Somalia: Portfolio Manager – Economic Recovery and Development (ERD)

Organization: UN Development Programme
Country: Somalia
Closing date: 03 Apr 2018

I. Position Information

Job Title: Portfolio Manager – Economic Recovery and Development – ERD

Position Number: 00061874

Department: Economic Recovery and Development

Reports to: Deputy Country Director – P

Direct Reports: ERD Team

Position Status: Non-Rotational

Job Family: Yes

Grade Level: P5

Duty Station: Mogadishu, Somalia

Family Duty Station as of Date of Issuance:

Date of Issuance:

Closing Date:

Duration and

Type of Assignment: 1 year (extendable) , FTA

II. Job Purpose and Organizational Context

UNDP Somalia launched its new Country Programme (2018-2020) which rests on three outcome areas: inclusive political processes; accountable and transparent service delivery in a secure environment; and, progress from protracted socio-economic and environmental fragility. The new Country Programme is building on current achievements and is responding to the request of Federal Government of Somalia to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aligned with National Development Plan (2017-19). The United Nations (UN) system in Somalia has collectively responded via the development of the UN Strategic Framework (UNSF) which is aligned both to the NDP and the SDGs.

Economic Recovery and Development portfolio (ERD) is UNDP’s platform for promoting inclusive and sustainable economic recovery and development in Somalia, in alignment with the SDGs and the Government of Somalia’s National Development Plan (NDP). Starting 2018 the programme started to refocus on new Country Programme Document priorities for the period 2018-20. These include measures to:

i. Promote youth employment

ii. Expedite early recovery mechanisms,

iii. Promote new ways of working (NWOW) and funding to financing (F2F), and

iv. (Re)integration of refugees and IDPs,

It is envisaged that interventions in these areas will contribute significantly to addressing the causes of persistent poverty and continued vulnerability to social and political crises. The programme will therefore contribute more broadly to human development in Somalia, and will help to reduce long-term dependency on humanitarian assistance.

Under the overall guidance of the Country Director and direct supervision of the Deputy Country Director (Programme), the Portfolio Manager will provide strategic direction and advice to ensure that ‘economic recovery and development’ interventions fully achieve the targets of new CPD and substantially contribute to meet the priorities established in the NDP. The Portfolio Manager will lead projects teams within the portfolio with direct supervisory role for Project Managers, thematic advisors and assigned support staff. S/he will focus on ensuring the efficiency, effectiveness and timely delivery of projects within the ERD portfolio. At the current time these include significant and growing joint programmes in the areas of youth employment, the reintegration of refugees and IDPs, economic recovery and new financing mechanisms. It is envisaged that further joint programmes will be developed in the areas of early recovery and durable solutions. The Portfolio Manager will lead in all aspects of formulation, development and implementation of multi-year development interventions relevant to the portfolio and will work closely with other portfolio managers in the country office, Joint Programme partner agencies, Programme Oversight and Quality Assurance (POQA), project managers, operations teams, UNDP regional and global teams, relevant UN agencies, development partners, donors and national/subnational government institutional. She / he will be expected to maintain close liaison with Somali government partners and to promote and represent the programme, as required, in multi-agency fora including the new NDP Pillar Working Groups and Sub-Working Groups. The Portfolio Manager will ensure gender mainstreaming remains central to the entire portfolio with targeted activities that help improve the coping capacities of women to ‘shocks’ as well as support all-inclusive approach for economic / livelihoods resilience building of Somali women.

The Portfolio Manager will ensure that UNDP interventions contribute to progress on relevant NDP Pillars, SDGs, and country programme outcome. The Portfolio Manager will also be responsible to work across the UNDP programme areas to build synergies for a deeper impact and reaching out to the most vulnerable segments of population including youth, IDPs, women and poor households.

The Portfolio Manager is expected to regularly travel to the regions to monitor, oversee and provide oversight and coordination on the ground.

III. Duties and Responsibilities

Strategic direction, leadership, policy advice and coordination
Portfolio development and management
Creation of strategic partnerships and implementation of the resource mobilization strategy

§ Facilitates knowledge building and knowledge sharing

1.Provides Strategic direction, leadership, policy advice and coordination to the ERD Portfolio, focusing on the achievement of the following results:

Provides an overall strategic vision for ERD with a view to building national capacities, increasing employment opportunities and reducing poverty, to support the overarching peace building and state-building objectives of the UN;
Plan strategically to link the portfolio with the UNDP Country Programme and UN Strategic Framework for Somalia and keep track of the contribution of the portfolio to UNDP’s commitment under the Country Programme to the Government of Somalia
Lead and provide advice and support the UNDP Country Office Senior Management to build strong institutional commitment and leadership to implement set of interventions in the areas of economic recovery, employment creation, poverty reduction, durable solutions, and alternate financing for development.
Provide strategic policy advice to Federal Government, counterpart Ministries, respective Federal member state ministries and Somaliland Government on full-coverage of portfolio
Contribute to substantive discussions and policy work for the engagement of line ministries and cross-sectoral ministries; including the Federal and Regional Ministries of Planning to ensure priorities in National and Regional Development Plans are adhered to in the Economic Recovery and Development portfolio of UNDP Country Office

§ Provide inputs to UNDP programmes to ensure synergies and cross-portfolios complementarities with the objective of following a holistic approach for economic recovery and development and setting a long-term development agenda for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

§ Ensure the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets on no poverty, gender equality, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, and partnerships for the SDG goals are promoted at national / sub-national levels,

§ Apply adaptive management approach for resolving issues and provide all essential background information to the Senior Management for decisions on policy matters

