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.
UNDP CO jointly with the Government institutions and other stakeholders implements several strategic initiatives in various sectors ranging from public administration issues to building social cohesion and supporting resilience measures. Governance area is an integral part of the UNDP CO programme, which primarily focuses on building effective, efficient, transparent, and accountable institutions, free of corruption.
The Governance Unit partners with multiple stakeholders to deliver UNDP mission, including the Administration of the President, Prime-Minister’s Office, Parliament, line ministries and local government authorities. Increased attention is devoted to partnerships with civil society organizations, private sector and international donor organizations to strengthen the efforts at sectoral level.
The rule of law and human rights is one of the key focus areas where UNDP works in partnership with a number of national partner including the Human Rights Commissioner, Constitutional Court, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior Affairs, Judicial Administration, General Prosecutor’s Office and Anticorruption Agency. Apart from traditional human rights aspects UNDP support new aspects of human rights line human right in business and environmental justice which are becoming to be global trends.
Ongoing environmental pollution by private sector increase the impact at climate change and citizens concerns of preserving their health and natural resources. The government is taking legislative and regulatory measures to improve the situation with adopting the Environmental Code and introducing a number of innovations like the transition to comprehensive environmental permits, the “polluter pays and eliminates” principle, implementation of automated pollutant emissions monitoring systems at enterprises, etc. On the other hand, in the light of the effects of climate change and a number of death accidents in construction and mining companies, Kazakhstan right defenders and civil society activists started raising the issue of negative impact of private sector at human rights and ineffective investigation and judicial process in relation to environmental pollution and abuse of the associated rights. The issue of environmental justice becomes specifically important as Kazakhstan adopted the Green Concept though with no clear approach to its implementation and legislative and institutional level measures to prevent the growth of air and water pollution and preserve natural resources.
To respond civil society appeals the President announced the Plan of Actions in human right area that includes the task towards development of recommendations on human rights in corporate sector in line with UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs) on human rights in business adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011. Kazakhstan has joined the global process of UNGPs promotion with the support of UNDP that conducted the country's first National Baseline Assessment (NBA) of implementation of UNGPs which reveals the number of human rights issues in the corporate sector, including the rights associated with environmental impacts.
The Project Associate will support the development and implementation of the BHR and environmental justice agenda in Kazakhstan and directly coordinate project activities according to the project work plan and ensure all project implementation components including assessment, trainings, resource mobilization and awareness raising work.
In addition to planning, administration and reporting, the Project Associate inputs into policy research and develops knowledge products as well as supports communication and partnership-building to support UNDP at program level.
Support in strengthening human rights due diligence (HRDD) practices in private sector:
Studies the opportunities with resource mobilization to promote business and human rights activities in the private sector; Arranges training activities on human rights in private sector; Organizes human rights and environment due diligence trainings for private sectorSupport in strengthening capacity of national counterparts in human rights and environmental due diligence (government agencies, lawyers, trade unions, NGOs):
Facilitates capacity building for the national institutions in assessing and responding violation of human rights in business, including environmental abuse; Facilitates trainings for CSOs, lawyers, trade unions and government representatives to enhance their institutional knowledge and enavle them for monitoring and reporting on human rights and environmental violations by private sector; Participates in development of the roadmap on government level support towards B&HR issues; Facilitates consultations at national level with CSOs, business and government representatives on B&HR issues.Support to the empowerment of government partners to effectively respond to human rights and environmental violations:
Organizes a study towards analysis of existing investigation and judicial practices in regard to environmental violation cases; Coorinates support to the government Working Group on development of NAP on human rights in business with consideration of gender equality issues Organizes capacity building for government partners on international standards of environmental justice (trainings and methodological materials for law enforcement and judiciary).Technical support to the Governance Unit in building partnerships with private sector and rule of law partners:
Identifies potential private sector partners for governance projects in rule of law area; Develops concept papers, terms of reference and strategic documents for new initiatives with government and private sector on human rights; Assits in organization of conferences, workshops and trainings with participation of government agencies and private sector counterparts.Ensuring project and financial management:
Supprts drafting annual work plan; Supports preparing and updating work plans and budgets; Complies with security and safety requirements and regulations; Monitors the project compliance with financial requirements, such as reporting deadlines, formats, purchasing procedures, audits, transmission of documentary evidence, spending eligibility periods, etc; Undertake cost estimates for different activities according to the needs of projects; Generates Quantum reports, including Account Activity Analysis, Combined Delivery Report, Project Budget Balance; Monitors project budget in terms of expenditures according to the work plan as per donor requirements; Produces periodical annual project progress reports; Performs other related duties as necessary and in line with the Internal Control Framework of the Country Office and related SOPs.The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
Institutional Arrangement
Project Associate will ensure to comply with appropriate UNDP policies and procedures and reports to the Head of Governance Unit and Project Manager of the Environmental Justice project on all programmatic and administrative issues. Under the guidance of the Project Manager, the Project Associate is responsible for the timely delivery and quality of outputs and technical advice. The Project Associate is responsible for the overall coordination of the business and human rights and private sector engagement activities. S/he will be tasked with the day-to-day management of the project activities, as well as dealing with materials and administrative reporting. The main responsibility of the Project Associate is to ensure that project delivers outputs and outcomes with specific indicators specified in the Initiation Plan, in accordance with the required quality standards. This will require linking indicators to the workplan to ensure results-based management. Project Associate works in close collaboration with UNDP CO team, Government officials, private sector counterparts, practitioners and academics engaged in the issues of governance, social protection, human rights and SDGs.
CompetenciesCross-Functional & Tecnical Competencies
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 Knowledge Generation Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need 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 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 Awareness and Literacy Ability and inclination to rapidly adopt new technologies, either through skillfully grasping their usage or through understanding their impact and empowering others to use them as needed Governance Human rights and rule of law Required Skills and ExperienceDesired Skills:
Experience in working with national ministries, NGOs, UN agencies, and other international organizations is an advantage Practical experience in the area of human rights and corporate sector due diligence is an advantage; Experience in drafting, editing and producing written analytical memos and reports is desired; Relevant experience in working with the UN, or other international organizations will be an advantage.Languages:
Fluency in English, Russian and Kazakh is required. Disclaimer Applicant information about UNDP rosters