🇸🇱 Job Vacancies @ United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – 2 Positions

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is recruiting to fill the following positions:

1.) Conflict Prevention Specialist
2.) National Consultant: Fisheries value chain analysis towards crime prevention

See job details and how to apply below.

1.) Conflict Prevention Specialist

BACKGROUND

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.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

The Presidential, Parliamentary, and Local council elections in Sierra Leone will be held on 24 June 2023. The Election Commission of Sierra Leone (ECLS) and other election management bodies (EMBs) have advanced the preparation for the elections increasing venues for multi-stakeholders engagement in the electoral process. The electoral environment in Sierra Leone remains fragile raising the state institutions and stakeholders’ commitment for further promoting the organization of inclusive, and fully transparent elections in 2023. Misinformation and hate speech used in the electoral process had been considered principal factors undermining the conduct of peaceful elections in Sierra Leone.




Despite significant achievements made in improving the electoral legislation and other related regulatory policies, and frameworks in Sierra Leone, the EMBs and other state actors engaged in the administration of elections require technical assistance for enhancing administrative processes to deliver peaceful and credible elections. Over the years, UNDP Sierra Leone was instrumental in providing electoral support to the EMBs and advancing the engagement of vulnerable groups such as women, youth and persons with disabilities in electoral processes. Promoting coordination and strengthening of conflict prevention mechanisms in the electoral process were the primary objectives of the UNDP technical support projects. Following the request made by the ECSL, a new UN Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) was deployed to Sierra Leone in December 2020 which recommended the United Nation’s engagement in a number of electoral areas including providing of technical assistance to the ECSL and the Political Party Registration Commission (PPRC) and strengthening of early warning and conflict prevention mechanisms established under the management of national security sector.

The UNDP Election Project “Fostering Peaceful, Credible and Inclusive Elections in Sierra Leone 2022-2023” (election project) was established in June 2022 to assist the EMBs in the organization of peaceful and inclusive elections in Sierra Leone. The project includes a component funded under the UN Peacebuilding fund (PBF) aimed at promoting a peaceful environment towards the elections and supporting state institutions and security sector institutions to mitigate and prevent conflicts before and after the elections. The PBF project is jointly implemented with UNICEF, under the overall oversight of the Resident Coordination’s Office (RCO).

The UNDP election project is seeking to engage a conflict prevention specialist with the overall objective of providing support to implement the activities included in the Peace component of the project and the PBF project.  Under the direct supervision of the CTA on election, the specialist is expected to support state institutions in the implementation of activities related to early warning early response and other conflict prevention mechanisms including preventing hate speech and misinformation in elections.

Ensure Collaborative Leadership and Dialogue (CLD)

Coordinate implementation of the Peace component of the project in line with the project documents; Ensure to maintain close coordination and collaboration with the peace and development advisor (PDA) to the RC and UNCT; Work with civic, government leaders at both central and local levels; Develop capacity through support for mentoring, and coaching as these skills are applied to key contemporary issues;

Mainstreaming Conflict Sensitivity into UNDP and Government election programming, policy, and processes (CS):

Work with the national state institutions to coordinate the project activities designed to enhance the peaceful conduct of the 2023 elections; Facilitate the process to ensure that national state institutions in Sierra Leone are equipped with the tools and know-how in integrating conflict sensitivity in their policies and in projects activities; Promote a way UNDP and government programs and projects are designed and implemented using a conflict-sensitive approach;

Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) to localized conflict:

Support national state institutions and the security sector in the strengthening of early warning and early response mechanisms for the upcoming elections; Support a government-led, civil society-supported EWER system to enable a move towards pro-active, inclusive, dialogue-based prevention engagements; Support the creation of a system that will involve building of accurate, timely conflict detection and analysis capabilities among relevant local and national government and civil society stakeholders and a mechanism to share these effectively with responders and to plan action; Promote to build appropriate types of conflict response capacity among local government and civil society leaders and link such capacities into local and national mechanisms for their effective, coordinated deployment; Coordinate the provision of all projects’ training programs aimed at increasing the capacity of state institutions and other stakeholders in negotiation and mediation. Coordinate the implementation of the project activities designed to prevent hate speech and misinformation in the electoral process.

