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Senior Policy Officer, Principles for Peace

Reporting to: Head of Secretariat

Location: Geneva, Switzerland

Application closing: 10 January, 2021

Two-year assignment – Full Time             

Background

The Principles for Peace is an international initiative launched by Interpeace with the support of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and others. The initiative is an inclusive global process aimed at examining and re-framing the way peace processes are conceived and implemented. Over the course of two years the initiative will include both bottom-up and top-down consultations led by an international commission of political leaders, peacebuilding and peace-making practitioners, civil society representatives and scholars. The initiative will result in a set of new principles and guiding norms to inform and incentivize more effective design and implementation of peace processes that enable sustainable peace.

Current approaches to peace-making and peace processes are often ineffective, resulting in most peace agreements failing on average after only seven years. One key weakness is the persistent failure to craft inclusive processes that ensure the credibility and legitimacy of the outcomes for all relevant stakeholders.

The Principles for Peace intend to achieve more effective and sustainable peace by influencing the global approach to peace processes. The initiative aims to move the international community towards multi-layered, more inclusive and strategic processes that are more effective in enabling societies to end violent conflict and build their capacities for sustainable peace. By creating a new set of enduring principles and non-binding norms, this initiative aims to change individual and collective incentives and behaviour within international peace action, and provide strategic coherence, greater accountability and mechanisms for long-term oversight.

This initiative was launched on 15 December 2020 and was selected in the 2019 Paris Peace Forum and as a top ten ‘scale-up’ project. For more background information about the Principles for Peace, please visit: www.principlesforpeace.org/.

The Secretariat of the Principles for Peace Initiative is hosted at Interpeace, Interpeace is an international peacebuilding organization that strengthens the ability of societies to manage conflict themselves in sustainable and non-violent ways. Interpeace was originally established by the United Nations and remains its strategic partner. Beyond field-based peacebuilding, Interpeace also assists the international community – particularly the UN – to be more effective in supporting peacebuilding efforts worldwide. This includes contributing innovative thought leadership on peacebuilding policies and practices.  Interpeace is headquartered in Geneva and has offices around the world. For more information about Interpeace, please visit www.interpeace.org

Position within the Organization

The Senior Policy Officer will provide substantive policy support to the Principles for Peace Secretariat which will implement the initiative’s activities worldwide over a two-year period. A key aspect of the role will be to assist the Head of Secretariat in the effective functioning of the various building blocks of the initiative including the international high-level Commission. The Incumbent will provide distilled research and policy briefs to inform the work of the international Commission as well as practical support to ensure delivery of a highly inclusive and participatory series of regional consultations worldwide by the Commission.

The Senior Policy Officer will contribute to the effective work of the Principles for Peace Secretariat and will report to the Head of Secretariat.

Purpose and General Overview

The Secretariat will support the international Commission to develop the Principles for Peace, in particular by ensuring a highly inclusive consultative process and ensuring that the inherent political complexities and international multilateral relations space are effectively navigated in order to achieve new international informal norms for peace-making and peacebuilding.

The key organs of the initiative including the Commission and multi-stakeholder platform will be composed of eminent and senior political leaders, practitioners, scholars, and civil society/youth leaders with significant experience working on international peace and security issues.

The Senior Policy Officer will contribute to the Secretariat’s effective and timely support to the international Commission to develop the Principles for Peace. This will principally include working in a team that ensures the curation of a highly inclusive top-down and bottom-up global consultative process that will lead to new norms, guidance, standards for peace-making and peacebuilding action. The Senior Policy Officer will contribute to the provision of secretarial support for the Commission as well as a  Steering Committee and multi-stakeholder platform; contribute to process design and sequencing of participatory  consultations and other project planning and logistics; ensure the management and delivery of background research;  and, provide substantive input and feedback into research processes developed by the initiative.

The Senior Policy Officer will contribute to forming partnerships and coordinate collaboration with other peace-making and peacebuilding organizations throughout the project. S/he will contribute to the coordination and weaving of the different tracks of the initiative including substantive research, stakeholder engagement, participatory consultations and deliberations of the international commission. S/he will also synthetize and develop key areas of the initiative such as policy and advocacy outputs and desk-based and thematic research as requested by the Head of Secretariat and International Commission.

The Senior Policy Officer will closely collaborate with other staff members within the Secretariat. S/he will also regularly engage with other Interpeace colleagues for coordination and consultation purposes. The Senior Policy Officer will regularly engage with external parties, including representatives of partner organizations (e.g. UN agencies, international NGOs, regional and local organizations and civil society organizations), and donors.

