Peace & Development Specialist

Lilongwe

Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
Location: Lilongwe
Grade: Mid level - P-4, International Professional - Internationally recruited position
Occupational Groups:
- Governance and Peacebuilding
- Peace and Development
Closing Date: Closed

Background

Peace and Development Specialists (hereafter PDA) work with national stakeholders to build, strengthen, and sustain nationally owned and driven efforts to prevent violent conflict and build just and peaceful societies. The range of countries to which PDAs are deployed vary considerably, with some deployed to countries emerging from conflict, others where violence is escalating, and others to countries where there is no violent conflict but underlying structural causes of conflict are present. PDAs are also deployed in countries where political and developmental challenges exist around issues related to elections and constitutional processes, exclusion and inequality, environment, climate change and natural resource management.

PDAs are deployed through a partnership between the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), under the Joint UNDP-DPPA Programme on Building National Capacities for Conflict Prevention. PDAs support Resident Coordinators (RC) and UN Country Teams (UNCTs) in their efforts to work with national partners on conflict prevention and sustaining peace. They support early warning and risk management measures, and ensure that UN assessments, frameworks (mainly UN Cooperation Frameworks), strategies and programmes are conflict-sensitive and informed by high quality analysis. They are located in the Resident Coordinators’ office, with a direct reporting line to the RC, and a secondary reporting line to the UNDP Resident Representative and DPPA-DPO regional divisions.

In 2020, PDAs are deployed to more than 50 countries through the Joint Programme. While most PDAs are deployed at country-level, there are a number of PDAs who cover multiple countries. In some contexts, PDAs are part of a small Peace and Development Advisory team composed of a PDA and a substantive national or international officer/analyst. PDAs also receive additional support from a Joint Programme secretariat based at UN Headquarters in New York, from UNDP and DPPA technical advisors/specialists globally, and from a cadre of regional programme specialists supporting their regions from Amman, Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Dakar, Istanbul and Panama.

Given the broad range of skills and experience required by PDAs, the Joint Programme encourages applications from individuals with a combination of expertise spanning sustainable development, political affairs, peacebuilding, sustaining peace, conflict prevention/resolution, community engagement, justice, reconciliation, dialogue, mediation, and humanitarian-development-peace nexus among other relevant areas. While UN experience is a major asset, it is not a requirement for this position. Moreover, the skills of diplomacy, dialogue and facilitation, analysis, advocacy, networking, capacity development and coordination are critical elements of a PDA’s work.

Malawi’s context

Since 2012, UNDP Malawi has been supporting the government of Malawi in establishing a National Peace Architecture (NPA) to institutionalize the mechanisms for preventing conflict, sustaining peace and social cohesion, and providing collaborative platform for dialogues. Ongoing support has culminated into the approval and launch of the National Peace Policy (2017) which establishes institutional mechanisms for coordinating peace initiatives such as the District Peace Committees and the Malawi Peace Commission. Six “hotspot” District Peace Committees were established and in 2020, the government has established a multi-stakeholder Reference Group for the drafting of Bill to establish the Malawi Peace Commission. UNDP has engaged a national legal consultant to work with the Reference Group.

The pre-election phase, especially in the first quarter of 2019, saw a rise in violence incidences. UNDP and the UN RCO supported national led conflict prevention interventions and the Center for Multiparty Democracy (CMD) led conflict prevention dialogue sessions for political leaders at the national, regional and constituency levels. The Public Affairs Committee (PAC) convened peace mediation and dialogue sessions, which led to the signing of the Peace Declaration by all presidential candidates before the May 21, 2019, tripartite elections.

On February 3, 2020, the High Court nullified the May Presidential election results and called for fresh elections within 150 days. An appeal is currently before the Supreme Court who has since heard the appeal but is yet to deliver its ruling. Throughout this time, there have been frequent demonstrations, which have become increasingly violent.

UNDP/RCO supported dialogue and mediation efforts led by key stakeholders to prevent the escalation of tensions.

It is against this background that services of Peace and Development Advisor (PDA) are being sought to work in country alongside national stakeholders to build, strengthen, and sustain nationally-owned and driven efforts to mediate, resolve, and transform tensions, with a view to preventing violence and building peaceful societies. It is also expected that the PDA will provide technical advice to the relevant partners in central and local government to translate the National Peace Policy into a National Peace Architecture bill at the earliest while momentum is still strong.

The PDA is placed in the Resident Coordinators Office, and reports to the RC with secondary reporting line to the UNDP RR, but also offers political and programmatic advisory services to the larger UNCT and UNHQ on the UNSG Prevention Agenda. The PDA will also work closely with the UNDP Governance team to sustain the on-going work with the Government of Malawi, PAC, and other stakeholders to ensure operationalization of the National Peace Policy and the Malawi Peace Commission.

The PDA works closely with the human rights team within the RCO. A senior Human Rights Adviser was deployed in 2019 to advise and support the UNCT and RC to strengthen the UNs work in the area of human rights programming, advocacy, and mainstreaming including initiatives that advance the UNSG Prevention Agenda. A data-based human rights approach is being implemented in collaboration UN Agencies as well Government and non-state actors. Decentralization data collection is in process of implementation, which would enable data-based programming, resource mobilization and advisories to the RC, UNCT and Head offices in New York and Geneva.

Duties and Responsibilities

PDAs have a primary reporting line to the Resident Coordinator, and secondary reporting lines to the DPPA-DPO regional division and the UNDP Resident Representative. Under their guidance and agreed workplan, and in close collaboration with the country team, the PDA will:

Undertake conflict analysis and provide strategic advice to the Resident Coordinator in his/her engagement with high-level government officials, academia, civil society including youth and women’s networks, UN Country Teams, HQ, and other relevant stakeholders.

