UNICEF is seeking a Communities of Practice (CoP) Facilitator to maintain three communities of practice. The CoPs are intended to support wider knowledge management for stronger humanitarian action, providing effective networks for generation and sharing of knowledge on selected issues in humanitarian action. They address topics where the exchange among individual field staff is needed to fill gaps in existing policy and technical guidance, and/or facilitate application of existing policy and guidance. The three CoPs are: Humanitarian Negotiations with Non State Entities (active since September 2009 - 262 members) Gender Equality in Humanitarian Action (active since November 2009 - 176 members) and Disaster Risk Reduction (active since December 2010 - 80+ potential members). The contract will be for 11 months.

Location: UNICEF HQ (NY)

Duration: mid-January to mid-December2011

Background
As part of a wider UNICEF effort to strengthen its Knowledge Management, the Office of Emergency Programmes has undertaken a number of initiatives specially focused on KM to strengthen humanitarian action. One of these was the establishment of three Communities of Practices on: Humanitarian Negotiations with Non State Entities (active since September 2009 - 262 members) Gender Equality in Humanitarian Action (active since November 2009 - 176 members) and Disaster Risk Reduction (active since December 2010 - 80+ potential members).

Communities of Practice are understood to be a network of individuals who share and accumulate their collective learning around a common topic of interest; they deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis (Wenger 2002). For the three CoPs in humanitarian action additional emphasis has been given to the immediacy of practical support. Ultimately they contribute to strengthening organizational performance.

The Communities of Practice are housed on the Emergencies Portal of UNICEF launched in 2009 which offers a one-stop shop or consolidated entry-way to all Intranet resources spanning EW and preparedness, humanitarian action and post-crisis recovery. There are a range of proposed updates and revisions proposed to the E-portal to ensure continued coherence in the resources made available to staff.

Purpose and Objectives

The E-portal and the three Communities of Practice pilots are intended to support wider knowledge management for stronger humanitarian action.

Specifically, the objective of the Communities of Practice is to link knowledge to practice and support instant problem solving, collaboration and application of new learning

Key Tasks and Process

1. (70% of staff time) Facilitate evolution of all communities of practices through the following key tasks:

- Maintain the existing 48-hour support mechanism facilitating and consolidating appropriate 48-hour response to incoming queries in liaison with Policy/Technical Experts and most relevant Community Members and posting responses to the electronic platform to benefit the entire community.

- Maintain the ongoing support mechanism relaying longer term technical support requests to Policy/Technical Experts, tracking and documenting for the wider CoP the response.

- Maintain the collective community support mechanism, facilitating discussions as requested by CoP members, Policy and Technical Experts. This also entails supporting Policy Experts in developing and implementing discussion plans - helping to identify key product-oriented discussions that will further knowledge development within the CoPs, facilitating these and working with the Policy/Technical Experts to finalize products.

- Maintain the two CoP online tools (One-Stop-Shop and the Filtered Library) incorporating new material and maintaining existing material up to date in close consultation with Policy and Technical Experts and CoP members.

- Explore the possibility of developing a newsletter (bi-weekly or monthly newsletter) that goes out to all CoP members for each of the COPs. Design the concept of the news letter, the content and the mode for dissemination. The development of the news letter should be conducted in close collaboration with the members.

2. (5 % of staff time) Contribute to the review of the CoP experience and development of a longer-term strategy for all CoPs, consulting with CoP members on the usefulness of the CoPs and inviting suggestions for improvements.

3. (15 % of staff time) Develop two additional CoPs (topics to be confirmed)building on existing models of UNICEF COPs working with Policy/Technical Experts and consulting with UNICEF Country and Regional Office staff to ensure they address potential CoP members' needs.

3. (10% of staff time) Maintain and develop wider electronic knowledge platforms for humanitarian/recovery (Intranet, shared drive and document repository, and possibly Internet) providing support on developing design changes to meet user needs and working with technical staff to implement them.

