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UN Full-time: Strategy and Planning Specialist – New York

UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund

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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.

As the lead United Nations agency on international development, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. UNDP supports countries in developing policies, leadership skills, partnerships, and institutional capabilities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Its work is centred around six core development areas, known as UNDP’s signature solutions: poverty and inequality, governance, resilience, environment, energy, and gender equality.

The Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS (RBEC) serves a diverse and dynamic region comprising 18 countries and territories. The region has undergone profound transformations, compounded by a series of multifaceted crises and development challenges in recent years. To address these issues, UNDP implements integrated development solutions that promote resilience, social cohesion, and inclusive governance, aligning with UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025. Through areas of work like climate resilience, disaster risk reduction, economic development and sustainable financing, RBEC strives to build capacities that enhance development across the region.

RBEC teams in the New York Headquarters and Istanbul Regional Hub work together to support offices to deliver UNDP programmes in country- and region- specific contexts of development priorities and partnerships, while contributing to UNDP global policies, practices, approaches, and tools.

Position Purpose

The Strategy and Planning Specialist, as part of the RBEC HQ team, contributes to orchestrating and facilitating the Regional Bureau’s planning functions, overseeing progress monitoring, and ensuring results reporting is in sync with the Strategic Plan, Bureau priorities, vision, and resource allocations within the region.

The incumbent provides analysis and advice to the Bureau’s leadership regarding performance against corporate targets and commitments, actively identifying and addressing risks within the Integrated Work Plan’s risk management framework. The Strategy and Planning Specialist monitors and analyzes complex political, economic, and social dynamics in assigned countries, providing strategic insights on their implications for UNDP’s programming and partnerships. The incumbent synthesizes this analysis into high-quality briefing materials and policy recommendations, enabling senior management to make informed decisions and respond effectively to emerging opportunities and challenges across the region.

Working closely with Country Offices and colleagues in the Istanbul Regional Hub, the Strategy and Planning Specialist promotes integrated approaches to programming that respond to complex development challenges and crises, while accommodating changing business needs. The incumbent collaborates across teams and functions to identify synergies between programmes and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve strategic goals. Recognizing the interconnected nature of today’s development challenges, the incumbent works horizontally across units, teams and projects to enhance multidisciplinary collaboration and enable systemic responses.

The Strategy and Planning Specialist also contributes to gathering and analyzing comprehensive regional bureau performance data, aligning global, regional, and country-level organizational datasets with the Bureau’s work plan while ensuring that RBEC meets regional and corporate requirements. The incumbent proactively manages evolving priorities and contributes insights to the Bureau’s performance management tools and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

The primary responsibilities of the Strategy & Planning Specialist are:

  • Advise & Support country portfolio analysis, coordination and stakeholder engagement.
  • Provide substantive contributions to RBEC’s regional and corporate strategic initiatives.
  • Provide analytical services and facilitates knowledge building and management.

The incumbent reports to the Chief of Strategy and Planning.

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

Advise and support country portfolio analysis, coordination and stakeholder engagement 

