Brief Project Description:
The conflict in Darfur has undermined livelihood-coping strategies, leaving millions reliant on humanitarian assistance. For the past several years, the international community has focused on life-saving interventions, creating dependencies and disempowering communities. Many humanitarian and development actors have, however, now recognized the need and opportunities to incorporate a longer-term or more enabling perspective into their support package whilst meeting urgent humanitarian needs.
To that end, in 2011, UNDP introduced a livelihoods and economic recovery interventions approach to its existing activities in Darfur, focusing on the promotion of sustainable and integrated livelihood and economic recovery, peace building and social cohesion, employment creation and capacity development, collectively known as the Darfur Livelihoods Recovery Programme (DLRP). The DLRP consists of four inter-connected and mutually reinforcing components, each addressing key shortcomings in Darfurian communities to sustain humanitarian gains and to ensure transition to recovery and development. In 2011-2013, the programme set a strong foundation for strengthening resilience and rebuilding livelihoods through the implementation of four components:

•  Pro-Poor Value Chain Integration Project;
•  Youth Volunteers Rebuilding Darfur;
•   Recovery and Livelihoods Post-Return Package.

The Pro-poor Value Chain Integration Project promotes and brokers investments that are both commercially attractive, increase the competitiveness of the honey, groundnuts and livestock subsectors in Sudan and address early recovery needs in Darfur. Pro-poor value chain development is a key strategy for livelihoods stabilization as well as early and long-term local economic recovery in Darfur. The conflict has disrupted markets, disadvantaging mainly producers. Therefore in an effort to assist producers to maximize on profits, UNDP has conducted value chain analysis study in Darfur, and developed the value chain development project.

The overall goal of the project is to broker and facilitate linkages between large businesses, potential investors and local partners, to strengthen and expand the local SME sector and facilitate the development of new products and services which address the needs of the poor. ‘Leading investors’ are being approached individually and jointly with networks of local partners to discuss and find innovative and efficient solutions to investment projects that align financial viability and promote equitable local economic development. The multi-stakeholder nature of the initiative reduces the risks and transaction costs of specific investment projects.
The project is in line with the Growing Sustainable Business (GSB) global initiative which aims to broker public-private partnerships that enable the private sector to engage in specific pro-poor investment projects that are commercially attractive and address the local development needs. The initiative implements the recommendations of the UN Commission of the Private Sector and Development, recognizing the critical contribution of the private sector, large and small, foreign and domestic, to poverty reduction. A core finding of the Commission is that the value of engaging the private sector is maximized where it is grounded in market-based incentives. Sustainable social impact is greatest when there is a convergence of commercial and development interests.
UNDP Sudan seeks experienced commodity brokers to support the implementation of value chain activities by facilitating the collaborations, linkages and relationships between commodity producers (groundnuts, honey, hides and skins, hibiscus) international importers/investors, Sudanese wholesalers, processing industries, traders as well as local beekeeper groups in Darfur as well as with government, business networks, research, NGOs, UN agencies, donors, and other relevant UNDP Sudan projects.

 Host Agency/Host Institute: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sudan

 Organizational Context:
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN's global development network. It advocates for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 170 countries, working with people to overcome global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and its wide range of partners. UNDP’s focus is helping countries build and share solutions to the challenges of:

•  Democratic Governance
•  Poverty Reduction
•  Crisis Prevention and Recovery
• Environment and Energy
•  HIV/AIDS

UNDP helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all its activities, it encourages the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women. UNDP focuses on key development issues, providing measurement tools, innovative analysis and often controversial policy proposals. In all its operations, UNDP uses well-coordinated and inclusive approach seeks to ensure the most effective use of UN and international resources.
The National Commodity Broker will work within the Crisis Prevention and Recovery Unity under the direct supervision of the State Programme Coordinators based in Nyala, El Fasher and El Genina respectively and the overall management of the Programme Manager of the Darfur Livelihoods and Recovery Programme, based in El Fasher, North Darfur.

Within the terms of the organization’s delegated authority, and under the direct supervision of the Programme Manager of the Darfur Livelihoods Programme, based in El Fasher, North Darfur, and the

