Background

In the area of Governance, UNDP Albania’s Democratic Governance programmatic portfolio includes provision of assistance in a range of topics. In the context of finalization of the NSDI 2015-2020 and its monitoring framework and in follow up to an established partnership with the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) in 2014 to develop and test governance targets and indicators to feed the UN’s post-2015 SDG framework, a set of 21 governance indicators, included into the National Strategy for Development and Integration (NSDI 2015-2020) are proposed along with targets, baselines and sources of data. This exercise is ongoing and will be followed towards its implementation

Along the provision of feedback on the Public Administration Reform Strategy 2015-2020 as part of public consultations, UNDP continues its support to the Government reform of the public services and their citizen-centric orientation through provision of required expertise for developing various components of the reform, including equipping ADISA central offices to become operational and fully functional and securing technical assistance for the formulation of a long term government policy document on public services in Albania.  The policy document will be made available in early 2016 and will lay out new avenues for furthering assistance.

In February 2015, the Government launched a first of its kind anti-corruption portal, a unique interface where citizens can report cases of corruption occurring across public institutions and a tool that merges into one central website the former 22 websites of different central institutions and agencies. This initiative was initially supported by UNDP through ensuring temporary support for operators working at the portal operational room. Another supporting initiative is ongoing and aiming to optimize the portal’s analytical and knowledge products, the automation of information on reporting and follow-up and strengthening capacities of key focal point officials of the anti-corruption network at central and sub-national levels. Data automation will facilitate the compilation of more accurate and periodic data analytics regarding the patterns, institutions and geography of corruption as perceived and/or experienced by the public and help taking informed and appropriate decisions.

In the framework of Open Government Partnership, UNDP partnered with IDM in support to the organization of a regional conference on “Western Balkans Open Government Partnership Dialogue”, which was organized in Tirana in September 2015 with a participation of around 150 regional and EU participants and around 150 national participants. In the same context, support is being provided for the carrying out the third survey “Trust in Government”, a national survey with a sample of 1,600 respondents on public trust towards government institutions and their service delivery performance. The survey is conducted in parallel in five Western Balkan countries, making it possible for the data to be analyzed at regional level as well in 2016.

UNDP facilitates since late 2013 a pooled funding of several donors to support the development and implementation of the territorial and administrative reform. The pooled fund constituted the UNDP STAR project to which contributions are provided, the fund management is ensured by UNDP while the leadership remains with the Minister of State for Local Issues. STAR project was a novelty in donor coordination and a valuable instrument to the Government for resourcing and managing the various aspects of the reform, ensuring a structured and transparent approach and enabling the inputs of the necessary expertise in the development and implementation sequence. STAR project became operational immediately after the official launching of the reform and supported the expert analysis, the development of various administrative division options, nationwide public consultations, and the development of the legal framework, the preparations for amalgamation and currently the amalgamation process. The current STAR project is approaching its end by mid-2016, and will be followed by a STAR 2, the latter with a focus on (i) the reorganization of public services and utilities, (ii) enhancing LGUs’ capacities for the newly decentralized functions as per the new organic law, (iii) expanding or developing replicable models of e-governance and innovative services, and (iv) promotion of public participation models and practices. Another initiative is in the making and relates to capacity building for local adminstrations and improvement of local democracy instruments for a more efficient and effective local governance.

In response to early 2015 floods in southwest Albania, the Government has swiftly mobilized to respond and approached development partners for assistance. Complemented by a joint effort of EU, WB and the UN, the Government engaged the necessary resources and institutions in carrying out a reduced post disaster needs assessment (PDNA) to plan the recovery and reconstruction efforts, strengthen the resilience of local communities and identifying policy measures for improved preparedness to potential future disasters. The PDNA report was officially released by end of April 2015 and it provided: (1) an impact and needs assessment across key affected sectors (2) a preliminary recovery strategy and (3) a roadmap that prioritizes early, medium and long-term needs. Based on the PDNA findings, the EU set to re-programme part of its IPA allocation to Albania and design a floods recovery programme, which develops along three components: (1) reinforcing infrastructure and flood control; (2) upgrading civil defense preparedness and disaster risk reduction; and (3) recovering agricultural damage and restoring productive capacities. UNDP was designed the as implementing partner for the above component (1) in accordance with a proposed approach with a focus on the rehabilitation of the damaged flood protection infrastructure, while engaging in consultations with local stakeholders to assess the social impact of floods and the social and environmental safeguards of the interventions in the affected areas.

In 2015, ARTGOLD 2 project was under its last year of implementation, the project being part of UNDP’s ART Initiative, promoting national co-operation framework programmes for governance and local development. During time period 2009-2015, the Programme supported the implementation of national policies and strategies for territorial based development by transfer of local development know-how, facilitating horizontal partnerships of decentralized actors from developed countries and technical assistance at the national and local levels for optimizing these partnerships. Despite the fact that ARTGOLD 2 is considered operationally closed by end of December 2015 since the last UNDP-financed inputs have been provided and the related activities have been completed, still there are some ongoing processes such as: asset disposal, knowledge management and financial reporting that need to be finalized according to UNDP closing procedures.

