PDAs are deployed through a partnership between the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), under the Joint UNDP-DPPA Programme on Building National Capacities for Conflict Prevention.  PDAs support Resident Coordinators (RC) and UN Country Teams (UNCTs) in their efforts to work with national partners on conflict prevention and sustaining peace. They support early warning and risk management measures, and ensure that UN assessments, frameworks (mainly UN Cooperation Frameworks), strategies and programmes are conflict-sensitive and informed by high quality analysis. They are located in the Resident Coordinators’ office, with a direct reporting line to the RC, and a secondary reporting line to the UNDP Resident Representative and DPPA-DPO regional divisions.In 2021, PDAs will have been deployed to more than 50 countries through the Joint Programme. While most PDAs are deployed at country-level, there are a number of PDAs who cover multiple countries.  In some contexts, PDAs are part of a small Peace and Development Advisory team composed of a PDA and a substantive national or international officer/analyst. PDAs also receive additional support from a Joint Programme secretariat based at UN Headquarters in New York, from UNDP and DPPA technical advisors/specialists globally, and from a cadre of regional programme specialists supporting their regions from Amman, Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Dakar, Istanbul, and Panama. 

Given the broad range of skills and experience required by PDAs, the Joint Programme encourages applications from individuals with a combination of expertise spanning sustainable development, political affairs, peacebuilding, sustaining peace, conflict prevention/resolution, community engagement, justice, reconciliation, dialogue, mediation, and humanitarian-development-peace nexus among other relevant areas. While UN experience is a major asset, it is not a requirement for this position. Moreover, the skills of diplomacy, dialogue and facilitation, analysis, advocacy, networking, capacity development and coordination are critical elements of a PDA’s work.

Djibouti’s Context

Despite its sustained economic growth in recent years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Djibouti experienced a sharp fall of GDP in 2020, with output growth plummeting to 0.5% according to World Bank figures, compared to an average of 7% per year from 2015 to 2019. This was the result of a halt to trade and a fall in the global demand for transshipment and logistics services on which Djibouti is heavily dependent. Although the overall economic trend has remained positive, the pandemic has harshly impacted on the socio-economic situation in the country, exacerbating humanitarian needs, poverty levels and unemployment, particularly in the informal sector, with women, youth, refugees and other vulnerable groups disproportionately impacted. The pandemic struck in a context already characterized by high levels of inequality and underdevelopment, with poverty being four times higher in rural areas compared to urban ones, and the most recent official national extreme poverty rate standing at 21.1%. Owing to recurrent droughts, water scarcity and other climate shocks, the country faces chronic food insecurity and malnutrition, with unfavorable conditions for agricultural production prompting the country to import 90% of its food needs.

President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh has been in power since 1999, winning its fifth term in April 2021. The elections were largely boycotted by the opposition, who alleged the process was rigged. In the months preceding the polling, the country saw increasing signs of social discontent, triggered, inter alia, by high youth unemployment and lack of basic services, with the concomitant challenges of COVID-19, desert locusts and flooding having heightened grievances. The elections however took place in a calm atmosphere and a new Government was established in May 2021, which includes a larger representation of women (6 compared to 3 in the past) assigned to portfolios in the social and economic development spheres. The appointment of the new Government might create possible openings for the UN to support programmes on community dialogue and youth engagement, including in the context of the COVID-19 response.  Djibouti is set to hold local elections in 2022, followed by parliamentary ones in 2023.

Alongside internal challenges, Djibouti is highly vulnerable to external shocks and is being severely impacted by the crisis in neighboring Ethiopia, due to its economic dependence on Ethiopian trade. The country has faced a sharp decline in port activities (main source of GDP) owing to a contraction in Ethiopia’s maritime imports and exports, and a further deterioration of the political and economic situation in Ethiopia could have serious knock-on effects on Djibouti’s socio-economic prospects. Increasing ethnic clashes between the Afar and Somali ethnic groups in eastern Ethiopia in recent months have also triggered tensions in Djibouti. In early August 2021, violence erupted between the Afar and Somali communities in various neighborhoods of Djibouti’s capital and in the North of the country. While the situation has since returned to calm, it remains unpredictable, with sustained efforts by the Government to encourage unity and social cohesion. In parallel to the Ethiopian crisis, the uncertain internal situation in Sudan, tensions between Ethiopia and Sudan over the disputed al-Fashaga area and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, political instability in Somalia and the ongoing conflict in Yemen could all have negative spillover effects on Djibouti, including triggering a new refugee influx in the country, which – as a major transit hub in the Horn of Africa – already hosts over 30,000 refugees and recently experienced one of the largest migrant flows in the continent, facing already strained response capacities. The Al-Shabaab threat in neighboring Somalia also warrants constant attention. The message addressed by Al-Shabaab to the people of Djibouti in March 2021 encouraging attacks in the country might signal an attempt by the group to exploit simmering youth grievances in Djibouti to expand its recruitment and operational base.

The United Nations Country Team has been focusing on four strategic axes of intervention: accelerating sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction; enhancing social services and inclusive human development; strengthening good governance institutions; and increasing community resilience and equitable development. Since 2020 the UNCT has also worked closely with the Government on the COVID-19 response and on the drafting of the new National Development Plan, yet to be released, which also considers the socio-economic impact of the pandemic. The volatility of the current regional context and the potential repercussions on Djibouti have accentuated the need to deploy a Peace and Development Advisor (PDA) to the country. Located in the Office of the Resident Coordinator (RC), the incumbent will monitor and analyze the internal situation in Djibouti and the potential impact of regional dynamics on the country to provide early warning, identify appropriate ‘entry points’ for UN conflict prevention, and support potential local-level dialogue initiatives. The PDA will also contribute to enhanced exchanges with other UNCTs in the region to increase the sharing of data, analyses and scenarios on cross-regional dynamics, including in the context of the implementation of the UN Comprehensive Regional Prevention Strategy for the Horn of Africa.

