Job Description

Background
 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP:  we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories. 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 Rule of Law and Security Portfolio’s work support UNDP Country Programme priority to promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies and respond to the SDG Goal 16 for Somalia. It contributes to all the six signature solutions of the UNDP Strategic Plan particularly governance, poverty and inequality, resilience and gender equality.  The portfolio also works with the Federal Government of Somalia and Federal Member States and the UN agencies to promote a capable, accountable, acceptable and affordable justice and security sector, within a framework of the rule of law and respect for human rights through institutionalizing capacity-building for civilian oversight, applying a holistic approach to the rule of law. Implementation is undertaken through Joint Programmes, which contributes to the critical long-term peace in Somalia.  

 Position Purpose

The Portfolio Manager provides strategic guidance and oversees programmes and projects aimed at enhancing capacities of key governmental and non-governmental institutions to deliver on their mandates. The Portfolio Manager shall provide leadership to the portfolio and project teams and build smooth relationships with partners at the national and sub-national levels. She/he will coordinate and supervise the work of her/his own team of international and national specialists/experts in the areas of Justice, Corrections, Police, Security Sector Governance, human rights and PCVE. The pool of specialists/experts will provide strategic guidance and advisory services to the national counterparts including but not limited to policy making processes, legislation review, capacity building, institutional reform mechanisms and community based dispute resolutions. The will be required to regularly travel throughout the country to provide technical advisory support to the national counterparts.

Under the leadership of the Resident Representative, and direct guidance of the Deputy Resident Representative Programme, the Portfolio Manager has the overall Portfolio management and decision-making responsibility for UNDP activities in the framework of the Somalia Joint Rule of Law Programme. The Portfolio Manager will provide leadership to the project teams and coordinate as well as supervise the work of her/his team of specialists and experts.

UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration. 

 Duties and Responsibilities Ensure Effective Portfolio Management:

• Oversee the effective administrative and technical management of the Projects, in particular, technical management of the Project teams for results;
• Provide advice to the Project Steering Committees on Rule of Law good practice;
• Oversee the development and  implementation of the Annual Work Plans and Budgets; 
• Supervise the UNDP Portfolio team, and oversee drafting of periodic reports on the progress of the Projects to UNDP, the Project Boards and Donors, including by ensuring top quality analysis and substantive inputs to development of project documents, reports, concept notes and other strategic documents; 
• Oversee the planning and coordination of, as well as participate in, Project Board meetings and other relevant coordination processes including producing relevant reporting.
• Promote and implement adaptive management practices in portfolio and programme management.
• Cooperate and support cross-sectoral and cross portfolio initiatives. 
• Perform other relevant duties as required by the UNDP Resident Representative and Deputy Resident Representative – Programme.
• Ensure in all circumstances that the projects upholds the values of the UN System, the country’s interests and partners implicated in the process.
• Oversee the effective administrative and technical management of the Portfolio, in particular, technical management of the Project team for results;
• Ensure HACT compliance within the portfolio projects.
• Ensure operational and financial closure of Portfolio projects with the operations team.

Ensures Partnership Building and Resource Mobilization achieving the following results:

• Development of partnerships with the UN Agencies, government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, private sector, civil society in the specific thematic areas based on strategic goals of UNDP, country needs and donors’ priorities. Support ongoing coordination efforts of UN Cooperation Framework, Global Focal Point Arrangements in Somalia and Rule of Law national coordination platforms.
• Supports sector-wide coordination and strategic planning efforts and partnership;
• Contribute to the harnessing of effective partnerships and competitive selection of partners for the implementation of the project; Develop mechanisms and instruments for selection of appropriate government and civil society partners in the implementation of the project.
• Oversee the mobilization of additional resources from development partners to the UNDP components of the Somalia Joint Rule of Law projects and Programmes. Analysis and research of information on donors, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for initiation of new projects activities, active contribution to the overall office effort in resource mobilization. 
• Research the engagement with non-traditional donors to support the Portfolio.

Ensures Innovations, Advocacy and Knowledge Building focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Thorough analysis and research of the political, social and economic situation in the country and preparation of substantive inputs to Somali strategic documents.
• Identifies new ideas and opportunities for the development of new interventions in the thematic area of Rule of Law, and facilitates the alignment of the RoL project with the new emerging priorities in the light of the political transition in Somalia.
• Promotes the RoL Portfolio, ensuring maximum and appropriate levels of visibility and public awareness of results of the on-going activities, and positioning UNDP as a neutral actor with high quality policy advice. 
• Provides leadership on Rule of Law issues within the framework of various coordination structures and documents.
• Promote identification and implementation of synergies within and across programmes, portfolios and projects.
• Facilitation of knowledge building and management of the RoL project teams and national counterparts;
• Analyze results/lessons learned, and provide strategies for improved delivery of project interventions.
• Ensures that project’s lessons learned and best practices are captured and documented to inform wider policies and programmes. 

