Fresh Jobs at United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Background

Organizational Context/Project

 For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

The Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) based in Nairobi, Kenya, provides oversight and guidance to UNICEF’s work in 21 countries. Led by the Regional Director (RD), ESARO provides oversight, policy advice, programme and operational guidance, management and technical support to the 21 UNICEF Country Offices (COs) in the region. ESARO also coordinates UNICEF's engagement at interagency level and in representation of the organisation in the region, and guides country office humanitarian preparedness and response, partnership and resource mobilization efforts.

Living Conditions

The Republic of Kenya is an equatorial nation on the coast of East Africa, neighbouring Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Indian Ocean. Kenya has two levels of Government; National Government and 47 sub-national Governments called Counties. Counties are further divided into sub-counties. Kenya is a multi-party state with Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. Kenya’s population of more than 40 million is growing at an annual rate of 2.2%. The country’s GNP per capita estimated at purchasing power parity (PPP) is $975, and the GNP is growing at an average rate of 0.1% annually. More than 26% of Kenya’s people live below the international poverty line of $1 per day. Kenya’s main food crops are “maize, wheat, pulses, roots and tubers.” (FAO).

Nairobi is a modern metropolitan city where most basic goods and services, health facilities, public transport, telecommunication and banking services and educational facilities are readily available. The city is widely connected through its main airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the smaller Wilson Airport. Air transport is also available to many up-country destinations. The city is home to some 5,000 UN personnel mainly attributed to the fact that it serves as the headquarters for both the UN HABITAT and UNEP.

The socio-economic and cultural background of the immediate society the Youth Advocate would be living and working in is diverse and prevailing security conditions at the place of assignment is modest. The topographic and climatic features of the assignment location is highland cool and warm tropical climate.

Conditions of Service for national UN Volunteers

A 12 months contract; with subsequent contract extensions subject to availability of funding, operational necessity and satisfactory performance. However, there is no expectation of renewal of the assignment.

Travel to duty station (if applicable) and a Settling-In-Grant will be provided in the event duty station is not within commuting distance from the place of recruitment. A Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA) of KES 80,541 is provided monthly to cover housing, utilities and normal cost of living expenses. Life, health and permanent disability insurance are included (health insurance for up to 3 dependents), as well as final repatriation (if applicable) and resettlement allowance for satisfactory service.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of Regional Advisor Gender, the national UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

• Contribute to the implementation of adolescent and young people related activities: equality and social cohesion strengthened;
• Support the coordination and implementation of regional policy and/or programme activities related to emerging issues on adolescents and young people;
• Support innovative research with children and young people, including adolescent’s participation in enhancing their protection;
• Support the collection of data on adolescents in ESAR;
• Contribute to resource mobilization activities, draft reports, project proposals, TORs, advocacy materials and other relevant documents as required; 
• Support the production and/or reviewing of social media content focusing on adolescent and or young people;
• Support documentation of best practices and lessons learned directly linked to regional and country program goals and activities related to adolescents and young people;
• Support with coordination of partners and participate in regional and global conference calls and meetings and support with follow-up;  

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required 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;
• 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.

Results/Expected Output:

• UNICEF’s Adolescents integrated programming best experiences and achievements are well documented and shared with the partners, donors and wider public;
• Strategic report and recommendations noting the enhanced progress in the mainstreaming of emerging issues across UNICEF programme areas;
• Improve programme planning, monitoring and evaluation data collection and analysis. 
• End of assignment lessons learned and best practices are shared with other UN Volunteers.
• The development of capacity through coaching, mentoring and formal on-the-job training, when working with (including supervising) national staff or (non-) governmental counterparts, including Implementing Partners (IPs);
• Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment
• A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.

Competencies

• Demonstrated interest in and knowledge in issues related to adolescents and young people
• Motivated to contribute towards peace and development and to serve others
• Good interpersonal, networking and communication skills
• Willingness to contribute and work as part of a team
• Flexible and open to learning and new experiences
• Respect for diversity and adaptability to other cultures, environments and living condi-tions
• Fluency in spoken and written English language is require
• Previous experience as a volunteer and/or experience of another culture, (i.e. studies, volunteer work, internship) would be highly regarded
• Computer skills (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, social media, and others) 

Required Skills and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Social Development/ Social Work/International Development/or similar background.
• Minimum years of experience: 2-4 years
• Demonstrated interest and/or experience in programme design, develop-ment and implementation, information and/or knowledge management is an advantage

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Duties and Responsibilities

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES.

The UN Women’s Humanitarian and DRR work in Kenya seeks to support government and key stakeholders in the development and implementation of gender responsive humanitarian policies, strategies and programmes to promote women leadership and participation in key decision making, build the capacity of key stakeholders including women and men to ensure their equal participation in the humanitarian and DRR work and to strengthen and coordinate gender mainstreaming amongst different stakeholders including the UN System.

UN Women, through the Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection in Crisis Response (LEAP) programme seeks to provide and strengthen technical, coordination and capacity support to humanitarian stakeholders working in the Kakuma Refugee Camp as well as the surrounding drought and conflict affected host communities. UN Women will leverage ongoing work, including the development of a localized Gender and Gender-based Violence Humanitarian Training Manual and strengthening the use of IASC gender Marker.

