Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Closing Date: 31-Jan-2024
Job Description
Background Information – Job-specific
The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. UNOPS supports partners to build a better future by providing services that increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of peace building, humanitarian and development projects. Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations.
Background Information – Job-specific
Established in 2009, Ethiopia Multi-country office (ETMCO) sub-region currently consists of an established Operation Centre in Addis Ababa which manages a portfolio of engagements in four (4) Horn of Africa countries (Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan and South Sudan). ETMCO focuses on Infrastructure, Procurement, Project Management, HR and Transactional Services, and Fund Management services across a wide range of sectors including Health, Education, Agriculture, Resilient infrastructure, among others.
Our goal is to support countries, help people in need and enable our partners through delivering on our mandate of infrastructure, procurement and project management in the countries in the Horn of Africa.
The Project Management Support Senior Officer has a functional line of reporting to the Project Management Support Specialist -Team Leader, and a day to day reporting to the Project Managers to which the incumbent will assigned to support. The Project Management Support Senior Officer role is responsible for supporting the Project Manager(s) with the day-to-day operations of the project and coordinating progress and implementation, including facilitating the project(s) compliance policies and procedures of the organization and ensure data quality in the ERP; Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Platform and other digital tools.
The successful candidate maintains a close eye on the operational and financial performance, identifies probable issues that may need attention, supports in problem analysis and solution identification as necessary, coordinate resolution as per action-items assigned, drafting required correspondences to stakeholders concerned and preparation of mission reports. The incumbent must be able to perform their role with a high degree of autonomy, establishing strong collaborative relationships with the Support Services departments and may be required to guide the work of other team members on policy and process related matters. The role can often be required to work in complex and challenging environments with limited resources.
Functional Responsibilities
- Project Implementation
- Financial and Procurement management
- Project Monitoring and Reporting
- Coordination and Liaison/ Stakeholder Management
- Knowledge Management and Innovation
- Operational and Logistics Support
1. Project implementation
- Advise the Project Manager on UNOPS Policies and Procedures, Financial Rules and Regulations (FR&R) and other requirements for efficient project implementation and progress;
- Monitor project financials and advise the Project Manager accordingly;
- Track expenditure and take relevant action when required to revise budgets (realignment and amendment);
- Monitor and record best practices and innovative approaches within UNOPS FR&R; identify and show alternative options according to Activity needs;
- Managing information flows and overseeing change controls, risk registers and issue management; document and feedback lessons learned and best practices;
- Supporting the project planning process;
- Maintenance of all supporting project financial documents for audit and review processes;
- Management of work packages within the project as and when required;
- Assist the Project manager in monitoring of the project quality indicators and undertaking monthly assurance tasks on behalf of the Project Manager;
- Continuous monitoring of the project quality indicators and undertaking monthly assurance tasks on behalf of the Project Manager;
- Supervise Project Associates and Assistant(s) within the Team, to ensure work efficiency and quality at all;
2. Financial and Procurement Management
- Maintain all supporting project financial documents for audit and review processes;
- Ensure accurate data entry into UNOPS ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system;
- Monitor project budget and financial expenditure and all administrative procedures in line with the work-plan;
- Process direct payments and advance requests and prepare project budget revisions;
- Produce financial reports; including developing financial monitoring and reporting formats as per UNOPS requirements;
- Support the Project Manager by monitoring budgets, cash flow and reporting on expense obligations to ensure that deliverables are met;
- Alert the Project Manager or any financial shortfalls and over-expenditures;
- Propose budget revision and initiate corrective action when necessary;
- Coordinate vendor communications, meetings, and reports as necessary;
3. Project Monitoring and Reporting
- Provide substantive inputs to assist the Project Manager in the preparation of project reports and documents;
- Maintain records of project files and other supporting documents;
- Maintain the following records: Quality Register, Configuration Item Records and all other registers/logs delegated by the Project Manage;
4. Coordination and Liaison/ Stakeholder Management
- Contract management of all contracts (Procurement, HR, Service Contracts etc) under the Project;
- Pro-actively coordinate/liaise with support units on all administrative matters related to contract management;
- Liaise with the Programme Management Office (PMO) Team Members to complete compliance and project assurance related tasks;