Expected Deliverables

1. Three active Communities of Practice maintained with:
- 48-hour support (Indicator: 100% of all support requests are provided within 48 hours)
- Ongoing support provided for a maximum of 10 requests. (Indicator: Up to 10 Continuing Support requests are provided within 3 - 6 months)
- One-Stop-Shop updated (Indicators: Each month ensure that updated information is uploaded and that outdated information/documents are removed. All answers to the 48-hour support (which are relevant to the rest of the community) are incorporated in the One-Stop-Shop)
- Filtered Library updated (Indicators: Each month ensure that updated information is uploaded and that outdated information and documents are removed)
- Discussions facilitated and discussion and consolidated in a two-pager (Indicators: Facilitated discussions. Two page documents that conclude the agreed points. Incorporation of points in end product, whether Country Office support or policy and programme guidance in Head Quarters)

2. Consultation with CoP members conducted and incorporated in Progress Report (Indicators: Progress Report with results from user survey and suggested next steps.)

3. Electronic platforms updated (Indicators: Development plans implemented and updated information is uploaded)

Supervision and working conditions

Contact; *Purpose
KM team within the Humanitarian Policy Section; *Technical collaboration
Community members; *Support
Policy and Technical Experts; *Technical support
Information and Knowledge Management Staff, ITSS Staff, Interdivisional Task Force on Emergencies occasionally and Regional Emergency Advisors; *Technical Collaboration

The consultant will be supervised by the Emergency Specialist (Knowledge Management), Humanitarian Policy Section, Office of Emergency Programme (EMOPS), UNICEF.
The position is office based - no travel required.

Qualifications

- Advanced university degree in Social Sciences, Sociology, Strategic Communications, Development Planning, Socio-political research or a related technical field.
- Five years of progressively responsible professional work experience at national and international levels in development and/or humanitarian sectors in planning, programme management, research, knowledge management.
- Practical experience (3 years) in developing country settings including some experience in emergency preparedness and response.
- Demonstrated knowledge of humanitarian sector (disaster risk reduction/prevention, preparedness, response, recovery/transition) whether based on field experience or studies.
- Demonstrated networking skills
- Demonstrated research skills
- Excellent written and oral communication skills in English
- Advanced skills in: social networking tools and Web.2.0 technologies (Blogs, Wikis, collaborative space); Word; Excel; Powerpoint; Photoshop; Dreamweaver
- Ability to work independently and achieve quality results with limited supervision.

Contact details

Please submit to Steven Rossi srossi@unicef.org by 31 December
- updated CV and United Nations P 11 form (please email if you require form)
- 2 references with updated contact information
- 1 sample of writing

to maintain three communities of practice. The CoPs are intended to support wider knowledge management for stronger humanitarian action, providing effective networks for generation and sharing of knowledge on selected issues in humanitarian action. They address topics where the exchange among individual field staff is needed to fill gaps in existing policy and technical guidance, and/or facilitate application of existing policy and guidance. The three CoPs are: Humanitarian Negotiations with Non State Entities (active since September 2009 - 262 members) Gender Equality in Humanitarian Action (active since November 2009 - 176 members) and Disaster Risk Reduction (active since December 2010 - 80+ potential members). The contract will be for 11 months.

Location: UNICEF HQ (NY)

Duration: mid-January to mid-December2011

Background
As part of a wider UNICEF effort to strengthen its Knowledge Management, the Office of Emergency Programmes has undertaken a number of initiatives specially focused on KM to strengthen humanitarian action. One of these was the establishment of three Communities of Practices on: Humanitarian Negotiations with Non State Entities (active since September 2009 - 262 members) Gender Equality in Humanitarian Action (active since November 2009 - 176 members) and Disaster Risk Reduction (active since December 2010 - 80+ potential members).

Communities of Practice are understood to be a network of individuals who share and accumulate their collective learning around a common topic of interest; they deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis (Wenger 2002). For the three CoPs in humanitarian action additional emphasis has been given to the immediacy of practical support. Ultimately they contribute to strengthening organizational performance.

The Communities of Practice are housed on the Emergencies Portal of UNICEF launched in 2009 which offers a one-stop shop or consolidated entry-way to all Intranet resources spanning EW and preparedness, humanitarian action and post-crisis recovery. There are a range of proposed updates and revisions proposed to the E-portal to ensure continued coherence in the resources made available to staff.

Purpose and Objectives

The E-portal and the three Communities of Practice pilots are intended to support wider knowledge management for stronger humanitarian action.

Specifically, the objective of the Communities of Practice is to link knowledge to practice and support instant problem solving, collaboration and application of new learning

Key Tasks and Process

1. (70% of staff time) Facilitate evolution of all communities of practices through the following key tasks:

- Maintain the existing 48-hour support mechanism facilitating and consolidating appropriate 48-hour response to incoming queries in liaison with Policy/Technical Experts and most relevant Community Members and posting responses to the electronic platform to benefit the entire community.

