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UNDP Junior Professional Officer Programme

UNDP Regional WorkshopMarch 2007

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What is the UNDPJunior Professional Officer Programme?

Celebrating 40 years of existence, the JPO Programme aims at:

Providing young professionals pursuing a career in development with experience in multilateral technical co-operation

Supporting the development agenda of developing countries and contributing to the achievement of the international development targets

Giving UNDP offices access to motivated and promising human resources

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In a few figures

24 Participating Donors, usually only sponsoring their nationals

190 JPOs (average of 90 new JPOs each year)

90 Duty Stations

27 Nationalities

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Profile of a Junior Professional Officer

Funded by Donors for 2 to 3 years

Under 32 years of age (average 31 years)

Master’s degree (or equivalent)

2 – 4 years of working experience in average

Proficiency in at least two official UN languages

Key competencies: results-oriented, analytical, team-player, flexible, good communications and stress management skills

Strong commitment to development (former field experience is an asset)

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At a glance

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UNDP JPOs by Donors

Ne

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Jap

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Sw

ed

en

De

nm

ark

Sp

ain

Be

lgiu

m

No

rwa

y

Ge

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ny

Fra

nce

Italy

Ca

na

da

Fin

lan

d

Lu

xem

bo

urg

Au

stria

Sw

itzerla

nd

Icela

nd

Irela

nd

Ko

rea

Sa

ud

i Ara

bia

0

5

10

15

20

25

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Main Fields of Activity

● Poverty Reduction

Democratic Governance

HIV/AIDS

Energy and Environment

Crisis Prevention & Recovery

UN Coordination

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The UNDP JPO Service Centre

The JPO Service Centre is at the hub of the JPO Programme:

It acts as a one-stop shop and as a focal point with donors on day-to-day human resources, financial and administrative matters (recruitment, selection, placement, etc.)

It supports the recruitment process of JPOs (by assisting the Ministries of Foreign Affairs in the recruitment of JPOs or by managing the entire recruitment cycle)

It works closely with the UNDP Duty Stations around the world, providing advice and developing new tools to improve the JPO Programme.

It provides post-JPO career development support

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Advantages for the Participating Donors

The JPO Programme:

Presents a donor country with a mechanism of delivering development assistance

Supports the priorities of the donor development cooperation policies and programmes

Provides donor nationals with opportunities for training and expertise in international development management and cooperation

Increases the respective donor representation in the UN System: being a JPO represents one of the best entry points towards becoming a long-term staff member of the UN system

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The best entry point in the UN System

For the period 2000-2006, the UN System absorbed 40% of the 620 UNDP JPOs

25% returned to their home countries to continue work in the field of international cooperation (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NGOs, consultancy companies, research)

Former JPOs also account for more than 20% of the current UNDP professional staff

One in three current UN Resident Coordinators are former JPOs and several former JPOs serve at the Assistant Secretary General level

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“Retention” success stories…

• UN Resident Coordinators in: Equatorial guinea, Kenya, Bulgaria, Myanmar, Algeria, Fiji, Morocco, Afghanistan, Uruguay, Yemen, Moldova, Madagascar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia…

•UNDP Deputy Representatives in: Moldova, Congo, Madagascar, Guinea Bissau, Tanzania, Russian Federation, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Mexico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yemen, India, Georgia…

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Advantages for Emerging Donor Countries

“Old” EU member countries participate in the programme

Reported as part of ODA (multilateral development cooperation)

Excellent mechanism for building national capacities in multilateralism and a national resource base in the field of development cooperation

Excellent mechanism for marketing own nationals with the UN System and best entry point into the UN System.

Emerging donor countries have only few staff working at the professional level in UNDP. Out of the 1400 internationally-recruited UNDP, there are currently: 3 Bulgarians, 1 Croatian, 2 Czechs, 1 Estonian,1 Hungarian, 2 Latvians, 2 Lithuanians, 4 Poles, 1 Romanian, 8 Russians, 2 Slovakians, 0 Slovenians, 0 Thais and 8 Turks

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To know more about…

The UNDP JPO Programme

The UNDP JPO Service Centre

Please visit our dedicated website (available in 3 languages):

www.jposc.org