National Knowledge Management Specialist at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all our activities, we encourage the protection of human rights, capacity development and the empowerment of women.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: National Knowledge Management Specialist On Integrated Analyses for a REDD+ Strategy in Nigeria, with focus on Cross River State

Location: Abuja
Type of Contract: Individual Contract
Post Level: National Consultant
Duration of Initial Contract: 30 working days
Expected Duration of Assignment: 30 working days

Background
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is an international effort to create a financial value for the carbon stored in forests through offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development. REDD+ ("plus") goes beyond deforestation and forest degradation, and includes the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.

Nigeria's forests, which currently extend over 9.6 million hectares, have been rapidly declining over the past decades. The current deforestation rate, estimated at 3.7%, is one of the highest in the world. The Federal Government of Nigeria, reinforced by pioneering efforts from Cross River State, began to engage in REDD+ in 2009 and signed an agreement with the UN-REDD Programme in August 2012. In February 2015, Nigeria’s REDD+ Readiness Programme was extended through 2016, following two years of stakeholder engagement with little progress towards a REDD+ strategy.

It envisions a two-track approach to achieve REDD+ readiness in Nigeria, based on: (i) the development of institutional and technical capacities at Federal level, and (ii) consolidating four key UNFCCC requirements for REDD Readiness on a pilot basis in Cross River State: the four Warsaw Framework elements of Strategy, Safeguards Information System, Forest Monitoring System, and Forest Reference Levels for carbon. Nigeria’s REDD "readiness" programme entails the participatory development of a national REDD+ Strategy. 

As a pilot state, Cross River State will develop a REDD+ Strategy that will both inform the national strategy and serve as a model for other states. The Strategy will comprise policy reforms, investment priorities, and a related REDD+ implementation framework, with due monitoring and safeguard systems, as called for under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The REDD+ Strategy intends to enhance the value of standing forests and to incentivize sustainable forest management through a multi-stakeholder approach and a green development perspective.

Duties and Responsibilities

• The objective of the Knowledge Management Consultant will be to provide technical knowhow for capacity assessment and for planning, design and implementation of the learning and Knowledge Sharing aspect of the Project.
• Activities should be dedicated to capturing best practices and lessons learned, and raising the visibility of the project - both internally and externally.
• The consultant would also be in charge of mainstreaming cross-cutting issues into the integrated analysis which would be integrated into the final report.

Other objectives are:

• Improve the quality of management decision-making by ensuring that reliable and secure knowledge, information and data is available through the service lifecycle;
• Enable the service provider to be more efficient and improve quality of service, increase satisfaction and reduce the cost of service by reducing the need to rediscover knowledge;
• Ensure that staff have a clear and common understanding of the value that their services provide to customers and the ways in which benefits are realized from the use of those services;
• Maintain a Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) that provides controlled access to knowledge, information and data that is appropriate for each audience;
• Gather, analyse, store, share, use and maintain knowledge, information and data throughout the service provider organization.
• The consultants will develop a knowledge management strategy document for the REDD+ programme and also carry out the following specific tasks, among others:
• Work proactively with programme and project teams to identify opportunities for capturing and sharing knowledge, and disseminating information about major progress and results;
• Develop a REDD+ events calendar, ensuring that major events are identified early; supports senior management and relevant programme teams to develop and manage messages and information material to ensure the success of major events;
• Advise the project on branding and publications policy and also assist in their dissemination;
• Develop contacts database with key print and electronic media (including radio, TV, news websites and blogs) to supply them with newsworthy material about the REDD+ programme work in the country;
• Ensure that all outreach information material to be used by the media is written in a way that concepts and issues can be readily understood by the public;
• Research and identify media stories, writes and edits media releases, and feature stories within tight timeframes which consistently meet agreed corporate standards;
• Produce video documentary for capturing project results;
• Prepare National Factsheet/Case Studies to promote national projects results and activities;
• Ensure that media is informed about key workshops/seminars and project outputs; provide training to journalists on REDD+ programme;
• Support organizing the launch of the REDD+ Strategy.

Competencies:

• Excellent interpersonal skills;
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment;
• Excellent Team building skills;
• Excellent communication and writing skills;
• Strong analytical skills;
• Working knowledge of the following computer applications: MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint); Adobe Acrobat; and one or more web based meeting application.

Required Skills and Experience
Education:

• Advanced University Degree in Social Sciences or other related field.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of experience in the knowledge products management;
• Experience in at least two of the focus areas of Knowledge Management to be covered by this post, with experience in more than two a strong advantage;
• Demonstrated experience in networking and coordination, preferably in or related to agriculture and forest product enterprises;
• Knowledge and experience managing complex multi-stakeholder partnerships;
• Some experience in natural resource management, environmental policies and/or forest-climate linkages is highly valuable;
• Proven track record of working with governmental and non-governmental institutions;
• Proven experience in drafting reports and action plans.

Language:

• Fluent in English.

Application Closing Date
12th October, 2015.

Starting Date
19th October, 2015.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online