Policy Coordinator – Crisis and Resilience [Open to Tier 0, 1 and 2 Applicants]

Tiered Approach

In line with the commitment to safeguard capacity and support personnel already in the Organization, a majority of UNDP UNCDF/UNV vacancies are advertised using a tiered application process whereby:

• Tier 0: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV IP staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments, whose posts will be abolished, or contracts will be terminated or not renewed during 2026.
• Tier 1: Other UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments
• Tier 2: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts, and Expert and Specialist UN Volunteers
• Tier 3 or no tier indicated: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates

Please make note of the Tier(s) indicated in the vacancy title, if any, and ensure that you satisfy the eligibility to apply.

Background

As the lead United Nations agency on international development, UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. We help countries develop policies, leadership skills, partnerships and institutional capabilities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s work is guided by four strategic objectives that together define our contribution to human development: expanding prosperity for all, strengthening effective governance, safeguarding a healthy planet and building crisis resilience. These objectives are enabled by three accelerators that drive transformative impact across our portfolio: digital and AI innovation, gender equality and sustainable finance. Through this integrated approach, UNDP supports countries to deliver tangible improvements in people’s lives and to advance sustainable development at scale.  

Within the Global Policy Network (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. BPPS works closely with UNDP's Crisis Bureau (CB) to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP's development programmes.  BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working.  BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data-driven including in its programme support efforts. 

UNDP, through its Sustainable Finance Hub (https://sdgfinance.undp.org/), supports partners in promoting financing for SDGs.  As an accelerator of the UNDP Strategic Plan, sustainable finance strengthens countries’ ability to mobilize, align and deploy finance at scale for national priorities. UNDP supports international and country level policy reform as a catalyst for system-wide change, stronger policy environments, better-functioning markets and more coherent financing strategies for sustainable development.  

The Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development (ICPSD) is the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Global Policy Center mandated to leverage the role of the private sector in development. The ICPSD was established in Istanbul, Türkiye on the basis of the Partnership Framework Agreement signed between the Government of the Republic of Türkiye and the United Nations Development Program in March 2011. The Center is one of the five global thematic centers of UNDP, advocating and facilitating the contribution of the private sector to human development and inclusive growth through the following thematic priority areas:

• Private Sector Engagement through South-South Cooperation for the SDGs
• Private Sector Engagement in Digital Transformation and Skills Development
• SDG Financing and Private Sector Development 
• Resilience and Crisis Response

Under its Crisis and Resilience portfolio, ICPSD supports sustainable and durable solutions for conflict and fragile affected contexts. The Center, together with its partners and relevant stakeholders, is working on identifying and promoting private sector led good practices in developing countries to be replicated and scaled up to address the major development challenges such as humanitarian crises, disaster risk reduction, climate change, conflict affected economies. As part of the work under the thematic area the Center designs and implements activities to support the Country Offices, partners and stakeholders from both public and private sector through awareness raising and capacity building programs, knowledge products and technical assistance services. 

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Center’s Deputy Director, the Policy Coordinator – Crisis and Resilience will lead and be responsible for the ongoing and planned activities through Crisis and Resilience including overall management and coordination of thematic areas’ workplan and activities. The Policy Coordinator – Crisis and Resilience will also be leading the design and implementation of knowledge management activities of ICPSD under Crisis and Resilience, such as research, toolkit and training development for initiatives of the Center, cooperation, donor mobilization and technical advisory/ assistance offered to other UNDP units, including Country Offices and Regional Bureaus. The Policy Coordinator – Crisis and Resilience will promote organization’s capacity as a reliable partner with national as well as international counterparts, ensure coordination of sectoral activities with broader country/regional/global programmes and advocate on behalf of organization’s goals.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance of and reporting directly to the UNDP ICPSD Deputy Director, the Policy Coordinator – Crisis and Resilience will be responsible for performing, but not limited to, the following key functions:

Planning and Implementation of ICPSD Crisis and Resilience Portfolio Projects

• Lead the development and implementation of the Crisis and Resilience portfolio workplan, ensuring alignment with UNDP corporate standards and country/regional programme objectives.
• Facilitate the design of programme strategies and policies to develop scalable models for crisis response and resilience, across sectors and in line with national and UNDP objectives.
• Provide technical oversight to all research and programme activities, advising on methodological approaches, ensuring quality, and adhering to UNDP and ICPSD programme standards.
• Coordinate preparation of high-quality policy and programme guidance materials for thematic areas such as market systems analysis, value chains, trade facilitation, financial sector and private sector development.
• Supervise all stages of programme implementation, providing regular updates to senior management on progress, risks and delays.

