UNDP Jobs - 16981- Programme Management Specialist

Programme Management Specialist

Location :

Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

01-Jul-2010

Application Deadline :

07-Jun-10 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 Year

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

UNDP Africa' s strategic vision places capacity development for pro-poor growth and accountability at the centre of all UNDP-supported activities in the region, given the fact that lack of capacity in these areas remains one of the key challenges faced by Africa today in its efforts to achieve the MDGs.To achieve this goal UNDP has set itself the tasks of:

strengthening its strategic thinking and advocacy functions in line with the UNDP Strategic Plan and with Africa's development agenda;
creating in-house capacity to translate corporate support goals into capacity development results; and
providing support to UN reform and strengthening its partnerships with both UN and external development partners.

In order to achieve these objectives, UNDP works through its Regional Bureau for Africa to strengthen capacities of African countries, regional and sub-regional institutions. This support is guided by the Third Regional Cooperation Framework (RCFIII) which has three strategic key results:

Building Effective and Democratic States in Africa;
Accelerating the Pace of Regional Integration,and
Strengthening Management of Governance Knowledge in Africa. The RCF III has four areas of focus namely:
Poverty Reduction; Consolidating Democratic Governance, Crisis Prevention and Recovery and Energy and Environment.
The RCF III outcomes will be achieved through various regional programmes developed and implemented by the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa.

As such, the Regional Governance Programme entitled Consolidating Democratic Governance in Africa (CDGAP) has been designed to contribute to the four outcomes of the RCFIII related to Consolidating Democratic Governance in Africa namely:

Enhanced political participation and management of elections;
Strengthened Economic Governance and service delivery;
More effective regional institutions; and (iv) Identification, codification and dissemination of governance knowledge in Africa.

The CDGAP is comprised of four key components:

Support to the African Peer Review Mechanism;
Support to the Africa Governance and Public Administration Programme (AGPAP);
Support to the African Union (AU) and Regional Economic Communities (RECs); and
Joint United Nations Economic Commission Africa (ECA)-UNDP Initiatives.

The UNDP Regional Centre for Eastern and Southern Africa (RC-ESA), based in Johannesburg, supports the policy, programme and technical assistance activities of UNDP to regional and sub-regional institutions, Country Offices and programme countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. Its core responsibilities are to provide policy and advisory services; to manage regional programs; and to provide comparative knowledge and information and referral of technical experts. The RC-ESA is divided into six practices: Democratic Governance, Poverty, and Energy and Environment, HIV/AIDS, Gender and Capacity Development. The Democratic Governance Practice is further sub-divided into several sub-practices: Public Administration Reform and Anti-Corruption, Local Governance, and Access to Justice and Human Rights, Electoral Systems and Processes. Each practice and sub-practice relates to global and regional communities of practice that actively include UNDP Country Office staff.

The Programme Specialist is responsible for providing coordination and management support to the Practice Leader/Programme Manager in the implementation of the Regional Governance Programme in accordance with the principles of results based management (RBM). The incumbent works under the direction of and reports to the Programme Manager/Democratic Governance Practice Leader (Regional Centre for Eastern and Southern Africa)

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions:

Substantive contribution to programme planning and implementation
Under the direction of the Programme Manager, provide advisory and technical support and project?monitoring, evaluation, reporting
Provision of support to partnership building and resource mobilization
Contribute to capacity building and knowledge management