War and displacement heighten women and girl’s vulnerability to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), in particular sexual violence, as physical and social systems for protection break down and norms regulating social behavior are weakened. Women and girls are at risk of SGBV during forced migration and within camp settings, with newly arrived females and female headed households particularly vulnerable. Further, the widespread practices such as blaming the survivor, shame, stigma, fear of reprisals and threats of rejection by families and the community are powerful deterrents to reporting. This leads to a situation where the majority of survivors do not receive appropriate health care with potentially life-threatening consequences. A lack of knowledge about the health consequences of SGBV also limits reporting and access to appropriate and timely health care. Violence against women and girls is pervasive and the exact nature and scope of SGBV cases in Kalobeyei Settlement and host community is difficult to capture accurately as the majority of cases remain unreported. In view of the refugee influx from South Sudan there is need to scale up life-saving services to respond to SGBV related incidents and cases. The integration of host communities in the settlement also requires heavy investment in awareness creation on SGBV, men and boy’s engagement, peaceful coexistence and reporting of SGBV cases.

It is in this context that UN Women’s Peace & Security and Humanitarian Action unit seeks to hire an expert to undertake a research study and document the impact of SGBV in Kalobeyei camp and the surrounding host communities. The study findings will shade more light on the magnitude of SGBV cases in the camp, the existing referral mechanisms and services provided and challenges encountered in accessing services. The study will inform programming and the adoption of targeted strategies to strengthen the available services and referrals assistance required by the SGBV survivors.

SPECIFIC TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITY:

Under the overall supervision of the Women Peace and Security Specialist and in close consultation with UNHCR in Kakuma Refugee Camp, the Consultant will be expected to undertake the following tasks:

• Review available background data on gender and SGBV related issues within the camp and host community including SGBV Policy, circulars, relevant research reports and other relevant materials;
• Map out the  existing SGBV referal mechanisms, type of services offered and the contact details;
• Conduct quantitative and qualitative study on the types and impact of SGBV in Kalobeyei camp and the surrounding host communities;
  • Consult with individual humanitarian partners within the UN System, INGOs, NGOs, CBOs and FBOs among others that are addressing SGBV cases in the county and camp;
  • Hold follow-up meeting with the SGBV working group;
• Hold a validation meeting with humanitarian partners to review and incorporate additional feedback;
• Produce a comprehensive report on the impacts of SGBV and the existing innovative resilience strategies used by displaced and host community to tackle the impacts.

DELIVERABLES

• Provide detailed workplan for assignment (approaches, logistics, tools, timing, etc.) of field work for approval;
• Draft report according to the outline provided by UN Women for review and input. The report should comprehensively highlight the following:
  • existing SGBV policy, circulars and other relevant materials;
  • existing and operational referral mechanisms, type of services offered and the contact details;
  • the capacity of the services providers to address/attend to SGBV cases, challenges encountered and opportunities for strengthening existing mechanisms;
  • impacts of SGBV to (1) the refugees in the camp and (2) the host community;
  • existing innovative resilience strategies used by displaced and host community to tackle the impacts; and actionable suggestion on how to alleviate the identified impacts.
• Final report that incorporates UN Women feedback. The final reports should include an executive summary that summarizes the key  findings; recommendations including best practices identified by the research used to tackle the impacts of SGBV

METHODOLOGY

The research methodology will include as a minimum:

• Compilation of a list of reference documents as extensive and detailed as possible;
• Desk review of a number of selected documents from the list above, that may provide the information necessary for the core sections of the research. In this desk review, relevant recommendations and strategies that have not yet been addressed may be compiled in a preliminary “Recommendation list”;
• List of key informants covering a wide range of stakeholders (government, UN, INGO, NGO etc) and institution.

Competencies

Core Values / Guiding Principles

• Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
• Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity. 

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism. Excellent analytical and organizational skills.

Required Skills and Experience

• QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:
• Master's degree (or equivalent) in development related disciplines, gender issues, statistics, humanitarian studies or other social science fields;
• At least 10 years’ experience with authoritative knowledge of issues relating to refugee women, gender, humanitarian and development issues, and SGBV prevention and response;
• Experience producing high quality documents and reports;
• Proven leadership experience, team’s facilitation, communication, planning, presentation, report writing and organization skills;
• Familiar with humanitarian situations and practical experience working with international organizations, such as the UN, or other regional or international intergovernmental / non-governmental organizations is an asset;
• Fluency in English & Kiswahili with excellent verbal and written skills.

Other:

• Excellent research and analytical skills, including experience and knowledge about leading academic, data, research and gender-related resources;
• Strong interpersonal skills demonstrated by the ability to gain the assistance and cooperation of others in a team endeavor; ability to build trust through operating with transparency and creating and open, positive and enabling environment;
• Sound judgment and decision-making skills;
• Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor tasks to achieve results.

REMUNERATION:

Remuneration will be based on experience and qualifications using UN Women Rules and Regulations.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.