| Overview : Over the past few years, the UN and the wider multilateral system have been undergoing various processes of review, reform, strategy- and goal-setting across the spectrum of their collective mandates, spanning the areas of peace and security, human rights, humanitarian assistance and development. These included, chiefly, the development and adoption, in September 2015, of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a comprehensive, strategic foundation that commits Member States and the Organization to an ambitious set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and that covers the parallel and often interrelated strands of multilateral engagement across the UN’s collective mandate. The outcomes of the May 2016 World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) further built on the premise of coherence. Most stakeholders agreed on the urgent need to strengthen collaboration and synergies across the “Humanitarian-Development Nexus” (Hum-Dev Nexus) by working to overcome long-standing attitudinal, institutional, and funding obstacles. The WHS reinforced the commitment to establish a ‘New Way of Working’ that can transcend humanitarian and development divides by working over multiple years towards collective outcomes that reduce risk and vulnerability and build towards achievement of the SDGs, based on the comparative advantages of a diverse range of actors, including those outside the UN system. Shortly before WHS, twin resolutions on Sustaining Peace were passed by the Security Council and General Assembly in April 2016, calling on the UN pillars of development, peace and security, and human rights to make contributions to addressing root causes and supporting institutions required for sustainable peace and development.? At present, the UN system remains institutionally fragmented and thematically siloed, which diminishes the Organization’s potential to devise and deliver collective outcomes. This fragmentation is mirrored in the UN’s staff body which, while containing an unparalleled reservoir of specialized expertise, is hampered by a lack of professionals with a system-wide background and requisite skillset. In addition, at country level, the UN is largely lacking dedicated advisory capacity to support joint situation and problem analysis, better joined-up planning and programming towards collective outcomes, and multi-disciplinary support the leadership and coordination by an empowered Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator (RC/HC or DSRSG/RC/HC in integrated contexts). The Secretary-General has made it a priority to achieve greater coherence in the work of the UN both horizontally across siloes, and vertically between the HQs and field – with a particular view to strengthening the UN’s overall effectiveness in prevention. The New Way of Working is one of the initiatives that the Secretary-General views as contributing to this objective. As a contribution to operationalizing the NWOW within the UN system and to overcoming the challenges outlined above as it pertains to its own institutional capacities, UNDP is launching a consultancy to scope of options and parameters of two initiatives: - The “People Pipeline” initiative, which seeks to offer a systematic approach to staff development while contributing to organizational reforms aimed at overcoming current barriers to UN system collaboration. It aims to develop and nurture a cadre of professionals across UN system entities starting from the mid-level upward (P3/P4 to D-level) who possess the requisite inter-personal and coordination skills, substantive knowledge and hands-on experience to engage in and facilitate complex system-wide processes. It also aims to align with, and reinforce, existing reform efforts and training/capacity building initiatives to increase UN system coherence and to reduce disincentives that currently prevent closer collaboration and mobility at an organizational and personal level.
- An initiative on “Deployable advisory capacities” in response to field-identified gaps and requests as a contribution to the system’s ability to deliver on the NWOW at the country level. It evolves from experience deploying Early Recovery Advisors and, in the context of the UNDP’s ongoing evaluation of the global cluster approach to early recovery, aims to identify options for identification of dedicated advisors that can be deployed for up to 12 months to advise RC/HCs and support UN Country Teams and Humanitarian Country Teams with the identification of collective outcomes and development solutions to reduce humanitarian needs, vulnerability and risk.
While spearheaded by UNDP, both initiatives are intended to be championed by a broader group of stakeholders that have committed to the NWOW and are expected to be integrated within broader system-wide capacity-building initiatives. The signatories of the “Commitment to Action” at the WHS were the UN Secretary-General, and the heads of WHO, UNDP, WFP, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNFPA, and OCHA. The Commitment to Action was also endorsed by the World Bank and IOM. DOCO and EOSG, among others, are also key institutional partners in the advancement of the NWOW. Objectives The consultant will support UNDP’s efforts at UN Headquarters level to scope and further conceptualize these two initiatives, in close collaboration with key UN stakeholders and in consultation with UN field presences, as well as partners beyond the UN system, including IASC members and NGOs. The consultant will work on both initiatives in parallel, reporting to a Project Manager in the UNDP Crisis Response Unit and in collaboration and consultation with focal points from relevant parts of UNDP and key UN stakeholders such as OCHA, DOCO, operational UN agencies, EOSG, Secretariat Departments, the UN System Staff College, and the World Bank. At the end of the consultancy, the following results will have been achieved: - The conceptual framing of the two initiatives (People Pipeline and deployable advisory capacities) have been developed, and the priorities and commitment of partners have been determined through consultations at technical and principals’ levels;
- An actionable strategy for the roll-out of the People Pipeline initiative, which presents delivery options, benchmarks and timelines, has been developed;
- An options paper of next steps on deployable advisory capacities to support RC/HCs has been finalized, including considerations with regard to linkages to existing capacities and profiles, proposed governance, reporting and management structures, parameters for a community of practice, etc.;
- An accompanying resource mobilization and advocacy strategy for both initiatives has been developed.
Details are provided in the Terms of Reference as advertised on UNDP job site: https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=73903 Interested bidders are requested to submit their application using the following link: https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=73903 as per the instruction in the notice and using templates provided. |