Coordination of Research Activities in Fragile and Conflict-affected Contexts

• Provide oversight for high-quality publishable research reports across the full research cycle, from project design and data collection through analysis, report writing and dissemination.
• Design research activities with clear methodological frameworks, mixed-method approaches, work plans and objectives, including identification of research gaps and formulation of research questions.
• Oversee the development of digital data collection systems and data quality assurance plans, ensuring sound research design and data integrity across all programme activities.
• Engage with academic and research institutions to strengthen the evidence base for crisis and resilience programming.
• Provide training to team members in mixed-method research design, quantitative and qualitative analysis, and data collection systems, with a focus on building capacity for fragile and conflict-affected contexts.

Stakeholder Coordination and Partnership Management

• Establish, maintain and strengthen active working relationships with key stakeholders including government bodies, UN agencies, international and local NGOs, private sector partners, donors and academic institutions.
• Coordinate with project teams, partners, and stakeholders to facilitate operations and achieve project milestones.
• Participate in relevant coordination forums, working groups and inter-agency mechanisms, ensuring that the Crisis and Resilience portfolio is well understood by key stakeholders and that partnership opportunities are identified and pursued.
• Support stakeholder engagement and resource mobilization activities, including drafting concept notes, technical sections of project proposals and reports in close coordination with ICPSD senior management.
• Foster an environment of innovation within the portfolio, encouraging the exploration of new approaches and technologies to enhance crisis response and resilience programming.

Facilitate Knowledge Management

• Design and oversee the development of knowledge management tools and systems, including AI-assisted research and analysis platforms, to support evidence-based programming across UNDP Country Offices and regional teams.
• Identify and synthesize lessons learnt and best practices in the area of work and ensure timely production and dissemination of knowledge products (research reports, policy briefs, toolkits) to key stakeholders, donors and partners.
• Actively promote a knowledge sharing and learning culture across ICPSD units and with UNDP Country Offices and Regional Bureaus.
• Support the application of monitoring and evaluation frameworks for each programme activity, in line with UNDP standards.

Team Leadership and Capacity Building

• Directly supervise staff working in ICPSD's Crisis and Resilience portfolio, ensuring team members have clear roles, responsibilities and work plans, and that performance is regularly reviewed.
• Support the capacity building and technical growth of team members through mentoring, training and structured feedback.
• Contribute to timely recruitment of staff and proactively adapt team structure to programmatic needs and funding availability.
• Promote team cohesion, productivity and staff welfare, fostering a positive working environment conducive to learning and performance.

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

Institutional Arrangement

The Policy Coordinator will work under the direct supervision of the ICPSD Deputy Director and in close collaboration with ICPSD units and UNDP Afghanistan team members.

The Policy Coordinator will directly supervise personnel working in ICPSD’s Crisis and Resilience Portfolio, and these personnel will report to the Policy Coordinator.

Competencies

Core

• 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 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.
• Knowledge Facilitation   
  •  Ability to animate individuals and groups, internally and externally, and to design and facilitate activities, to share and exchange knowledge, information and ideas.
  • Knowledge of tools and approaches to stimulate active participation, contribution, and exchange

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 Management   

• Results-based Management        
  • Ability to manage the implementation of strategies, programmes, and projects with a focus at improved performance and demonstrable results. 
  • Knowledge and understanding of relevant theories, concepts, methodologies, instruments, and tools.
• Project Management     
  • Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals

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.

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 International Relations, Public Policy, Economics, Data Science or a related area is required. Or
• A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the above-mentioned field of study, in combination with an additional two years if qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree. 

Experience:

• Minimum of 2 (two) years (with master’s degree) or 4 (four) years (with Bachelor’s degree) of progressively responsible working experience in programme / research coordination, analysis or closely related area is required.

Required skills and competencies:

• Experience of programme design and technical support in fragile and conflict affected countries.
• Experience in managing multi-stakeholder research activities, including research design, data collection, analysis and reporting.
• Proven experience writing analytical reports and policy briefs on private sector, macroeconomic, or socioeconomic topics

Desired additional skills and competencies:

• Proven experience with projects within the Afghanistan and /or Horn of Africa context is desirable.
• Experience developing AI-assisted tools or data analysis pipelines (e.g. using Python, R or similar) for research or knowledge management is an asset.
• Experience in designing digital data collection systems and implementing data quality assurance plans in complex operational environments is desired.
• Proven experience working with value chain analyses and market systems development in fragile and conflict-affected countries is an advantage.

Languages:

• Fluency in English language and excellent writing skills are required. 
• Working knowledge of another UN language is an asset

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.

Use of AI by candidates

Applicants are invited to read UNDP’s guidance for candidates on using AI responsibly in UNDP recruitment and selection

Scam alert

UNDP does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process. For further information, please see www.undp.org/scam-alert.

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