UNDP Jobs - 96172- Project Thematic Assistant

Project Thematic Assistant

Location :

Tashkent, UZBEKISTAN

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

21-Jan-2021

Application Deadline :

14-Jan-21 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

12 months (at least 21 w/days each months or 252 w/days in a total) during January – December 2021

Languages Required :

Russian

Expected Duration of Assignment :

January 2021 – December 2021

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

"Improved Public Service Delivery and Enhanced Governance in Rural Uzbekistan" is a joint project implemented by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and funded by the European Union. The overall goal of the project to improve the quality of life of vulnerable sectors of the population in rural areas – such as women, youth and children, the elderly and people with disabilities – by enhancing their access to public services, and the quality of their provision. Equally, the project aims to strengthen citizen participation in the decision-making processes at the local level and increase their access to information, effectively increasing the transparency of the local governance system.

The Project will also focus on a series of activities on strengthening the capacity of local governments and citizens to monitor and provide feedback to Public Services Agency (PSA) for improving the performance of the Public Service Centers (PSCs) in public service delivery and effectively creating a quality control mechanism at the local level.

In addition, taking into account the Government’s recent legislative initiative that expands the powers of local authorities in formulating their budgets, this Project also support local governments to plan and manage their budgets effectively. It is expected that these activities will encourage wider local community engagement in the budget formulation process by systematically identifying local community needs and prioritizing local government interventions based on the environmental, social and economic concerns of local citizens. The project will support the Ministry of Justice, Agency for Public Service and other concerned stakeholders in legislative drafting of normative-legal acts, which are aimed at improving the availability, accessibility, affordability and high quality of the integrated public services, designed and provided through citizen-centric and life-cycle approach, at the local level.

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, and in close coordination of the project team, the Project Thematic Assistant will be responsible for supporting to the project team in an effective and in a timely manner in all planning and implementation of the thematic tasks and activities through fulfilling the following tasks:

Duties and Responsibilities

Support the project team in communication with project’s national partners, including drafting invitations to project events; follow-up and confirmation of participants; maintaining their contact information database; finalizing lists of participants, and others;
Participate in project meetings with stakeholders; recording and maintaining notes on key information, actions and agreements;
Draft letters, handle registration of incoming/outgoing correspondence, and ensure timely exchange of documentation and feedback with project national partners (on central, regional and district levels);
Create and regularly update database of project national/regional/local partners and beneficiaries;
Assist the project team in drafting reports and minutes on events/discussions;
Support the project team during trainings in Tashkent and pilot regions, including registration of participants, pre and post training surveys completion by participants, etc.
Provide translation of small texts, such as correspondence, report, and others, which are two to three pages in length from Uzbek/Russian/English and vice-versa;
Support in maintaining of the archive of project-related documentation (electronic and paper based as appropriate and as needed);
Assist and support project team in other project-related arrangements and activities as needed;
Support the respective project team member in the organization international study visits planned within the approved project annual plan, including reviewing the EU experience on the subject of the study visit;
Advise the project team on the selection of the host country for the study tour, based on the review, and support the team in the development of study tour concept notes and agendas;
Maintain contact information database of experts from potential host countries;
Support communication between the representatives of potential host country, focal points of Public Services Agency and relevant members of the project team to agree on all study tour-related arrangements, including, but not limited to agenda, timeframe and logistics;
Support the project team in arranging logistical arrangements for international study tours;
Coordinate the fulfilment of post-study tour requirements, such as study tour reports, BTORs (back to office reports), and the development of action plans, lessons learned and others as per the study tour concept note.
Support the project team in maintenance of the database of individual consultants and consulting companies contracted for implementation of certain project activities;
Maintain the archives of ToRs, plans and reports of individual consultants and consulting companies, including the results delivery dashboard for coordination of the expected results from individual consultants and consulting companies, and timely informing Project Manager in case of any deviations from timeframes/deadlines;
Take notes during the project meetings with individual consultants and consulting companies and coordinate follow-up actions and agreements;

Perform other duties related to activities of this ToR upon request of the supervisor

Competencies

Strong analytical thinking, planning and organizational skills;
Ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing;
Ability to meet strict deadlines
Ability to use ICT as a tool and resource.
Initiative, ability work under pressure, ethics and honesty.
Good planning and financial management skills.
Good ability in partnering and networking and ability to work in a team, client-orientation.
Excellent interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Bachelor’s degree in administration, foreign language, philology and/or management, or other related fields
At least 3 years of work experience working in the role of project/programme assistance.
Working experience in international organizations development projects is required.
Working experience in the similar positions in UNDP and other international organizations development projects is an advantage.
Proficiency in Uzbek and Russian is required. Good level of English is an advantage.