UN VOLUNTEER DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT
Preamble:
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide. Volunteerism can transform the pace and nature of development and it benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for volunteerism globally, encouraging partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing volunteers.
In most cultures volunteerism is deeply embedded in long-established, ancient traditions of sharing and support within the communities. In this context, UN Volunteers take part in various forms of volunteerism and play a role in development and peace together with co-workers, host agencies and local communities.
In all assignments, UN Volunteers promote volunteerism through their action and conduct. Engaging in volunteer activity can effectively and positively enrich their understanding of local and social realities, as well as create a bridge between themselves and the people in their host community. This will make the time they spend as UN Volunteers even more rewarding and productive.
1. UNV Assignment Title:Regional Peace and Citizen Security Programme Specialist
2. Type of Assignment:International UN Volunteer
3. Project Title:UNV Regional Office and Field Unit Enhancement Initiative
4. Duration:12 months with possibility of extension based on performance
5. Location, Country:Multiple (Bangkok, Nairobi and Panama)
6. Expected Starting Date:Immediate
7. Brief Project Description:The UNV Strategic Framework 2014-2017 advocates for the effective enhancement of the capacity of UNV Field Units based at the country level with high quality programme advisory support through a regional office. The Strategic Framework informs the Global Programmes in the following focus areas: a) Access to Basic Services, b) Community resilience for environment and disaster risk reduction, c) Peacebuilding, d) Youth and national capacity building through volunteer schemes. Within the context of the UNV Strategic Framework and through the Global Programmes, the UNV Regional Offices are to provide high quality programmatic support and establish strategic partnerships at the regional level to promote volunteerism for peace and development in their respective regions.
8. Host Agency/Host Institute: UNV Regional Offices (Bangkok, Nairobi, Panama)
9. Organizational Context:
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. Volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tackling development challenges, and it can transform the pace and nature of development. Volunteerism benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer by strengthening trust, solidarity and reciprocity among citizens, and by purposefully creating opportunities for participation. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for recognition of volunteers, working with partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing an increasing number and diversity of volunteers, including experienced UN Volunteers, throughout the world. UNV embraces volunteerism as universal and inclusive, and recognizes volunteerism in its diversity as well as the values that sustain it: free will, commitment, engagement and solidarity. UNV engaged 6,351 UN Volunteers in 2013, on a total of 6,459 assignments. UNV is headquartered in Bonn, Germany and has Field Unit presence in about 69 countries.
The UNV Regional Offices is a pilot initiative currently being implemented in three locations, Bangkok, Nairobi and Panama and expected to be expanded to other regions. It is composed of a Regional Manager and 4 to 5 international UN Volunteers and 1 Programme Assistant. At UNV HQ level the UN Regional Office is headed by the Chief Programme Coordinator. The key objectives of the Regional Office are: (i) provide high quality programme advisory support to the Field Units and partners; (ii) establish strategic partnership with UN entities, Government, Regional Bodies, Civil Society Organisations and Volunteer Involving organizations to position UNV at the regional level; (iii) effective advocacy and promotion of volunteerism at the regional level through relevant conferences, fora, networking, etc. Within the context of the UNV Strategic Framework (2014-2017), the UNV Youth Volunteering Strategy (2014-2017) and the Global Programmes, the international UN Volunteers under the Regional Offices will work in the five priority areas where volunteerism has a transformational and cumulative impact on the lives of people.
10. Type of Assignment Place: assignment with family
11. Description of tasks:
Under the direct supervision of the UNV Regional Manager, who is the head of the UNV Regional Office, the UN Volunteer Regional Peace and Citizen Security Programme Specialist will:
A. Undertake and support the regional/country project planning and programming on peace and citizen security initiatives in line with the Global Peacebuilding Programme, including programme development, preparation of concept notes and project documents, technical and coordination support to Field Units.
Specifically she/he will undertake the following key functions:
· Keep abreast of development challenges and priorities on peace and citizen security in general and related volunteerism in countries within the region to identify relevant entry points at the UNV Field Units (FU) level for programming and partnerships;
· Provide support to FUs in developing the concept notes and project documents in line with the strategic quality criteria to be considered for funding under UNV global programmes;
· Develop consistent result frameworks and theories of change aligned to the UNV IRRM, the global programme documents and global projects for each priority area;
· Identify programmatic opportunities that maximise potential for volunteer mobilization as well as promotion of volunteerism in working closely with the FUs and the Portfolio Managers;
· Gather relevant information and analysis on regional trends on peace and citizen security in general and related volunteerism in particular as a basis to make substantive contributions to discussions, network, think tanks, etc. on peace and citizen security and volunteerism;
· Under the guidance of the Regional Manager, undertake a scoping exercise in conjunction with the UNV FUs to gather technical knowledge and evidence based results to inform emerging and ongoing initiatives on peace and citizen security in general and related volunteerism;
· From the peace and citizen security angle provide regional-level assessments, analysis and trends on how volunteering is an asset and noting the challenges to support regional peace and citizen security initiatives with regional and sub-regional bodies;
· Under the guidance of the Regional Manager provide substantive inputs to UNV Field Unit teams in their engagement with UN agencies through the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and Country Programme and other planning tools for forecasting of demand in their programmes;
· Undertake missions to support UNV Field Units in programme and project formulation on peace and citizen security in general and related volunteerism within the context of the national development plans, CCA and UNDAF processes.
