UNDP Jobs - 52334- Project Assistant, Capacity Building, Regional Hub

Project Assistant, Capacity Building, Regional Hub for Civil Service in Astana, UNDP (only for Kazakhstan citizens)

Location :

Astana, KAZAKHSTAN

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

SB-2

Duration of Initial Contract :

12 months

Languages Required :

English Russian

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

In 2013, UNDP and the Government of Kazakhstan (GoK) formed a Secretariat for the Regional Hub of Civil Service in Astana (Hub). The Hub is an institutional framework and a platform for continuous exchange of knowledge and experience in the field of civil service, consisting of 29 participating countries and several international organizations. In Mid-2014, the GoK decided to expand its institutional and financial support of the Hub, strengthening the Secretariat of the Hub and establishing a dedicated research capacity within the Hub.

UNDP is recruiting a sizeable staff to support the scaled up Hub project, which employs knowledge management, Europe-Asia (South-South) and triangular partnership approaches. The goal is to contribute to the establishment of modern, effective and fiscally sustainable civil service systems that meet society’s expectations for the responsive and transparent public institutions. Project works with participating countries to exchange and test up-to-date knowledge and capacity development and generate innovative solutions on civil service excellence. The expected impact of the project is strengthened and modernized civil service institutions in Kazakhstan and participating countries, and substantive contribution to global agendas on civil service excellence.

Organizational Context

Under the overall guidance of the Chairman and day-to-day supervision of the Project Specialist/Capacity Building Team Leader, the incumbent is responsible for supporting the Hub’s capacity development and training strategy. The incumbent is responsible and accountable for establishing and maintaining networks and partnerships with leading capacity building institutions in the region and around the world.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Project Assistant in Capacity Building works within the knowledge objectives of the Hub, and is responsible for assistance in designing, managing, monitoring and guiding the effective implementation of the overall capacity development strategy of the Hub. The specific tasks of the Project Assistant in Capacity Building include the following:

- Contribute to the formulation of the Hub’s overall international partnership strategy, and responsible for establishing a well-functioning network of capacity development experts and practitioners, including through national and international partnerships, cooperation and networking agreements on the Hub’s capacity development activities;
- Actively seek out platforms and mechanisms for international partnerships on the Hub’s capacity development initiatives, including through joint trainings, workshops, conferences, country immersion activities, etc., with relevant academies and training institutions;
- Develop well-designed training fellowship programmes for leading world experts to expand the knowledge and expertise base of the Hub.
- Organize and oversee the implementation of the regional training/capacity building and participatory consultation in line with the priorities identified by regional and national partner institutions;
- Ensure the inclusion and consistency of capacity development plans in the programs;
- Identify and organize collaborative partnership with selected regional trainers or capacity development experts and trainers of national and regional high performance centers;
- Facilitate the network of countries level experts on training, in consultation with the regional capacity building centers.
- Ensure coherence and synergies of the regional project’s intervention with the overall strategy of UNDP RBEC (Regional Office) in terms of capacity building;
- Initiate and follow relevant partnerships with centers of excellence with a regional focus in order to support and pursue a sustainable supply of training for the participating countries;
- Ensure the sharing of experiences between countries supported by the Hub and dissemination of good practice in capacity development in all countries covered by the Hub;
- Develop a range of specific sustainable training and strategy for centers of excellence.
- Support other experts and the regional program partners for the organization and facilitation of training and regional workshops;
- Liaise with the Working Group in related area.

Impact of Results

The general impact of this post will be reflected in the results achieved by Project as defined in the project document. Specific impact should be created through:
• A partnership strategy for training is implemented at both the regional and country levels;
• Organize and implement experience sharing with capacity building focus at the regional level through a network of the Hub.

Competencies

Core Competencies:
• Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents;
• Building and promoting effective teams;
• Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
• Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning;
• Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking;
• Initiative-taking, self-development

Corporate Competencies:
• Displays strong cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Demonstrates integrity by modelling in the UN's values and ethical standards (human rights, peace, understanding between people and nations, tolerance, integrity, respect, results orientation, UNDP core ethics, impartiality;
• Demonstrates understanding, maturity and is sensitive to working in an environment with uniformed hierarchy;

Functional Competencies:

Technical Expertise:
• Understands more advanced aspects of primary area of specialization as well as the fundamental concepts of related disciplines;
• Keeps abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself professionally;
• Ability to establish good working relationships with international and national authorities.
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Ability to monitor progress against milestones and deadlines;
• Ability to handle effectively multiple tasks without compromising quality, team spirit and positive working relationships;
• Ability to foresee risks and develop mitigation strategies.

Knowledge Management and Learning:
• Promotes knowledge management and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example, excellent ability to demonstrate national capacities building (mastery of the tools and their application);
• Sensitivity and responsiveness to all partners.

Building Strategic Partnerships:
• Identifying and building partnerships;
• Effectively networks with partners seizing opportunities to build strategic alliances relevant to UNDP’s mandate and strategic agenda;
• Identifies needs and interventions for capacity building of counterparts, clients and potential partners;

Required Skills and Experience

Education: Bachelor’s degree in education, public administration, social sciences, management or a related field, preferably in the ECIS region;
Experience:

At least 3 years of relevant experience in designing, managing, and implementing capacity development and training programmes;
Proven track record of building networks and partnerships among training institutions, government and academia clients,
Experience in developing projects to improve service delivery outcomes,
Proven communication and advocacy skills, and ability to work in an environment requiring liaison and collaboration with multiple actors including government representatives, donors and other stakeholders;

Language Requirements: Fluency in English, Kazakh and Russian with proven drafting and presentation skills.

!IMPORTANT INFORMATION

How to apply: Interested and qualified candidates should apply on-line through this site by clicking "APPLY NOW" button. Please ensure that you upload your UN Personal History Form-P11 (on the 2nd page of the application by selecting "UPLOAD RESUME" option).

Incomplete applications will not be given consideration. Please note that only short-listed applications will be contacted.

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.