UNDP to launch groundbreaking network of Accelerator Labs to boost sustainable development in 60 countries around the world

January 25, 2019

Azerbaijan among 6 countries of the Europe and CIS region to become an Accelerator Lab

Background

The UNDP Strategic Plan 2018-2021 embraces the complexity of development and commits the organisation to helping countries find faster, more durable solutions to achieve Agenda 2030. Important development trends like urbanisation, climate change, and rising inequalities pose significant challenges on our path to achieve the 2030 agenda of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all UN Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet. At its heart are the 17 SDGs, an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership to end poverty, improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

UNDP has begun incubating a number of strategic initiatives aimed at ensuring UNDP is ‘fit for purpose’ to deliver a new generation of solutions in line with the challenges the world faces. One such key strategic initiatives is the Country Accelerator Lab Network. The initiative is a recognition that increasingly interrelated development challenges require going beyond business as usual and single point, linear and silver bullet responses in development. Instead, they call for an interdisciplinary approaches and non-linear solutions that crowd in the collective efforts of variety of partners and tap into local insights and the knowledge of people closest to the problem and the solutions. The initiative is also a recognition and an investment in the emerging momentum among a growing number of UNDP Country Offices around joining together disruptive, cutting edge methodologies with contextual, country-based insights and expertise to accelerate impact and progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.

About us:

We are building the largest and fastest learning global network of Accelerator Labs embedded within UNDP’s global architecture and country platforms, initially setting up 60 labs in 60 countries around the globe where UNDP operates. UNDP in Azerbaijan was among 6 country offices of UNDP across the CIS and Europe region to become an Accelerator Lab. The new offering builds on the latest thinking from the fields of complexity science, lead user innovation and collective intelligence to accelerate development impact. Our network will surface and reinforce locally sourced solutions at scale while mobilising a wide and dynamic partnership of actors contributing their knowledge, resources and experience. The idea is to transform our collective approach by introducing new protocols, backed by evidence and practice, which accelerate the testing and dissemination of solutions within and across countries. This will enable the global community to collectively learn from local knowledge and ingenuity at a speed and at a scale that our societies and planet require. This will be achieved by:

Building on locally-sourced solutions, finding things that work and expanding on them;
Rapid testing and iteration to implement what works and go beyond the obvious solutions;
Combining the best understanding, ideas and expertise to generate collective knowledge;
Accelerating progress by bringing expertise, creativity and collective intelligence to bear.

The Accelerator Lab will undertake i) externally facing interventions addressing priority development challenges, and ii) internally facing experiments to embed new ways of doing development within the existing UNDP portfolio.

About you:

You are capable and excited about starting, designing and managing activities, direct engagement with local communities and collaboration across global networks. You are driven by learning new things, figuring out how they work and translating them across sectors. You tell stories of emergent solutions and you gravitate to solving global development challenges.

You have a natural inclination to interdisciplinarity, cross-cultural mindset and cross sectoral experience with a cosmopolitan attraction for diversity. You are driven by a strong sense of purpose and commitment to make change happen and a keen eye to identify emerging opportunities and ‘at the edge’ trends. You are open to discovery and exploration, capable of articulating insights and ideas through visual thinking, open to serendipity and discovery yet are pragmatic and constructive working with public sector authorities. You are comfortable with ambiguity, capable of zooming out for context and zooming in for content and execution- sharp in pursuit of objectives, fast at adapting and changing course when needed. You have superb competencies in program and portfolio management, are at ease with decision-making processes and dynamics of different models of governance.

You are curious, quirky and fun. You are visionary enthusiasts, strategic thinkers and talented designers. You understand systems, the good, the bad and the ugly, and are capable of working within bureaucracies to make change, leverage technology to extend, enhance and multiply exploration, discovery and execution. You are digitally savvy, you hack tools, and you are keen to be a part of a large global organisation exhibiting United Nations values. If this is what describes your personality and your area of expertise and interest, join us in the call to bring together disruptive, cutting edge methodologies coupled with local insights. Apply to join UNDP and lead its brand new teams of Exploration, Experimentation and Solutions Mapping in order to accelerate impact and progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.

If you are curious and eager to turn ideas into actions, or if you are a born creator with interdisciplinary background and passionate about emerging technology trends, driven by the urge to turn the world into a better place, then this opportunity is exactly designed for you. Apply for one of the three exciting roles below before 11 March 2019 to start your career with the global development organisation and help people build a better life for themselves.