UNDP Jobs - 52020- Programme Associate, HIV, Health and Development

Programme Associate, HIV, Health and Development

Location :

Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA

Type of Contract :

FTA Local

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

25-Dec-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

GS-7

Duration of Initial Contract :

One year renewable

Languages Required :

English French

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

The Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has corporate responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogue initiatives, South-South and Triangular cooperation initiatives and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDP’s Crisis Response Unit (CRU) to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. BPPS supports UNDP and partners to provide high quality, technical support to UNDP Country offices for the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programme support activities.

HIV, Health and Development Approach

UNDP is a founding cosponsor of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), a partner of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and a co-sponsor of several other international health partnerships. UNDP’s work on HIV, health and development leverages the organization’s core strengths and mandates in human development, governance and capacity development to complement the efforts of specialist health-focused UN agencies. UNDP delivers three types of support to countries in HIV, health and development.

First, UNDP helps countries to mainstream attention to HIV and health into action on gender, poverty and the broader effort to achieve and sustain the Millennium Development Goals. For example, UNDP works with countries to understand the social and economic factors that play a crucial role in driving health and disease, and to respond to such dynamics with appropriate policies and programmes outside the health sector. UNDP also promotes specific action on the needs and rights of women and girls as they relate to HIV.

Second, UNDP works with partners to address the interactions between governance, human rights and health responses. Sometimes this is done through focused or specialized programmes, such as promoting attention to the role of legal environments (law and access to justice) in facilitating stronger HIV responses, including the use of flexibilities in intellectual property and human rights law to lower the cost of drugs and diagnostics and to increase access to HIV-related treatment. UNDP also works to empower and include people living with HIV and marginalized populations who are disproportionately affected by HIV - also known as key populations - such as sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people. Beyond these focused efforts, UNDP plays a key role in ensuring attention to HIV and health within broader governance and rights initiatives, including support to district and municipal action on MDGs, strengthening of national human rights institutions and increasing access to justice for marginalized populations.

Third, as a trusted, long-term partner with extensive operational experience, UNDP supports countries in effective implementation of complex, multilateral and multisectoral health projects, while simultaneously investing in capacity development so that national and local partners can assume these responsibilities over time. The UNDP/Global Fund partnership is an important part of this work, facilitating access to resources for action on MDG 6 by countries that face constraints in directly receiving and managing such funding. UNDP partners with countries in crisis/post-crisis situations, those with weak institutional capacity or governance challenges, and countries under sanctions. When requested, UNDP acts as interim Principal Recipient in these settings, working with national partners and the Global Fund to improve management, implementation and oversight of Global Fund grants, while simultaneously developing national capacity for governments or local entities to be able to assume the Principal Recipient role over time.

The UNDP Regional Centres are currently organized in various thematic programme cluster teams managing relevant regional programmes and delivering advisory services to clients (UNDP Country Offices, partners etc.). The Africa HIV, Health and Development Team is located in the Regional Centre for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Role of the Programme Associate

Under the guidance and supervision of the Africa Team Leader, HIV, Health and Development, the Programme Associate will work with the eight international and one national staff in the HIV, Health and Development Team at the Regional Centre for Africa in Addis Ababa. The Programme Associate is an integral part of the team, providing services to both the regional programme implementation activities and to the technical support and policy advisory functions carried out by the team in 44 Sub-saharan African countries. The Programme Associate will also work with key partners such as the African Union Commission, the Regional Economic Communities, donors, governments, other UN agencies, the UNAIDS Secretariat and civil society partners in the region.

The Programme Associate will provide leadership in execution of services in the Regional Centre to support design, planning and implementation of activities as well as to support quality, accuracy and consistency of work. The Programme Associate will promote a client-oriented approach consistent with UNDP rules and regulations.

The Programme Associate will supervise and lead the support staff of the Programme unit, including temporary clerical and support staff. The Programme Associate works in close collaboration with the operations, cluster, and project teams in the Regional Centre, the UNDP Country Offices and UNDP HQ staff to resolve complex programme and operational issues, exchange information and support programme delivery.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

Support the HIV, Health and Development team in programme management strategies and implementation and the delivery of advisory services, processes and procedures.
Administrative support to the HIV, Health and Development team and Regional Centre;
Support to the team in the creation of strategic partnerships and implementation of the resource mobilization strategy;
Facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing.

