Background

Candidates who previously applied need not re-apply.

Organizational context:

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries. It creates new opportunities for poor people and their communities by increasing access to microfinance and investment capital. UNCDF focuses on Africa and the poorest countries of Asia and the Pacific, with a special commitment to countries emerging from conflict or crisis. It provides seed capital – grants and loans – and technical support to help microfinance institutions reach more poor households and small businesses, and local governments finance the capital investments – water systems, feeder roads, schools, irrigation schemes – that will improve poor peoples’ lives.

UNCDF works to enlarge peoples’ choices: it believes that poor people and communities should take decisions about their own development.  Its programmes help to empower women – over 50% of the clients of UNCDF-supported microfinance institutions are women – and its expertise in microfinance and local development is shaping new responses to food insecurity, climate change and other challenges.

UNCDF works in challenging environments – remote rural areas, countries emerging from conflict – and paves the way for others to follow. Its programmes are designed to catalyze larger investment flows from the private sector, development partners and national governments, for significant impact on the Millennium Development Goals, especially Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger, Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women, and Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability.

Established by the General Assembly in 1966 and with headquarters in New York, UNCDF is an autonomous UN organization affiliated with UNDP.

Despite the rapid growth of the microfinance industry in the past ten years, it is estimated that between two and three billion people still lack access to a broad range of financial products and services on a sustainable basis. The situation is particularly dire in the LDCs, where often more than 90 per cent of the population is denied access to financial services from the formal financial system. UNCDF focuses its strategy on Financial inclusion, which is universal access, at a reasonable cost, to a wide range of financial services, provided by a variety of sound and sustainable institutions. The range of financial services includes savings, short and long-term credit, leasing and factoring, mortgages, insurance, pensions, payments, local money transfers and international remittances.

UNCDF manages a number of initiatives related to digital financial (DF):

Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P)

With support from Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (“DFAT” formerly AusAid), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the MasterCard Foundation (MCF), UNCDF manages Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P), a global thematic initiative that addresses the opportunities and challenges of implementing branchless banking and mobile money in challenging markets in Africa and Asia.

MM4P’s long-term mission is to help low income and rural households in LDCs increase their financial security through appropriate, affordable and secure means to receive, manage and save money through these “digital finance” (DF).  To do so, its intermediate goal is to help build inclusive digital financial sectors such that a wide range of digital financial services are provided responsibly, and at reasonable cost, by sustainable institutions in a well-regulated environment.  UNCDF’s starts by defining the different stages of a market’s development and the range of interventions needed at different levels (i.e. macro, meso, micro, client) to move it across the stages.  This combines a making markets work for the poor approach with UNCDF’s traditional operational model of directly supporting the most crucial level – retail service providers.

MM4P is currently implementing this programme in eight countries (Benin, Laos, Nepal, Liberia, Malawi, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia).

Under the overall guidance of the Operations Analyst the Programme Assistant ensures effective delivery of the MM4P and other UNCDF programmes as needed.

The Programme Assistant will play a critical role in supporting the work flow of the team. He/She will undertake management of key functions such as procurement, human resources, budget revisions and reporting, as well all clerical and support staff roles for the programme.

The Progamme Assistant works in close collaboration with the operations and programme staff in the UNDP Brussels Office as well as the MSU in UNCDF headquarters.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provides support to the Programme team managing, procurement, budget and finance issues

Procurement and Contracting:

• Acts as liaison with UNDP BR procurement, HR and finance units and UNCDF HQ programme support unit, HR and finance units.  Manage programme procurements with technical input from team determine procurement strategy and requirements and implement procurement according to UNDP policies.
• Develops request for quotes (RFQs) for local vendors and local consultants, obtaining quotes, evaluating and proposing a selecting. Monitor procurement with UNDP BR to ensure timely advertising and collection of quotes. Ensure vendors’ eligibility and ensuring they are in the UNCDF ATLAS system. Verifies quality and receipt of goods.
• Proposes strategies for international procurement with team input. Develop and maintain UNCDF expert roster for the programme. Monitor international procurement with UNCDF HQ to ensure Requests for Proposals (RFPs) are adequately advertised and responses collected. Assist with evaluation and finalization selection reports.
• With input from team, prepares submissions to the UN Contracts, Assets and Procurement Committee, representing the team at meetings as needed.
• With input from the team and UNDP BRU, drafts contracts and agreements, securing signature. Manage relationship with all programme vendors and consultants. Soliciting necessary forms and information, requesting evidence of completed tasks.  Monitor contracts for timeliness and quality.  Ensure that evaluation forms are solicited upon completion of work and results analyzed.