Alongside being an experienced networker, able to build trust and sustain constructive dialogue with local and regional stakeholders, the incumbent should have demonstrated capacity to provide strategic advice to senior officials and proven technical and advisory skills on dialogue processes and sustaining peace.

1. Undertake conflict analysis and provide strategic advice to the Resident Coordinator in his/her engagement with high-level government officials, civil society including youth and women’s networks, the UN Country Team, HQ, and other relevant stakeholders. Submit the analysis and reporting to the RC, UNDP RR and DPPA-DPO Division.
2. Identify opportunities, formulate project concept notes and mobilize resources to build national capacities for conflict prevention including areas of strategic, programmatic and policy engagement with national stakeholders, and support the RC and the UNCT action in areas of conflict prevention, peacebuilding, human rights, humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus, Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) among others.
3. Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with key national stakeholders, regional and international actors and development partners on issues related to Sustaining Peace and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

1. Undertake conflict analysis and provide strategic advice to the Resident Coordinator in his/her

engagement with high-level government officials, academia, civil society including youth and women’s networks, UN Country Teams, HQ, and other relevant stakeholders. Submit the analysis and reporting to the RC, UNDP RR and DPPA-DPO Division.

• Monitor political and socioeconomic developments in Djibouti, as well as unfolding dynamics in the region, analysing trends and risks and providing timely analyses to the RC, the broader UNCT as well as the UN Headquarters (and regional level as relevant). This would also require identifying appropriate ‘entry points’ for conflict prevention and sustaining peace, proposing concrete, actionable and timely recommendations for consideration by the UN leadership;
• Strengthen and support the capacity of the UNCT, including through training, to undertake conflict, context and political economy analysis, ensuring that gendered and human rights dimensions are reflected in both analysis and programming; and inform early warning and response mechanisms;
• Provide weekly updates to UN Headquarters, in line with the Joint Programme’s reporting guidelines with advice on political and socioeconomic developments and conflict dynamics.  Support UNDP’s governance, justice, and civic engagement portfolio as required.
• Assist the RC and UNCT in integrating a conflict sensitive approach into UN programming related to COVID-19 response.
• Support the regular update of the Common Country Assessment (CCA), which informs the design and implementation of the UN Cooperation Framework, including lead the conflict analysis part of the CCA;
• Regularly brief the UNCT on political developments, and provide strategic advice on integrated approaches across the UNCT in the context of SDG 16 – Peace Justice and Strong Institutions;
• Facilitate the linking of political economy considerations, conflict and political analysis and strategies, as well as risk-informed approaches to the UN’s programmatic and policy engagement at the country-level; and
• Engage with academia and think tanks in research and analyses on peace and conflict related themes, including areas such as climate-related security risk.

• Provide strategic and technical advice, and support the design and initiation of peace-promoting initiatives or engagements in areas such as conflict prevention and sustaining peace; infrastructures for peace; dialogue processes; confidence-building measures, electoral violence prevention; social cohesion; reconciliation; countering violent extremism; and stabilization;
• Identify and formulate new initiatives to support the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, formulate project concept notes and mobilize resources to ensure concrete UNCT support in Djibouti,
• Support the design and facilitation of national multi-stakeholder processes, building national and local capacity for negotiation, mediation and dialogue; and strengthening networks of mediators and facilitators (including female mediators) at national and local levels;
• Identify opportunities and options for UN preventive diplomacy engagement as required;
• Support connecting local and national level conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts, as well as regional and/or cross-border initiatives as appropriate;
• Identify and engage civil society actors in the peace and development agenda supported by the UN and work with other UN entities, including OHCHR and UN Women, to protect human rights and expand civic space;
• Support the UNCT in their efforts on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and gendered dimensions of peacebuilding and SCR 1325 (and related resolutions) as well as Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) and SCR 2250;
• Support the design and implementation of strategies for identifying entry points for mainstreaming of conflict prevention and conflict sensitivity in the work of the UNCT (including within the CCA, Cooperation Framework, Country Programme Documents (CPD), etc.); and where relevant, support UN’s resource mobilization efforts for conflict prevention;

• Establish and maintain networks and strategic partnerships for sustaining peace related strategies and initiatives and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and national SDG plans;
• Liaise closely with national, regional, and local stakeholders including civil society, academia, think tanks, women’s and youth networks and key international actors to identify entry points, foster dialogue and strengthen strategic alliances and partnerships on conflict prevention, trust- and confidence-building, and reconciliation initiatives;
• Maintain close liaison with relevant development partners (notably EU, World Bank and Africa Development Bank), the diplomatic corps, regional organizations (IGAD, AU) and other actors supporting the UN’s conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts;
• Maintain close contact with relevant staff in UN Headquarters, as well at the regional level including relevant focal points at UNDP, DPPA-DPO, DCO and work closely with the regional programme specialists based in the region;
• Establish regular communication with the Office of the UN Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa and other UN Country Teams in the region to ensure sharing of data/information, analysis and scenarios on cross-regional dynamics like migration, as well as domestic developments in neighboring countries with potential spillover effects on Djibouti.
• Contribute to the results-based management efforts of the Joint UNDP-DPPA Programme, including through setting up mechanisms to assess and measure impact of peace and development initiatives and providing the Joint Programme secretariat with inputs on progress at the country level