matrix management of the State Programme Coordinators, the Commodity Broker (UNV) will undertake the following tasks:
Programme Management and Analysis
 In close coordination with other value Chain team members and consultants, conduct baseline assessments on the situation and needs of producers and labour markets within the honey, groundnut, hibiscus and livestock value chains as well as support value chain analysis;
 Familiarize him/herself with the overall development and business context in Sudan, including the existing cooperation in the field of private sector development specifically targeting the honey, groundnut, and livestock sub sectors;
 Map, identify and prioritize potential actors for interventions, trading and processing companies, wholesalers, retailers, exporters, importers, producer associations and other potential partners and engage in direct discussions and negotiations with them;
 Engage and sensitize all major stakeholders about responsible entrepreneurship in value chain development, while establishing and maintaining close relationships with relevant companies, NGOs, business associations, donors, and UN agencies;
 Conduct data analysis and draft the assessment reports from the data collected in close collaboration with the Darfur-based M&E officer and other relevant staff;
 Provide support for the conduct and update of the value chain analysis conducted in 2010;
Facilitate Value Addition, Market Access and brokerage
 Assist in brokering the establishment of contractual agreements between the main actors within the value chains on the one side and wholesalers, finance providers and other partners on the other side and build the business capacity of producers associations ensuring the prime interest of beneficiaries are met;
 Identify and support income generation opportunities for pastoralist groups;
 Facilitate opportunities for collaboration with the existing partners of the initiative as well as with importers and exporters/wholesalers, traders, beekeepers and pastoralist groups;
 Build capacity of the producer associations on production, packaging and labelling technologies, standards, requirements, as well as financial and business skills, NGO-management skills, business negotiations, collective bargaining and quality control;
 Facilitate Accumulating Savings and Credit Associations by community members;
 Facilitate microfinance access for local honey, groundnuts, hibiscus, pastoralist producer groups;
 Assess feasibility and prepare agreements with existing actors (VCTs, private sector or NGOs) on the initiation of local industry input production;
 Brokering of export deals with associations and/or local traders, exporters potentially including other value chain projects (e.g. IFAD, World Vision, and other existing projects);
 Transfer brokerage skills to association management all along brokerage activities;
 Promote enabling business environment for honey, groundnut, and livestock production and marketing jointly with relevant government authorities, IFAD, FAO and UNEP;
 Facilitate negotiations with local and state authorities on enabling business environment for production in general;
 Work with producer association and farmer’s representatives to enable them to advocate for an improved fiscal environment that is conducive to pro-poor producers and private sector in general;
Provision of Technical and Administrative Support
 Provide technical support to Implementing Partners, including Government Ministries, CBOs, CSOs on the understanding of the scope of the Value Chain concept and work; training of their staff;
 Draft technical documents such as LOAs, MCGAs and other documents to the Programme Manager and or any other designated staff;
 Periodically monitor the implementation of agreements to ensure compliance and raise any issues to senior management;
 Provide support to IPs in ensuring high quality reporting from implementing partners, ensuring appropriate templates are used;
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 Provide support to IPs in effectively liquidating grants on timely basis;
 Support the capacity assessment and performance evaluation of implementing partners;
Monitoring, Reporting and Communication
 Develop M&E framework for measuring the impact of the pilot, and report on the progress;
 Ensure that targets and indicators are monitored on regular basis through data collected and to inform and advise management on any challenges;
 Attend relevant coordination meetings and provide updates on programmatic and operational issues;
 Coordinate the sharing of lesson learned and solution to common challenges;
 In addition to regular reporting to the UNDP Sudan Country Office, regularly liaise with IFAD, FAO, World Vision, HoneyCare and other key actors in order to share lessons and resolve common challenges;
 Facilitate and document community-based self-assessment of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries on performance and income changes;
 Identify, profile and document success cases and develop high quality success stories for reporting;
 Identify, document and share best practices and lessons learned from the ground;
 Organise regular joint visits to project locations to witness work in progress;
 Identify and document any specific risks and issues that could negatively affect the project and raise these with senior management on timely basis;
 Preparation of various communication initiatives, including success stories, input to UNDP Sudan news and input to the UNDP GSB website;
 Provide inputs for the development of Annual Work plans and periodic reports;
 Any other duties deemed necessary by the Programme Manager and or other designated officer.
Promotion of the United Nations Volunteers Programme mandate1
UN Volunteers are expected to integrate the UN Volunteers Programme mandate in their assignment as well as promote voluntary action through engagement with communities (urban and rural) in the course of their work. As such, UN volunteers should dedicate a proportion of their working week to the following in support of and in synergy with their primary role as Youth Volunteer Coordinators. National volunteers can draw on their knowledge of local forms of volunteerism. Suggested tasks could include:
 Strengthen knowledge and understanding of the influence of voluntary action by the communities affected by issues of interest of UNDP through the following:
o Research of the subject matter;
o Develop knowledge of non-profit community-based organizations and promote major issues of these organizations through publications and dissemination of information that will influence development and peace-building initiatives;
o Undertake awareness-raising (promotion) activities in communities that will increase knowledge of issues of interest to UNDP’s mandate;
o Encourage communities to volunteer thoughts and actions to the development of their communities on the basis of core issues discussed in or for publications;
 Build relationships with a wide range (private/public) of Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to support and/or participate in community-driven voluntary activities and assist them to tell their stories to the World Volunteer Web site;
 Encourage, mobilize and support co-workers and fellow UN Volunteers to better understand the connections between the UNDP’s mandate and volunteerism;
 Monitor on a continual basis the impact of integrating UNDP’s mandate and activities voluntary action at the community level;
 Contribute to articles/write-ups on the peace-building and development process and experiences from the above outlined activities and submit them to UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;