Operationalize the National Electoral Response Group (NERG) and the situation rooms:

Facilitate the operationalization of the National Electoral Response Group (NERG) and the situation room to serve as an effective platform to manage, prevent and reduce election-related conflict; Assist the situation room to serve as a base for coordination and information gathering on election-related conflict information; Enhance collaborative partnership, and proactive advocacy with Civil Societies to ensure rapid response to conflict associated with the 2023 electoral process Promote UNDP’s approach towards adopting a coherent and coordinated approach to ensure that development efforts are conflict-sensitive so that they minimise unintended negative consequences and maximise their development and peacebuilding impact;

Project Reporting:

Provide technical input, draft policy documents, and required briefs/ documents/ reports related to the propjet activities; Prepare progress reports related to the peace component of the project and the PBF project in collaboration with UNICEF and the project M&E and Communication specialist. Ensure timely submission of narrative and financial reports (as per PBF template) of the PBF to the RCO/PDA. Participate in the project board and technical committee meetings to report on the progress made on the implementation of the peace component. This will include identification of potential risks affecting timely implementation of the project activities

COMPETENCIES

Core Competencies:

Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands

APPLY

Deadline: 1st October 2022

2.) National Consultant: Fisheries value chain analysis towards crime prevention

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.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The global fishing industry is characterized by a high level of illegality that has a negative impact on the economies, livelihoods and sustainable development. Crimes in the fisheries sector refers to a wilde range of criminal offences that occur at each stage of the fisheries value chain. These include fraud, forgery, corruption, tax evasion, etc. These crimes are different to Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, although they often occur at the same time.

In addressing crimes in the fisheries sector, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Environment Team bases its technical assistance on a “value chain” approach, which identifies the value chain stages, agencies involved, and possible entry points for different types of crimes. The purpose of adopting a value chain approach is a two-fold: firstly, it allows for the identification of the numerous points along the chain at which different types of criminal offences typically occur. Secondly, it allows for the highlighting of potential entry points for law enforcement interventions in identifying, investigating and prosecuting crime throughout the sector.

The UNODC Environment Team, under the framework of the “Enhanced Resiliency and Living Conditions for Vulnerable Communities Addressing Economic, Health, and Food Security Challenges due to Impacts of COVID-19 in Sierra Leone” project, will conduct a value chain analysis of the fisheries sector in Sierra Leone. The analysis will identify the different stages of the fisheries value chain specific to the context in these three countries, the different agencies involved in each of the stages of the value chain and the potential vulnerabilities/entry points for crimes in each of the stages. This analysis will help identify needs for potential technical assistance to address the vulnerabilities of the fisheries value chain to different forms of crime such as fraud and forgery, corruption, tax crime, etc. It will also sensitize the different agencies on the need for enhanced inter-agency cooperation to address crimes in the fisheries sector. The workshop organized for this purpose will contribute towards enhancing this collaboration.

To this end, UNODC Environment Team is seeking an expert consultant to carry out the necessary research, consultations and drafting of the value chain analysis for the fisheries sector in Sierra Leone. The analysis will be validated during a multi-agency workshop that facilitated by the consultant and UNODC staff. The consultant be responsible for organizing and leading the workshop and the drafting of the analysis report.

The assignment envisages approximately 30 working days spread between October and Novenber 2022.