Provide risk-informed analysis to the RC and the broader UNCT (and in some contexts, the Humanitarian Country Team) as well as the UN Headquarters (and regional level as relevant) on political and socioeconomic developments and conflict dynamics. This would also require identifying appropriate ‘entry points’ for conflict prevention and sustaining peace, proposing concrete, actionable and timely recommendations for consideration by the UN leadership; in line with reporting guidelines established by the Joint Programme, submit the analysis and reporting to the RC, UNDP RR and DPPA.
Strengthen and support the capacity of the UNCT, including through training, to undertake conflict, context and political economy analysis, ensuring that gendered and human rights dimensions are reflected in both analysis and programming; and inform early warning and response mechanisms;
Provide updates to the UN Headquarters (and regional level as relevant) in line with the Joint Programme’s reporting guidelines to provide advice on political and socioeconomic developments and conflict dynamics.
Support the regular update of the Common Country Assessment (CCA), which informs the design and implementation of the UN Cooperation Framework, including lead the conflict analysis part of the CCA;
Regularly brief the UNCT on political developments, and provide strategic advice on integrated approaches across the UNCT in the context of SDG 16 – Peace Justice and Strong Institutions;
Facilitate the linking of political economy considerations, conflict and political analysis and strategies as well as risk-informed approaches to the UN’s programmatic and policy engagement at the country-level; and
Engage with academia and think tanks in research and analyses on peace and conflict related themes, including areas such as climate-related security risk.

Identify opportunities to build national capacities for conflict prevention including areas of strategic, programmatic and policy engagement with national stakeholders, and support the RC and the UNCT action in areas of conflict prevention, peacebuilding, human rights, humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus, Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) among others.

Provide strategic and technical advice, and support the design and initiation of peace-promoting initiatives or engagements in areas such as conflict prevention and sustaining peace; infrastructures for peace; dialogue processes; confidence-building measures, electoral violence prevention; social cohesion; reconciliation; countering violent extremism; and stabilization;
Support the design and facilitation of national multi-stakeholder processes, building national and local capacity for negotiation, mediation and dialogue; and strengthening networks of mediators and facilitators (including female mediators) at national and local levels;
Identify opportunities and options for UN preventive diplomacy engagement as required;
Support connecting local and national level conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts, as well as regional and/or cross-border initiatives as appropriate;
Identify and engage civil society actors in the peace and development agenda supported by the UN and work with other UN entities, including OHCHR and UN Women, to protect human rights and expand civic space;
Support the UNCT in their efforts on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and gendered dimensions of peacebuilding and SCR 1325 (and related resolutions) as well as Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) and SCR 2250;
Support the design and implementation of strategies for identifying entry points for mainstreaming of conflict prevention and conflict sensitivity in the work of the UNCT (including within the CCA, Cooperation Framework, Country Programme Documents (CPD), etc.); and where relevant, support UN’s resource mobilization efforts for conflict prevention;
Provide strategic guidance and quality assurance to the design and implementation of programmes funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), where applicable, and engage closely with PBF governance mechanisms; as well as with DPPA regional divisions and UNDP Country Offices and HQ on the implementation; and
In contexts of a UN Mission transition, work closely with relevant stakeholders to ensure that the activities of the UNCT incorporate a conflict prevention dimension to sustain the peacebuilding gains achieved during the mission’s presence.

Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with key national stakeholders, regional and international actors and development partners on issues related to Sustaining Peace and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Establish and maintain networks and strategic partnerships for sustaining peace related strategies and initiatives and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and national SDG plans;
Liaise closely with national, regional, and local stakeholders including civil society, academia, think tanks, women’s and youth networks and key international actors (including International Financial Institutions and regional organizations) to identify entry points, foster dialogue and strengthen strategic alliances and partnerships on conflict prevention, trust- and confidence-building, and reconciliation initiatives;
Maintain close liaison with relevant development partners, the diplomatic corps, regional organizations and other actors supporting the UN’s conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts;
Maintain close contact with relevant staff in UN Headquarters as well at the regional level including relevant focal points at UNDP, DPPA-DPO, DCO and work closely with the regional programme specialists based in the region;
Maintain close contact with Special Envoys, Special Representatives of the Secretary-General, political missions and offices where relevant;
Liaise with the DPPA-Peacebuilding Support Office together with the respective DPPA-DPO regional division in countries where PBF activities are being developed and/or implemented; and
Contribute to the results-based management efforts of the Joint UNDP-DPPA Programme, including through setting up mechanisms to assess and measure impact of peace and development initiatives and providing the Joint Programme secretariat with inputs on progress at the country level.

Competencies

Core competencies

Innovation (Ability to make new and useful ideas work)

Creates new and relevant ideas and leads others to implement them

Leadership (Ability to persuade others to follow)

Plans and acts transparently, actively works to remove barriers

People Management (Ability to improve performance and satisfaction)

Models independent thinking and action

Communication (Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform)

Gains trust of peers, partners, clients by presenting complex concepts in practical terms to others

Delivery (Ability to get things done while exercising good judgement)

Critically assesses value and relevance of existing policy / practice and contributes to enhanced delivery of products, services, and innovative solutions

Technical/Functional Competencies

Social Cohesion (Knowledge of methods and experience of supporting communities to achieve greater inclusiveness, more civic participation and creating opportunities for upward mobility)