overall guidance and supervision of Policy Analyst and in close collaboration with the UNDP Programme Officer and Project Team members and day to day supervision on the implementation issues with the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. S/He will ensure engagement of all direct stakeholders and delivery of project objectives, in coordination with the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.

Under the direct supervision of the Public Policy Analyst (Head), SDGCC Jammu and Kashmir, the incumbent will focus on achievement of the following results:
• Provide technical assistance in implementation of SDGCC activities
• Support in computation of district level SDG index for the UT, and report generation in coordination with advisors and specialists
• Support in aligning Jammu and Kashmir’s budget with SDG Goals and targets.
• Responsible for coordinating with the various departments, SDG wise, to help them collect data with focus on sex disaggregated and gender sensitive data and use the same for effective monitoring of progress on SDGs
• Help identify different sources of Data portals and data collection mechanisms related to Departments, schemes, districts, cooperatives etc. and adapt them for the SDG Dashboard
• Identify qualitative and quantitative data sources and set up mechanisms for timely and quality data reporting as well as capturing lessons learnt
• Generate high quality monitoring reports using data analytics, at agreed intervals, including on specific themes that help review progress and programme strategy
• Develop capacity of line departments for more responsive and accountable governance, through IT based tools
• Assist in the organization of training programmes / workshops/webinars including coordination with the resource persons/participants, drafting of the proceedings etc.
• Maintain regular contact with related institutions and network of researchers/experts and coordinate with the local partners for implementation of various projects on the field
• Support in preparation of research training materials, tools for the SDGCC in different thematic areas and drafting of concept notes / presentation/briefs/ reports, as required
• Compile and share relevant information and data of various interventions with managers of the designated portals
• Perform any other tasks assigned from time to time by the supervisor