Background

UNDP is a key implementer of peace building initiatives to support Nepal’s peace process and has been providing dedicated assistance to key peace building activities related to constitution building, support to the discharge and rehabilitation of former Maoist army combatants, capacity development to strengthen national and local-level peace building mechanisms, and support to develop collaborative leadership and other peace building capacities.
 
Nepal is in a prolonged transition phase after a decade long internal conflict claiming around 16,000 lives. The signature of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Nov 2006 brought a halt to the immediate violence although there are still many issues to be resolved and new threats are emerging as Nepal proceeds in consolidating its peace process. Current challenges relate to meeting people’s aspirations for a greater political voice, broader social and economic inclusion and better access to resources, jobs and services as well as the promulgation of a more inclusive constitution. At the national level, politics is challenged by a very slow process of negotiations around key issues, at the sub-national levels, politics is characterised by low intensity tension and conflict that have the potential of destabilising local governance structures. Rule of law and security also remain important areas for prioritization.
 
As part of its mandate to build strategic and catalytic peacebuilding programmes in Nepal, UNDP identified the need to incorporate violence reduction as an important part of peace building initiatives.  In this context, in November 2011, Saferworld was commissioned, following a competitive selection process, to conduct an initial assessment of the armed violence situation in Nepal. The assessment started with a desk review of the topic, followed by primary research covering four district clusters, identified as armed violence hotspots by the desk review. While the assessment was ongoing, UNDP established contacts with the relevant Government of Nepal (GoN) Ministries through assigned focal points, with the Ministry of Home Affairs in the lead. This was to ensure GoN involvement at every stage of project development. The third stage of the assessment involved developing Armed Violence Reduction and Strengthening Community Security Programming (AVRSCS)programming options, triangulating the findings of the assessment with the input provided by the GoN during meetings, thereby ensuring that any potential programming on AVR resonates with the expressed needs of the GoN.
 
The Project designed for Nationally led Implementation was officially signed on December 2013 by the Ministry of Home Affairs and UNDP.
 
Currently, the AVRSCS project is in the process of hiring administrative associate for its roll out.  Directly reporting to the National Project Manager, the incumbents shall be responsible for administrative support for the project activities in the project areas. Reporting to the National Project Manager, the main role is to ensure administrative and logistic support to the timely implementation of the project.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Administrative Assistant will report to the Project Manager and work closely with the Field coordinator on a day-to-day basis to facilitate various administrative and implementation related operational and logistical processes. More specifically, the Administrative Associate will be responsible for the following:

Support for project management and implementation:
  • Support the timely and effective implementation of HR and procurement plans by preparing all necessary documents as per the rules specified in the NIM Guidelines and supporting the HR and Procurement units at UNDP;
  • Undertake project procurement i.e. technical bids, financial bids, proposals and contracts following the provisions of the NIM Guidelines;
  • Provide support to resource mobilization by analyzing information on donors, preparation of donors’ profiles and their country strategy papers;
  • Support in gathering information on other donor-funded or UN agency projects that are potential partners for AVRSCS;
  • Support the NPM to update various logs in Atlas and to keep the project dashboard updated.
Administrative and logistical support:
  • Support in drafting internal and external correspondence especially related to procurement, recruitment, resource mobilization, partnership building, etc in line with the NIM guidelines;
  • Support in organizing workshops, seminars, trainings including arrangement for venue, logistics, transportation and documentation of events;
  • Provide logistic support for all external and internal meetings (including the meetings of government and donors) for AVRSCS in Kathmandu with government, non-government, academia, donors, NGOs, UN agencies, and other potential partners and stakeholders, and maintain records, minutes of all project related meetings;
  • Provide logistical support in organizing the Project Board meeting;
  • Ensure all project related materials are properly documented and easily accessible;
  • Maintain a filing system for AVRSCS in Kathmandu.
Financial management support:
  • Assist in drafting Letter of Agreements, Memorandum of Understandings, Cost-sharing agreements, Contracts with implementing partners, and other such documents as per UNDP’s rules, regulations, and formats in close coordination with project administration and finance associate;
  • Assist in managing the various contracts with implementing partners—government entities, NGOs, UN agencies, etc.

Vehicle Management Support:

  • Ensure that proper inventory of all components of vehicles are maintained and checked frequently;
  • Full compliance of UN rules and regulations, policies and strategies on travel management and ensure that vehicles are used in accordance with UN rules and regulations and that vehicle usage date is correctly recorded.
Impact of results

The key results have an impact on the overall efficient execution of Project Administrative services and consequently, result in the success of the project.

Competencies

  • Demonstrated high moral integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Project Management and learning

  • Shares knowledge and experience.
  • Good understanding of project management including administration and logistics support.

Leadership and Self Management

  • Positive, constructive attitude;
  • Strong oral and written communication skills;
  • Exhibits openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
  • Ability to work and act under pressure with discretion in politically sensitive environment with a minimum of comfort.
  • Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view;
  • Solicits feedback from staff about the impact of his/her own behavior;
  • Ready to work independently, under tight deadlines.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Bachelors degree in management, accounting, administration, or human resource management or any other relevant fields.

Experience:

  • At least 3 years of work experience in administration;
  • Proven ability to work with multiple partners such as the Government, NGOs, local government, UN agencies, etc.
  • Knowledge of project planning, project finance, and project management procedures that UNDP follows will be a strong asset;
  • Experience in working with international organizations like UN/UNDP, INGOs is a strong advantage;
  • Knowledge of Atlas will be a distinct asset;
  • Good understanding of the socio-economic, cultural and political contexts of project districts;
  • Excellent knowledge of computer including Ms Office, spreadsheets.

Language requirement:

  • Proficiency in written and spoken English and Nepali is essential.