Development Coordination Officer, Economist

Org. Setting and Reporting
- The UN Secretary-General launched on 1 January 2019 a bold and new reform on the repositioning of the UN Development System to deliver more effectively and efficiently on the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. As part of this reform, UN Resident Coordinator Office (RCO), under the leadership of an empowered and independent UN Resident Coordinator - the highest-ranking official of the UN Development System and Representative of the UN Secretary-General at country level - facilitates integrated UN’s support to countries in the achievement of their national development priorities and the attainment of the SDGs. The Samoa UN Multi-Country Office (MCO) is one of three MCOs in the Pacific region, with 23 UN agencies actively supporting the development priorities of Samoa, Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau. The UN Country Teams (UNCTs) for both the Pacific region and the Samoa MCO consist of representatives from these entities. The position of Development Coordination Officer / Economist is located within the RCO in the Samoa MCO located in Apia, and reports to the Head of Office / Strategic Planning Officer / RCO Team Leader.
- Responsibilities
- Within delegated authority, the Development Coordination Officer /Economist will be responsible for the following duties: Summary of Functions: 1. Produces, plans, facilitates and consolidates evidence-based analysis of the status of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), providing substantive advice to the Resident Coordinator (RC) and the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), particularly on elements pertaining to SDG Acceleration, economic transformation agenda (including green and just transition, digital transformation and the future of work) and SDG financing. 2. Advocates and supports RC’s and UNCT’s advocacy efforts for the creation of strong partnerships within the UN System, with national counterparts in government and other relevant partners, including International Financial Institutions (IFIs), to support the reframing of economic policies and practices for SDG acceleration, economic transformation and leveraging SDG financing. 3. Coordinates and helps develop with the input of the UNCT, a new generation of an integrated SDG programming cycle (including development of roadmaps, Common Country Analysis (CCA) and UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), UN Joint Programmes, as well as Annual Reports and others) that promoted SDG acceleration, advances the economic transformation agenda and outlines a clear approach to SDG financing in programming countries. 4. Plans and directs knowledge generation and management around the SDG acceleration, economic transformation and SDG financing agendas, in support of a shared understanding by the UNCT of sustainable development trends, challenges and opportunities in programme countries. Description of Functions: 1. Produces, plans, facilitates, and consolidates evidence-based analysis of the status of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), providing substantive advice to the RC and UNCT, particularly on elements pertaining to SDG acceleration, the economic transformation agenda (including green and just transition, digital transformation and the future of work) and leveraging SDG financing: - Researches, analyzes, consolidates, and presents information and data on emerging best practices in SDG acceleration, economic transformation for sustainable development, including green and just transition, digital transformation and the future of work, among others; paying special attention to gender and leave no one behind (LNOB) principles;
- Provides advice on global/corporate guidelines, tools and other materials related to SDG acceleration, economic transformation and SDG financing;
- Guides substantive support to the RC/UNCT on SDG-related issues, particularly on policies to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs, through incorporating a systems approach, and evaluates and highlights potential synergies and trade-offs between SDGs;
- Works with UNCT counterparts to create common, convergent and coherent key advocacy topics related to SDG acceleration, sustainable economic transformation and SDG financing, helping identify and analyze entry points for catalytic and consolidated UN policy support options, to enable the transition to more efficient, low-carbon and resilient production and consumption patterns, maximizing social, environmental and economic outcomes that impact the implementation of multiple SDGs and their targets, with proposed ‘accelerator interventions' that can help unlock and accelerate progress towards sustainable development;
- Collects and analyzes data on UN country level operations in support of Country Implementation Plans (CIPs) and SDG acceleration and the implementation of the economic transformation agenda and SDG financing, identifies gaps and proposes follow-up actions;
- Working in close collaboration with the UNCT, research