  • Develops and maintains comprehensive briefing notes and analytical reports on country, sub-regional and regional aspects of the assigned portfolio, ensuring quality and strategic relevance of content.
  • Coordinates preparatory activities and stakeholder engagement prior to meetings to inform positioning and develop common perspective, prepares minutes, and ensures systematic follow-up on action points with all stakeholders.
  • Proactively engages with internal and external stakeholders to gather strategic inputs for briefings, position papers and corporate documents, ensuring comprehensive information collection and analysis.
  • Conducts thorough quality review of documentation, produces analytical reports and presentations, and participates in UNDP coordination activities, including crisis response, providing regular updates to supervisors and relevant parties.
  • Provides inputs and recommendations to Bureau leadership on country-specific and thematic issues within the assigned portfolio, working closely with Country Offices, Istanbul Regional Hub teams, and other UNDP units to ensure effective information sharing and coordination.
  • Engages with key stakeholders, including intergovernmental bodies, donor governments, Missions to the United Nations, and regional organizations such as the European Union, to enhance coordination across priority areas and foster strategic partnerships.
Provide substantive contributions to RBEC’s regional and corporate strategic initiatives
  • Provides substantive contributions to RBEC’s planning and strategy processes, including regional results planning, integrated work planning, results reporting, and development of indicators and tracking mechanisms.
  • Serves as focal point for assigned regional and corporate initiatives, ensuring effective coordination and delivery of key outputs in line with team priorities.
  • Develops and delivers high-quality technical presentations and authoritative communications for external fora and partners, conducting research and maintaining current analysis of emerging opportunities in collaboration with relevant country offices.
  • In coordination with Country Offices, the partnership team and other relevant units, provides regular monitoring of relevant donor contributions at specific stages of projects/programme implementation, ensuring up-to-date and accurate information is conveyed to relevant colleagues in a timely manner.
  • Prepares comprehensive briefing materials for RBEC and UNDP senior leadership engagements with external partners, coordinating and consolidating strategic inputs from various UNDP units and stakeholders.
Provides analytical services and facilitates knowledge building and management 
  • Tracks and analyzes regional political, economic and social trends, preparing periodic reports for RBEC management with emphasis on strategic implications for UNDP’s work at country and regional level.
  • Provides comprehensive analytical support to RBEC management on key thematic areas, analyzing information and documents from across the organization to identify emerging opportunities and challenges.
  • Draws on experiences from diverse organizations and institutional contexts to enhance analytical services, inform strategic planning, and foster knowledge exchange and partnerships, contributing to innovative and impactful development solutions.
  • Identifies strategic opportunities for programmatic interventions within assigned thematic/sectoral areas, translating RBEC’s priorities into actionable recommendations.
  • Synthesizes policy-relevant analysis and research from across the region, documenting best practices and lessons learned to inform programming.
  • Actively contributes to knowledge networks and communities of practice.
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Bureau and the Organisation.
Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:  No reporting lines to this position.
Competencies
Expected Demonstration of Competencies
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
Cross-Functional & Technical competencies 
Thematic Area Name Definition
Business Direction & 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 Direction & Strategy Strategic Thinking Develop effective strategies and prioritised plans in line with UNDP’s mission and objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, opportunities and potential risks; link the general vision to realityon the ground to create tangible targeted solutions; learn from a variety of sources to anticipate and effectively respond to both current and future trends; demonstrate foresight
Business

Management

 Portfolio

Management

 Ability to select, prioritise and control the organization’s programmes and projects in line with its strategic objectives and capacity Ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives with regular activities for optimal return on investment. Knowledge and understanding of key principles of project, programme, and portfolio management
Business Direction & Strategy Effective Decision-making Take decisions in a timely and efficient manner in line with one’s authority, area of expertise and resources and take into consideration potential wider implications.
Business Management Communication Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience

Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels
Business Development Knowledge Generation  Ability to research information and to turn it into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need. Ability to apply existing concepts to new situations, and to develop

new concepts to generate workable solutions and new approaches. Knowledge of relevant concepts, conceptual models, and theories that can be useful in addressing new situations.
2030 Agenda: Engagement & Effectiveness  Effectiveness  RBM standards and practices for programming
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
  • Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent)  in International Relations, Economics, Policy Science or other related Social Sciences is required. Or
  • A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the above-mentioned fields 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 seven (7) years (with a master’s degree) or nine (9) years (with a bachelor’s degree) of progressively responsible professional work experience in development, economics, or other related field of work is required.
  • Experience working in international context on development or related issues in a multilateral and/or bilateral context required.
  • Professional experience in UN entities is desirable.
  • Experience working for a bilateral government or another international organization on international development or related matters, including providing substantive strategic advice at the international level, is considered an asset.
  • Ability to draw on experience from diverse organizations and institutional contexts to inform and enhance strategic planning, programme design, and foster effective partnerships in a development setting is desirable.
  • Experience in foreign and development policy analysis and related areas is desirable.
  • Experience in drafting high-quality briefs and talking points for senior officials is desirable.
  • Experience in supporting comprehensive strategic planning processes, including developing integrated work plans, coordinating stakeholder engagement, and/or tracking results through established reporting mechanisms is desirable.

Language:

  • Fluency in written and spoken English is required
  • Working knowledge of another UN language is desired
Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.
Disclaimer
Under US immigration law, acceptance of a staff position with UNDP, an international organization, may have significant implications for US Permanent Residents. UNDP advises applicants for all professional level posts that they must relinquish their US Permanent Resident status and accept a G-4 visa, or have submitted a valid application for US citizenship prior to commencement of employment.
UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications.
Applicant information about UNDP rosters
Note: 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.
Non-discrimination
UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
Scam warning
The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements


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