Partnership Development and Facilitation Specialist (Home Based)

UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels offers a spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in its Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in UNDP’s Strategic Plan.

Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas.

UNDP's 2022-2025 Strategic Plan highlights our continued commitment to eradicating poverty, accompanying countries in their pathways towards the SDGs and working towards the Paris Agreement. As part of the Global Policy Network in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, UNDP's Nature, Climate Change, Energy, and Waste (NCE&W) Hubs promote and scale up integrated whole-of-governance approaches and nature-based solutions that reduce poverty and inequalities, strengthen livelihoods and inclusive growth, mitigate conflict, forced migration and displacement, and promote more resilient governance systems that advance linked peace and security agendas.

BPPS work with governments, civil society, and private sector partners to integrate natural capital, environment and climate concerns into national and sector planning and inclusive growth policies; support country obligations under Multilateral Environmental Agreements; and implement the UN’s largest portfolio of in-country programming on environment, climate change, energy, and waste and chemicals. This multi-billion-dollar portfolio encompasses:

• Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services including forests;
• Sustainable Land Management and Desertification including food and commodity systems;
• Water and Ocean Governance including SIDS;
• Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation;
• Sustainable Energy;
• Extractive Industries;
• Chemicals and Waste Management;
• Environmental Governance and Green/Circular Economy; and SCP approaches.

This work advances crosscutting themes on innovative finance, capacity development, human rights, gender equality, health, technology, and South-South learning and digital transformation.

The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Network (BES-Net) is one of the Nature Hub’s flagship initiatives, managed jointly by UNDP, UNEP-WCMC and UNESCO with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection and SwedBio. As the capacity sharing “network of networks” initiative, BES-Net promotes dialogue between science, policy and practice sectors for more effective management of biodiversity and ecosystems, contributing to long-term human well-being and sustainable development. BES-Net complements and contributes to the capacity building work of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) by aligning its activities with the IPBES global assessment themes and applying the related IPBES guidance documents.

The BES-Net initiative is carried out through four inter-linked activities:

• Face-to-face capacity building support through Trialogues: Trialogues bring together BES-Net’s three target communities of science, policy and practice for face-to-face dialogues to foster mutual learning, intercultural understanding and inter-institutional coordination on specific policy-relevant questions at the national and regional levels.
• National ecosystem assessments (NEAs): BES-Net supports the development of capacity in selected countries to conduct national assessments and develop a set of policy support tools for the application of the assessment findings, complementing the global assessments undertaken by IPBES. Leveraging the expertise of the Sub-Global Assessment Network (SGAN).
• Post-Trialogue/national assessment uptake support: BES-Net provides the target countries that have participated in the Regional Trialogue process and/or completed national ecosystem assessments with catalytic seed funds in support of the uptake of the IPBES assessments, as agreed at the Regional Trialogues, and/or the national assessment recommendations in policy, science and practice fields.
• Online platforms for networking: The BES-Net web portal offers a comprehensive knowledge resource library on biodiversity and ecosystem services and a rich database of organizations and experts working on the IPBES thematic assessment areas. The latest news and updates from BES-Net and its network partners are circulated via social media channels and disseminated through monthly e-newsletters.

The overall objective of the position is to spearhead the implementation of BES-Net’s Stakeholder Engagement and Gender Strategy, mainstreaming the principles and methodology of Trialogue across the project components. More specifically, under the supervision of the BES-Net Project Coordinator and in close coordination with other project team members within UNDP and the BES-Net Consortium agencies, this role demands a strategic and innovative approach to develop and strengthen partnerships and facilitate the engagement and interactions of diverse stakeholders for sustainable and inclusive development outcomes. The incumbent is expected to perform the following tasks:

• Lead the strategic planning, execution and facilitation of the Regional Trialogues, focusing on geographic and thematic priorities, while ensuring a balanced representation across policy, science, and practice across countries and sub-regions, gender mainstreaming, and meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and simultaneously taking charge of designing, coordinating, and guiding the development and review of agendas, background, and action documents to foster dynamic, inclusive dialogues that bridge diverse knowledge systems;
• Offer specialized support and coordination in facilitating National Trialogues, delivering technical expertise and guidance to ensure effective facilitation and engagement and working closely with the concerned national and local teams to adapt and implement the Trialogue methodology, ensuring that dialogues are inclusive, responsive to national contexts, and effectively bridge diverse knowledge systems;
• Offer expert services in designing and refining the Trialogue methodology based on previous experiences and emerging best practices, ensuring the engagement of diverse stakeholders in a respectful and inclusive manner with a dedicated focus on the meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities;
• Drive the expansion and strengthening of the BES-Net’s Community/ies of Practice (CoPs) and global network of registered users and experts, employing cutting-edge approaches to partnership building and stakeholder engagement that foster an environment of collaboration within and among registered users, experts, institutional partners and the supported country team;
• Enhance stakeholder engagement across BES-Net digital platforms, increase partner involvement and promote the network’s activities, providing support and guidance on the development of visibility and outreach materials, ensuring the dissemination of knowledge and lessons learned through various media in multiple languages, including previous and ongoing BES Solution Fund/National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA)/Regional Trialogue-supported countries;
• Support the project visibility/outreach by assisting the development of online and offline visibility/publicity resources and leveraging the physical/virtual opportunities to showcase the BES-Net achievements and impacts, through the collection, analysis and codification of evidence and lessons from country experiences on different BES-related thematic areas in coordination with relevant partners and contractors;
• Provide technical inputs to the periodic project activity review and target monitoring process from the partnership and stakeholder engagement perspective; and
• Monitor and update as needed the implementation of the BES-Net Communication and Stakeholder Engagement Strategy and Gender Strategy periodically and recommend the areas of improvement in strategies;
• The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

• The incumbent will work from home;
• The incumbent will work under the supervision of the Nature Hub Programme Specialist/BES-Net Project Coordinator;
• The incumbent will in close consultation with collaboration with the other BES-Net team members and relevant existing BES-Net partners as required;
• The incumbent is expected to ensure regular communication with the BES-Net team and timely delivery of the expected outputs, informing the team of the status/progress as well as any obstacles that might occur;
• The incumbent will be given access to relevant information, systems GitHub necessary for the execution of the tasks under this assignment;
• The incumbent will be responsible for providing her/his own workstation (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to a reliable internet connection;
• Given the global support to be provided during this assignment, the incumbent is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such support taking into consideration different time zones.

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

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
• Emerging partnerships
  • Ability to engage with emerging partners, develop and manage a strategy and develop approaches to developing and managing these new strategic partnerships
• Strategic engagement
  • Ability to capture and sustain attention, interest and agreement of high-level, influential policy and decision makers and secure their buy-in of high-level vision and objectives

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 Development:

• Knowledge Facilitation
  • Ability to animate individuals and communities of contributors to participate and share, particularly externally
• Collective Intelligence Design
  • Ability to bringing together diverse groups of people, data, information or ideas, and technology to design services or solutions

2030 Agenda: Planet: Nature, Climate and Energy

• Ecosystems and Biodiversity
  

• An advanced university degree (master's degree or equivalent) in the area of International Development, Environmental Management, Environmental Policy, Business, Economics or similar field is required; or
• A first-level university degree (bachelor's degree) in the said fields in combination with 2 additional years of qualifying experience may be considered in lieu of an advanced university degree.

• Minimum five years (with a Master’s degree) or seven years (with a Bachelor’s degree) of relevant ‘on-the-job’ experience in multi-stakeholder process, including stakeholder/institutional analysis, identification, engagement and communication, at global and regional levels;
• Demonstrated experience in mobilizing and facilitating network/community of practice/collaboration platforms, including advocacy and preparing communication materials;
• Working experience in the field of biodiversity and ecosystem services;
• Experience in gender mainstreaming, women’s empowerment and engagement of indigenous people and local communities;
• Experience of the UN and/or UNDP’s rules, policies and procedures.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another UN language is an asset