- Maintain the ongoing support mechanism relaying longer term technical support requests to Policy/Technical Experts, tracking and documenting for the wider CoP the response.

- Maintain the collective community support mechanism, facilitating discussions as requested by CoP members, Policy and Technical Experts. This also entails supporting Policy Experts in developing and implementing discussion plans - helping to identify key product-oriented discussions that will further knowledge development within the CoPs, facilitating these and working with the Policy/Technical Experts to finalize products.

- Maintain the two CoP online tools (One-Stop-Shop and the Filtered Library) incorporating new material and maintaining existing material up to date in close consultation with Policy and Technical Experts and CoP members.

- Explore the possibility of developing a newsletter (bi-weekly or monthly newsletter) that goes out to all CoP members for each of the COPs. Design the concept of the news letter, the content and the mode for dissemination. The development of the news letter should be conducted in close collaboration with the members.

2. (5 % of staff time) Contribute to the review of the CoP experience and development of a longer-term strategy for all CoPs, consulting with CoP members on the usefulness of the CoPs and inviting suggestions for improvements.

3. (15 % of staff time) Develop two additional CoPs (topics to be confirmed)building on existing models of UNICEF COPs working with Policy/Technical Experts and consulting with UNICEF Country and Regional Office staff to ensure they address potential CoP members' needs.

3. (10% of staff time) Maintain and develop wider electronic knowledge platforms for humanitarian/recovery (Intranet, shared drive and document repository, and possibly Internet) providing support on developing design changes to meet user needs and working with technical staff to implement them.

Expected Deliverables

1. Three active Communities of Practice maintained with:
- 48-hour support (Indicator: 100% of all support requests are provided within 48 hours)
- Ongoing support provided for a maximum of 10 requests. (Indicator: Up to 10 Continuing Support requests are provided within 3 - 6 months)
- One-Stop-Shop updated (Indicators: Each month ensure that updated information is uploaded and that outdated information/documents are removed. All answers to the 48-hour support (which are relevant to the rest of the community) are incorporated in the One-Stop-Shop)
- Filtered Library updated (Indicators: Each month ensure that updated information is uploaded and that outdated information and documents are removed)
- Discussions facilitated and discussion and consolidated in a two-pager (Indicators: Facilitated discussions. Two page documents that conclude the agreed points. Incorporation of points in end product, whether Country Office support or policy and programme guidance in Head Quarters)

2. Consultation with CoP members conducted and incorporated in Progress Report (Indicators: Progress Report with results from user survey and suggested next steps.)

3. Electronic platforms updated (Indicators: Development plans implemented and updated information is uploaded)

Supervision and working conditions

Contact; *Purpose
KM team within the Humanitarian Policy Section; *Technical collaboration
Community members; *Support
Policy and Technical Experts; *Technical support
Information and Knowledge Management Staff, ITSS Staff, Interdivisional Task Force on Emergencies occasionally and Regional Emergency Advisors; *Technical Collaboration

The consultant will be supervised by the Emergency Specialist (Knowledge Management), Humanitarian Policy Section, Office of Emergency Programme (EMOPS), UNICEF.
The position is office based - no travel required.

Qualifications

- Advanced university degree in Social Sciences, Sociology, Strategic Communications, Development Planning, Socio-political research or a related technical field.
- Five years of progressively responsible professional work experience at national and international levels in development and/or humanitarian sectors in planning, programme management, research, knowledge management.
- Practical experience (3 years) in developing country settings including some experience in emergency preparedness and response.
- Demonstrated knowledge of humanitarian sector (disaster risk reduction/prevention, preparedness, response, recovery/transition) whether based on field experience or studies.
- Demonstrated networking skills
- Demonstrated research skills
- Excellent written and oral communication skills in English
- Advanced skills in: social networking tools and Web.2.0 technologies (Blogs, Wikis, collaborative space); Word; Excel; Powerpoint; Photoshop; Dreamweaver
- Ability to work independently and achieve quality results with limited supervision.

Contact details

Please submit to Steven Rossi srossi@unicef.org by 31 December
- updated CV and United Nations P 11 form (please email if you require form)
- 2 references with updated contact information
- 1 sample of writing