Country Project Manager- Waste Management (EU-Funded Project)

Cities Alliance

The Cities Alliance is the preeminent global partnership for the promotion of cities in poverty reduction and sustainable development. Headquartered in Brussels, it is a unique partnership with diverse members – local authorities, national governments, international non-governmental organisations, foundations and multi-lateral organisations  – which have come together to strengthen both impacts and coherence in urban development.

The Cities Alliance’s overall objectives are to support cities in providing effective local government, an active citizenship and a growing economy characterised by both public and private investment.

Since its establishment in 1999, the Cities Alliance has become a global leader in supporting strategic city planning, slum upgrading strategies and national policies designed to make cities more inclusive and sustainable. Cities Alliance’s activities have helped leverage over US$1.5 billion in additional funding.

The current Medium Term Strategy is focused on Promoting Equity in Cities through equitable economic growth, gender equality and partnerships.

Cities Alliance is hosted by UNOPS.

Background information – European Union

The Member States of the European Union have decided to link together their know-how, resources and destinies. Together, they have built a zone of stability, democracy and sustainable development whilst maintaining cultural diversity, tolerance and individual freedoms. The European Union is committed to sharing its achievements and its values with countries and peoples beyond its borders.

The European Union is one of the largest international development cooperation partners of Liberia. This project is funded under the Global Climate Change Alliance+ (GCCA), which was established by the European Union (EU) in 2007 to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with developing countries, in particular least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing States (SIDS). It started its work in just four pilot countries. Today it has a budget of more than €300 million and is one of the most significant climate initiatives in the world. It supports 51 programmes around the world and is active in 38 countries, 8 regions and subregions and at the global level. By fostering effective dialogue and cooperation on climate change, the Alliance helps to ensure that poor developing countries most vulnerable to climate change increase their capacities to adapt to the effects of climate change, in support of the achievement of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). Where this benefits their poverty reduction objectives, the Alliance also helps such countries to participate in the global climate change mitigation effort.

Background information – job specific

1. Programme Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Partnership Building 

In consultation with the Cities Alliance Secretariat, the Country Programme Manager and under the overall guidance of the Project Steering Committee, the Project Manager will guide and support the implementation and management of the waste related projects:

• Lead, manage and motivate a team of international consultants and long term national personnel.
• Prepare annual work plans with activities, performance targets, human resource allocations and budgets, ensuring alignment with the Liberia Country Programme goals and objectives. 
• Manage all aspects of project implementation according to the projects’ grant agreements and annual work plan ensuring delivery of activities and outputs.
• Ensure the Projects' Steering Committee has a functioning Terms of Reference and meets regularly to assess deliverables, progress,  risks and milestones.
• Represent the Cities Alliance and its waste activities within the country and engage with a wide range of national, local government, international development, private sector and civil society actors. Most specifically, ensure that the waste projects are fully integrated with the programming of Cities Alliance members and partners  in Liberia.
• Analyse in-country donor funding patterns and practices and identify opportunities to leverage additional funding. Oversee the preparation of funding proposals, donor briefings and presentations in support of the projects’ goals and more broadly Cities Alliance’s mission and vision.
• Support the Country Programme Manager and the Head of Programme in engaging the International financial Institutions and private sector linking them to the activities planned in the programme with the view of promoting follow-up investment in the projects identified during the programme planning processes.   
• Develop a network of contacts and scope out potential opportunities for these projects or other related CA activities Liberia. 

2. Technical and specialist services

Project Services to two EU-funded projects

• Oversee and provide support to  a capacity building programme for Community Based Enterprises (CBEs) that work on Primary Waste Collection in Greater Monrovia. This would include oversight of capacity building programme, establishing a micro-credit facility to support CBEs and Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) wih loans and small grants, oversight of training of CBEs in financial management, sservice quality, and Monitoring and Evaluation. 
• Proactively engage with the EU Delegation and involve us in policy dialogue with the Liberian stakeholders

Advisory and Oversight Services for activities related to recycling and composting of waste in Greater Monrovia

• Oversight and quality control on the feasibilty studies related to the extraction and reuse of plastic and organic matter in Greater Monrovia. 
• Support and commission selected infrastructures for extracting, sorting, recylcing and composting waste;
• Oversee the appraisal, implementation, monitoring and reporting of pilot projects on recycling and composting waste.  Supporting cross visits to identified best practices on recycling, composting, and waste-to-energy in the region.

Advisory and Oversight Services for activities related to 3-year Awareness Campaign on Recycling in Greater Monrovia

• Oversee, support and provide advisory services on a community-targeted awareness and outreach campaign on recycling in Greater Monrovia;
• Ensure that implementation of awareness campaign follows guidelines for visibility and outreach set out by both the European Union and Cities Alliance;
• Work with Cities Alliance Communications team to ensure quality of communications and visibility products;
• Provide oversight and quality control to community outreach events, radio shows, school and community recycling competitions and cleaning campaigns.

