Background
Under the overall guidance of the Country Programme Advisor (P5), the Country Assistant performs functions that support the Country Operations Support Team. The Country Assistant promotes a client-oriented approach consistent with UNDP rules and regulations. S/He works in close collaboration with staff in other central units at HQ, the Regional Bureau and the Regional Hub in Istanbul for resolving complex proqramme-related issues and information delivery.
Duties and Responsibilities
Summary of Key Functions:
- Assistance to the team’s representation & coordination function
- Support to CO portfolio management, including crisis
- Assistance to CO planning, evaluation, monitoring and reporting activities
- Programme and administrative support to the Country Operations Support Team and Regional Hub Directorate
- Support to strategic partnerships and resource mobilization activities of the Regional Hub and COs and facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing
1. Assistance to the team’s representation and coordination function
- Assistance in desk research, tracking and collection data on emerging and evolving crisis and complex development situations, compiling information for UNDP programming;
- Assistance in the preparation of briefing notes, in the preparatory activities for meetings and preparation of minuges
- Helps collect required information and inputs for internal briefings, position options and corporate internal papers
2. Provides support to CO portfolio management, including crisis
- Support to improved alignment of CO programmes with corporate and regional priorities, by assisting in the compilation of information from other country programmes, evaluations, performance analytics, and other available sources of lessons learned
- Support to inform RBx management decision in preparing for or responding to crisis situations and for inputs to briefing notes on country-level crisis with up to date information for HQ meetings;
- Assistance in providing monitoring and follow up on performance indicators/success criteria, targets and milestones, preparation of reports.
- Programmatic and operational support to the team during the preparation and implementation of programme cycles
- Assistance in financial monitoring of country office core and non-core resources, developing and updating databases and producing reports
3. Provides support to CO planning, evaluation, monitoring and reporting activities
- Support to the Country Operations Support team in its CO programming function
- Assistance in sharing the Bureau’s newly developed policies and priorities with the CO leadership, disseminating corporate analysis on sub-regional trends, and providing first level of oversight of compliance with corporate programme management standards.
- Assistance in consolidating all CO managerial performance information to facilitate effective and efficient corporate oversight functions.
4. Provides programme and administrative support to the Country Operations Support Team and Regional Hub Directorate
- Maintains and disseminates information on corporate programme and operational policies and procedures
- Assistance in organizing conferences on behalf of the Country Operations Support Team.
- Compilation and dissemination of country office publications and reports and maintaining and disseminating a record of country office publishing plans and achievements
- Support for visits to country offices by Regional Hub Directorate and Country Operations Support Team staff
- Back-up for the other support staff in the Regional Hub when they are out of office on leave
- Maintenance of the internal expenditures control system which ensures that vouchers processed are matched and completed, transactions are correctly recorded and posted in Atlas
- Timely corrective actions on unposted vouchers, including the vouchers with budget check errors, match exceptions, unapproved vouchers.
5. Provides support to strategic partnerships and resource mobilization activities of the Regional Hub and facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing
- Assistance in data collection on donors, preparation of donor’s profile and database, establishment of contacts with donor counterparts.
- Tracking and reporting on mobilized resources.
- Organization of trainings for the operations/projects staff on programme.
- Synthesis of lessons learnt and best practices in programme
- Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.
Competencies
Functional Competencies:
Advocacy/Advancing A Policy-Oriented Agenda
- Identifies relevant information for advocacy for a variety of audiences
- Makes research of contacts in the media, government, private sector, donors, other agencies, civil society in other stakeholders for UNDP’s advocacy efforts
Results-Based Programme Development and Management
- Provides information for linkages across programme activities to help identify critical points of integration
- Provides information and documentation on specific stages of projects/programme implementation
- Participates in the formulation of project proposals
Building Strategic Partnerships
- Analyzes general information and selects materials in support of partnership building initiatives
- Maintains databases of donor information
- Tracks and reports on mobilized resources
Innovation and Marketing New Approaches
- Documents and tracks innovative strategies/best practices/new approaches
- Tracks bottlenecks, problems and issues, and proposes solutions
- Responds positively to new approaches
Resource Mobilization
- Maintains information/databases on potential and actual donors
- Maintains database of project files
- Provides data and information needed for preparation of project documents
Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing
- Researches best practices and poses new, more effective ways of doing things
- Documents innovative strategies and new approaches
Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise
- Understands the main processes and methods of work regarding to the position
- Possesses basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks
- Identifies new and better approaches to work processes and incorporates same in own work
- 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 relevant information for advocacy for UNDP’s goals for a variety of audiences
- Maintains a network of contacts in the media and civil society, for use in UNDP’s advocacy efforts
Client Orientation
- Reports to internal and external clients in a timely and appropriate fashion
- Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines
- Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships within the work unit and with internal and external clients
- Responds to client needs 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.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Secondary Education with specialized secretarial training.
- University Degree or equivalent would be desirable, but it is not a requirement.
Experience:
- 5 years of progressively responsible secretarial, administrative or programme experience is required at the national or international level.
- Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web based management systems.
Language Requirements:
- Fluency in English, both oral and written, is required; working knowledge of other UN official language is an asset