Background
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The humanitarian crisis in Yemen remains one of the worst in the world. Eight years of armed conflict have worsened the humanitarian situation and caused significant displacement. There are now 4.3 million Internally Displaced Persons across the country, with many people displaced more than once. The conflict forced the abandonment of homes, food, and agricultural assets and reduced income opportunities. An estimated 77 percent of the population – 20.7 million people – require humanitarian or protection assistance. Years after the first displacement, many IDPs live in sub- standard conditions, and temporary emergency shelters, and depend on emergency assistance. Since March 2015, the conflict dramatically aggravated the protection crisis in which millions face risks to their safety and basic rights including widespread violations of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law. Given the ongoing conflict, until recently, the humanitarian interventions remained focused on emergency, with little attention given to the needs of IDPs for durable solutions.
The UN Secretary-General’s Action Agenda on Internal Displacement (2022) assigns UN Resident Coordinator as the UN’s lead on solutions to proactively engage with the government on this issue, ensure solutions are reflected in United Nations Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDCF) and Humanitarian Response Plan (HRPs), ensure a dedicated and costed solutions strategy is developed and relevant coordination mechanisms are in place. To this end, late 2022, the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) in Yemen established a Working Group on Durable Solutions to Displacement to ensure a coordinated, coherent approach to solutions, aligned with the UN Secretary General’s policy on durable solutions to internal displacement and the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC) guidance on durable solutions.
In 2023, with the support of the Office of the UNSG Special Adviser on Solutions to Internal Displacement, a dedicated adviser supported the working group to prepare a Strategic Framework for Solutions to Internal Displacement in Yemen, endorsed by the UNCT in June 2023. The UN team now needs a dedicated Senior Solutions Adviser to lead the implementation of the Strategy.
Job Purpose and Organizational Context:The Solutions Advisor will play a key role in supporting the country-level implementation of the UN Secretary-General’s (UNSG) Action Agenda on Internal Displacement and will collaborate closely with the Office of the UNSG Special Adviser on Solutions to Internal Displacement and the UN Steering Group on Solutions to Internal Displacement. The incumbent will coordinate operationalizing the Strategic Framework for Solutions to Internal Displacement in Yemen. The incumbent will connect available global expertise such as from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and Joint IDP Profiling Service (JIPS) to promote and advance the implementation of durable solutions’ programmes and activities. The incumbent will also reinforce efforts to mobilize necessary financial resources contributing to the sustainable improvement of conditions of displaced communities.
The Solutions Advisor will provide strategic directions and engage with agencies and relevant authorities in complex political settings. The incumbent will articulate the voice and actions of the UNCT in working constructively with both the Internationally Recognized Government (IRG) and the De Facto Authorities DFA) and will guide the multisectoral programming and coordination of the work of UN entities working across relevant sectors along the humanitarian to development spectrum.
The Solutions Advisor will be on a full-time secondment to the Resident Coordinator’s Office.
The position will be based in the Resident Coordinator’s Office in Aden. It will require at least fifty percent of the time spent in Yemen traveling across the country to locations where durable solutions will be implemented, to meet with UN senior management, to interact with local decisions-makers, to help coordinate interactions between UN entities and their partners, to ensure the integrated nature of the multiagency work conducted, and to help demonstrate in practice innovative, locally- adapted approaches to durables solutions.