Budgets:

• Supports the Programme Manager in the creation of a project in Atlas, preparation  of required budget revisions.
• Makes budget check for requisitions, POs and vouchers to confirm they are adequately labeled.
• Develops annual budget for office expenditures.(not the overall project).

Finance:

• Creates of requisitions in Atlas for development projects.
• Requests payments (against Purchase Order (PO) /contract/agreement, and non-PO payment vouchers), dispatching the same.
• Requests certificates of payment from consultants and preparing payment requests.
• Assists Project Manager to resolve questions related to budgets, payments, procurement and resources.
• Maintains records on assets management, preparation of reports.
• Maintains files and records relevant to office maintenance.

Provides support to administrative and office management, and logistical services for the Brussels office
 
Administrative and Office Management:

• Acts as custodian for management of office stationery supplies including maintenance of stock list of stationery, distribution of stationery as required by staff and keeping a log of distribution.
• Maintains of the filing system ensuring safekeeping of confidential materials.
• Provides of support to maintenance of common premises and common services.
• Organizes of shipments, customs clearance arrangements, preparation of documents for shipments and mail (received/sent).
• Translates of simple correspondences, when needed.

Logistics and Travel:

• Arranges of travel and hotel reservations, preparation of travel authorizations, processing requests for visas, identity cards and other documents.
• Makes Daily supplemental allowance (DSA) calculations for team and travel claims for team.
• Provides administrative support to conferences, workshops, retreats.
• Collects of information for DSA, travel agencies and other administrative surveys, support to organization of common services.

Manages all reporting requirements for funding partners with inputs from the Programme team

• Analyses of information on donors, preparation of donor’s profile.
• Tracks and reporting on mobilized resources.
• Liaises with UNCDF partnerships unit to finalize agreements with funding partners.
• Reviews of contributions agreement, managing contributions in Atlas.

Ensures facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing

Contact Management:

• Contacts with visitors and staff, arrangement of appointments and meetings, acting as an interpreter when required and/or taking minutes.
• Compilation and preparation of briefing and presentation materials, speeches, background information and documentation for meetings and missions.
• Manage the programmes participation in listservs and on-line working groups.

Learning:

• Enroll and completion of online learning courses – including mandatory UNDP courses related to Atlas, internal processes, etc.
• Synthesis of lessons learnt and best practices in programme.
• Organization of trainings for the operations/ projects staff on programme.
• Contributes to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise: Fundamental knowledge of processes, methods and procedures

• 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.
• 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.

Design and Implementation of Management Systems: Data gathering and implementation of management systems

• Uses information/databases/other management systems.

Results-Based Programme Development and Management: Contributing to results through provision of information.

• Provides information and documentation on specific stages of projects/programme implementation.
• Provides background information to identify opportunities for project development and helps drafting proposals.

Gathering and disseminating information

• Gathers and disseminates information on best practice in accountability and results-based management systems.

Promoting Organizational Change and Development: Presentation of information on best practices in organizational change

• Demonstrates ability to identify problems and proposes solutions.

Innovation and Marketing New Approaches: Implementing processes and uses products

• Documents and tracks innovative strategies/best practices/new approaches.
• Responds positively to new approaches.

Resource Mobilization: Providing information for resource mobilization strategies

• 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: Basic research and analysis

• Researches best practices and poses new, more effective ways of doing things.

Client Orientation: Maintains effective client relationships

• Reports to internal and external clients in a timely and appropriate fashion.
• Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines.
• Responds to client needs promptly.

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity.
• Able to demonstrate.
• Excellent writing, communication and organization skills.
• Able to demonstrate high level of accuracy and attention to detail.
• 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.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Secondary Education, preferably with specialized certification in Management, Accounting or Finance;
• University Degree in Business or Public Administration, Economics, Political Sciences and Social Sciences would be desirable, but it is not a requirement.

Experience:

• 5 years of progressively responsible administrative or programme experience is required at the national or international level;
• Specialized training in office management and administration is highly desirable;
• Experience with a UN organization/agency is desirable;
• Experience with ATLAS and UNDP Procurement Processes is desired, but not a requirement;
• Experience in managing reports;
• 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;
• Some experience with written and verbal translation (English-French).

Language requirements:

• Fluency in English. Excellent writing, verbal communication skills;
• Ability to work in French.