Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) takes a developmental approach across the issues of conflict prevention, PVE and peacebuilding. UNDP’s Prevention Offer (2022-2025)[1] articulates the organization’s prevention and peacebuilding ambition and promotes a strong development lens that calls for acting early and at scale in conflict and crisis prevention and peacebuilding. 

The UNDP regional development approach - Regional PVE Project, “Preventing and Responding to Violent Extremism in Africa and Arab States: A Development Approach” is a joint initiative of the Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA) and Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS), which aims to address the spread of violent extremism across Africa and Arab States regions. The regional project is implemented in six sub-regions: East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa (including the Lake Chad region, the Mali-Burkina Faso-Niger triangle, and the Littoral States), Southern Africa, North Africa, and the Mashreq of the Arab States region. The sub-regional windows focus on evidence-driven, well-coordinated strategies to position Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) as a key element in addressing underlying development challenges that contribute to violent extremism, offering a development-based solution. In these sub-regions, the aim is to foster optimal interplay between PVE support for Regional Economic Commissions or Institutions, national government agencies, and local/grass-roots interventions. This collaborative approach is expected to flourish and provide the greatest potential for cross-border responses to address the transnational phenomenon of violent extremism. Within these sub-regions, the project's PVE-specific interventions at national and community levels focus on 5 pathways to prevention: whole-of-government and whole-of-society strategies that foster enhanced trust relations between state security services and at-risk individuals; disengagement and reintegration (including mental health support); alternative narratives through media and technology; the resilience of faith-based organizations; and gendered interventions.

This joint initiative is jointly implemented and coordinated by the Regional Service Centre for Africa (RSCA), based in Addis Ababa and Regional Hub for Arab States, based in Amman, serving UNDP’s 46 Country Offices in Africa and 18 Country Offices in Arab countries respectively. They develop high quality knowledge and policy products that position the organization as a key counterpart to regional and continental bodies such as the African Union (AU), Leage of Arab States and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs).

The Regional PVE Project, “Preventing and Responding to Violent Extremism in Africa and Arab States: A Development Approach” is managed and coordinated by the Regional PVE team. It falls under the larger Governance and Peacebuilding Teams at the Regional Service Centre for Africa and the Regional Hub for Arab States. The Regional PVE Team provides technical advisory support to country offices and coordinates the design, implementation, monitoring evaluation, and reporting of interventions and serves as a hub of technical expertise. The team also supports country offices in delivering effective community-level interventions.

Under the direct supervision of the Regional PVE Programme Specialist, the Regional PVE Project Specialist, as part of the regional PVE team, will provide technical advisory support in the field of peacebuilding and PVE. The PVE Project Specialist will support the implementation of the Regional PVE Project and its sub-regional windows and initiatives including planning, coordination and monitoring and evaluation. S/he will also support knowledge management and sharing by leading on research, analysis, and policy development, facilitating knowledge exchange and learning through the internal and external PVE Community of Practices (CoPs) and the production of communication and knowledge materials. S/he will undertake other tasks as directed by the supervisor.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Regional PVE Programme Specialist will be responsible for the following tasks:

1. Ensure regional coordination and technical guidance to Country Offices

• Provide technical advisory in the thematic area of prevention of violent extremism and peacebuilding, as well as in the overall governance and peacebuilding areas;
• Draft policy documents, briefs, and other strategic papers/ materials tailored to a diverse audience to inform and shape UNDP’s programmatic and policy positions;
• Conduct analysis and research in the thematic areas across the region using online sources and virtual libraries to help the team and network practitioners stay informed about trends and developments, including those related to VE policies; 
• Collaborate the organization with events related to PVE, such as roundtable discussions; UNDP technical missions and coordination with regional counterparts and partners including civil society and maintain contacts with relevant stakeholders, including NGOs and research institutions;
• Identify entry points and opportunities for collaboration by liaising with regional entities and initiatives, enhancing in-country knowledge and expertise;
• Build and manage strategic alliances and partnerships, especially with key think tanks and non-governmental organizations; 
• Provide technical advice on resources mobilization and help foster external partnerships for regional and multi-countries projects/ initiatives.

2. Contribute to development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting of PVE programmatic interventions in the region

• Support the PVE programmatic interventions in the region through planning, coordination of projects implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and progress reporting;
• Provide administrative and logistical planning support for missions, workshops/webinars, and other project activities; 
• Guide and ensure the development of M&E plans and risk management plans, ensuring context-specific indicators and risk mitigation measures are in place; 
• Coordinate with PVE M&E and reporting colleagues at the Country Offices for inputs into M&E Framework and reports including progress reports (quarterly, bi-annual and annual), as required;
• Prepare donor reports, ensuring timely and accurate updates on project progress and achievements; 
• Maintain all data and records relevant to the peacebuilding and PVE areas. This may include developing/updating the database for various expertise/ consultants in respective thematic areas;
• Analyze and research information on donors, prepare briefs on possible areas of cooperation, and identify opportunities for new partnerships and initiatives.

3. Knowledge management and sharing, community of practice networking, and communication plans development and implementation 

• Identify and document good practices in the areas of PVE, conflict prevention and peacebuilding and share lessons and approaches for better supporting Country Offices and ensuring relevance of programming; 
• Document, codify lessons learned, and production of case evidence to inform UNDP’s global implementation n of the SG’s New Agenda for Peace;
• Contribute to the development and dissemination of tools for PVE across the regional and sub-regional PVE community of practices and support capacity-building of UNDP staff in the application of tools and practices;
• Develop and strengthen linkages with the peacebuilding and governance Communities of Practice, both within and beyond the UN system;
• Facilitate regional knowledge exchange and experience-sharing, including through South-South Cooperation; 
• Contributes to the development and implementation of communication strategies and plans aligned with the Regional PVE Project, including the preparation of key messages, advocacy materials, and visibility packages for major events;
• Develop compelling content — articles, newsletters, stories, videos, podcasts, and social media posts — to communicate project achievements, advocate for PVE efforts, and showcase impact.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangement 

The Regional PVE Project Specialist is based at UNDP’s Regional Service Centre for Africa, as part of the regional PVE team and will be supervised by the Regional PVE Programme Specialist under the overall Governance and Peacebuilding Teams led by the Regional Governance and Peacebuilding Coordinators for Africa and Arab States. S/he will work in close collaboration with the RSCA and Regional Hub for Arab States teams, and Country Offices as well as relevant HQ teams.

Business Management: Monitoring & Evaluation

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in International Relations, Conflict Prevention, Peace Studies, Political Sciences, Social Sciences, Law or equivalent is required.
• A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree. 

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years (with Master’s degree) or 7 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of professional working experience in Conflict Prevention, Peacebuilding, Rule of Law, Prevention of Violent Extremism is required. 

Required  skills:

• Good knowledge of democratic governance and peacebuilding issues, including conflict prevention, PVE, rule of law, justice and human rights;
• Proven experience in collecting, analyzing, synthesizing and interpreting data, and producing high-quality reports briefs and analytical documents;
• Proficiency and proven experience in the use of Microsoft Office suite (e.g. Word, Excel, Power Point) is required. 

Desired additional skills:

• Previous experience working with UNDP;
• Experience working in a conflict affected country in Africa; 
• Previous experience in coordinating activities and organizing events for a diverse audience;
• Proven experience in managing Microsoft SharePoint web-based platforms.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of French and Arabic will be an advantage.

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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