UNDP Jobs - 63708- Head of State Office, Madhya Pradesh

Head of State Office, Madhya Pradesh

Location :

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, INDIA

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

29-Feb-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

SB-5

Duration of Initial Contract :

12 months (renewable)

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

12 months (renewable)

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

Project Background
The Head of State Office covers a broad range of programmatic issues in support of priority social and economic development programmes in the State. The Head of State Office will support UNDP’s state engagement through strategic planning, programme formulation and the monitoring of programme effectiveness and delivery. He/she will also advise the UNDP Country Office on course corrections and creative responses to emerging complex challenges in the State. S/he will work in close collaboration with state counterparts and prioritise partnership building and fund-raising at the state level engaging extensively with private sector, CSOs as well as other development partners.

The Head of State Office identifies approaches and modalities in relation to programme development and implementation and works closely with the Strategic Planning as well as the Programme and Operations Units teams under the direct supervision of the Country Director and/ or Deputy Country Director and matrix reporting arrangement of respective Assistant Country Director/s.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

Identify key social and economic priorities of the state including monitoring of trends and new development opportunities.
Continuous scoping of the development landscape in the state and translating opportunities into concrete Resource Mobilization Opportunities in collaboration with programme units of UNDP.
Build support for UNDP’s engagement in the state through innovative and broad partnerships with the government, corporate sector, and civil society organizations.
Ensure that ongoing UNDP programmes in the state are aligned with government priorities.
Ensure top quality advisory services and facilitation of knowledge building and management.

Duties and Responsibilities:

As a member of the CO team, ensures strategic direction of UNDP state programme focusing on achievement of the following results:

Coordinates and provides substantive contribution to key policy discussions at the state level to ensure priority issues are addressed.
Builds and maintains collaborative relationships with counterparts with state government, UN Agencies, donor agencies and civil society organisations on issues related to UNDP’s work and mandate.
Leads on programme formulation, proposal development and portfolio build-up at state level.
Ensures UNDP’s work in the State will remain relevant and responsive to changes and latest developments in the country context.
Responsible for managing the State Office and representing UNDP in partner meetings and official functions.
Will be accountable to UNDP in ensuring the implementation of the state component of the Country Plan and related annual work plans.

Support key social and economic priorities of the state

Identifies funding and Implementation opportunities to support priorities of the State from existing Donor, State and Private Funds.
Builds support for key social and economic priorities through partnerships.
Collects, analyses and presents information and data on social and economic priorities.
Identifies and designs to overcome obstacles to effective implementation of policies and programmes.
Continuous scoping of the development landscape in the state and translating opportunities into concrete Development Support Services funded projects in collaboration with relevant programme units and projects of UNDP.
Identifies activities and areas of cooperation to support of effective implementation of State schemes or initiatives.
Leads on state’s needs-assessment and broad scoping of work in discussion with UNDP programme team.
Ensures that the programmes/ schemes are inclusive, participatory, creating better outreach and optimizing their impacts on the intended beneficiaries.

Ensures Partnership Building and programme expansion

Supports UNDP resource mobilization and programme expansion in the State with a focus on supporting the State Government’s agenda and political and social priorities.
Advocates for UNDP with government counterparts, donor community and on private and public sector partnerships in the state
Coordinates with other UN and bilateral partners to ensure complementarity of interventions and results
Represents UNDP in state level in the context of partnership building.

Ensure that the ongoing UNDP programmes in the state are aligned with government priorities

Translates of UNDP priorities into interventions at state and district levels.
Measures and monitors the impact of UNDP’s work at the state level to allow for a continuous analysis of the programme environment as well as necessary readjustments of programme interventions.
Continuously monitors and assesses development outcomes vis a vis all state level projects.

Ensure top quality Managerial Oversight and facilitates knowledge building in the State

Identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learned.
Identifies and documents lessons for replication and upscaling if applicable from district to city/state level.
Ensures Financial Oversight and Coordination between various State Projects.
Undertake any other task assigned by UNDP.

Competencies

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise

Thorough familiarity with the development context and challenges with regard to key developmental issues with special focus on development programmes in the state.

Results Based Programme Development and Management

Researches linkages across programme activities to identify critical points for integration
Participates in formulation of project proposal and ensure substantive rigour in the design and application of proven successful approaches and drafts proposals accordingly.

Building Strategic Partnerships

Effectively networks with partners, seizes opportunities to build strategic alliances
Establishes and nurtures positive communication with partners

Core Competencies:

Promotes and enforces ethics and integrity and creates precedence in good practice
Demonstrates corporate knowledge and sound judgment
Self-development, ability to take initiative, adopt a corporate approach to complex situations
Creates and promotes an enabling environment for open communication

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
Master’s Degree or equivalent in Development, Public and Business Administration, Economics, Political Sciences, Social Sciences or related field.

Experience:

7-10 years of relevant experience with national government and/ or international level in project management, programme development and project design and implementation.
Hands-on management skills and proven team leadership experience.
Experience in leading office or sub-offices as part of a larger organisation or entity.
Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, experience in handling of web based management systems.

Language Requirements: Fluency in written and oral English. Additional local languages will be an asset.

Remuneration package is approx. Rs. 178,516/- per month (taxable). UNDP also offers additional benefits which include medical insurance coverage and limited pension reimbursement for contract holder and encourages work life balance to its employees.

UNDP strives to have a workforce which reflects diversity and gender balance, and applies an equal opportunities approach. All selection is on merit