Jobs

Instructions to Applicants: Click on the "Apply now" button. Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. Please ensure that CV or P11 and the Cover letter are combined in one file.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.

A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.

Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.

Office/Unit/Project Description  

Independent Evaluation Office of UNDP

The Independent Evaluation Office of UNDP supports the oversight and accountability functions of the Executive Board and the management of UNDP, UNCDF and UNV. The structural independence of the Office underpins and guarantees its freedom to conduct evaluations and report evaluation results to the Executive Board. The IEO conducts independent evaluations and other activities according to its programme of work approved by the Executive Board. The work of the IEO includes:

• Conducting thematic programmatic and other independent evaluations, ensuring strategic and representative coverage of UNDP programmes and results against national, regional and global scales;
• Developing evaluation standards, procedures, criteria and methodological guidance for UNDP evaluations, and contributing to innovation in evaluation methodology and dissemination of good practices;
• Providing UNDP and its development partners with timely knowledge and lessons drawn from evaluations that can feed into development programming at global, regional and country levels;
• Assessing the quality of decentralized evaluations of UNDP, UNCDF and UNV, and monitoring compliance with best international evaluation and data collection standards, including the UNEG norms and standards, code of conduct and ethical guidelines;
• Communicating its evaluation findings, conclusions and recommendations through multiple channels and maintaining a searchable, publicly accessible repository of all UNDP, UNCDF and UNV evaluations, and respective management responses and resulting actions;
• Supporting the development of communities of practice, and partnering with professional evaluation networks to improve evaluation utility and credibility;
• Supporting the harmonization of the evaluation function in the United Nations system, including contributing to the annual work programme of UNEG, participating in systemwide evaluations, and prioritizing joint evaluations with United Nations organizations; and
• Promoting national ownership and leadership in evaluation through country-led and joint evaluations.

Institutional Arrangement

The Research Analyst will be supervised by the Chief of Section, Knowledge and Data Management section, and will work in close collaboration with other units of IEO.

Instructions to Applicants: Click on the "Apply now" button. Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. Please ensure that CV or P11 and the Cover letter are combined in one file.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.

A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.

Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.

1. Office/Unit/Project Description

1. Organizational Context

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, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the 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 the Strategic Plan.

1. UNDP’s work on Energy and the Sustainable Energy Hub

UNDP has been a leading advocate and the largest UN implementing agency for the energy transition at global, regional and national levels for several decades. UNDP’s Energy Programme supports policy makers with high quality data to make informed decisions on selecting and designing cost-effective public instruments to promote private investment in clean energy, contributing to SDG 7 and in line with UNDP’s ‘signature solution’ on energy. UNDP has a successful track record in using policy instruments to de-risk and catalyze investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy access projects, including a series of sustainable energy initiatives specifically adapted to the needs (and resilient recovery) of fragile and crisis-impacted countries.

Under the new Strategic Plan (2022-2025), energy is one of UNDP’s six signature solutions – alongside poverty and inequality, governance, resilience, environment, and gender equality - to support countries towards three directions of change: structural transformation, leaving no one behind and resilience. Scaled-up programming efforts on energy access and the energy transition will be coordinated under the newly established Sustainable Energy Hub (SEH), which represents parts of the organization’s systematic and programmatic approach to respond to the energy and climate change agendas. As per UNDP’s new Strategic Plan 2022-2025, the first objective of UNDP is increasing energy access for those furthest behind. By speeding up investment in distributed renewable energy solutions, especially for those hardest to reach and in crisis contexts, it aims to increase access to clean and affordable energy for 500 million people by the year 2025. The Africa Minigrids Programme, for example, is improving the financial viability of renewable energy mini-grids in 21 countries, encouraging private investment, lower tariffs and expanded service.

Second, UNDP will work to accelerate the clean energy transition and access through systems changes that support inclusive, green and resource-efficient economies. This work will capitalize on technological gains, clean energy innovations and new business models in the energy sector.

Through the Sustainable Energy Hub, UNDP will harness networks, experience and innovation to scale-up energy programming efforts and shape policy, building on the existing portfolio of energy projects, covering over 100 countries to harness clean energy and support the energy access and transition as well as on UNDP’s Climate Promise, UNDP’s Sustainable Finance Hub and UNDP’s Digital offer. UNDP will also work with Governments in programme countries as they recover and build forward better from COVID-19 and with investors to unlock and harness public and private finance to power progress towards multiple SDGs.

Finally, recognizing that change will be disruptive, UNDP will strive to ensure that such transitions are just, and that their impact on vulnerable people is understood and duly mitigated.