· Undertake mapping exercises in order to identify the regional, sub-regional and national pipeline of projects of different UN agencies, including UN joint programmes;
· Under the guidance of the Regional Manager, participate in different forums and meetings on peace and citizen security issues, including the initiatives under the UN regional interagency thematic group on peace and citizen security;
· Integrated UNV knowledge and innovation in programme development;
· Provide inputs to the work plans and advisory services on peace and citizen security at the FU and Regional Office levels;
· Under the guidance of the Regional Manager, support effective result reporting on global and regional programmes and aggregate results to report progress against UNV IRRM and global programmes/grobal project result frameworks.
B. Assist the Regional Manager in identifying and strengthening relationships with main partners in the region on programmatic issues related to peace and citizen security in general and related to volunteerism. Specifically:
· Work to assist Regional Manager to explore potential and develop existing programmatic partneships;
· Effectively use evidence based information gathering on volunteerism-related peace and citizen security in the region and develop into advocacy products and projects for resource mobilisation;
· Build and strengthen relationships with Volunteer Sending Organisations, Civil Society Organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations, universities, community organizations, youth organizations and other partners in the region;
· Gather donor intelligence and mapping of relevant partners. Contribute to conceptualization and realization of fundraising material. Contribute to development of social media packages.
C. Others Tasks:
As the UNV Regional Office is a multidisciplinary team, the team members are expected to support each other and step in in absence of a team member. The team members will also be assigned other tasks by the Regional Manager.
Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to:
· Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark IVD);
· Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
· Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities;
· Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
· Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers;
· Encourage, mobilize and support co-workers, fellow UN Volunteers and members of the local community to play an active part in peace and development activities on a voluntary basis;
· Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.
12. Results/Expected Output:
· Concrete programming initiatives on Peace and Citizen Security and related volunteerism at the regional level and field offices;
· Evidence based information on volunteerism and peace and citizen security at the regional level is documented, disseminated and used for resource mobilisation;
· Effective support to UNV Field units to develop concept notes, project and programme within the context of UNDAF, Country Programme, UNV Global Programme is provided;
· Active participation in peace and citizen security related fora, conferences, meetings, working groups and effective follow up on recommendations for action;
· A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of programming and partnerships supported, volunteer activities participated in and capacities developed.
13. Qualifications/Requirements:
· Preferable a masters degree in international relations, international development studies, human security studies, programme development and management or equivalent academic areas;
· 4-5 years working experience with at least 2 years on peace and citizen security related issues, preferably as it relates with citizens’ engagement, support to civil society or volunteerism, in an international environment or national level;
· Substantive knowledge in project design and formulation;
· Knowledge and analytical overview of the development realities and challenges in the region;
· Knowledge to network and mobilisation of resources is an asset;
· Excellent English writing and communication skills; excellent Spanish language skills are required for the assignment in Panama and French language skills for Nairobi.
· Advanced computers skills (word-processing/spreadsheets, PowerPoint) and
· Ability to work in teams from a multidisciplinary and cultural background.
14. Living Conditions:
This is a multiple country description of assignment for Bangkok, Nairobi and Panama and living conditions and conditions of service will be provided based on the preferable duty station of candidates.
****15. Conditions of Service****
See as above under Living Conditions
United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme which welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture.
HOW TO APPLY:
If you are not a candidate in UNV’s database, please apply by registering your profile athttps://ereta.unv.org/html/index.php?module=myprofile. Important: once you have created your UNV account by validating your email address, please complete all sections of your profile and select the following code: “****15GP_PEACE****” from the drop down menu in the “Special Recruitment” tab of ‘MyProfile’. Your application can only be considered once you have submitted your complete UNV profile (green button). As a confirmation of your successful registration, you will receive an email with your UNV roster number.
If you are registered in the UNV database of candidates, please update your profile at:http://MyProfile.unv.org. In the “Special Recruitment” section on the left, click on the “Edit” button and select the advertisement code “****15GP_PEACE****” from the drop-down list.
To express your interest in only one or in several duty stations, we invite you to list the duty stations (country) in order of preference in the 'Additional Remarks' section of your profile.
Please note however that independently of the preference(s) you have indicated, the UNV Programme reserves the right to identify candidates whose profiles best match the specific context and requirements of each assignment.
Closing date: ****5th February 2015****. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
