1. General Background

UNHCR’s protection and solutions mandate has long required stronger cooperation with partners across the humanitarian, development, and peace spheres. Due to a variety of factors, including the changing nature of fragility, conflict, and violence over the last decades, the number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in protracted displacement situations continues to be very high, while the overall number of people who have access to durable solutions remains marginal. By the end of 2023, approximately 75% of all forcibly displaced people were hosted in low- and middle-income countries, generally in the poorest, remote and fragile areas often affected by or bordering conflict areas. Many are displaced multiple times or go back and forth to their place of origin and host country depending on the security situation. In short, achieving protection and solutions for the majority of forcibly displaced persons is limited mainly by socio-economic and security constraints.

The need to better connect the humanitarian, development and peacebuilding agendas has received revitalized attention over the past years as demonstrated amongst others by the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the 2016 Agenda for Humanity, the 2016 General Assembly and Security Council Resolutions on Sustaining Peace, the 2018 Global Compact on Refugees, the 2019 OECD DAC Recommendation on the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus, and the 2023 OECD DAC-INCAF Common Position on Addressing Forced Displacement with a Comprehensive Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus Approach. In these and other contexts, humanitarian, development and peace actors have been called upon repeatedly to leverage each other’s strengths in ensuring inclusive socio-economic development and sustained peace that leaves no-one behind. The 2018 Global Compact on Refugees also explicitly calls for the international community to invest in preventing and addressing the root causes of forced displacement, including through conflict prevention and other early efforts to address the drivers and triggers of large-scale refugee situations. The launch of a Multistakeholder Pledge on Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention at the second Global Refugee Forum (2023) reflects Member States’ growing interest in peacebuilding actions that address the root causes of forced displacement in order to create conducive conditions for safe and dignified return and reintegration. These important policy developments are incorporated in the UNHCR 2022-2026 Strategic Directions and reflected in the Strategy on Engaging with Development Actors noting a need for additional, accelerated, and targeted action for mainstreaming engagement of peace and development actors from the outset.

2. Purpose and Scope of Assignment

UNHCR’s Division of Resilience and Solutions (DRS) has been at the forefront of UNHCR’s multifaceted efforts to strengthen strategic partnerships with development actors, including relevant UN agencies, International Financial Institutions and bilateral state actors, and has seen significant success in this area. Within the Development Partnerships and Inclusion Service of DRS, the UN Peace and Development Team, where this position will sit, has spearheaded efforts to better leverage the support of peace actors and to strengthen UNHCR’s capacity on peacebuilding. These efforts are yielding results and actors across the HDP Nexus are increasingly coming forward to collaborate with UNHCR on peacebuilding actions that contribute to the search for protection and solutions and address root causes of displacement and statelessness. These results are also reflected in the success of the Multistakeholder Pledge on Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention which the team coordinated. Internally, the team has organized workshops and trainings on peacebuilding, conflict analysis and conflict sensitivity and prepared a position paper on UNHCR’s engagement on peacebuilding. The international community’s focus on the HDP Nexus and the greater attention to addressing root causes and conflict prevention underscores the need for UNHCR to continue strengthening partnerships in this area and build related internal knowledge and capacities, including on conflict analysis and conflict sensitivity.

DRS is recruiting a Peace and Development Specialist who will work under the supervision of the Senior Development Officer- Rule of Law & Governance & Peacebuilding. They will facilitate UNHCR’s engagement and cooperation with peace and development actors. This position will support the Senior Development Officer in ensuring that forcibly displaced and stateless people are properly considered as part of UN peace and development policies and programmes, including conflict prevention, peacebuilding and security frameworks. The incumbent will support the Senior Development Officer in identifying opportunities for developing effective partnerships, managing these partnerships, promoting UNHCR’s objectives and strategies with these partners, and ensuring that forced displacement and statelessness considerations are considered in their planning, programming, financing, advocacy and policy work. They will support DRS in meeting objectives related to UN peace and development as articulated in the Office’s Strategic Directions and the Global Compact on Refugees, and meet relevant expectations from partners and requests for support from UNHCR operations. They will further support the implementation of the UNDP-UNHCR Global Collaboration Framework for Inclusion and Solutions (2023-2025). The specific and time bound duties to be fulfilled under this assignment are listed below.

