The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the United Nations' global development network. UNDP works in about 170 countries and territories, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty, and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion. UNDP supports countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities and build resilience to sustain development results. The UNDP is the UN's global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience, and resources to help people build a better life. 

Anchoring on Uganda’s Vision 2040, the third National Development Plan and the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2021-2025, the 2030 agenda for development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UNDP is currently rolling out the Country Programme 2021 – 2025. Six integrated programmes are delivering on the Country Programme including: governance and peace strengthening, inclusive and sustainable growth; nature, climate, energy, and resilience; digitalization, innovation, and smart cities; and integration and acceleration of the Sustainable Development Goals; and youth for development. In doing so, UNDP partners with the Government of Uganda, the private sector, development partners, civil society, and academia, to contribute to Uganda’s development journey and sustainable development outcomes. It is doing so through creating opportunities for empowerment, protecting the environment, minimizing the occurrence and response to natural and man-made disasters, building strategic partnerships, and improving the quality of life for all citizens. 

Uganda’s progress and prospects for long-term national development have been driven by a variety of policy and programmatic decisions of government, but there have been challenges to achieving development results and that require continued concerted action. Uniformity of development progress across the country has been affected by geographic developmental differences including as demonstrated by varying levels of multidimensional poverty, impact of complex weather system and climatic changes, and effects of regional dynamics within the Great Lakes Region. These have pushed socio-economic fragility of communities and created humanitarian situations as related to the high number of refugees coming from countries in the Great Lakes Region that are affected by conflict and interrelated effects of climate change. For UNDP, sustainable solutions to these underlying issues, as articulated within the Country Programme Document (CPD) have to be seen across the integrated dimensions of Humanitarian Development and Peace interlinkages – HDP Nexus. Action across the programme needs to be deployed with the aim of strengthening collaboration, coherence and complementarity across these Nexus pillars, to capitalize on their corresponding comparative advantages. This being strategic towards making systematic progress towards reducing overall vulnerability of communities and displaced persons, while at the same time strengthening risk management capacities of stakeholders, and sustainably addressing root causes of conflict.

In this context, UNDP Uganda is implementing a range of national and localized interventions seeking to augment Government of Uganda’s efforts in dealing with a range of humanitarian, development and peace challenges, with a view of making rapid advances towards the aspirations outlined in the Vision 2040. UNDP has also been working with National and District local governments in understanding the evolving dynamic situation and defining strategic, policy and technical level actions with a view of advancing a sustainable development in Uganda in general.

UNDP Uganda seeks to recruit an HDP Nexus Specialist to join the Governance and Peace Strengthening Unit. This role involves applying Nexus principles across programmatic pillars and coordinating with relevant components for UNSDCF implementation in Uganda. The Specialist will offer high-level policy advice internally and externally, oversee programs design and development in the area, advocate for policies, and engage with various stakeholders including UN agencies, government officials, donors, and civil society on HDP Nexus matters. Further s/he will work in collaboration with UNDP HQ and Addis Ababa Regional Hub Units in ensuring appropriate linkages for practical application of the Nexus across initiatives and advancing programming in consultation with national partners and other stakeholders. The Specialist will work across programmatic pillars, teams’ functions, and projects, fostering horizontal collaboration to achieve strategic goals.  Specifically s/he will contribute to the implementation of the following projects and initiatives;                 i) Building Resilience in Conflict and fragile communities of Karamoja; ii) Evolving design of UNDP refugee response programming in the refugee hosting districts;   iii)Promoting Socio-Economic Development and Peace in the Borderlands of the Karamoja – Uganda-Kenya Cross-Border Project; iv)Evolving design of portfolios seeking to support the Government of Uganda deploy accelerated community development initiatives in Karamoja and other regions and; v) UN programming design for regions with high multi-dimensional poverty, in line with appropriate national and regional strategies. Additionally, s/he will be part of the country office mechanisms for resource mobilization as a member of the country office Partnerships Unit.

Specifically, the responsibilities will include:

1. Strategic guidance and advice for the country office’s programming and delivery on the Humanitarian, Development and Peace nexus approach 
2. Building Strategic partnerships and Resource mobilization 
3. Strategic planning, quality assurance of the strategic and results framework of Humanitarian, Development and Peace interventions 
4. Knowledge management, Advocacy and reporting

Description of responsibilities

1.Strategic guidance and advice for the country office’s programming and delivery on the Humanitarian, Development and Peace nexus approach 

• Lead development of new opportunities for HDP work including at the level of policy and programming within the context of the Country Programme, the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDF) and other strategic frameworks;
• Provide advice on identifying entry points to achieve a mixture of short-term, medium-term and long-term results which produce tangible improvements to cross-section of interrelated issues at local and national level;
• Provide strategic guidance and advice to national HDP institutions and actors on policy issues: strategic planning, research and monitoring and evaluation, including key performance indicators, strategic plans for various organizations and research into various issues which impact on institutional performance;
• Provide strategic guidance and advice to UNDP Senior management on the ongoing support to integrated HDP initiatives, on strategies, responses and changes in the broader HDP context;
• Ensure the integration of cross-cutting issues, such as, cross-border, gender, peace building, youth and human rights into programme/project design, monitoring and evaluation;
• Effective engagement in UNDPs cross-border development programmes working closely with other UNDP country offices, the Regional Borderlands Centre and the Regional Service Centre;
• Ensure that technical work undertaken across projects is adapted to the local context and in line with international good practice; and
• Contribute to building a strong understanding of the political dimension of HDP application to identify the drivers and blockers of change and develop strategies to ensure that project implementation and strategic approaches achieves impact. 
   

