Programme Management Specialist (RSCA) at United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

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Programme Management Specialist (RSCA)

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Employer: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Employment: Full-Time | Contract

Place of Work: Addis Ababa - Ethiopia

Posted date: 4 years ago

Deadline: Submission date is over

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Background

UNDP's core vision is to help countries achieve the simultaneous eradication of poverty and significant reduction of inequalities and exclusion. Addressing gender equality and women’s empowerment is a key aspect of UNDP's approach to achieving its core vision.  In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in UNDP’s Strategic Plan, gender equality is both a goal and an essential catalyst to progress across all development outcomes.  The UNDP Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2021, the third such strategy, provides a road map to elevate and integrate gender equality into all aspects of UNDP's work to reduce poverty, build resilience and achieve peace in communities and territories, helping to accelerate progress towards the 2030 Agenda.    The Spotlight Initiative (SI) is a global partnership to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. It was launched in September 2017 by the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General and the European Union (EU) High Representative and Vice President (HRVP). It is a visible political and financial investment from the EU in the multilateral relationship with the UN and in gender equality. The Spotlight Initiative aims to support transformative change on the ground to end violence against women and girls and harmful practices, in numerous regions globally. The initiative comes with the highest level of commitment globally and will is being governed by the UN Deputy Secretary-General and the Vice President of the EU Commission. The Initiative is built around six pillars developed after an extensive global theory of change exercise.   The pillars are: 1) Laws and Policies; 2) Institutions; 3) Prevention and Social Norms; 4) Services; 5) Data, and 6) Women’s movement.    In Africa, the SI programme has both the Regional and Country Programmes component with Country Programmes covering Eight (8) African Countries including (Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Niger, Uganda and Zimbabwe). The Regional Programme will support addressing regional bottlenecks and support regional commitments towards EVAW including strengthening existing strategies and initiatives, such as the AU Gender Strategy, the Gender Observatory and the AU campaigns to end Child Marriage and African Union Initiative on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation. The spotlight Initiative compromises of key agencies supporting its implementation consisting of UNDP, UNFP, UN Women and UNICEF other agencies including UNHCR, UNESCO, ILO in other countries.   UNDP is hiring a Project Management Specialist to be based at the UNDP-Regional Service Centre for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Under the supervision of the Regional Programme Advisor and Team Leader, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, the Project Management Specialist will be responsible for overseeing the management, implementation, monitoring and reporting of the UNDP SI Regional Programme Component. He/She will be responsible to coordinate and oversee as well as manage the human and financial resources of the programme component.    Duties and Responsibilities   Summary of Key Functions:

1. Operational management and Implementation of UNDP SI Regional Programme Component;
2. Manage the monitoring and reporting of the programme;
3. Inter-agency coordination on the SI and alignment of UNDP programmes with other partners;
4. Partnerships Building and Resource Mobilization;
5. Knowledge Management;
6. Operational management and Implementation of UNDP SI Regional Programme Component.

Duties and Responsibilities:   1. Operational management and Implementation of UNDP SI Regional Programme Component:

• Develop and review programme annual work plans to ensure compliance with UNDP programme goals and results-based indicators;
• Liaise with the Regional Steering Committee, Regional Civil Society Reference Group, UN RUNOS, regional counterparts, Spotlight Secretariat, donors, and partners to ensure the Programme results are achieved and resources are managed;
• Prepare and present a consolidated work plan,
• Take a forward day to day planning, implementation and monitoring aspects of the programme operations and personnel;
• Prepare monthly, quarterly and annual progress report as per UNDP/Spotlight guidelines;
• Support the timely preparation and quality control of all substantive technical reports, briefs and required documents, including donor reports; 
• In collaboration with project support, initiate procurement of goods and services including preparation of equipment specifications, 
• Manage programme quality control and identification of potential challenges;
• Periodically suggest updates to the overall programme framework based on reviews, lessons learned, and best practices derived from different thematic areas and evaluations;
• Draft and aid the development of briefings and speeches, as applicable for regional specific meetings, regional and global events related to SI including speech and talking points for the intergovernmental meetings, speech and talking points for the Team Leader or the RH Director, etc.