Specific outputs and performance indicators:
– Conduct iterative analyses to map and identify ways to support Regional Bureaux and operations in their work concerning peace and fragility, including in the design and implementation of programmatic activities that help address displacement drivers and triggers. This includes for instance the implementation of the Regional Youth Peacebuilding Programme, and the Aspiring for Peace and Inclusion Research (ASPIRE) for South Sudanese youth.
– In line with the Strategic Directions, and based on the above priority identification with Regional Bureaux and country operations, support the rollout of the UNHCR position paper on peacebuilding and conflict prevention with concrete activities to be pursued for discussion and validation by relevant teams in NYO, DIP, DER, DSPR and GCR.
– In collaboration with UNHCR’s New York Office (NYO), strengthen UNHCR’s engagement with the peace and security pillar of the UN, including through collaboration with the Peacebuilding Support Office and high-quality applications to the UN Peacebuilding Fund.
– Explore and support UNHCR’s strategic collaboration with peace actors such as peace and development NGOs and think tanks, humanitarian NGOs engaged in peacebuilding and conflict prevention, and forcibly displaced people and their organisations.
– Develop and coordinate capacity-building activities on peacebuilding and conflict prevention for UNHCR personnel and partners in partnership with other interested stakeholders, and generate evidence, know-how and lessons learned based on peacebuilding practice in support of UNHCR’s adherence to the 2019 OECD DAC Recommendation.
– Support DRS technical area teams on their main partnerships to identify and seek new or further engagement opportunities directly anchored in interventions in peace and fragility.
– Contribute to coherence and alignment of UNHCR priorities in peacebuilding as a focal point of multiple working groups/support teams and participate in cross-divisional/multilateral consultation and collaboration internally/externally.
– Support the coordination and implementation of the GCR Multistakeholder Pledge on Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention in contribution to the Global Compact on Refugees.
– Support the continued implementation of the UNDP-UNHCR Global Collaboration Framework for Inclusion and Solutions, especially on conflict prevention and peacebuilding provisions.

Qualifications and Experience

a. Education
Bachelor’s degree or preferably advanced degree in international relations, development and conflict studies, refugee studies or related subject.

b. Work Experience
6 years of relevant experience with undergraduate degree; 5 years of relevant experience with graduate degree; or 4 years of relevant experience with doctorate degree.

Essential: Experience in development, peacebuilding, security and conflict prevention related fields including in forced displacement contexts. Experience in working on development, peace / security related matters with bilateral donors, multilateral development banks, UN peace and security entities as well as non-governmental organizations and/or UNHCR. Experience of designing/ coordinating/ implementing peacebuilding projects in the field in IDPs and/or refugee contexts. Experience in drafting and editing, in particular on protection and solutions strategies, advocacy strategies, or partnership building. Experience in project design, primary data collection, and both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and conflict analysis. Experience in coordination of UN interventions with other actors, in fragile and post-conflict contexts.

Desirable: Experience in lobbying and advocacy with Government and other institutions. Previous work or consulting experience with an IFI on fragility, conflict, and violence. Experience in submitting successful applications to the UN Peacebuilding Fund. French, Arabic and/or Spanish language skills. Experience in monitoring and evaluation and results-based management.

c. Key Competencies

*Partnership Development
CL- Strategy Development and Monitoring
MG-Project Analysis/Development/Implementation/Management/Coordination
*SO-Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
*MS-Networking
PO-Policy Advocacy in UNHCR*
*Knowledge Management
SO-Negotiation Skills
PG-Results-Based Management
*CM-Strategic Communication
*MS-Drafting, Documentation, Data Presentation
*PR-Refugee Protection Principles and Framework

(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Core Competencies:
Accountability
Communication
Organizational Awareness
Teamwork & Collaboration
Commitment to Continuous Learning
Client & Result Orientation

Managerial Competencies:

Empowering and Building Trust
Judgement and Decision Making
Strategic Planning and Vision
Leadership

Cross-Functional Competencies:
Analytical Thinking
Stakeholder Management
Political Awareness

Type of contract: UNOPS Individual Contractor Agreement
Duration: The assignment is expected to start as of 2 September 2024 and last until 31 December 2025. The initial contract will be granted until 31 December 2024 with the possibility of one-year renewal subject to satisfactory performance.