Duties and Responsibilities: 1. Provide strategic and technical advisory support to the UN RC and United Nations Country Team (UNCT) through the Solutions Working Group to lead national/local partnerships on solutions and for UN strategies and programmes to have a solutions approach to displacement. Provide advice and coordination to support the UNCT/HCT on strategic engagement and programming on solutions to internal displacement across humanitarian, development and peace interventions. Act as a link between the Resident Coordinator/ Humanitarian Coordinator (RC/HC) and individual UN agency programmes, keeping abreast with relevant UN agency programme interventions and initiatives. Advise on leveraging programmatic investments by development and humanitarian actors against advocacy goals linked to the inclusion of IDPs in national planning and prioritization. Provide technical and operational tools to support the authorities and UN Agencies, as well as other stakeholders, to integrate the multi-sectoral and long-term developmental responses required to resolving internal displacement. Ensure durable solutions is mainstreamed into the work of UNCT coordination mechanisms as relevant. Guide and coordinate, including in the field, the development and implementation of joint programmes by agencies working across the humanitarian to development spectrum. Support to strengthening the conceptualization and integration of durable solutions into the Humanitarian-development-peace nexus work by UN Agencies and other relevant stakeholders. Provide combined humanitarian, development, and peace data analysis and evidence on solutions to the Common Country Analysis and development of pathways to solutions in the UNSDCF and the HRP where relevant. Organize or contribute to joint-impact assessments and analyses, advocating for joint approaches, identification of collective outcomes, and evidence-based programming on solutions to ensure coherence and avoid duplication of efforts. Support resource mobilization for durable solutions activities and programmes under the direction of the UNCT and/or the RC/HC. 2. Facilitate and promote national/ local ownership and capacities on solutions strategies and prevention of internal displacement. Initiate or support efforts to strengthen national capacities and infrastructure for solutions e.g., establishing national multistakeholder Solutions Working Groups, Solutions Units in Ministries or public bodies ensuring the agency and participation of IDPs, especially displaced women. Support the implementation of the required capacity-building activities to partners, government, relevant authorities and existing coordination mechanisms to enhance collaborative processes on Solutions. Support the capacity of government and relevant authorities at national and local levels to operationalise durable solutions frameworks. Provide support to the Government and relevant authorities, to the extent possible, on the development of a national strategy/action plan on durable solutions and associated policies, including identifying priorities and potential opportunities to address durable solutions to internal displacement. Enhance national/local ownership on data collection, IDP and host community profiling, socio-economic/ political economy analysis, measuring progress towards solutions and application to national/local solutions programming with a particular attention to collecting disaggregated data and analysing differentiated consequences by age, gender, and diversity. Support authorities and partners to consistently monitor and assess solutions programmes for rapid adjustment and course correction as needed. Support advocacy and knowledge-sharing activities with national/subnational/local authorities and other relevant stakeholders.3. Maintain positive working relations and manage information flows between and among key stakeholders including government counterparts, UN focal points/Agencies, INGOs, private sector, civil society, and the donor community.
Establish and maintain a network of key stakeholders, including with national and sub- national counterparts, NGOs,donor community, diaspora, private sector and academia. Contribute to relevantpolicy dialogue and policy development processes. Support exchanges and inputs of High-Level Advisors, facilitating their in-country missions when required and maintaining momentum around issues of displacement and solutions. Actively participate in global practice networks on durable solutions and other knowledge networking forums and share relevant information with UN agencies.The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
Supervisory Responsibilities: None – the Solutions Adviser will provide strategic advice and support to the RC and UNCT.
Competencies: Core Achieve Results: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact.Think Innovatively:
Easily navigate complexity, encourage/enable radical innovation, has foresight.Learn Continuously:
Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences.Adapt with Agility:
Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands.Act with Determination:
Able to make difficult decisions in challenging situations, inspire confidence.Engage and Partner:
Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration.Enable Diversity and Inclusion:
Create ethical culture, identify/address barriers to inclusion. Cross-Functional & Technical competenciesCross-Functional & Technical
Business Direction and strategy - Negotiation and Influence
Ability to reach an understanding, persuade others, resolve points of difference, gain advantage in the outcome of dialogue, negotiates mutually acceptable solutions through compromise and creates ‘win-win’ situations.Business development - Integration within the UN
Ability to identity, and integrate capacity and assets of the UN system, and engage in joint work; knowledge of the UN System and ability to apply this knowledge to strategic and/or practical situations.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 and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimising return on investment.Business Management - Partnerships management
Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies.2030 Agenda: Prosperity - Recovery Solutions and Human Mobility
Forced Displacement, incl. Durable Solutions.2030 Agenda: Prosperity - Recovery Solutions and Human Mobility
Reintegration (refugees/IDPs).Business Direction and 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. Required Skills and Experience:Language:
Fluency in English and Arabic is required.Note: Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.
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Non-discrimination
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