Ensures provision of top quality advisory services and technical expertise focusing on achievement of the following results:

• The Portfolio Manager will work closely with United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), esp. Rule of Law and Security Institutions Group (ROLSIG) and the broader UN  on supporting the Somalia Joint Rule of Law programme and provide strategic technical leadership to the Project Teams. 
• Provide strategic policy advice to UNDP Somalia, Government counterparts, donors and other partners on issues related to the rule of law, justice sector coordination, and access to justice, legal aid and human rights;
• Provide technical advice on rule of law issues (the Joint Justice and Corrections programme, Joint Police programme, Security Sector project, Preventing and Countering of Violent Extremism project, Women peace and security project, UN Joint Rule of Law programme Somaliland and rights for people living with disabilities) with a view to building national capacities and strengthening the rule of law;
• Ensure the integration of cross-cutting issues, such as gender, capacity building and human rights into rule of law project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; 
• As required, represent the Portfolio in national/international fora/discussions on rule of law;
• Provide substantive inputs to the preparation of Government and UNDP policy notes, statements, etc., for important events (e.g. donor coordination meeting, forums, international conferences, etc.);
• Identify policy-driven issues, best practices and lessons learned at global, regional and national level and ensure these are integrated into the project planning and implementation;
• Proactively identifies risks and challenges to the on-going operations of the ROL project and provides mitigation strategies.
• Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

Promote women empowerment and positions UNDP programming to make gender equality a reality and people management:

• Ensure that women’s empowerment and gender equality are cross-cutting issues that lie at the heart of UNDP programming.
• Ensure that portfolio programming consistently supports removal of structural barriers and provides support to women’s participation, protection, prevention of gender based violence and promotion of rights based issues including intersectionality for men and women’s rights.
• Actively engage with UNDP portfolios, federal and state governments, national and local institutions to ensure that programmes and projects address gender-based violence
• Prepare concepts and papers on promoting women’s participation and leadership in all forms of women’s participation, protection, prevention of gender based violence in the rule of law sector.
• In close collaboration with the DRR-Programmes and other UNDP portfolios, ensure appropriate UNDP engagement in strengthening gender-responsive strategies in rule of law, security and builds close alliances with the humanitarian peace development nexus approach

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

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:

• The Portfolio Manager supervises and manage a team composed of professional and general service staff both at portfolio and project level.
• S/he will be supported by an operations team including M&E and financial experts.

Experiences and Qualifications

Competencies

• Core Competencies:

Achieve Results: LEVEL 4: Prioritize team workflow, mobilize resources, drive scalable results/strategic impact.

Think Innovatively: LEVEL 4: Easily navigate complexity, encourage/enable radical innovation, has foresight.

Learn Continuously: LEVEL 4: Create systems and processes that enable learning and development for all.

Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 4: Proactively initiate/lead organizational change, champion new systems/processes.

Act with Determination: LEVEL 4: Able to make difficult decisions in challenging situations, inspire confidence.

Engage and Partner: LEVEL 4: Construct strategic multi-partner alliances in high stake situations, foster co-creation.

Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 4: Create ethical culture, identify/address barriers to inclusion.

• Cross Functional and  Technical Competencies:

Business Direction and Strategy - Strategic Thinking: Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP’s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities, linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions

Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP.

Business Direction and Strategy - Business Acumen: Ability to understand and deal with a business situation in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome Knowledge and understanding of the operational frameworks in the organzation and ability to make good judgments and quick decisions within such frameworks.

Business Development - Collective Intelligence Design: Ability to bringing together diverse groups of people, data, information or ideas, and technology to design services or solutions.

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 - Portfolio Management: Ability to select, prioritise 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 optimising return on investment.

Business Management - Partnerships Management: Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies.

2030 Agenda: Peace - Rule of Law, Security and Human Rights: Access to Justice.

Required Skills and Experience Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s Degree or equivalent )in Law, Business Administration, Public Administration, Economics, Political Sciences, Social Sciences or law related field is required. Or 
• A first-level university degree (bachelor's degree)in the areas mentioned above,  in combination with an additional two years of qualifying  experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree. 

Experience:

• Minimum of ten (10) years (with master’s degree) or 12 years (with bachelor’s degree) of professional experience at the national and international level in providing management advisory services, hands-on experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of development projects in rule of law is required
• Post conflict experience an asset
• Experience in project management, including project formulation, implementation and reporting is required.
• Thorough knowledge of UNDP procedures and financial systems is an asset.
• Knowledge and experience in Somalia is an asset
• Knowledge and experience of UNDP and UN system policies and programming is an asset. 
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, experience in handling of web based management systems is required.
• Experience in Resource Mobilization is an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required. 
• Working knowledge of in another UN language is an asset.

Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.

Skills Required

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