2. Building Strategic partnerships and Resource mobilization 

• Engage in dialogues with development partners and donors, identifying funding opportunities and endeavor to ensure sufficient resource mobilization for the programmes/projects in close consultation with Senior Management and as part of the partnerships unit and be responsible for reaching the annual resource mobilization targets;
• Support UNDP efforts for resource mobilization for current and envisaged programmes/projects across the programmatic pillars of portfolio of integrated programmes;
• Liaise with regional and headquarter focal points on HDP nexus issues and use emerging and evolving nexus lessons from across UNDP to strengthen application at the country office level and in the work of the UN in Uganda;
• Liaise regularly and forge close linkages with other UN programmes, agencies, funds, as well as other international and national stakeholders concerns with or providing assistance on HDP issues in general;
• Coordinate programme activities with other UNDP initiatives, as well as, other United Nations agencies, donors, and other international partners, to develop inter-agency synergies and build complementarities with other programs;
• Develop concepts, ideas and pilot initiatives for functional partnerships between HDP stakeholders and non-governmental organizations, media and the public;
• Ensure high-quality and timely reporting to donors and other partners involved in the programmes/projects; and
• Contribute to harnessing effective partnerships for implementation of UNDP programmes/projects, and promote joint programming, and collaborate effectively in established frameworks for UN and other international coordination. 

3. Strategic planning, quality assurance of the strategic and results framework of Humanitarian, Development and Peace interventions for select projects and initiatives: 

• Provide policy advice and guidance for the strategic planning and the implementation of the programmes/projects under the HDP nexus area, including joint UN projects and workplans, ensuring appropriate coordination and integration with the country programme components;
• Ensure the linked HDP results specified in the annual work-plan of Programmes/Projects meet the required standard of quality, in a coordinated way and within the specified constraints of time and cost;
• Based on analysis, briefs and relevant policy notes, advise UNDP Country Office on the overall implementation of the HDP oriented initiatives and portfolio of projects that are ongoing at the National and Local levels;
• Working alongside the Quality Assurance Unit, support the development and maintenance of an effective monitoring and evaluation system oriented to HDP nexus programming including reporting to UNDP, UN entities, development partners and national stakeholders on systematic progress;
• Facilitate and ensure quality assurance of reports including Progress Reports, Financial Reports, Annual Progress Reports, etc. and ensure timely completion of technical reports for the Programme/Project portfolio in the HDP Nexus area of responsibility; and
• Facilitate and lead the coordination mechanisms put in place with UN entities to ensure coherence and coordination on issues pertaining to HDP issues in the context of the UNSDCF such as the Karamoja working group and the humanitarian light working group.

4.     Ensure knowledge management and reporting focusing on achieving the following results: 

• Learnings from implementation, mechanism for their continued alignment with a systems approach linked to implementation of HDP interventions and that they are communicated;
• Identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learned from the programme/project areas for organizational sharing and learning, as well as, external information;
• Active participation in UNDP knowledge networks and taking advantage of best practices and lessons learned that are available in the region and globally, and encouraging project staff to do so by creating a culture of knowledge sharing and learning;
• Promoting the participation of UNDP Uganda in regional programmes and regional activities related to the HDP area as appropriate;
• Support in carrying out joint assessments, analyses, planning and programming, with humanitarian and development partners seeking to systematically reduce the risks of vulnerabilities and enhance social cohesion;
• Supporting capacity and knowledge building of national counterparts and officers as applicable;
• Advocate for UNDP work in the area of responsibility and raise visibility of UNDP’s action on the HDP through knowledge sharing, advocacy and substantive quality communication materials; and
• Support UNDP Uganda’s joint communication efforts on relevant subjects including emerging issues.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangement

The Specialist will work under the overall supervision and report to the Deputy Resident Representative.  S/he will work in close collaboration with the Team Leader of the Governance and Peace unit, as well as other team leads, Specialists and Advisors. UNDP employs a portfolio approach to adapt to evolving business requirements and capitalize on connections among interventions to fulfill its strategic objectives. Consequently, the Specialist will engage across program units, functions, teams, programmes and projects within multidisciplinary teams to promote and facilitate horizontal collaboration.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies 

Business Management: Portfolio Management        

• Ability to select, prioritize and control the organizations programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity; ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimizing return on investment

Business Management: Communication    

• Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience
• Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels

 Business Direction and Strategy: System Thinking   

• Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system

Business Management: Results-based Management             

• Ability to manage programmes and projects with a focus at improved performance and demonstrable results.

Business Management: Project Management          

• Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals

Partnership Management: Relationship management           

• Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust and mutual understanding

Business Development: UNDP Representation         

• Ability to represent UNDP and productively share UNDP knowledge and activities; advocate for UNDP, its values, mission and work with various constituencies
   

• Fluency in English, including excellent writing skills required;
• Knowledge of another UN language could be an asset.