Leading the establishment and build-up of UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub. which became the centre of excellence for UNDP and UN in number of areas (e.g. innovation, SDGs nationalisation, partnership with new donors and IFIs). At the moment, it hosts approximately 150 UNDP personnel and 200 UN personnel covering all 5 regions of UN operation. Providing oversight and policy and programme support for 21 UNDP Country and Project Offices. UNDP delivery in Eastern Europe and Central Asia grew by 20% during my tenure. Leading on strategic partnership including Turkey, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, European Union institutions and IFIs (especially EIB and EBRD). Overseeing successful roll-out of SDGs nationalisation process (through so called MAPS processes) in 12 countries if the region. Leading on two flagship annual events organised by IRH, namely Istanbul Development Dialogues and Istanbul Innovation Days. Through participation in Organisational Performance Group, contributing to the senior leadership of UNDP during the period of profound transformation of UN, UN SDG and UNDP.
Direct responsibility for coordinating UN Country Team (5 resident agencies and 7 regionally based agencies working under ‘Delivering as One’ and contributing to joint UN Integrated Programme, around 100 UN personnel and delivery around 13 million USD) and leading UNDP CO (focusing on social inclusion, democratic governance and sustainable development and supporting Montenegro on its path to European Union, around 60 personnel, delivery around 7 million USD).
Direct responsibility for managing UNDP programme and operations in Tajikistan, largest UNDP office in Europe and CIS. resulting in:
- Consolidation of UNDP presence in Tajikistan programmatically (programme focused on poverty reduction, governance, crises prevention and recovery, energy and environment and health) and operationally,
- broadly recognized development results in many priority programmatic areas such as poverty reduction, donor coordination, energy and environment including climate change, governance and others;
- delivery of $43.26 million including both programme and management in 2010, becoming the largest office in RBEC by the delivery ever (the delivery doubled between 2007 and 2010),
- resource mobilisation of $59.4 million in 2009 and $22.9 million in 2010 (with the pipeline of $71.5 million),
- lowest management ration in the region – 4.63%,
- continuous improvement in staff satisfaction as measured by Staff Surveys,
- continuous improvement of partner relations as measured by positive Partner Survey,
- improved accountability, transparency and management practices leading to satisfactory 2010 NIM/NGO and partly satisfactory 2010 Global Fund Audit,
- piloting innovative approaches such as Scaling-up Initiative, Governance Strategy, participation in Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience, MDG Acceleration Framework and others,
- co-chairing Donor Coordination Council in Tajikistan.
London School of Economics and Political Sciences, Centre for the Study of Global Governance. Visiting Fellow
Discussion paper: Can development prevent conflict? Integrated area-based development in Western Balkans: theory, practice and policy recommendations.
Article: Vrbensky, R. (2009) ‘Can development prevent conflict? Integrated area-based development in the Western Balkans, Conflict, Security & Development, Volume 9, No. 1, April 2009, King’s College London, Routledge.
Direct responsibility for managing UNDP programme and operations in Serbia. Acting as RR ai. for 7 months in 2004/2005. Direct leadership and management of office restructuring both programmatically and operationally resulting in:
- Consolidation of UNDP presence in Serbia programmatically (programme focused on institutional development, poverty reduction and economic development, rule of law and human security) and operationally,
- significant increase in deliver (60% increase in 2005 as compared to 2004 and 37% increase in 2007 as compared to 2006 placing Serbia as 3 largest country office in RBEC by delivery (23,7 million USD),
- significant increase in resource mobilisation (especially from European Commission/European Agency for Reconstruction, SIDA, The Netherlands, Swiss Development Cooperation, Austria, DFID),
- continuous improvement in staff satisfaction as measured by Staff Surveys,
- continuous improvement of partner relations as measured by positive 2006 Partner Survey and 2007 MOPAN evaluation,
- improved accountability, transparency and management practices leading to satisfactory 2007 Internal CO audit.
Closely cooperating with the Director and Chief of Policy Support and Programme Development Unit in management of UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre. Leading several substantive initiatives of the Centre (e.g. Practice Leader for Energy and Environment a.i., CIS Regional HDR, Carpathian Umbrella, local governance, decentralization and local development sub-practice). Overall responsibility for strategic management, programming and backstopping of all UNDP programmes in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and St. Helena including resource mobilization (contributing to the mobilization of 5,5 mil. USD), advocacy, partnership building. Programmatic focus on development (East-East) cooperation, social inclusion, sustainable development, local development and environment. Regional coordination, backstopping and provision of technical and substantial guidance to 12 national Capacity 21 programs in RBEC region, support to the WSSD related activities on the regional and global levels, support to the national preparation for WSSD in 28 countries of RBEC region, preparation of the Approaches to Sustainability Publications, advocacy, partnership building. Working extesively in Central Asia, Russia, Turkey and Western Balkans.
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