Promote and/or advise CSOs and citizens’ groups in the use of OV (online volunteering), and encourage relevant groups to use OV whenever technically possible

Result / expected outputs:
The National Commodity Brokers will play a leading role in improving the profitability of small-scale producers and improve linkages and access to markets leading to improvement in their livelihoods and self-reliance. The contributions of these assignments will impact the overall capacity of the team to effectively deliver the Pro-Poor Value Chain Project, as per the project document and the annual work plan, including the following:
 Enhanced implementation and timely achievement of project targets;
 Efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly and high-quality support rendered to stakeholders on diverse issues;
 Efficient technical capacity building support provided to implementing partners, including government counterparts in the respective states;
 Synergies among the pro-poor value chain integration project and other UNDP projects improved and leveraged upon;
 Accurate and reliable information generated for the monitoring, evaluation and further improvement of the project;
 Improved productive capacity and market access among vulnerable households;
 Timely and high quality reports are submitted to Project Officer highlighting key achievements and challenges of the projects.

a) Qualifications, skills, experience:
 Master’s degree in Agriculture, Economics, Agribusiness, Business Management, Marketing or agricultural development, international development, public policy, or other relevant social science;
 At least 3 years relevant business experience in the agricultural industry; international experience is an asset; experience in value chain development or market linkages in Africa or Arab states would be a strong asset;
 A solid understanding of economic development context and the business sector in Sudan and in the region;
 Solid understanding of working with private sector engagement in market-based development interventions;
 Experience working with producer Groups, Associations dealing with forward purchasing and futures agreements;
 Strong assessment skills especially experience in conducting market assessments, opportunity mapping and value chain analysis;
 Excellent writing and verbal communication skills;
 Experience in value-oriented market access interventions, provision of Business Development Services, especially access to financial services for the poor;
 Strong inter-personal skills and capacity to deal with colleagues and counterparts from different backgrounds, and proven ability to function in a multi-cultural and multi-ethnical environment;
 Fluency in written and spoken English; knowledge of Arabic a distinct advantage;
The incumbent must be a dynamic, team-oriented, gender-friendly, multi-functional person, who supports UNDP Sudan with professionalism, dedication and objectives orientation.
b) Competencies and values:
Interpersonal Skills:
 Excellent communication thinking;
 Strong communication and advisory skills;
 Excellent networking and public relation skills;
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 Good ability to build partnership;
 Strong expertise in coordinating activities;
 Excellent written and presentation ability (English).
Corporate competencies:
 Demonstrate commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
 Display cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
Knowledge Management and Learning:
 Share knowledge and experience;
 Actively work towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas;
 Act on learning plan and apply newly acquired skills.
Development and Operational Effectiveness:
 Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve operational problems;
 Ability to perform work of confidential nature and handle a large volume of work;
 Strong IT skills.
Leadership and Self-management:
 Consistently approach work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
 Remain calm, in control and good-humored even under pressure.

Living Conditions:
The positions will be based in El Fasher (North Darfur) and Nyala (South Darfur), with extensive field travel where security permits. Darfur is the western-most region of Sudan. The region's main towns are El Fasher, Nyala and Geneina. The region has been in a state of humanitarian emergency since 2003. This environment requires a mature level of cultural awareness. The security situation within Darfur is unpredictable, though moderately calm in most areas. Risks to personnel are reduced by strict adherence to UN security guidelines, instructions and mitigating measures. Crime rate, though not alarming, gives some cause for concern. It is mandatory for all personnel to receive a security briefing upon arrival.
The cost of living in Darfur is reasonable. The markets and shops are generally stocked with local and common cereals, fruits and vegetables, meat, fish and other common food items. These markets are easily accessible. Local restaurants hardly serve well-known non-local recipes. Telecommunications are appreciably reliable in Darfur. There are three main international telecommunication companies in Darfur which provide mobile phone, internet and other telecom services.
Conditions of Service:
A twelve-month contract, renewable depending on mandate, availability of funding, operational necessity and satisfactory performance. However, there is no expectancy of renewal of the assignment. Monthly volunteer living allowance (VLA) – intended to cover housing, basic needs and utilities – of 4,702 Sudanese Pounds per month (VLA rates are periodically reviewed). Settling-in-grant (if current residence is different from duty station); life, health and permanent disability insurance; return airfares (if applicable); resettlement allowance for satisfactory service.