Job Title: Portfolio Manager, Economic Recovery & Institutional Development

Reports to: Deputy Resident Representative (Programmes)

Grade Level: (P5)

Duty Station: Mogadishu, Somalia

Duration and Type of Assignment: More than a year; Fixed Term Appointment

Job Purpose and Organizational Context

After three decades of brutal civil war, destruction, humanitarian mayhem, the beginning of the decade finally saw the beginnings of hope for a better future. During 2011 a series of negotiations and reconciliation events were held and a new (provisional) constitution was developed and approved in 2012, followed in 2013 with the agreement between the Somalia Leadership and the international community on the New Deal Compact, which outlined the major areas where the new national authorities wished to make progress with support from the international development community.

The challenges at the beginning of the decade were humongous. The civil war had destroyed the institutional and physical infrastructure, as well as the economy, while due to inter-clan disputes the social fabric in society suffered greatly. The regular state governance structures and state driven service delivery had virtually disappeared and are being reestablished in recent years. The regulatory environment is fragile. While many laws and regulations still exist, these are often outdated. The government structures are struggling to apply and develop new legal instruments including new gender legislations, which are either struggling to progress through the approval processes or left without budgetary allocation needed for their implementation.

The economic structure has become lop-sided and is dependent on a limited number of sectors (construction, agriculture, livestock). Employment is very low, especially of the youth, leading to a vast under-utilization of productive capacity. Women and vulnerable population are disproportionally affected. The domestic economy is small and insufficient to cater to the needs for decent living and remains dependent on external resources like remittances and foreign aid. The weak state and economic structures are insufficiently resilient to enable appropriate response to natural or man-made disasters. Finally, Somalia is not yet at peace. Al Shabab continues to be capable of launching attacks and causes mayhem in the cities with mortars or exploding vehicles. As a result, a vast majority of the population lives in poverty, is unemployed, and has limited access to education. Large numbers of people left the country and even larger numbers ended up as internally displaced.

Somalia suffers from climate change related disasters which seem to occur in ever shorter intervals. The 2012 drought led to an estimated 250.000 causalities. While this kind of catastrophe could be avoided in the 2017/2018 drought, the impact on economic production and sharply increasing numbers of Internally Displaced Persons are testimony to the vulnerability of the country.

While it is easy to paint a gloomy picture of Somalia, which in virtually all global indicators trails at the tail end of the lists, this only depicts a partial picture. While there is no doubt – the development indicators for Somalia are not good – this certainly does not mean that the country is not moving forward. On the contrary. In a very limited period of time, a strong set of improvements have been realized. A new government system has been established, individual ministries and other government bodies increasingly take on board their duties with vigor. The population is business sensitive, work on re-integration in the regional and world economy is ongoing, and the economy continues to grow (even despite severe droughts and ongoing insecurity). In 2017, the country produced its first National Development Plan in over 30 years, negotiations on nation-wide arrangements concerning revenue sharing and investment arrangements are under way and nearing completion, and more comprehensive and more inclusive elections are being prepared. The country moves solidly ahead with the Staff Monitored Program (IMF) concerning macro-economic and fiscal management and this combined with the new National Development Plan 2020-2024, which will serve as an iPRSP, is expected to lead to a positive HIPC process during 2020 and resulting in debt relief and access to new loans and other types of investment.

The list of achievements is long. With a steadily increasing strength within the government systems and a developing private for-profit and not-for-profit sector, the prospects for Somalia remain positive, but at the same time the ‘development agenda’ remains heavy and requires strong commitment from both the national and international community to work in unison to tackle the outstanding challenges and realize the opportunities for substantial improvement in the decade to come.

The UNDP Economic Recovery and Institutional Development (ERID) Portfolio supports the Government to develop and implement public sector development policies and strategies and supports the government to steer the country on a solid path towards economic recovery and resilience.

The Portfolio Manager, Economic Recovery and Institutional Development under the direct supervision of Deputy Resident Representative (Programme) will be responsible for the effective delivery of the Portfolio. S/he will support to Federal Government of Somalia and Federal Member States to conceptualize, plan, design and oversee implementation of economic recovery and development and capacity development initiatives in line with the Recovery and Resilience Framework (RRF), the National Development Plan (NDP) and respective government road maps, and the specific reform agenda of the Federal Government of Somalia.

The Portfolio Manager provides strategic guidance and oversees a number of programmes and projects aimed at enhancing capacities of key governmental and non-governmental institutions to deliver on their mandates so as to spur Somalia’s economic recovery and development. In line with the priorities of the government at Federal and Federal Member State levels, the Portfolio focuses on specific strategic areas, including local governance; stabilization, reintegration, governance and accountability, economic recovery, sustainable development; institutional strengthening, systems development, human resource development –, as well as of different categories of vulnerable groups e.g. youth, women, IDPs, CBOs; etc., and most of the activities include a strong private sector engagement.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Deputy Resident Representative (Programme), the Portfolio Manager of Economic Recovery and Institutional Development is responsible to undertake the following functions:

Summary of Key functions:

1. Provide overall management, oversight and coordination of the Economic Recovery and Institutional Development Portfolio.
2. Provide and coordinate substantive technical advice on core functions of government and economic development;
3. Effectively network, coordinate and collaborate with donors and development partners working in the area of institutional and economic development;
4. Promote networking and knowledge sharing within UNDP, the wider UN System, and the overall eco-system in which the portfolio is active.