- Support the coordination and management of communications
- Support the Project Manager in maintaining the following: (I). Electronic Blue File, (ii). Procurement, HR and Finance files as required by Organizational Directive (OD) 12;
- Manage the compilation, consolidation and analysis of relevant data related to the project(s);
- Assist the Project Manager in the preparation of project completion reports and ensure compliance with contractual obligations;
5. Knowledge Management and Innovation
- Participate in relevant Communities of Practice;
- Proactively remain abreast of new developments, innovations and tools related to Portfolio, Programme and Project Management (P3M) practices promoting a common approach and frame of reference;
- Supports the Project manager to implement knowledge and document management policies and guidance;
- Contribute to the mainstreaming of innovation and efficiency initiatives of the organization by facilitating their application at the project level;
- Actively interact with PMs and the wider PM Support community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices in the Knowledge System;
- Support the compilation of lessons learned as per defined reporting format;
- Contribute to the dissemination and sharing of best practices and lessons learned for planning and knowledge building;
- Contribute to expertise in tools and techniques
6. Operational and Logistics Support
- In consultation with the relevant stakeholders, prepare amendments to Agreements and Budget Revisions when applicable;
- Support the Project Manager in progressing Engagements and Amendments through oneUNOPS Projects;
- Review input of financial information, expenditures etc in oneUNOPS ERP;
- Ensure conformity of project disbursement requests with procedures, work plans, and availability of resources for expenditure;
- Support development and maintenance of UNOPS management information systems to ensure real time tracking and asset management under the project activities;
- Liaise with the Finance Unit to process and monitor all payment requests within the Project;
- Assist the Project Manager in monitoring all HR requirements and related activities under the Project;
- Preparation of Terms of Reference (ToR) for required inputs in the projects (staff, individual and institutional consultancy services, procurement of goods and services, organization of training, seminars, etc.), with expert and/or client support as required;
- Providing induction briefings to newly recruited staff and render support to consultants in the course of their assignment;
- Supervise and review submissions for Contracts, Purchase orders, Waivers and related documents prior to final approval;
- In accordance with UN and UNOPS Security Policies, manage travel for all personnel in the Project Team;
- Organize all project and stakeholder meetings as and when necessary, and maintain records of these meetings;
- Maintain records of project files and Activity reports in hard and soft copy;
- Prepare budget forecasts and periodic financial reports as requested;
- Review weekly Activity reports and quarterly financial reports with respect to outputs based on work plans and budget forecasts;
- Liaise with finance and logistics/procurement units in tracking commitments and disbursements;
- Identify operational, administrative, financial and other bottlenecks that may impede project delivery; recommend solutions and take appropriate remedial action;
- On behalf of the Project and as directed by the Project Manager, participate in periodic visits to the project sites to review compliance with recognized procedures as required;
- Establish and monitor an internal control system for all administrative actions;
IV. Impact of Results
Qualifications essentielles
Education:
- Advanced university degree (Master’s Degree or equivalent) in Business Administration, Finance, Logistics, Emergency management, International Relations is a requirement;
- A first University Degree (Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent) in Business Administration, Finance, Logistics, Emergency management, International Relations and/or other relevant field with a combination of additional 2 years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advance education requirements outlined above.
Certification:
- Prince 2 Foundation or equivalent is an advantage
Experience:
- A minimum of two (2) years relevant and progressive professional experience, specifically in the field of Project Management and Operations Management with focus on monitoring, reporting, development and coordination or related field is required;
- At least one (1) year experience working with Enterprise Resource Management Systems (ERP), other Management Information Systems (MIS), data analytics and/or reporting is required;
- At least one (1) year experience implementing procedures in Procurement, Finance, HR Management and administrative rules and regulations is highly desirable;
- Experience in humanitarian emergency operating contexts, including humanitarian coordination mechanisms, donors, security, and operations management;
- Previous Experience in a UN environment is highly desired;
- Proven experience working with Advanced understanding of operational risk management is highly desirable;
- Familiar with web-based applications and Google-Suite products, especially google docs, sheets, slides and forms is an asset;
Language Requirements:
- Fluency in spoken, written and reading English is required.
- Fluency in Amharic and/or other Regional Language is Required
- Working knowledge of French is an advantage
- Working knowledge of Arabic is an advantage