Job Description

Please note the appropriate Tier indicated in the vacancy title and ensure that you are holding the applicable contract as defined below:

• Tier 1: UNDP/ UNCDF/ UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed term (FTA) appointments (defined as “internal” candidates)  
• Tier 2: Staff holding UNDP temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts and Expert and Specialist UNVs with host entity UNDP
• Tier 3: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates

Background

UNDP has been working in India since 1951 in almost all areas of human development. Together with the Government of India and development partners, we have worked towards eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, strengthening local governance, enhancing community resilience, protecting the environment, supporting policy initiatives and institutional reforms, and accelerating sustainable development for all.

With projects and programmes in every state and union territory in India, UNDP works with national and subnational government, and diverse development actors to deliver people-centric results, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalized communities. As the integrator for collective action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the UN system, we are committed to supporting the Government of India’s national development vision and priorities and accelerating the achievement of the SDGs for the people and the planet.

UNDP India’s new Country Programme (2023-2027) builds on our prior work and aims to provide an integrated approach to development solutions in three strategic portfolios:

• Strong, accountable and evidence-led institutions for accelerated achievement of the SDGs.
• Enhanced economic opportunities and social protection to reduce inequality, with a focus on the marginalized.
• Climate-smart solutions, sustainable ecosystems and resilient development for reduced vulnerability.

South-South cooperation, gender equality and social inclusion are promoted across the pillars. The programme is supported by a framework of renewed partnerships and blended finance solutions, strategic innovation and accelerator labs, and data and digital architecture.

You are invited to join a team of future-smart development professionals to support India in achieving the national and globally agreed goals. As part of the UNDP team, your focus will be to work with diverse stakeholders to find country-specific solutions that lead to sustainable development and reach those furthest behind first.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyaan (PM JANMAN) is one of the important programs introduced in the Union Budget 2023-24 to improve the socio-economic status of the PVTGs. The mission seeks to address the development gaps in areas such as health, education, livelihoods, and basic infrastructure for PVTGs, and promote their overall welfare. The government has earmarked a budget of Rs. 15,000 crores to be sourced from DAPST, which will be implemented over a period of three years. Nine Union Ministries to be involved of which Ministry of Tribal Affairs is the Nodal Ministry implementing this mission. Under this mission, a multi-sectoral approach is adopted to ensure the holistic development of PVTGs, through providing safe housing, clean drinking water and sanitation, improved access to education, health and nutrition, road and telecom connectivity, and sustainable livelihood opportunities. The initiative aims to empower these communities.

To effectively support MoTA in achieving the project outcomes and considering the specific project management requirements at the Ministry level, UNDP has set up a PM-PVTG Support Cell within the Ministry of Tribal Affair. Support Cell has a technical team of specialists to provide overall assistance and desired support for Strategic Planning, implementation and monitoring the PM-JANMAN Mission, coordination and convergence with other Central Ministries, State Tribal Welfare Departments, and linkages with other external stakeholders as well as community members.

UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.

UNDP proposes to engage a Project Officer – Strategic Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation to develop and prepare comprehensive plan and strategies for quality monitoring and system strengthening of PM-PVTG Mission. S/He will be a part of the PM-PVTG Mission Support Cell to be established within the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and will ensure engagement convergence and coordination of all direct stakeholders and delivery of project objectives, in coordination with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, when needed.

The Project Officer - Strategic Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation will be part of the PM-PVTG Mission Support Cell and s/he will work under the overall guidance and supervision of Director, MoTA and project team members and day to day supervision on implementation issues with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. S/He will ensure the engagement of all direct stakeholders and delivery of project objectives, in coordination with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Direct Reporting To: Project Analyst- Tribal Rights, NPSA 9

Overall Reporting To: Chief Advisor, SDG acceleration and finance team, NOD, UNDP

Duties and Responsibilities: 

Strategic Planning and Implementation

• Develop strategic plan for the PVTG Development Mission 2.0 and its implementation, including the identification of key performance indicators, targets, and milestones.
• Design criteria and indicators for baseline assessments, frameworks for impact assessment, and evidence based strategic planning including coordination and convergence with stakeholders such as Central Ministries and states

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Prepare regular progress reports, highlighting achievements, and recommendations and use data-driven insights to provide real-time feedback for adaptive management.
• Develop and implement robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks for the mission, including timely and accurate data collection and management, analysis, and reporting,etc.
• Use data-driven insights and trend analysis to highlight program effectiveness and identify areas that need immediate attention.
• Conduct periodic field visits to PVTG areas to review on-ground implementation, identify challenges, and capture community perspectives.
• Provide support in knowledge management for the mission, including the documentation of lessons learned, success stories and best practices.

Stakeholder Coordination and Convergence

• Facilitate convergence and coordination with key stakeholders, including Central Ministries, State Tribal Welfare Departments, and other partners, to align programme activities with national and state priorities.
• Provide capacity building support by building capacity of implementing officers, field practitioners, and community-based organizations on mission objectives, monitoring, and reporting frameworks and provide regular reports based on the data analytics.
• Facilitate direct engagement with local governance bodies, tribal leaders, and community-based organizations to ensure participatory planning and accountability.
• Ensure that project contributes to the promotion of gender equality by reaching, involving and benefiting both women and men in its activities (gender mainstreaming)

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

Competencies

Core competencies

• Achieve Results:  LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion:  LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Business Direction and Strategy      

• Strategic Thinking:
  • Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP’s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities, linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions.
  • Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP.        

Business Management           

• Monitoring and Evaluation:
  • Ability to systematically monitor results of strategies, programmes, and activities with a view to make sure that they are being implemented effectively; 
  • Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback and reporting on the consistency or discrepancy between planned activities and programme management and results.
  • Ability to make independent judgment of the management and results of strategies, programmes and activities based on set criteria and benchmark, keeping in mind the needs and concerns of client, current and upcoming.
  • Knowledge and understanding of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, concepts, methodologies, systems, processes, and tools. Ability to make an independent judgement based on set criteria and benchmarks. Ability to anticipate client's upcoming needs and concerns.       
• Working with Evidence and Data - Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making              

Digital & Innovation   

• Data analysis - Ability to extract, analyse and visualize data (including Real-timeData) to form meaningful insights and aid effective decision making.      

Business Direction & Strategy           

• System Thinking - Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.      

Partnership Management      

• Multi- stakeholder engagement and funding - Knowledge and ability to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships, and remove any obstacles to resource mobilization and multi- stakeholder funding platforms       

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Social Sciences, rural development, development management, social work, public policy or related field is required. Or
• A first level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Applicants with a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in a relevant field of study are not required to have professional work experience.
• Applicants with a Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) are required to have a minimum of two (2) years of relevant professional experience in development management/ studies, rural development, social work, public policy or related field.

Required skills

• Good   understanding of tribal development related schemes/ programmes, especially for PVTGs.
• Proven skills in data analysis, collection, and reporting, enabling evidence- based recommendations for program improvement.

Desired skills

• Knowledge of and experience in gender mainstreaming is an asset.
• Sound knowledge of development challenges and solutions for Scheduled Tribes with specific focus on PVTGs will be preferred.
• Experience in Monitoring and Evaluation in social sector/Tribal schemes and programmes is desired.
• Experience of working in government/international agency funded projects is desirable.

Required Languages

• Excellent knowledge of written and spoken English.
• Knowledge of Hindi is desirable.

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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