UNDP Jobs - 4023- Project Manager

Project Manager

Location :

Kabul, AFGHANISTAN

Type of Contract :

ALD International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

20-Mar-08 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

ALD-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

One 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 Afghanistan has been providing gender technical support to the Government of Afghanistan (GoA) through the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) since 2002. In 2006 UNDP reviewed its gender technical support to GoA and in the context of the Afghan Compact and the ANDS formulated a new and broad-based gender equality programme. The programme aims to offer effective gender mainstreaming models to strengthen the capacity of government ministries and state institutions at national and sub-national levels. The programme is designed in line with the goals set out in the I-ANDS for gender equity and consistent with the Millennium Development Goals of gender equality and empowerment of women.

The overall goal of the programme is to help facilitate gender mainstreaming in the national development policies and practices. In this respect development of capacity of the concerned ministries and ensuring gender responsiveness of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy are considered being key. The programme aims to strengthen the capacity of various partner organisations/ministries for gender mainstreaming.

The purpose of the post of the Gender Equality Project Manager is to ensure that the Gender Equality programme is managed and implemented in line with the goals set and results envisioned. One of the key objectives of the post is to ensure that the gender technical advice and critical gender inputs for policy formulation and planning exercises are made available to the government counterparts through various projects and initiatives.

In the efforts of managing the Gender Equality programme the Project Manager will establish partnership with various government counterparts, shall be providing technical guidance and supervision to various project teams and will ensure resources required for the implementation of the project. The Project Manager will serve as UNDP’s Chief Technical Advisor on gender for policy formulation and national development.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Country Director and direct supervision of the Senior Deputy Country Director (programme), the Gender Equality Project Manager will undertake the following responsibilities.
Summary of Key Functions:

Managerial;
Knowledge generation and national capacity building;
Policy related;
Capacity Building Support of Ministry of Women Affairs;
Support to Ministry of Economy;
Contribute to gender mainstreaming of country of.

Managerial:

Overall responsible for direction, planning, management co-ordination of the Gender Equality programme;
Ensure all time relevance of the gender equality programme and its effective implementation;
Liaise and co-ordinate with line/oversight ministries, the ANDS Secretariat, key state entities, other UN agencies, and donors to ensure a co-ordinated approach to gender mainstreaming in the national development processes;
Ensure effectiveness of various teams implementing various projects under the programme and help maintain coherence and promote synergy for development effectiveness;
Facilitate preparation of audits, evaluation and reviews of various projects/activities and provide technical and substantive inputs in accordance with UNDP’s policies and procedures;
Provide technical and managerial support to the project staff;
Ensure oversight and guidance to the project team(s) for the production of project progress reports, final narrative and financial report to UNDP, ministries, donors and international agencies;
Ensure availability of the adequate financial resources for the programme/projects.

Policy related

Ensure that UNDP’s gender equality commitment reflects in its development co-operation;
Represent UNDP in various fora, meetings and policy dialogues on gender;
Ensure adequate gender technical support to state entities for mainstreaming gender in key policy and strategic documents and development processes;
Ensure adequate critical gender inputs to ministerial, sectoral and cross-cutting strategies of the ANDS in order to help government develop a gender responsive national development strategies and delivering on commitments made to its people and the partners;
Facilitate establishing longer-term sustainable approach towards gender equitable development;
Facilitate knowledge generation and institutional capacity of the selected ministries for gender equality;
Help promote a co-ordinated approach among the UN agencies and donors to address critical national gender issues;
Advice the UNDP senior management and the national government counterparts on policy matters pertinent to gender equitable development and propose way forward to best serve the government mandates;
Negotiate with donors to fund critical initiatives/actions/programmes to promote gender equality.

Capacity Building support to Ministry of Women's Affairs

Advise the Minister and Senior Management of MoWA to deliver on its mandates and be strategic in its functions to promote gender mainstreaming across the government;
Advise MoWA and MAS to influence and ensure that gender critical concerns are mainstreamed within the ANDS;
Advise and assist to strengthen technical and leadership capacity of MoWA to facilitate gender mainstreaming in other line and oversight ministries;
Guide and advise MoWA on its strategic position vis-à-vis the achievement of the development goals of the government;
Advise to modeling DoWAs for effective gender mainstreaming in the provincial development strategies/plans/initiatives;
Advise on and support capacity building initiatives of the second layer of leadership of MoWA in general and Training and Advocacy Department in particular;
Expand the scope of technical support and develop strategies in collaboration with other UN agencies and international community at large;
Respond to any other needs/challenges MoWA, UNDP and other UN agencies encounter.

Support to the Ministry of Economy

Advise the Minister and leadership of the Ministry of Economy to deliver on the strategic mandates of MoEc;
Help develop technical capacity, particularly with regard to strategic planning, of the key departments of MoEc;
Ensure establishment and functioning of Think tanks on gender and planning and gender and gender and governance;
Strengthen capacity of DoEc in selected provinces and develop models for gender planning at sub-national level.

Contribute to Gender Mainstreaming in UNDP

Continue to act as a resource person for the Country office in gender related matters;
Advise the CO on national priorities for the advancement of women’s development and gender equitable development;
Provide inputs in policy formulation and strategic development exercises;
Collaboration with the Gender Mainstreaming Specialist in determining strategic initiatives to promote gender mainstreaming through other project/programmes of UNDP and across UNDP.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:
Knowledge Management and Learning

Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office;
In-depth knowledge on development issues;
Ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Development and Operational Effectiveness

Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
Ability to lead formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects, mobilize resources;
Good knowledge of the Results Management Guide and Toolkit;
Strong IT skills;
Ability to lead implementation of new systems (business side), and affect staff behavioral/ attitudinal change.

Management and Leadership

Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
Leads teams effectively and shows conflict resolution skills;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
Prince2 training and certification, RMG would be an advantage.

Required Skills and Experience

Post-graduate Degree in gender, women’s development and/or any other Social Science discipline or development management.
Experience:
A minimum of 7 years of relevant work experience, of which at least five years of professional experience in programme/project management in the field of development;
Strong background and understanding of critical gender analysis and programmatic skills;
Experience with UN agencies, international agencies, government, NGOs and civil society organizations;
Strong capacity to have flexibility to meet high demands, skills in leadership and organization, administration, negotiation, team building, staff supervision and development of cross cultural communication;
Networking, partnership and resource mobilization skills;
Knowledge and experience of working in the post-conflict region and/or similar cultural context and/or countries in transition;
Working knowledge of Computer.
Language Requirements:
Fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of Dari, Pashto or Arabic is highly desirable.