UNDP Jobs

Under the overall guidance of the Assistant Resident Representative – Democratic Governance and Governance Programme Manager, the Project Coordinator reports to the Governance Programme Manager and ensures effective delivery of  Result Area 3: Social Cohesion of the Governance Programme on UNDP by co-ordinating and assisting in the implementation of the activities

Background:

In view of the existing challenges and needs, UNDP Maldives has developed the integrated Governance Programme described herein to consolidate its ongoing support to democratic governance in a rapidly evolving political context. Programme support will focus on priority areas identified in the situational analysis to promote further democratic consolidation, strengthen democratic governance in an evolving political context, through three result areas: the development of transparent and accountable governance institutions; improved access to justice and more effective rule of law; and the enhancement of institutions, mechanisms, knowledge and skills for dialogue, information exchange and early warning to help mitigate, de-escalate and proactively address tensions within and between communities.

The Project Co-ordinator – Social Cohesion will contribute to Result Area 3 – Social Cohesion that  provides support to a multi-pronged strategy focusing on support to increasing dialogue among multiple stakeholders, building leadership, strategic planning, consensus-building, and conflict prevention capacities of key actors (such as political party leaderships and members, parliamentarians and parliament secretariat, senior staff and members of national ministries and commissions, civic leaders and heads of administrative offices and elected officials at the island and atoll/province level); supporting civil society; promoting political empowerment of women and youth; and supporting the professionalization of the media to generate confidence through public discourse. 

The Project Co-ordinator would also provide support to applying lessons learnt and building on results of UNDP supported projects, support to knowledge generating and evidence based decision making and building relevant capacities. In addition the Project Co-ordinator will work with the Peace and Development Adviser to support his/her mandate and to build capacity for social cohesion and conflict sensitive programming

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Programme Manager, the incumbent will be responsible for:

Implementation of programme results:

• Day-to-day management of project activities;
• Coordinate with relevant Government implementing partners and UNDP to ensure that expected outputs are delivered in a timely manner;
• Ensure project is implemented in compliance with UNDP and Government’s Procurement and Human Resources Guidelines, and financial requirements;
• Ensure that project is executed according to work plans and within established budgets;
• Manage requests for the provision of financial resources by UNDP, using advance of funds, direct payments, or reimbursement using the FACE (Fund Authorization and Certificate of Expenditures);
  
• Put in place and facilitate results-based implementation of programme activities; and,
• Performance of other duties as required in support of project implementation.

Implementation of reporting, monitoring and evaluation policies and strategies:

• Effective monitoring for ensuring implementation of project activities;
• Assess the programmatic impact and oversee the appropriateness and the accuracy of methods used to verify progress and the results;
• Manage and monitor the project risks initially identified, submit new risks to the Project Technical Team for consideration and decision on possible actions if required; update the status of these risks by maintaining the Project Risks Log;
• Be responsible for managing issues and requests for change by maintaining an Issues Log;
• Prepare the Project Progress Report (progress against planned activities, update on Risks and Issues, expenditures) and submit the report to the Project Management Team;
• Ensure timely submission of quarterly financial and activity progress reports to UNDP as well as adequate financial management of allocated resources;
• Oversee timely preparation of reports for UNDP to donors and other stakeholders;
• Prepare presentations to donor partners, government and other stakeholders as required.

Liaision, partnerships and Coordination with external and internal partners:

• Create strategic partnerships with government, non-government, and private sector stakeholders and beneficiaries;
• Actively support the  implementation of the resource mobilization strategy and maintain close relationships with donor partners; 
• Closely liaise with the teams for programme results 1 and 2 to ensure coherence and synergy among all governance project activites of UNDP Maldives;
• Support the Peace and Development Advisor in key functions and capacity building;
• Build relationships with other UN agencies and build upon common activities to ensure maximum impact of project activities especially when targeting vulnerable groups such as children, youth and women;
• Advise team members and management on new developments regarding key partners and stakeholders.

Knowledge Building and management:

• Provide quality advisory services to the CO and RPs/IPs and  facilitation of knowledge building and management;
• Identify and synthesize best practices and lessons learned directly linked to programme output 3;
• Make sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice including corporate communications repositories; and, 
• Contribute to the design and implementation of appropriate learning strategies for stakeholders.
  

Functional Competencies:    

Advocacy/Advancing A Policy-Oriented Agenda

• Identifies and communicates relevant information for a variety of audiences for advocating UNDP’s mandate;
• Develop project-level knowledge products together with relevant project staff.

Results-Based Programme Development and Management

• Assesses project performance to identify success factors and incorporates best practices into project work;
• Researches linkages across programme activities to identify critical points of integration;
• Monitors specific stages of projects/programme implementation;
• Analyzes country situation to identify opportunities for project development;
• Participates in the formulation of project proposals and ensures substantive rigor in the design and application of proven successful approaches and drafts proposals accordingly.

Building Strategic Partnerships

• Maintains an established network of contacts for general information sharing and to remain up-to-date on partnership related issues;
• Analyzes and selects materials for strengthening strategic alliances with partners and stakeholders.

Innovation and Marketing New Approaches

• Generates new ideas and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things;
• Documents and analyses innovative strategies/best practices/new approaches.

Resource Mobilization

• Analyzes information/databases on potential and actual donors;
• Develops a database of project profiles.  Identifies opportunities for project proposals for presentation to donors;
• Identify joint resource mobilization strategies together with UN agencies, Government, and Civil Society.
  

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing

• Generates new ideas and approaches, researches best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things;
• Documents and analyses innovative strategies and new approaches;
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise

• Understands and applies fundamental concepts and principles of a professional discipline or technical specialty relating to the position;
• Possesses basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks;
• Strives to keep job knowledge up-to-date through self-directed study and other means of learning;
• Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
• Demonstrates in-depth understanding and knowledge of the current guidelines and project management tools and utilizes these regularly in work assignments.
  

Global Leadership and Advocacy for UNDP’s Goals
• Identifies and communicates relevant information for advocacy for UNDP’s goals for a variety of audiences
• Identifies and takes advantage of opportunities for advocating for UNDP’s mandate
• Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback

Client Orientation

• Researches potential solutions to internal and external client needs and reports back in a timely, succinct and appropriate fashion;
• Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines;
• Anticipates client needs and addresses them promptly.

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity;
  
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
• Self-development, initiative-taking;
• Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
• Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
• Creating synergies through self-control;
• Managing conflict;
• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others;
• Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member;
• Informed and transparent decision making.

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in political or social sciences or related field with more than 2 years of experience. Or University Degree in political or social sciences or related field with more than 6 years of experience.

• Good knowledge of the functioning of civil society and media, experience in co-ordinating or implementing activities for youth, women and civil society empowerment, and/or experience in proving support facilitating or co-ordinating activities for dialogue, consultation or conflict prevention;
• Excellent Managerial and analytical skills;
• Strong Communication skills, verbal and written; and good command of English and Dhivehi;
• Proven co-ordination and networking skills;
• Good working knowledge of information technology;
• Experience in project management including financial management highly desirable;
• Experience in working with a UN agency and/or in the area of international development would be an advantage;
• Experience in working in a team atmosphere desirable.