UNOPS
Bangladesh
UNOPS has been present in Bangladesh since 2003, initially providing
operational support programme focusing on police reforms and disaster
management. The presence has significantly grown since then with UNOPS being
appointed as Local Fund Agent for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria in Bangladesh.
In 2014, UNOPS established formal representation in Bangladesh as a
response to a request from the Executive Board of UNOPS to provide more
substantial support to the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) across various areas,
including organisational capacity development and integrating resilient
infrastructure approaches. The office currently provides capacity development
support to several GOB infrastructure related agencies and some key national
NGOs with a focus at improving operational capacities within the sectors of
procurement, human resources management, finance and internal control, and
project management.
Moving forward, UNOPS, in line with its global priorities is expanding
its portfolio within Bangladesh to provide more significant support in the
sectors of resilient infrastructure, fund management and operational efficiency
with an emphasis on building national capacities, improving resilience of
communities and supporting in the implementation of SDGs.
Within this focus, UNOPS is currently in the process of initiating the
next Bangladeshi National Resilience Programme with UNDP and UN-Women in
keeping with priorities of GOB and international agreements such as the Sendai
Framework. Building on its extensive global expertise in Fund Management, UNOPS
is also working with key development partners in the country in managing a
development fund that has been set-up to strengthen preparedness, humanitarian
disaster response and early recovery (SHPR Fund).
General Background on the Assignment
Strengthening Humanitarian Preparedness and
Response Programme (SHPR)
DFID–Bangladesh (DfID-B) Strengthening Humanitarian Preparedness and
Response (SHPR) programme aims to provide more effective, timely and
predictable humanitarian support to refugees in Bangladesh and to vulnerable
communities following disasters. It also aims to strengthen the ability of the
Government of Bangladesh to effectively meet the needs of these groups, and to
reduce the scale of impact of disasters when they occur.
The principle
objectives of the SHPR are articulated around three Pillars.
Pillar 1: Augment disaster
preparedness and disaster risk reduction including for large‐ scale catastrophic
emergencies and recurrent, predictable events;
Pillar 2: Respond to the
impact of disaster events through the provision of predictable, timely and high
quality humanitarian support;
Pillar 3: Deliver urgent
humanitarian support to Rohingya refugees and needy host communities as well as
creating an enabling environment for Rohingya related relief agencies through
support to coordination fora.
The SHPR has initially been established as a facility to support DFID
funding only. Depending on the successful implementation of the fund, and interest
from other donors to coordinate their humanitarian funding through a joint
platform, the Programme may be upgraded to a multi donor programme at a later
stage.
DFID has engaged UNOPS to provide fund management services to programmes
under Pillar 1 and 3, whilst DFID will manage Pillar 2. Programmes under
Pillars 1 and 3 include a Joint Needs Assessment programme by CARE, a joint-UN
disaster preparedness programme via UNICEF, support to Mission Aviation
Fellowship, IOM’s support to the Government of Bangladesh’ Rohingya Strategy
and a Coordinated iNGO programme via ACF. The Bangladesh National Resilience
Programme under Pillar 1 will have a different modality for UNOPS, where it
will be an Administrative Agent rather than a Fund Manager.
As the Fund Manager, UNOPS is responsible for multiple functions
vis-à-vis the SHPR Programme including, design of an early recovery/emergency
response facility, fiduciary management, legal and technical oversight,
monitoring and evaluation, reporting, quality assurance and communication.
UNOPS will also be required to support DFID in its humanitarian agenda from the
onset of this project.
Purpose and Scope
of Assignment
UNOPS seeks an experienced professional to lead UNOPS team that will
deliver Fund Management Services to the SHPR.
The Fund Manager will have overall responsibility of implementing the
Agreement on behalf of UNOPS and have a thorough understanding of the terms,
conditions, and the respective roles and responsibilities of the partners /
stakeholders to ensure the SHPR programme is capable of meeting the business
cases of both UNOPS and DFID.
The incumbent
will have substantial experience in the preparedness, humanitarian and disaster
response themes. Responsibilities will include inter alia, overall project
management, stakeholder management, some technical oversight functions and
leadership in designing of the Emergency Response Facility. S/he will also take
the lead in providing advisory support to DFID humanitarian agenda during the project.