Support the HIV, Health and Development team in programme management strategies andimplementation, in the delivery of advisory services, and in the managing processes and procedures focusing on achievement of the following results:

Collection, analysis and presentation of background information to enable efficient delivery of HIV, Health and Development activities, effective application of RBM tools, establishment of management targets (BSC), and maintenance of RBM database;
Direct support to the team in programme implementation and in the provision of advisory services to Country Offices, including inputs in the preparation of project documents, work plans, budgets, proposals and implementation arrangements;
Provision of guidance to partner executing agencies in the implementation of projects, tracking use of financial resources, and reporting to UNDP;
Follow up on performance indicators/ success criteria, targets and milestones, and preparation of programme and financial reports;
Leading the support to the team in the organization of events and the organization and presentation of programme information/reports;
Responsible for creating projects in Atlas, preparation of budget revisions, revision of project award and project status, determination of unutilized funds, operational and financial closure of projects;
Responsible for maintaining an overview of programme implementation across multiple funding sources, and analyzing and resolving complex programme, operational and financial issues;
Preparation of thoroughly researched information for regional project audits, and support to the implementation and tracking of audit recommendations;
Monitors and continuously updates the Regional Centre service tracker and calendar of events.

Provides administrative support to the HIV, Health and Development team and Regional Centre focusing on achievement of the following results:

Supervises and leads the support staff of the Programme unit, including temporary clerical and support staff of the Team.
Processes travel requests in ATLAS for the team and follow-up on relevant logistical arrangements related to official business travel;
Responsible for proper maintenance of supporting documents for audit purposes;
Drafts routine documents, reports relevant for the programme implementation;
Review of Regional projects Financial Reports; preparation of non-PO vouchers where applicable;
Responsible to ensure proper control of the supporting documents for payments, review of NEX projects and advances;
Maintenance of the internal expenditures control system which ensures that vouchers processed are matched and completed; transactions are correctly recorded and posted in Atlas;
Timely corrective actions on un-posted vouchers, including the vouchers with budget check errors, match exceptions, unapproved vouchers;
Creation of requisitions in Atlas for development projects, register of goods receipt in Atlas, making budget check for requisitions, POs and vouchers.

Supports the HIV, Health and Development Team Leader in the creation of strategic partnerships and implementation of a coherent resource mobilization strategy, focusing on achievement of the following results:

Analysis of information on strategic partners including donors, government and civil society organizations;
Preparation of partner profiles and databases, and establishment of contacts with donor counterparts to obtain information on their programmes;
Leading research and analysis for the implementation of the Regional Team’s partnerships and resource mobilization strategies, and leading support for preparation of reports;
Tracking and reporting on mobilized resources and established partnerships;
Review of contributions agreements and managing contributions in Atlas.

Ensures facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing focusing on achievement of the following results:

Organization of trainings for the operations/ projects staff on programme issues;
Synthesis of lessons learnt and best practices in programmes;
Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

Competencies

Core:

Innovation

Ability to make new and useful ideas work.

Leadership

Ability to persuade others to follow.

People Management

Ability to improve performance and satisfaction.

Communication

Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform.

Delivery

Ability to get things done.

Technical/Functional:

Primary:

Organizational Skills

Demonstrated capacities to perform multiple tasks, in multi-cultural environment and dealt with confidential matters.

Office Administration

Ability to manage day-to-day office activities (including but not limited to travel management, facilities and asset management, policy and procedures maintenance) to meet operational needs.

Reviewing and reporting

Ability to review and edit documents, ability to produce meeting report identifying key actions.

Development and Operational Effectiveness

Programme management skills and communication skills.

Research

Knowledge of analytical tools and methods for undertaking substantive research on various policy related issues.

Secondary:

Financial Reporting and Analysis

Ability to evaluate financial data, derive relevant findings and present them in a meaningful manner.

Partnerships/Relationship Management

Ability to engage with other agencies, donors, and other development stakeholders and forge productive working relationships.

Knowledge Management

Ability to efficiently handle and share information and knowledge.

Risk Management

Ability to identify and prioritize risks, and organize action around mitigating them.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

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

Experience:

7 years of progressively responsible administrative or programme experience is required at the national or international level;
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.

Language Requirement:

Fluency in English and French; and
National language is a requirement.

Note:

Externally advertised General Service fixed-term appointment are open to candidates who are nationals of the country, Permanent Residents, or holders of a valid work permit at the time of their application.