Policy Specialist, SDG Integration

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 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.

Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing 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, South-South and Triangular cooperation initiatives, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledgeable and data driven including in its programme support efforts in close coordination and thematic synergy with the Crisis Bureau (CB). 

Enabling the network of expertise across the SDGs, within and beyond UNDP, SDG Integration is the team that influences, shapes, and activates platforms for intersectional collaboration for complex, multifaceted, and ‘frontier’

issues in sustainable development. As such, the SDG Integration team is at the heart of UNDP’s Global Policy Network

(GPN). 

The SDG integration team (SDGi team) of the GPN’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) facilitates the delivery of an effective integration offer to countries and the UN Development System, leveraging substantive connections across teams and approaches to complex challenges, leading a new way of working across UNDP’s flagship initiatives, workstreams and capacities.

The Policy Specialist is based in New York and reports to the Global Policy Advisor, SDG Integration.
 

Job Purpose and Organizational Context

The Policy Specialist based in HQ is responsible for contributing substantive advice and technical expertise, advocacy, relationship building and knowledge as related to data, statistics, quantitative methods and analysis and their linkages to Agenda 2030 and the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The incumbent collaborates with teams across UNDP’s Regional Hubs, Country Offices and Global Policy Centers, to provide quality policy services and advance UNDP’s credibility in this thematic area, delivering coherence and technical advice in this area.

UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Enhance Policy Research and Development

• Provide support to strategic leadership and management of the UNDP’s portfolio of analytical tools and resources to build capacity on SDG Integration, content development, knowledge management and community of practice networking.
• Develop policy initiatives for different contexts on methodologies and frameworks for measuring development results against the post-2015 development agenda and the SDGs, in support of the ‘data revolution’, including perception studies and the use of big data to supplement official statistics. 
• Contribute to discussions on innovative measures on development challenges and build