The Position:

The Regional Population and Development Policy Adviser post is placed in the West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO). The adviser will work with the WCARO, WCA Country Offices and UNFPA HQs technical advisors to formulate and generate strategic UNFPA contributions toward advancing ICPD Programme of Action (PoA), the 2030 agenda and the AU Agenda 2063 in the West and Central Africa Region, particularly focusing on incorporating population issues into environmental, economic and social policies, with a focus on the mega-trends impacting the region.

The adviser will work under the overall guidance and leadership of the Regional Director and reports directly to the Deputy Regional Director who supervises this position. S/he is the Principal adviser at the regional level for evidence-based advocacy, policy dialogue/advice, capacity building and technical assistance in population and development issues including implications of population dynamics, demographic changes and megatrends such as the impact of climate change, migration and population aging on sustainable development. S/he works in an integrated manner with the technical, operations, programme and communications staff in the WCARO.

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.  UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Job Purpose:

The adviser provides strategic technical and programmatic leadership and policy direction on population and development issues for the region to ensure that WCARO and the UNFPA Country Offices in the region play a leadership role in advancing the Strategic Plan, ICPD PoA and the 2030 agenda. S/he maintains primary responsibility for coordination of provision of technical assistance, and for providing policy and programme support to the countries of the region on population and development issues including coordinating and providing evidence based guidance on how population dynamics, demographic transition and megatrends such as the impact of climate change, urbanization, population movements, migration and displacement, pandemics, to name a few, are likely to affect attainment of UNFPA Transformative Results and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). S/he analyses regional as well as specific sub-regional trends and contributes to strategic action in response of these as well as to the monitoring of UNFPA substantive areas being firmly placed within national development frameworks and programmes, including the achievement of Agenda 2030 and the AU Agenda 2063.

You would be responsible for:

Responsibilities will include identifying new and emerging needs in the area of evidence-based advocacy and policy dialogue, providing guidance on the impact of population dynamics and demographic transition in public policies and investments; establishing clear links between investments in SRHR, education, gender equality, young people, and the reduction of poverty and inequality, and maintaining technical partnerships in the region; coordinating and providing leadership to regional efforts around evidence, knowledge and innovation; and ensuring that technical knowledge is updated, generated, disseminated and utilized for effective technical, capacity building, policy dialogue and advocacy.

The primary roles of the Population and Development Policy Adviser are:

A. Evidence Generation and Analyses

B. Strategic Population and Sustainable Development Policy Advice

C. Quality Technical Support and Capacity Development

D. Evidence and Knowledge Management

E. Technical Representation, Strategic Partnerships and Strategic Positioning

Evidence Generation and Analyses Identify and analyze trends, threats and risks in population dynamics, including fertility, mortality, migration displacement and urbanization, that may affect the achievement of UNFPA’s transformative results, ICPD PoA and SDGs within the region at the regional, subregional and country level;  Analyze country and regional level patterns of population transition and mega-trends such as the impact of climate change, population displacement, urbanization and migration; Analyze mechanisms that can facilitate countries to harness demographic, health and gender dividends to accelerate progress towards UNFPA’s Transformative Results and SDGs; Undertake analyses and scanning of the political, economic, social, technological, environment, health and legal factors and patterns pertaining to population and development issues focusing on UNFPA mandate and the ICPD PoA; Lead systematic analyses of population dynamics and their developmental implications; Develop and synthesize policy briefs and publications to better target public investments in the region toward sustainable development in the context of demographic resilience; Support the development of new and cutting-edge technical knowledge products on population and development issues that reflect priorities linked to UNFPA’s mandate; Contribute and provide support for the analysis and interpretation of population, sexual and reproductive health and human and economic development data and evidence including those related to gender-based violence across a nexus approach - development, peace and humanitarian settings- in accordance with the main indicators of SDGs 3 & 5 that UNFPA is the main custodian; Strategic Population and Sustainable Development Policy Advice                                                      Use population dynamics and demographic intelligence, evidence and analyses of trends to participate in and advise on policy dialogue across different sectors at the regional and country level to accelerate the achievement of the transformative results, ICPD PoA, SDGs and Agenda 2063 in the region;                                                                             Contribute to the development and application of new or updated policies, position papers, frameworks, guidance, standards, instruments and tools, including the use of the national transfer accounts, pertaining to population dynamics, demographic dividend and sustainable development; Participate in the UNFPA technical network in population dynamics, demographic dividend and on the impact of other megatrends such as climate change, migration, aging, and provide input into UNFPA corporate thinking for the advancement of the three transformative results and ICPD PoA in the region; Quality technical support and capacity development Advise country offices on the implementation and effective application of policy dialogue, strategies, guidelines and tools on population dynamics and demographic dividend, including national transfer accounts in the region, ensuring consistency and coherence in addressing priorities for UNFPA; Support the regional adaptation of training materials, manuals and tools, including basic and advanced understanding of the national transfer accounts, and ensure their availability and promote their use for capacity development; Contribute to the development and implementation of a regional integrated technical, operations and programme delivery strategy to strengthen capacities pertaining to population and development issues in the region, and guide implementation of the strategy; Support the development of regional and sub-regional institutional capacities for delivering high-quality technical support based on analyses of population dynamics, demographic dividend and population megatrends; Monitor the quality of the technical support received at the country level on issues pertaining to population dynamics, demographic dividend and population megatrends, for effective policy dialogue and programming; Coach and manage junior professional staff and associates, direct expert consultants and facilitate working groups and task teams; Evidence and knowledge management Coordinate and monitor the regional knowledge platform as a mechanism to share technical skills and knowledge within and among programme countries and/or other regions in population dynamics and demographic dividend; Facilitate and support the accessibility and use of databases that capture best practices, lessons and expert rosters which can enhance the delivery of technical support to countries; Collect, analyze and synthesize information/data and experience on programme priorities to be used in regional and global advocacy; Prepare white papers, briefing and materials for evidence-based policy dialogues at regional level, provide similar support at the request of country offices and in support of the corporate executive leadership at HQs; Disseminate and promote the use of state-of-the-art technical knowledge, evidence, lessons learned, and success stories and ensure their use to improve the effectiveness of UNFPA operations;

This vacancy is archived.

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