UNDP Jobs - 50985- State Project Officer, Enhancing Institutional and

State Project Officer, Enhancing Institutional and Community Resilience to Disasters and Climate Change, (Open to Indian Nationals Only)

Location :

Bhubaneswar, Odisha, INDIA

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

09-Nov-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

SB-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

One Year (Extendable)

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

One of the outcomes of the recently approved GOI-UNDP Country Programme Action Plan (2013-2017) is on Sustainable Development. The main objective is “Government, industry and other relevant stakeholders actively promote environmental sustainability and enhanced resilience of communities in the face of challenges of climate change, disaster risk and natural resource depletion”. The project on “Enhancing Institutional and Community Resilience to Disasters and Climate Change” becomes operational in 2013 with aims to strengthen capacities of government, communities and institutions for disaster risk reduction including risks being enhanced due to climate change, and develop preparedness for recovery. The project with a total resource allocation of US$ 6.235 million focuses on 10 multi-hazard prone states including the state of Odisha, 25 districts, 10 cities and 10,000 villages.

The main components are:

(1) Mainstreaming DRR and CCA in Development Planning;
(2) Urban Risk Reduction;
(3) Technical Assistance and Capacity Building;
(4) Support for Knowledge Management; and
(5) Enhancing resilience of vulnerable communities to cope with disasters and climate variability by implementing scalable demonstrative pilot initiatives.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is the implementing partner with the Joint Secretary (DM), MHA as National Project Director (NPD) for overall management of the project. UNDP is required to provide implementation support to the project.

In order to strengthen the implementation capacity of the State Government of Odisha, it is proposed to recruit a State Project Officer.

The State Project Officer will be responsible for detailing aspects of programme management in synergy with the outputs and activities under the programme. Under the guidance and supervision of the Head, Disaster Management Unit and in close consultation with the other members of both the project teams as well as UNDP DM Unit team, s/he will lead the project at the State level and provide managerial and coordination oversight in the areas of planning, implementation and monitoring. S/he will also assist UNDP in providing oversight on the operational and financial aspects required under the project in line with UNDP policies and procedures. S/he will ensure that the state achieves its annual targets and overall outputs, utilizes financial allocations in an efficient manner and ensure that programme lessons are documented and shared with stakeholders. S/he will develop partnerships with state stakeholders and establish coordination mechanisms for synergy and will be the nodal link between the UNDP Country Office and the State Government.

Duties and Responsibilities

The State Project Officer will be responsible for the following:

Project Management:

Overall responsibility for effective implementation of the project activities ensuring that the project delivers on its outputs and within the financial allocations;
Prepare and through state Government submit the annual work plans to the Ministry of Home Affairs and UNDP for approval;
Ensure that dedicated staff and institutional partners have clear work plans consistent with the annual work plans and milestones as specified in approved project document and deliver on the same;
Operationalize physical and financial progress trackers and Results Based Management Systems to ensure quality, thematic integration and cost effectiveness in project strategies;
Provide oversight to project components implemented at the state, district and city levels by dedicated counterpart staff and the field implementing partners;
Prepare and submit the following reports/documents using standard UNDP formats; Annual and Quarterly work Plans, Quarterly and Annual Progress Reports (substantive and financial), bi-monthly risks/issue/quality analysis emerging from project assessments and update on Monitoring Plans;
Prepare and update briefing notes, documents and reports on the project for the Project Steering (Centre/State) and Project Management Board meetings; and
Ensure adherence to Country Office project strategies, deliverables, alignment of approvals and delivery schedules.

Project Coordination and Partnership Management:

Operationalize partnerships with government departments and non-government partners at the level of State, District and City;
Anchor mechanisms for convergence between different activity areas and identify opportunities for convergence with government programmes and schemes especially mainstream DRR and Climate change related aspects;

Project Monitoring & Communication:

Provide oversight on the project monitoring and review plans at the overall project level and for district/city level interventions and ensure that they deliver on outputs – in line with their contractual obligations;
Support Country Office in providing MIS related support for tracking results;
Develop and share regular updates on project progress and learning. Review communications products (i.e. reports, films, studies, etc.) to ensure adherence to the communications strategy and UNDP institutional guidelines, advice project partners in the state on these guidelines;
Any other related tasks assigned by the DM Unit.

Impact of Results

The key results have an impact on the success of the project within the area of cooperation. In particular, the key results have an impact on the implementation capacity of the Implementing Partner and Responsible Party, improved efficiency in delivery of UNDP inputs; and speedy implementation of project activities within the agreed timeframe.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning:

Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the Unit;
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in the subject area of the project, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

Ability to apply conceptual models in support of implementation of the project;
Good knowledge of the results based management of the projects;
Strong IT skills;
Ability to lead implementation of initiatives.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Post Graduate degree in, social sciences, geography, environment, economics, management or relevant disciplines.

Experience:

10 years of post-Master’s level experience with minimum 7 years of relevant experience, with regard to formulation/implementation of institutional, managerial and community capacity development plans at the national or state levels dealing with disaster management and climate change related aspects;
Good understanding of institutional strengthening and capacity development strategies.

Language:

Fluency in English;
Working knowledge of Hindi and/or any other Indian language is desirable.

Travel:

Extensive travel within the programme state, districts and cities would be required.

Remuneration package is Rs 10,74,719 per annum (taxable). UNDP also offers additional benefits which include medical insurance coverage and limited pension reimbursement for contract holder and encourages work life balance.