2. Manage the monitoring and reporting of the programme:

• Prepare periodic narrative progress reports and expenditures status reports to the Steering Committee, Regional Civil Society Reference Group, Spotlight Secretariat, EU, RUNOs;
• Manage the monitoring of programme/ project implementation and finances using results-based management tools;
• Oversee field missions and review reports on monitoring missions;
• Write quarterly reports and donor reports, focusing on results, output and outcomes;
• Contribute to the Spotlight Technical Team reports, UNDP quarterly and annual reports

3. Inter-agency coordination on the SI and alignment of UNDP programmes with other partners:

• Provide technical support to the UNDP Senior Management and the Team Leader on inter-agency coordination related activities by attending meetings, events, and participating in groups and committees as needed;
• Coordinate with other UN agencies, regional partners (AU/RECs), Member States, donors and CSO’s to ensure the programme development is harmonized and aligned with other RUNOs and regional efforts;
• On behalf of the Team Leader attend and participate in coordination meetings, virtual and in-person, of Spotlight UN Steering committee, Spotlight Technical Coordination, Civil Society Consultative committee, provide follow up and ensure the implementation of their work plans. 

4. Partnerships Building and Resource Mobilization:

• Identify, build and manage relationships with regional partners (AU, RECs, CSOs) and sister agencies as necessary and support their onboarding and implementation of activities as per partnership agreements;
• Identify capacity building needs and support RUNOs and Associate Agencies through technical assistance, mentoring training, cross-partner learning, and capacity development initiatives;
• Identify potential programmatic areas of cooperation, based on strategic goals of Spotlight Programme, regional needs and donors’ priorities and develop the relevant partnerships;
• Provide technical support to the development of partnerships and resource mobilization strategies;
• In collaboration with RUNOs, provides technical support to the development of proposal, relevant advocacy and policy documents;
• Finalize relevant documentation on donors and potential opportunities for resource mobilization;
• Analyze and research information on donors, prepare proposals and substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost-sharing.

Knowledge Management:  

• Ensure documentation of the programme implementation process and products produced are in accordance with UN rules, regulations, policies, and recording and reporting systems;
• Represent UNDP in meetings and policy dialogues on issues related to Spotlight Initiative as necessary;
• Identify best practices and lessons learned to guide programme improvement and strategy planning;
• Contribute to the exchange of information and knowledge products internally and externally of the programme;
• Develop, Organize and implement in consultation with Communications Personnel in UNCTs, the UNCGs at country level, professional staff and stakeholder’s major advocacy campaigns, events, training, workshops and knowledge products.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

•  Demonstrated awareness and sensitivity regarding gender issues
•  Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards
•  Advocates and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the UN
•  Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
•  Treats all people fairly without favoritism

Core Competencies:

• Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents;
• Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
• Building and promoting effective teams;
• Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
• Creating an emotionally intelligent organization;
• Leveraging conflict in the interests of UN & setting standards;
• Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member;
• Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking.

Functional competencies:

• Proven skills in the areas of results-based programme planning management, planning, organizing, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation;
• Technical knowledge of policies and programmes on gender equality and the elimination of violence against women and girls;
• Experiences in working on rights-based approaches including intervention models to address multiple and interesting forms of discrimination;
• Demonstrates awareness and sensitivity regarding gender issues;
• Strong understanding of various methodologies in gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation, both qualitative and quantitative, such as surveys, record reviews, focus groups and cases studies;
• Ability to contribute to the development of efficient and effective monitoring and evaluation methodology for programming;
• Ability to build and sustain effective partnerships with UN Agencies and main constituents, advocate effectively, communicate sensitively across different constituencies;
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment and in a team;
• Strong interpersonal and supervisory skills;
• Demonstrates creativity and creative problem solving;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates excellent oral and written communication skills;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities; 
• Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent degree in development studies, gender studies, law, international relations, social science, or another related field;
• A project/programme management certification would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in managing complex multi-stakeholder, multi-year programmes on Ending Violence Against Women; 
• 3 years’ experience in gender programming, with at least 2 years being on GBV programming preferably in Africa;
• Relevant experience in programme development and management in gender and violence-related areas in a UN system agency or development organization is considered a strong asset;
• Experience in, and ability to coordinate with other UN agencies and interact at the professional level with donors including the EU and regional and national partners; 
• Experience with EU programme procedures and processes and/or other donor-funded projects is an advantage;
• Proven experience in compiling and drafting timely and quality project or donor report;
• Experience in coordinating or facilitating joint programmes;
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills;
• Excellent negotiation skills.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English, both written and oral;
• Working knowledge of another UN language is an asset.

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