The value chain analysis will serve as a basis for two related, targeted technical assistance planned under the same project, including a corruption risk assessments using UNODC’s Rotten Fish Guide on Addressing Corruption in the fisheries sector and capacity building activities for maritime law enforcement actors.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Regional coordinator for West and Central africa of UNODC’s Global Programme on crimes that affect the environment (GPCAE) the consultant consultant is expected to undertake and deliver the following specific tasks:

Do a desk study to identify existing material and supplement as needed through research to complete a value chain analysis of the fisheries sector in Sierra Leone. Consult with the different government entities and community stakeholders engaged in each of the stages to complete the research. This research should also seek to dentify the entry points for different types of crimes.Prepare a draft value chain analysis reports to be validated at a multi-agency workshop organized in Sierra Leone in Q3 2022; that includes the following components: stages of the fisheries value chain, main activities in each of the stages, agencies involved and responsible for each of the activities/ stages, potential vulnerabilities and entry points for crimes in each of the stages identified with approximate ranking of the likelihood and magnitude of the different crime entry points;Provide substantive input to the agenda and the participants to be invited for the workshop and co-facilitate the workshop, together with UNODC staff and international experts; the objective of the workshop will be to valudate the value chain analysis report and further detail the potential crime entry points so that law enforcement capacity building programmes may be tailored to prevent and respond to these crimes through another activity under the overall UNODC programme in Sierra Leone; the workshop should engage both relevant government entities and representatives of fishing communities. Draft a revised report incorporating the workshop discussions, to include detail on crime entry points. Finalize the value chain analysis report based on feedback from UNODC, participants of the workshop and international experts who may review it.

Specific tasks of the consultant include:

Conduct research and hold consultations with key agencies in Sierra Leone to inform on the value chain analysis;Preparation of draft value chain report based on conducted research and consultations held in the country;Participation and co-facilitation of the value chain analysis workshop;Provide support to the organisation and co-facilitation of other UNODC workshops within the framework of this project;Preparation of the last draft of the value chain report and incorporation of comments from UNODC, workshop participants and key stakeholders and experts;Submit final value chain analysis report for Sierra Leone to UNODC;After report approval, produce a 2-4-page report ‘brief” for use by a wide range of local partner that contains key information relevant to the persepctice of non-experts who work in fisheries sector management and for leaders of fishing communities.

The Reports in its entirety and the documentation collected under this contract will be the joint property of UNODC and the partners in this initiative. No part (s) of the Report including the documentation used or leading to the Report will be shared or made public to any other entity or person without the express written consent of UNODC GPWLFC and its partners.

Competencies

Functional competencies

Strong analytical and organizational skills, including ability to digest, assess and keep track of a diverse range of information with a discerning sense for quality of dataGood mastery of information technology required for organized presentation of information.

Development and Operational Effectiveness

Adhere to the principle of confidentiality and ethical code of conduct during the evaluationAbility to work under pressure, multi-tasking skills with flexibilityAbility to conduct required analysis in a timely manner, within the agreed timelines.

Corporate Competencies

Familiarity with UNDP or UN work; andAbility to work in multicultural and multidisciplinary teams, acting with professionalism, diplomacy, tact and courtesy.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

An advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in international law, criminal law or related field is required. A first level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Professional Experience:

A minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in the area of crime prevention and criminal justice, including on crimes that affect the environment and/or crimes in the fisheries sector, is required;Knowledge of organized crime is required;Knowledge of the fisheries sector in Sierra Leone is required;Experience working for the United Nations or other international organizations is desirable.

Languages:

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this position, fluency in oral and written English is required.

Deliverables Target Due Dates Payment

Conduct research on the value chain in Sierra Leone and 7 october 2022 20%

the different agencies engaged in each of the stages,

including through consultations with key agencies

and stakeholders.

Provide substantive input to the agenda, identify the 18 October 2022 40%

participants for the workshop, co-facilitate the workshop.

Draft a report summarizing the findings of the consultations 15 November 2022 40%

and the workshop including the analysis of the fisheries value

chain in Sierra Leone and incorporate the comments provided

by UNODC experts and counterparts and submit final report.

APPLY

Deadline: 3rd October 2022