Functions/Key Results Expected

Programme planning and implementation
Under the guidance of the Programme Manager, develop and submit an annual work plan for programme implementation with activities/components, budget requirements, targets, timelines, objectives and standards in accordance with the principles of results based managemen (RBM) measuring results.
Draft programme wide Monitoring and Evaluation strategies, with annual baselines, targets and indicators for success.
Draft documents, strategic plans, annual reports, and statements and provide feedback on draft policies, budgets, human resource requirements, etc.
Draft internal and external communications strategies to ensure adequate information flow within the programme team, with programme partners, and other stakeholders.
Support preparation and/or submission of materials and other requirements for Programme/Project Steering
Committee and Programme/Project Management Meetings (PSC) and follow-up on the decisions for timely action.
Support guidance and advice to the PSC to facilitate project management, oversight and evaluation.
Ensure follow-up of application of UNDP programming and operational policies, procedures and mechanisms and utilize the Project Management Module in Atlas (Prince2, etc).?Keep abreast and contribute to the improvement and alignment of UNDP programming practices to ensure optimum project implementation and performance.
Support the Programme Manager to manage, control and oversee the appropriate use of financial, human resources and other assets related to the program. Approve and/or certify use of resources according to delegated authority from the Programme Advisor.
Advisory and technical support and programme monitoring, evaluation, reporting
Under delegated authority of the Programme Manager, visit projects, monitor implementation, review progress reports, follow-up on progress, determine approaches and modalities for implementation and evaluate results according to targets and objectives. Take decisions and/or actions to ensure delivery of results as planned.
Provide technical guidance and operational support to clients and stakeholders to enhance performance and delivery of quality results, share knowledge and build capacity.
Contribute to management and monitoring of programme risks and submission of conclusions and/or recommendations for resolution to the Programme Management Team for review and decision.
Continually update the Programme Risks Log.
Implement decisions of the Programme Manager to ensure full compliance with UNDP programming (POPP), financial procurement and administrative rules, regulations, policies and strategies, application of internal control systems.
At the request of the Programme Manager, submit qualitative, substantive, and financial and procurement/contracting progress reports to keep all relevant parties involved and to guide timely and appropriate action at senior and higher levels.

Partnership and resource mobilization

Support the establishment of partnerships with the government and regional Institutions, implementing partners and UNDP colleagues to advocate, promote, discuss and/or share information and policy issues to enhance project efficacy and delivery of results.
Contribute to developing the strategy and implementation plan for resource mobilization to encourage donor interests and increase funding. Manage funds and report to donors ensuring transparency and integrity of information.
Support dialogue with donors, partners and stakeholders to maintain effective working relationship, sustain interests and cooperation.

Capacity building and knowledge management

Under the direction of the Practice Leader prepare and implement a plan for documenting lessons learned. Identify, codify and disseminate best practices and lessons learned on management and delivery.
Develop knowledge products and ensure its application and wide use through technical support and other planned training and learning activities.
Submit and/or present policy, briefing and other position papers to mainstream, enhance and improve on activities/interventions, practices, methods, systems and tools.
Support organization and implementation of training activities and events for the operations/ projects staff and beneficiaries.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates commitment to UNDPs mission, vision and values.
Exerts strict adherence to corporate rules, regulations and procedures.
Familiarity with the internal control framework and results-based management tools is a must.
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

Functional Competencies:

Client orientation, Management and Teamwork
Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback.
Remains calm, in control and good humoured even under pressure
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities
Ability to work well as part of a multi-disciplinary team
Development and Operational Effectiveness
Ability to perform a variety of specialized tasks related to Results-Based Management, including support to design, planning and implementation of programme, managing data, monitoring and evaluation, results reporting.
Ability to provide inputs to business processes,re-engineering, implementation of new systems, including new IT based systems.
Ability to establish and maintain contacts with senior-level officials with programme partners, African governments and other regional organisations required. Excellent interpersonal skills are essential part of the job.
Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, is required to obtain, evaluate and interpret factual data and to prepare accurate and complete reports and other documents.

Knowledge Management and Learning

Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the programme and office through leadership and personal example.
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

A Masters degree in public administration, political or social sciences, international studies, and development related field.?? Postgraduate studies in Democratic Governance related field highly desirable.

Experience:

A least seven years of progressively responsible experience in democratic governance and other related areas at the policy and operational levels in a governmental, multilateral, bilateral or Civil Society Organizational-setting and within a multicultural environment at national or international level.
Ability to use computers and office software packagesand advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages (MS Word,Excel,etc) and experience in handling of web based management systems.
Familiar with UNDP systems such as POPP and Atlas an added advantage

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English and good working knowledge of French are required. Knowledge of other official languages of the countries in the region is desirable.