Capacity Development

• Lead the development and implementation, with local and international partners, of a targeted capacity development training strategy to support CBEs, local government and national officials in key project thematic areas such as strategic urban waste management, recycling, resilience, waste-to-energy alternatives.
• Develop a stakeholder platform that brings together national ministries, local governments, the private sector, communities and development partners around the thematic of urban solid waste management;
• Designing and implementing a participatory monitoring and evaluation system for the two projects, inlcuding a community monitoring component.

3. Overall management of the Primary Solid Waste Collection and Support and oversight to the Waste-to-Energy project

• Manage the activities and deliverables of the project and support performance assessments of a small country team of national personnel.
• Organize all project-related meetings and events, including but not limited to Steering Committee meetings and workshops.
• Working with the Monitoring and Evaluation analyst ensure that all data is collected in accordance with the monitoring and evaluation plan.
• Ensure that all project reporting is undertaken in accordance with the quality requirements of the funder;
• Ensure that Project Initiation Document and Risk Assessments are periodically revised, shared and agreed on with Project Board
• Ensure that the Task Manager at the Cities Alliance Secretariat (CA-S) is constantly appraised of progress and that appropriate mitigation strategies are in place to ensure effective delivery of outputs and provide detailed reports, at least twice a year, to Cities Alliance senior management. Providing highlight reports to Cities Alliance Secretariat on an ad-hoc basis and/or through the monthly reporting led jointly by the CA-S Task Manager and the Country Programme Manager
• Liaise with the UNOPS Liberia Country Office to support oversight and implementation of the Programme as appropriate. 
• Ensure accurate and up-to-date record keeping of asset inventory, the petty cash account, and other office records.
• Comply with UNOPS/UNDSS security procedures.
• Support Fiduciary management in line with UNOPS policies and procedures

4. Gender mainstreaming

• Ensure that gender considerations are actively promoted and adequately mainsteamed through production, implementation and monitoring of a gender mainstreaming strategy for the Programme.
• Ensure that the projects activities, outputs and indicators mainstream gender.
• Promote a gender friendly institutional environment for the office in accordance with the Cities Alliance Gender Equality Strategy.  

• Advanced university degree in management, engineering, international development or environmental studies; economics; or related disciplines is required.
• Knowledge of International Frameworks on Climate Change and Resilience as well as their international and national reporting needs will be considered an asset. 
• PRINCE2 Foundation or a similar foundation level project/programme management certification (i.e. PMP, PMI) required.  Prince2 Practitioner or similar advanced certification will be considered an asset. 

• Minimum Seven (7) years of professional programme management and reporting experience is required.
• At least 1 year of experience managing international development programmes in the Global South is required.
• Work experience in Waste Management is required.
• Experience in leading and managing EU-funded projects required. Previous field experience working in-country with EU delegations. Previous experience in working with Development Banks is desirable. 
• Experience leading reporting to EU on EU-funded projects desirable. 
• Ability to work collaboratively and operate effectively across at least three of the following thematic areas: Solid Waste Management, Primary Waste Collection, Integrated Solid Waste Management, Recycling Projects, Waste-to-Energy, the Green Economy, Climate resilient development, gender mainstreaming is required.
• Experience in leading, managing, and motivating teams to deliver results on time, within budget, and against results-based performance indicators. Experience managing operational aspects of programme management required – preferably in UN context.
• Familiarity with the work of the Cities Alliance and other multilateral, bilateral and civil society development partners in urban development is desirable.
• Experience of promoting constructive dialogue between diverse stakeholders and of communicating clearly and respectfully at the highest levels of government and with civil society required.

• Fluency in written and oral English required. Working knowledge of French is an asset. 

• Willingness to travel both within Liberia and internationally as required.

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

UNOPS supports the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to serve people in need by expanding the ability of the United Nations, governments and other partners to manage projects, infrastructure and procurement in a sustainable and efficient manner.

Working in some of the world’s most challenging environments, our vision is to advance sustainable implementation practices, always satisfying or surpassing our partners’ expectations.

With over 7,000 personnel spread across 80 countries, UNOPS offers its partners the logistical, technical and management knowledge they need, wherever they need it.

A flexible structure and global reach means that we can quickly respond to our partners' needs, while offering the benefits of economies of scale. 

Based in Geneva, the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECR) supports UNOPS offices throughout the region through: management, financial and programmatic oversight of global and country-specific portfolios, clusters and operations centres, including hosting services; fund and management advisory services; project implementation; procuring goods and services; and managing human resources.

ECR ensures that projects are executed to the highest standards, providing a shared knowledge base and ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are disseminated between business units and projects across the entire region.

ECR operates global portfolios from offices in Geneva, Brussels and New York, and country-specific programmes from its operations and project centres located in Eastern Europe and Central Asian countries.