Provide overall management, oversight and coordination of the Economic Recovery and Institutional Development Portfolio:

• The Portfolio Manager has overall portfolio management responsibility supported on daily basis by the operational and programme staff in the portfolio and the individual projects;
• Oversee the effective administrative and technical management of the Portfolio;
• Oversee the development and implementation of the Portfolio Annual Work Plans and Budgets;
• Supervise the Portfolio team leads and staff, and oversee drafting of periodic reports on the progress of the portfolio to UNDP, the Project Board and Donors, including by ensuring top quality analysis and substantive inputs to project documents, reports, concept notes and other strategic documents;
• Supervise plan and coordinate relevant meetings of the Project Boards and other relevant coordination processes, including by producing relevant reporting;
• Oversee the mobilization of resources from development partners;
• Perform other relevant duties as required by the UNDP Resident Representative and Deputy Resident Representative (Programme).
• Ensure in all circumstances that the portfolio upholds the values of the UN System, the country’s interests and partners implicated in the process.

Provide and coordinate substantive technical advice on core functions and policy coherence of government and economic development:

• Provide strategic technical leadership to the project teams and technical advice to the partner agencies, in order to further enhance the economic and institutional development;
• Ensures strategic coherence within the overall portfolio, and stimulates policy coherence within and among government institutions;
• Support implementation of the overall strategic goals (as per Country Programme Document, project documents and other relevant policy documents) and annual workplans of the different projects;
• Remains solidly abreast of developments in these areas in Somalia;
• Ensures appropriate linkages of various elements in the portfolio with other UNDP teams (like gender, human rights, resilience and durable solutions work);

Effectively network, coordinate and collaborate with donors and development partners working in the areas of institutional and economic development:

• Ensures solid team understanding of the dynamics of system evolution in the specific fields of interest and translate the systemic changes into UNDP action perspectives;
• Ensures appropriate networking with the development partners (donors, UN agencies, NGOs, private sector) active in the various fields of work;
• Provide technical advice on and support to structures and methodologies of engagement within various eco-systems;
• Build the capacity of project teams and partners on networking and engagement in eco-system management arrangements;
• In close collaboration with the DRR-Programmes and other UNDP portfolios, ensure appropriate UNDP engagement and profiling within networking and eco-system management arrangements.

Promote networking and knowledge sharing within UNDP, the wider UN System, and the overall eco-system in which the portfolio is active:

• Advise UNDP on preparation of high-level consultation meetings with donors, government departments/ministries to furthering the reform agenda envisaged under Somali Compact;
• Prepare UNDP position papers on specific subject matters relevant of the portfolio for engagement with relevant stakeholders;
• Actively engage in and stimulate portfolio staff to actively engage in relevant UN(DP) platforms;
• Undertakes dedicated analytics to understand the contributions specific project activities are making (or not) to the realization of higher-level results (outcome, impact);
• Ensure appropriate publication of analytic work implemented within the portfolio on country, regional and global level.

Competencies and Selection Criteria

Core

Innovation

• Ability to make new and useful ideas work: Exercises stakeholder-centered design approaches for office / programme / division

Leadership

• Ability to persuade others to follow: : Ensures teams are resourced for success and empowered to deliver

People Management

• Ability to improve performance and satisfaction: Guides substantive specialists / teams and expands credibility and innovation capacity

Communication

• Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform: Creates confidence among stakeholders by delivering authoritative positions, compelling analysis, and contextual acumen

Delivery

• Ability to get things done while exercising good judgement: Accepts accountability for the outcomes of programme delivery and facilitates improvement and innovation in the delivery of products and services

Technical/Functional

• Results-Orientation and Development Effectiveness:
• Innovation and Judgment
• Job Knowledge & Expertise:
• Teamwork
• Commitment to Continuous Learning
• Client Orientation

Recruitment Qualifications

Education:

• Master’s degree in International Relations, Social Sciences, Management, (Business) Administration, Economics or related fields.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of technical experience in Institutional and Economic development;
• At least 10 years of portfolio management (multiple projects managed simultaneously);
• Demonstrated experience in network management arrangements, in at least three of the following areas:

o horizontal government level (between MDAs on the same level)

o vertical government level (between different levels of government)

o Government – National Non-Government relations (with NGOs, Private Sector, academia)

o Government – International agencies;

• Demonstrated experience in eco-system management approaches;
• Senior level representational and advisory experience, ideally in a cross-cultural setting;
• Experience working with the UN is desirable;
•  Relevant experience in Africa an asset;
•  Experience in conflict or post-conflict settings an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Proficiency in English is mandatory.