Project Officer - Social Development and Coordination (Open to Tier 1 & 2 applicants) at United Nations Development Programme

Job Description
Please note the appropriate Tier indicated in the vacancy title and ensure that you are holding the applicable contract as defined below:

Tier 1: UNDP/ UNCDF/ UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed term (FTA) appointments (defined as “internal” candidates)   
Tier 2: UNDP/ UNCDF/ UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA) and personnel on regular PSA contracts 
Tier 3: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates
 

Background

UNDP has been working in India since 1951 in almost all areas of human development. Together with the Government of India and development partners, we have worked towards eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, strengthening local governance, enhancing community resilience, protecting the environment, supporting policy initiatives and institutional reforms, and accelerating sustainable development for all.

With projects and programmes in every state and union territory in India, UNDP works with national and subnational government, and diverse development actors to deliver people-centric results, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalized communities. As the integrator for collective action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the UN system, we are committed to supporting the Government of India’s national development vision and priorities and accelerating the achievement of the SDGs for the people and the planet.
UNDP India’s new Country Programme (2023-2027) builds on our prior work and aims to provide an integrated approach to development solutions in three strategic portfolios:

• Strong, accountable and evidence-led institutions for accelerated achievement of the SDGs.
• Enhanced economic opportunities and social protection to reduce inequality, with a focus on the marginalized.
• Climate-smart solutions, sustainable ecosystems and resilient development for reduced vulnerability.
  South-South cooperation, gender equality and social inclusion are promoted across the pillars. The programme is

supported by a framework of renewed partnerships and blended finance solutions, strategic innovation and accelerator labs, and data and digital architecture.
You are invited to join a team of future-smart development professionals to support India in achieving the national and globally agreed goals. As part of the UNDP team, your focus will be to work with diverse stakeholders to find country-specific solutions that lead to sustainable development and reach those furthest behind first.

The Pradhan Mantri Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) Development Mission is one of the important programs introduced in the Union Budget 2023-24 to improve the socio-economic status of the PVTGs. The mission seeks to address the development gaps in areas such as health, education, livelihoods, and basic infrastructure for PVTGs, and promote their overall welfare. The mission will be implemented over a period of three years. Under this mission, a multi-sectoral approach is adopted to ensure the holistic development of PVTGs, through providing safe housing, clean drinking water and sanitation, improved access to education, health and nutrition, road and telecom connectivity, and sustainable livelihood opportunities. The initiative aims to empower these communities and enable them to become self-reliant.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MOTA) aims to develop the PVTG Development Mission to provide basic infrastructure facilities for PVTG communities and households. The mission will work to establish convergence for integrated and inclusive development in the identified areas of socioeconomic development. To effectively support MoTA in achieving the project outcomes and considering the specific project management requirements at the Ministry level, UNDP is assisting in setting up of a Monitoring and Support Cell to be established within the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Support Cell will have a technical team of specialists to provide overall assistance and desired support for Strategic Planning, implementation and monitoring the PVTG Development Mission, coordination and convergencewith other Central Ministries, State Tribal Welfare Departments, and linkages with other external stakeholders as well as community members.

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

Reporting To: Chief Advisor, SDG acceleration, NOD, UNDP
Reportees to this position (if applicable): 8 NPSA Personnels
 

Main Purpose:

UNDP proposes engaging a Project Officer - Social Development and Coordination to support the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to lead and provide guidance to the PVTG Mission Support Cell, and provide technical support and inputs in policy formation, inputs in developing scheme guidelines, data analysis related to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups(PVTGs) and monitoring the implementation of the Mission.

The Project Officer - Social Development and Coordination will be part of the PM-PVTG Mission Support Cell and s/he will work under the overall guidance and supervision of Director, MoTA and project team members and day to day supervision on the implementation issues with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. S/He will ensure the engagement of all direct stakeholders and delivery of project objectives, in coordination with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership, Policy Support, and Coordination

• Lead and provide strategic guidance to the PM-PVTG Mission Support Cell in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
• Coordinate with the Support Cell for effective planning, monitoring, and implementation of PM-JANMAN Mission, identifying research areas, and developing capacity-building programmes for implementing officers and field practitioners.
• Facilitate inter-ministerial coordination, partnerships with State Tribal Welfare departments and Tribal Research Institutes to incorporate the contextualized needs of PM PVTG Mission.
• Support technically in providing inputs for policy formation and data analysis related to the PVTGs. Develop guidelines and policies for the PM PVTG Mission and ensure its alignment with the overall objectives of the mission.
• Undertake evidence-based data-driven research to examine the existing Government schemes and policies for the PVTGs and provide policy recommendations for addressing the gaps, importantly gender gaps.
• Examine guidelines of other Central Ministries Schemes and Programmes and provide inputs for inclusion of PVTG communities for outcome-oriented results.
• Bring in technical knowledge in preparation & issuance of guidelines, facilitative circulars/orders, policy briefs.

Project Implementation, Monitoring, and Gender Mainstreaming

• Establish real-time monitoring and robust monitoring systems for the mission and provide regular reports on mission progress and impact.
• Monitor implementation of project components, analyze problems that hamper their implementation, and take appropriate measures to ensure timely delivery of project resources (inputs) for the achievement of programmatic results.
• Ensure that the project contributes to the promotion of gender equality by reaching, involving, and benefiting both women and men in its activities (gender mainstreaming).
• The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
   

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning
• Adapt with Agility:  LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making 

Cross-Functional & 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.
• 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

• Monitoring and Evaluation: Ability to systematically monitor results of strategies, programmes, and activities with a view to make sure that they are being implemented effectively; Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback and reporting on the consistency or discrepancy between planned activities and programme management and results. Ability to make independent judgment of the management and results of strategies, programmes and activities based on set criteria and benchmark, keeping in mind the needs and concerns of client, current and upcoming. Knowledge and understanding of monitoring and evaluation
• Working with Evidence and Data: Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making

Digital & Innovation

• Data analysis: Ability to extract, analyze and visualize data (including Real- Time Data) to form meaningful insights and aid effective decision making.

Partnership Management

• Multi- stakeholder engagement and funding: Knowledge and ability to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships, and remove any obstacles to resource mobilization and multi- stakeholder funding platforms
   

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Social Sciences, Rural Development, Development Management, Social Work, Public Policy/Economics/ Business Administration/Statistics/ Data Analytics/Business Analytics/Computer Science/IT or 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 2 years (with master’s degree) or 4 years (with bachelor’s degree) of experience in development management/studies, rural development, social work, public policy, governance, social justice etc.

Desired skills:

• Prior experience in research and analysis of policy and programmes related to Tribal development.
• Knowledge of schemes and development programmes for the Tribal communities, functioning of Institutions such as Tribal
  Research Institutes.
• Experience of working in government/international agency funded projects is desirable
• Sound knowledge of development challenges and solutions for Scheduled Tribes with specific focus on PVTGs will be preferred.
• Good    understanding    of    tribal    development    related    schemes/ programmes, especially for PVTGs
• Experience of working in government/international agency funded projects is desirable.
•  Knowledge of and experience in gender mainstreaming.
• High-level of IT/computing skills (minimum: Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Relevant experience in documentation and preparation of reports on development issues is an asset.

Required Languages:

• Excellent knowledge of written and spoken English.
• Knowledge of Hindi is desirable.
   

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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