The position is for a two-year period but is envisaged to continue into an implementation and monitoring phase to mainstream and disseminate the Principles for Peace to ensure their meaningful take up and operationalization.

The position will involve some travel, possibly including high-risk contexts on rare occasions.

Duties and responsibilities

Specific Duties:

• Supports the overall work of the Secretariat, including key deliverables of the initiative such as local, regional and global consultations and public engagement campaigns


• Develops knowledge products and briefing and learning outputs from the activities of the Secretariat, in collaboration with relevant colleagues


• Develops the evidence-base of the initiative, including the distillation of key research and policy products


• Contributes to the implementation of extensive participatory consultations in collaboration with local and international partner organizations, including quality control


• Drafts core briefing and background materials for the international Commission, as requested by the Head of Secretariat


• Contributes to stakeholder engagement, in particular the coordination of the multi-stakeholder platform


• Contributes to the initiative’s strategic direction and generates political and policy advice, in close collaboration with the Head of Secretariat


• Inputs into the development of proposals and donor reports


• Identifies and develops opportunities to expand the initiative’s reach, including to target audiences and partnerships


• Undertakes Monitoring and Evaluation activities in line with the log frame and performance measurement framework of the programme


• Stays abreast of relevant developments in international policy, in particular international peace and security developments

Management – institutional coherence

• Supports team coordination and close operational coordination at technical working level with other colleagues in the Secretariat, with partner organizations and teams in Interpeace.


• Contributes to the strategic sharing of information and opportunities with key donors, partners and like-minded institutions.

Representation and Communication

• Develops internal and external stakeholder communication products


• Produces key communications content for various audiences to the initiative, including the general public, research partners and people living in conflict affected settings expiring peace processes


• Develops and strengthens relationships with partner organizations and supports stakeholder engagement of the Secretariat


• Participates in meetings, conferences, forums and other public events including public consultations and commission meetings


• Collaborates with relevant colleagues to input into communications materials (tweets, webstories, reports, talking points) to create visibility for the initiative in collaboration with the Communications team

Qualifications:

Candidates with relevant qualifications, experience, a tertiary degree, and fluency in English, are invited to apply.

Relevant experience and qualifications may include:

Education

• Tertiary qualification in peace and conflict studies, international relations, political science, development, public administration, management, or related field

Experience

• Experience in peacebuilding, peace-making or mediation or other relevant field at a research or practitioner level


• Field or lived experience in conflict affected or humanitarian contexts


• Experience in project management and or coordination with various stakeholders, experience in international organizations being an advantage

Competencies

• Excellent knowledge of peace-making and peacebuilding policy and practice, including understanding of gender-and youth peacebuilding issues


• Understanding of the development, humanitarian and peacebuilding/peacemaking policy discourses


• Ability to work in a multicultural environment and to demonstrate gender-responsive and non-discriminatory behavior and attitudes.


• Ability to interact in political sensitive situations and with people respectfully and with tact


• Ability to deal with confidential information and/or issues using discretion and good judgment


• Languages:
  
  
  
  • Excellent verbal and written skills in English required; fluency in other working languages of the UN, especially French would be desirable.
  
  


• Interpeace Competencies
  
  
  
  • Collaboration and Weaving
  
  
  • Communication
  
  
  • Drive for results
  
  
  • Adaptability and Continuous Learning
  
  
  • Respect for Diversity
  
  

Interpeace values diversity among its staff and aims to achieve gender equality both through gender parity at all levels of the organization and promoting a gender dimension in all its work. We welcome applications from women and men, those with disabilities and those with a lived experience of conflict and violence.

How to apply

Qualified candidates are invited to submit their application to recruitment@interpeace.org no later than 10 January 2021. “Senior Policy Officer, Principles for Peace” must be included in the subject line of the application email to be considered. The application must include:

• a complete curriculum vitae


• a letter of interest


• an acknowledgement letter
  
  
  
  • answering the following questions:
    
    
    
    • Have you ever been criminally convicted or subject to any criminal or administrative penalty by any competent authority? If yes, please specify:
    
    
    • Have you ever been terminated or separated (e.g. contract termination, dismissal, non-renewal) or subject to any disciplinary measure or sanction by your employer for fraud, harassment, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation or sexual abuse?
    
    
    • Have you ever resigned while under investigation or during disciplinary proceedings?
    
    
  
  
  • Confirming the following declaration of understanding:
  
  

I confirm the accuracy of the information provided, with the understanding that Interpeace will conduct reference checks to verify relevant information.

I understand that if any false or misleading information is provided in my application, or any material fact suppressed, I may not be employed, of if I am employed, I may be dismissed.

Please note that due to high volume of applications, ONLY short-listed candidates will be contacted.

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