In 2012, the State of Kuwait signed a Memorandum of Agreement with UNDP to participate in the Junior Professional Officers (JPO) programme, to send young Kuwaiti professionals to serve in various entities of the United Nations for a period of two years, enabling them to gain experience in international development strategic policy and implementation. Kuwait is the only Arab State currently supporting the UNDP JPO programme and is the largest donor to the JPO programme from the region to date. The Kuwait JPO Programme is managed by the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development (GSSCPD) and supported by UNDP Kuwait, the JPO Service Centre in Copenhagen and the JPO Office at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) in New York.
Kuwait has now sent three batches totalling 26 young male and female Kuwaiti professionals.
The job posts details and location can be found in the below tables:
Batch 1, deployed 2013:
| Sector and Activity | Duty Station |
| UNDP Eastern Caribbean Regional Office | Bridgetown |
| Staff Administrative Services | Copenhagen |
| Istanbul International Centre for Private Sector in Development | Istanbul |
| Tokyo International Conference for African Development, Regional Bureau for Africa | New York |
| Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy, Communications Unit | New York |
| Bureau for Policy and Programme Support | New York |
| Bureau for Development Policy | New York |
| Energy and Environment Group | New York |
| Office of Audit and Investigations | New York |
| Private Sector Development and Youth Employment UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) | Vienna |
Batch 2, deployed 2015:
| Sector and Activity | Duty Station |
| UNDP Global Centre for Public Service | Singapore |
| Regional Bureau of Arab States | New York |
| UN Volunteers Office | Bonn |
| Articulation of Territorial Networks for Human Development (ART) Programme | Brussels |
| JPO Service Centre | Copenhagen |
| Business and Administration Management | New York |
| UNDP Country Office, Environment and Energy | Bangkok |
| UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) Regional Office | Bangkok |
| UNCDF, Policy Sector | New York |
| Strategic Donor Partnerships and Resource Mobilisation, UNIDO | Vienna |
Batch 3, deployed 2017:
| Sector and Activity | Duty Station |
| UNDP, Supporting Country Offices implementing solar PV | Copenhagen
|
| UNCDF, Local governance and micro-finance | New York |
| UNFPA, Population and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights | Geneva |
| DPKO, Policy Planning | New York |
| OCHA, Humanitarian Affairs | Geneva |
| UN OSGEY, Youth affairs
|
New York |
The JPO Programme represents a new dimension to Kuwait’s South-South Cooperation activities and one which is also expected to help build national development capacity following the repatriation of the JPOs upon completion of their assignment. The posts selected for funding were chosen by the GSSCPD on the basis of their particular utility to support implementation of the National Development Plan. Thus, the areas of specialization of the 26 JPOs include environment and energy, strategic partnerships, communications, audit, human resources, private sector in development, sustainable development policy, Innovation, health & human rights, and volunteerism & governance policy. Following the success of the Kuwait JPO Programme to date, other countries in the region are now aiming to emulate Kuwait’s JPO experience.
The JPO programme has also provided an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of UNDP and its mandate to support the empowerment of youth. It is also a valued tool to raise awareness among the youth themselves of UNDP and its role as well as the benefits to Kuwait of engaging in South-South cooperation.
Following completion of the first JPO batch, four former Kuwaiti JPOs were selected for full-employment by UNDP agencies in New York, Rome and Amman. A fourth former JPO has been recruited by the OPEC Fund for International Development. Other former JPO had joined international NGO, the rest of JPOs who had completed their assignments had returned home to support various functions at private and public sector.
Following completion of the second JPO batch, two former Kuwaiti JPOs were selected for full-employment by UNDP agencies in New York and Vienne. The rest of JPOs who had completed their assignments had returned home to support various functions at private and public sector.
The third JPO batch had introduced further job posts from the United Nation Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) after the signing of the bilateral agreement between the State of Kuwait and the administration. This agreement will allow junior professionals to join organizations managed by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations.
The third JPO patch of the program includes specific functions chosen to be in parallel with the seven pillars of the Kuwait National Development Plan (KNDP) and serve the aspirations of the State of Kuwait in building youth capacities.
For more information, please contact: jpo.kw@undp.org
