Regional Specialist - Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery at UNDP

Key Duties and Accountabilities

Project Implementation

• Conduct day-to-day management and coordination of the Project’s activities in select countries in Western Africa, Central Africa, and Eastern Africa, and provide support to UNDP Country Offices (COs);
• Provide technical inputs for the design, development, and implementation of agreed project’s activities;
• Participate in field missions to countries in support of project implementation and monitoring;
• Assist the Project Manager in mobilizing goods and services to support project activities, including drafting TORs and works/product requirements and specifications;
• Assist the Project Manager in monitoring project risks initially identified, submitting information on the new risks and possible mitigating measures to the Project Team for consideration;
• Collaborate with the UNDP project team, the regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery Advisor, UNDP country offices in project selected countries, as well as UNDRR teams on coordination of activities.

Quality Assurance:

• Ensure quality control and timely delivery of project activities; 
• Brief and consult with the Project Manager and DRT Regional Advisor on progress made, and provide information and advice to contribute to country initiatives;
• Support timely submission of substantive and financial reporting of project activities in targeted countries according to UNDP and EU requirements; 
• Coordinate periodic technical meetings with project partners and beneficiaries to ensure time delivery and coherence of project activities;
• Support the Project Manager in M&E activities for the project implementation in targeted countries; 

Knowledge management and community of practice for recovery:

• Compile, analyze, report and codify project’s results and lessons learned from country offices, foster cross-country learning and collaboration; 
• Advocate and enable South-South facilitation of exchanges and experiences sharing where valuable; 
• Provide inputs to country offices (COs) with requests for information on best practices and experiences on disaster risk reduction and recovery together with partners and expert institutions;  
• Encourage and support targeted COs to capture good practices through blogs, videos, photo essays etc. and promote on social media and other regional channels;
• Ensure project communication is in accordance with the visibility rules and communication standards of EU and UNDP 

Advocacy and partner engagement for effective policy positioning in the region: 

• Work closely with UNDP country offices in targeted countries; 
• Contribute to the development and nurturing of partnerships with the EC, regional economic communities in Africa and the Africa Union, donors and stakeholders involved in the project; 
• Identify opportunities for deepening the cooperation and recommending adequate approaches to dealing with different stakeholders based on information gathered during projects’ implementation; 
• Support the DRT’s engagement in partnership through reporting and developing briefing notes and background information when required; 
• Support resource mobilization efforts through development of concept notes and proposals and contribute to resource mobilization; 
• Carry out any other relevant tasks assigned by the supervisor. 

Requirements:

Education

• A Master's degree, preferably in disaster management, development, social sciences, international affairs, development economics, or other relevant field, or extensive compensating experience in Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery is required.  

Experience, Knowledge, and Skills

• A minimum of 5 years of professional work experience supporting policy and programme advice, including approaches and mobilizing resources in the general area of disaster risk reduction and recovery, or related areas of environmental economics or natural resource management in different development contexts. 
• Experience in either, public sectors (national or multilateral, including UN), or private sectors (academia, non-governmental sector, corporate). Experience with the workings of the UN, European Union institutions and the Secretariat of the ACP Group of States is an asset.  
• Proven track record, knowledge and experience in the field of disaster risk reduction and recovery. 
• Understanding of the international and regional disaster risk reduction systems, networks and key stakeholders.  
• Excellent writing, negotiating and communication skills and ability to mobilize support from a wide range of partners (public, private, academic, civil society, business community leaders)
• Experience in resource mobilization.   
• Working experience in developing countries is required. Working experience in Africa and in crisis context would be an asset. 

Language Requirement:

• Fluency in English and French is required. 
• Fluency in any other UN language is desirable