Lead the respective projects teams of the portfolio to ensure coordinated approaches across the portfolio and review implementation challenges on a regular basis with a view to overcoming bottlenecks
Ensures the promotion and application of the UNDP drivers of development effectiveness (promotes national ownership and the development of national capacities; fosters policies and partnerships and promotes gender equality) for enhanced programmatic results, and other development standards as per UNDP’s corporate multi-year strategy;
Ensures that all programming is founded on the Human Rights Based approach and that Programme resources are used in a balanced way and are “conflict sensitive”, ensures adherence to the Do-No-Harm principle and any joint UN operating principles in Somalia relevant to the Programme area;
Ensures the integration of cross-cutting issues, such as gender, HIV/AIDS, peace building, human rights and ICT, into the design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of Programme/projects of the ERD program;
Assesses the impact and effectiveness of UNDP’s assistance, preferably with otherpartners;
Promotes cross-unit team work and the professional development of the team members, through coaching and mentoring. Promotes coordination among the various components of Programme cluster and with the other UNDP portfolios.

2.Provides portfolio development and management advice, focusing on the achievement of the following results:

Identify opportunities and lead in the conceptualization of strategic portfolio interventions that respond to the needs and concerns of vulnerable groups impacted by the climatic events, displacement, unemployment and lack of infrastructure in a conflict setting and those facing barriers to improve living conditions, provide durable solutions to the displaced affected communities and engage in productive employment opportunities.
Support implementation of strategic portfolio interventions across Development Priorities 1, 2 and 3 of the UNDP Country Programme – with specific focus on Priority 3 on “socio-economic opportunities to Somalis”
Provide advice on appropriate indicators in the planning and implementation frameworks including recovery and resilience framework to cover humanitarian-development-poverty-peace-building and state-building nexus and resilience building
Guide the projects teams in the monitoring and reporting of portfolio results/outputs and objectives against agreed indicators, in close collaboration with Monitoring and Evaluation focal point.
Monitor political, economic and social developments trends and challenges undermining the poverty reduction efforts to keep relevance of the portfolio to evolving circumstances.
Support knowledge building and sharing at the country office focusing on achievements, lessons learned and methodologies utilized in addressing the socio-economic challenges faced by Somalis.
Work closely with UN agencies contributing to the NDP pillars and sub-pillars working groups on Resilience, Infrastructure and Economic Growth/Development to ensure complementarity and avoid overlap.
Actively participate and lead in relevant areas of the UN Strategic Framework and National Development Plan for technical advice, progress monitoring and demonstrate openness to new approaches to address evolving needs of the institutions and communities.

3.Create strategic partnerships and implementation of the resource mobilization strategy, focusing on the achievement of the following results:

Ensure leading role of UNDP in fora and meetings related to economic recovery and development for basic and productive uses.
Participate in and represent UNDP in activities to highlight key issues around economic recovery and resilience, employment, displacement, innovative financing and durable solutions in line with national policies, UNDP/UN global strategies, Humanitarian, Development Poverty, Peace Building and State Building Nexus as per the principles of “New Ways of Working” (NWOW)
Develop and maintain strategic partnerships with UNDP’s partners including donors, government agencies and Civil Society, on portfolio matters with a view of ensuring strengthening collaboration.
Proactively engage with national partners, projects teams and communications team of the Country Office for awareness raising, advocacy and visibility of achievements under the portfolio
Explore all means of communications for “development messaging” relevant to the portfolio under the guidance of Senior Management and in line with the communication strategy of UNDP Country Office
Initiate and coordinate strategic advocacy activities to maximize support of the UN agencies, development partners, government, civil society organisations, think-tanks on economic recovery and development
Provide substantive inputs to the National Focal Points for the Multi-lateral Environmental Agreements in drafting the position papers on country context and presentation in the Conference of Parties meetings
Manage the effective application of UNDP’s Social and Environmental Screening criteria across the programmes and portfolios with the support of Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist
Identify and follow-up on strategic opportunities for resource mobilization from traditional and non-traditional donors for implementation of the portfolio
Build strong partnerships with donor agencies on Somalia and keep the Economic Recovery and Development portfolio robust enough to engage donors and development partners for the achievement of relevant CPD results;
Work with Programme Oversight and Quality Assurance (POQA) and regional and headquarters’ team for resource mobilisation, reporting and corporate compliance for portfolio management

4.Facilitatesknowledge building and knowledge sharing as required by the organization, focusing on the following results:

Critically analyse and document lessons learned and recommendations for policy dialogue, public advocacy and future programming and organize dissemination of learning within the CO and with partners
Monitor and report on the overall implementation of the targets in CPD linked to the portfolio
Contribute to knowledge networks, thematic discourse and signature programme areas of UNDP relevant to the ERD portfolio
Encourage project teams to actively participate in knowledge networks and create a conducive work environment to maximize the learning potential for the team members
Ensure lessons learnt and evaluations recommendations are used for improvement of project designs incorporated in future initiatives

IV. Competencies and Selection Criteria

Description of Competency at Level Required

Core

Innovation

Ability to make new and useful ideas work

Level 6: Exercises stakeholder-centered design approaches for office / programme / division

Leadership

Ability to persuade others to follow

Level 6: Ensures teams are resourced for success and empowered to deliver

People Management

Ability to improve performance and satisfaction

Level 6: Guides substantive specialists / teams and expands credibility and innovation capacity

Communication

Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform

Level 6: Creates confidence among stakeholders by delivering authoritative positions, compelling analysis, and contextual acumen

Delivery

Ability to get things done while exercising good judgement

Level 6: Accepts accountability for the outcomes of programme delivery and facilitates improvement and innovation in the delivery of products and services

Technical/Functional

Economic Recovery

Knowledge of Economic Recovery concepts and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations