Contract

This is a Volunteer contract. More about Volunteer contracts.

Mission and objectives

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works in nearly 170 countries and territories, including the Republic of Moldova, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty, and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion.

We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities and build resilience to sustain development results. UNDP in Moldova is guided by its Country Programme Document, and the UN-Moldova Development Assistance for 2018-2022, which is in line with the priorities of the Government of Moldova.

In a rapidly changing global environment, the work of UNDP and the broader UN family aligns with the new national development vision, Moldova 2030, and sector strategies. UNDP Moldova’s country programme for 2018–2022 has three major focus areas:

Inclusive growth, Effective governance, Climate change, environment and energy and three cross-cutting areas: Gender equality, Crisis response, Development impact

Context

The current crisis unfolding in Ukraine is exacerbating existing humanitarian and development needs and creating new needs both inside and outside the country. Around 6.7 mln are projected to be internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Ukraine, along with a major flow of refugees and migrants towards neighboring countries. Following the start of military operations and the escalation of the conflict, over 1.8 mln people had fled Ukraine to Poland, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and other. Since the outset of the influx to Moldova (over 120,000), the Government and UNHCR have established an inter-agency (IA) mechanism to coordinate the humanitarian response. It now encompasses coordination within and across all sectors in Moldova and has drawn on UN agencies’ comparative expertise. UNDP leads the work on Livelihood and resilience sector coordination. The Moldova Chapter of the Regional Refugee and Response Plan (RRP) addresses the challenges through both humanitarian (refugee) and development (resilience) perspectives, within the context of 6 sector responses. The 3RP Moldova Chapter highlights the increasing need for and importance of the resilience response, reflected both in terms of type of support required as well as the resilience budget partners appealed for.

UNDP and UNHCR have agreed on a Partnership on Forced Displacement outlining the core coordination responsibilities in response to displacement crisis, with UNDP having an agreed lead coordination role on resilience. UNDP focusses on strengthening resilience related support across all sectors. This includes, amongst others, a stronger focus on support to strengthening of capacities of both national and local partners (municipalities in particular). UNDP resilience approach is instrumental in articulating and bridging humanitarian and sustainable development priorities in supporting refugees, host communities and local and national institutions. Resilience helps to incorporate the 2030 Agenda’s core principles (e.g. Leaving No One Behind) and to identify strategic collective outcomes to foster cross-sectoral and longer term-resilience-building perspectives in crisis response. UNDP response has consistently stood out for its strong national ownership and leadership, with partners playing a support role to the Government within the “national refugee framework” including access to national systems such as health, education, employment and social services.

Given the increased need to support Moldova CO on refugee response, align its human mobility agenda to new realities, as well as guide strategic directions for future engagement, UNDP the Livelihoods and Inclusion Sector Coordinator based in Moldova, to support the CO team in UNDP’s positioning within the framework of the RRP implementation, and the linkages with UNDP Moldova programmatic response to the impact of the refugee crisis.

Task description

Under the direct supervision of the Deputy Resident Representative, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

COORDINATION

• Coordinate the Livelihoods and Inclusion Sector activities and deliverables, with national coverage, and with focus on livelihoods support to both refugee and host communities and socio-economic inclusion of refugees.
• Undertake a mapping of all ongoing livelihoods and inclusion activities and capacities within the Livelihoods and Inclusion Sector as well as across other sectors, as a basis for guiding the sector and setting future priorities.
• Support the UNDP Senior Management to identify issues of concern and bring to the attention of the government.
• Be responsible for the coordination of regular reporting of the results of the Livelihoods and Inclusion Sector capturing what is being done, where, when, donors, partners, and upcoming pipeline project activities – to map all activities within the Livelihoods and Inclusion Sector to assist overall coordination, avoid duplications, and maximize synergies within the Livelihoods Sector.
• Link and coordinate with other Forums –including the Sector in Moldova and at Regional Level if requested.
• Represent UNDP and the Livelihoods and Inclusion Sector within other Inter-Sector Sectors, including at regional level if and when required.
• Ensure and promote conflict sensitivity in the Livelihoods and Inclusion Sector activities and among partners.
• Further development and implementation of inter-sector work plans to reinforce linkages with other sectors, including Protection, Basic Needs and Food Security, and Agriculture

DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIES/ TOOLS

• Identify needs, gaps and develop strategy and work plan for the Livelihoods and Inclusion Sector.
• Further develop the Livelihoods and Inclusion Sector strategy, tools, and packages to support the continuum of livelihoods support from beneficiary selection to sustainable income generation.
• Further develop the Livelihoods and Inclusion Sector strategy, tools and packages to support resilience of communities and institutions, particularly the capacity of local government and governance system to cope with influx of refugees.
• Support existing information data management services and/or develop new systems to facilitate information sharing and coordination with the identification of needs and coverage and gaps in the provision of support.
• Liaise with other coordination groups to ensure effective development and implementation of guidelines/procedures (e.g. guidelines on cash assistance and other livelihood initiatives) in the host communities.
• Identify relevant issues in consultation with stakeholders and develop relevant study guidelines.
• Lead planning process for the Livelihoods and Inclusion Sector during 2022/2023.

ACTION PLANS

• Develop Action Plan for Sector, making sure action-oriented decisions will take into account government policies, relevant existing context, achievements, challenges, and funding realities.
• Support advocacy to facilitate the implementation of recommended action plans.

PARTNERSHIP AND RESOURCE MOBILIZATION

• Support to the development and implementation of partnerships and resources mobilization strategies for UNDP in response to the Crisis and across the HDP nexus at both country office and regional level.
• Analysis and research of information on donors, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost-sharing.
• Consolidation resource mobilisation initiatives, and exploring possibilities to mobilise core resources, thematic trust fund resources, UN-administered funding resources, as well as other funding possibilities with potential donors (bi-lateral and multilateral, IFIs, private sector).

Eligibility criteria

Age

27 - 80

Nationality

Candidate must be a national of a country other than the country of assignment.

Requirements

Required experience

• 5 years of experience in development work;
• At least 3 years of experience with policy development and/or project implementation of livelihoods, private sector and/or enterprise-oriented initiatives in humanitarian and/or development setting or a related field;
• At least 2 years of work experience with an UN agency
• Experience in humanitarian response and recovery operations (complex emergencies and/or natural disasters) is considered a strong asset
• Solid understanding of migration and forced displacement dynamics and developmental approaches is essential, preferably with country and/or regional experience in Europe and Central Asia.
• Knowledge of the UN system, humanitarian and development work, and multi-stakeholder approaches.
• Experience in UNDP’s programme and policy approaches on human mobility and/or related fields.
• Experience in government-led / inter-agency frameworks.
• Programmatic/policy experience in complex settings, innovation and problem-solving skills.
• Strong advocacy and networking skills.
• Experience in training/capacity building and support to colleagues in new thematic areas is an asset.
• Fluency in Romanian or in Moldavian is required