As the UNDP Democratic Cluster deals with this wide range of initiatives, part of them being new and preparing to start in full in 2016, adding to this the fact that the cluster is thin in human resources, a few project require stronger oversight, the aim of reorganizing of project management structure in the CO and the necessity to fill in immediately the position of Project Coordination for the Floods project, UNDP Albania is seeking to engage the services of a qualified individual to provide overall coordination for completing the closure of ArtGold 2, managing the ongoing sub-components of the Floods project and supporting the overall programmatic works of the Democratic Governance cluster.

Duties and Responsibilities

The National Project Manager (NPM) will work under the overall guidance of UNDP CO’s Democratic Governance Programme Officer and will support him in guiding, managing and monitoring the implementation of the FPI Project as well as in providing advice to programme related issues. The NPM shall exercise all reasonable care to protect the interests of UNDP and ensure a timely and quality supervision of the implementation of all activities of the projects.

The NPM will be directly responsible for the coordination, management and implementation of all activities under the FPI project and will also provide oversight and support for the daily operations and human resource management.

The main duties and responsibilities of the NPM include the following:

• Ensure overall operational management of the Projects and delivery of results, in close cooperation with the UNDP Programme Manager, in accordance with the project document, work plans and other joint agreements between the Government and UNDP;
• Ensure preparation, update and implementation of projects annual and detailed implementation work plans, and other related documents for timely commencement and implementation of the projects’ activities;
• Provide substantive input to the project activities and outputs and ensure timely implementation of projects’ activities, including reporting on progress vis-à-vis planned activities and expected outputs;
• Monitor implementation progress against the approved/agreed project work plan and update the plan as required;
• Manage and monitor the projects risks initially identified and submit new risks for consideration and decision on possible actions if required; update the status of these risks by maintaining the project risks log;
• Capture regularly lessons learnt during projects’ implementation and ensure their documentation;
• Be responsible for regular updates of the projects’ results and resources framework and related reporting tools by complying with UNDP rules and regulation as specified in the Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures (POPP). 
• Monitor financial resources and accounting to ensure accuracy and reliability of financial reports;
• Become familiar in understanding and operating the UNDP financial management system ATLAS and manage the project budget, ensuring that a) projects funds are disbursed properly; b) accounting records and supporting documents are kept; c) required financial reports are prepared; d) financial operations are transparent and UNDP financial procedures/regulations are applied; and; e) the projects are ready to be subjected to audit at any time.
• Ensure sustainability of interventions through partnerships established with central and local authorities;
• Plan and coordinate the implementation activities by ensuring adherence to agreed timetables and timely mobilization of required resources;
• Collaborate closely with the other stakeholders to achieve the projects’ outputs and results within the specified period of time;
• Work closely with the CO team for resolving any implementation issues or sharing information on progress of implementation;
• Provide inputs to the regular progress and financial reports to be provided to the donor, in accordance with existing contractual agreements, for monitoring and approving progress and direction and effectuating subsequent payments;
• Provide professional advice based upon his/her specific area of expertise that is relevant to the project activities’ goals and objectives to ensure that projects are in line with national policies and priorities, focusing on alignment with EU….
• Develop the professional platform for networking and partnership building with the national and local authorities, non-government, private sector and international development organizations or projects.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity;
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgement;
• Self-development, initiative-taking;
• Act as a team player and facilitate 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;
• Informed and transparent decision-making.

Functional Competencies:

• Analytical skills including presentation of analysis for decision-making and knowledge sharing;
• Demonstrated ability to deal with and build collaboration among development stakeholders;
• Demonstrated leadership abilities and organizational capacity;
• Full computer literacy

Required Skills and Experience

Education/Academic Qualification:

• Graduate Degree in Public Administration, Economics, EU Project Management or related fields of study.

Work experience:

• At least 7 years of management experience in complex, multi-stakeholder environments;
• Minimum of five years of relevant experience in managing/coordinating programmes, projects, processes, stakeholders, and partners.
• Previous experience/familiarity with UN or international organizations or funds would be an asset.

Language requirement:

• Excellent communication as well as reporting and writing skills in English and Albanian

Application Procedure:

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via UNDP Albania website. Applications should contain:

• Cover letter stating your interest in and qualifications for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
• Filled UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs); blank form - Download here. Please upload the P11 instead of your CV.

Interested applicants are advised to carefully study all sections of this ToRs and ensure that they meet the general requirements as well as specific qualifications described. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

How to Submit the Application:

To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

• Download and complete the UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs) - Download here;
• Merge your UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs) and cover letter into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded;
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement); Click “Apply Now” button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click “Submit Application;”
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above);
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

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.