1. Background on Regional Engagement

To provide country support and work with relevant teams for local action, the Sustainable Energy Hub is structured to work in close concert with UNDP’s Regional Hubs (i.e., Africa, Asia Pacific, Arab States/Middle East & North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe and Central Asia). Therefore, the Regional Energy Advisor will be located at the Bangkok Regional Hub for Asia and the Pacific region.

The Regional Energy Advisor will work closely with the Regional Team Leader for Nature, Climate and Energy and other Technical Specialists and Policy Advisors supporting the region to advance the sustainable energy agenda, while engaging with country offices in the region and enabling strategic partnerships with regional organizations and partner UN agencies. Therefore, working closely with other Specialists and Advisors, the Regional Energy Advisor will provide policy and programme support to:

(1) de-risk energy investments;

(2) scale up energy finance;

(3) promote innovation, technology, and data for sustainable energy,

(4) enable SDGs through an inclusive, just energy transition,

(5) advance energy access and transition policies and the enabling policy environment e.g. on carbon pricing, energy auditsand fossil fuel subsidy reform; and

(6) expand energy access for poor and displaced communities, among other activities.

The Regional Energy Advisor will be supervised by the Director of the Sustainable Energy Hub in UNDP Headquarters (Primary Supervisor) and work directly with the Regional Team Leader for the NCE Team (primary supervisor).

1. Institutional Arrangements

1. Travel:         

• UNDP will cover the cost of travel of the individual to the duty station, as well as their return to their home upon completion of their services. Travel costs are covered only in the event that the function will be undertaken physically in the duty station and excludes working from home arrangements.
• International mission travel may be required (destinations to be identified) with expected total travel duration of approximately 4-8 days per mission.  Expected mission travel would be discussed upon commencement of assignment and updated quarterly;
• Any necessary mission travel must be approved in writing and in advance by the supervisor;
• The BSAFE course must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel;
• The incumbent is responsible for obtaining any visas needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP and for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
• S/he is required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb.

Lebanon is going through one of the worst economic crises in its modern history. In less than 2 years, the country has seen its financial system and economy collapse. The economic collapse has had severe social and humanitarian consequences on businesses and households, particularly vulnerable groups including women, youth, informal workers, informal sectors and historically marginalized regions.
With the collapse of the financial system and the dwindling of foreign exchange reserves, the exchange rate, which used to be pegged to the US dollar, has deteriorated leading to a severe depreciation in local currency and simultaneous inflationary pressure. Increase in food prices has become one of the most alarming concerns in Lebanon, mainly among poor and low-income households, as food accounts for considerably high proportion of their budget.
The Consumer Protection Directorate (CPD) at the Ministry of Economy and Trade (MoET) has been playing a critical role to ensure that the interests of consumers are being protected, particularly in times of pandemic and crisis. The directorate has been overstretched beyond its limits, mainly in the past two years, due to the growing volume of transactions and decreased productivity. This has resulted in major delays in addressing consumer complaints and inspecting market irregularities and manipulation. It has also resulted in delays in approving the entry of imported goods (mainly through the ports) and in approving licensing requests from gas and fuel companies as well as from SMEs. Providing the Consumer Protection Directorate with the needed support is key to ensure citizen’s continuous access to essential goods, fair prices and information. There is a growing tendency among consumer protection directorates worldwide to employ digital means to improve their outreach.
Digital transformation and public sector reforms have been high on the agenda of the Lebanese Government as the current economic crisis may be presenting an opportunity to move the current governance model into a more agile one, that addresses current critical challenges that contributed to the economic and financial collapse and resulted in increased inequalities and vulnerabilities. This initiative comes within the Lebanese government efforts to accelerate digital transformation at the national level, and as a practical translation of the Digital Transformation Strategy that was approved by Cabinet on May 12, 2022.
UNDP is leading on the implementation of the digital transformation agenda and will support the Ministry of Economy and Trade (MoET) in its efforts. The digitalization of the Consumer Protection Directorate has been prioritized for a variety of factors: 1) It addresses one of the most pressing needs facing vulnerable groups across Lebanon in relation to access to fair and safe food and basic services; 2) It fits within the ministry’s vision of improving its delivery of services to citizens leveraging technology and automated tools and 3) It aligns with the national government vision of digitizing government services, particularly the newly approved 2022 National Digital Transformation Strategy, 4) It complements the government’s efforts to implement reforms aiming to reduce corruption and increase transparency; and finally 5) it serves as an entry point to support public administration reforms including improving productivity of civil servants.