Senior Programme Manager - Peace and Security Cluster (ICS-12)

Background Information - UNMAS

Established in 1997 by the General Assembly, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) serves as the United Nations focal point for mine action and supports its vision of "a world free of the threat of landmines and unexploded ordnance, where individuals and communities live in a safe environment conducive to development, and where mine survivors are fully integrated into their societies."

UNMAS coordinates and collaborates with fourteen UN departments, agencies, programmes and funds to ensure an effective, proactive and coordinated response to the problems of landmines and explosive remnants of war, including cluster munitions.

UNMAS establishes, manages, and provides strategic direction to mine-action coordination centres in countries and territories as part of peacekeeping operations and humanitarian emergencies or crises. In these situations, UNMAS may plan and carry out mine-action projects, support and coordinate the work of local and international mine-action service providers, and set priorities for mine clearance, mine-risk education and all other aspects of mine action.

Peace and Security Centre

The UNOPS Peace and Security Centre (PSC) is a principal service provider in the field of mine action with the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), UNDP, UNICEF, Governments of mine-affected countries and other mine action partners. The Centre is responsible to administer, provide support and oversight of the day-to-day management of the Project Field offices, both according to the client requirements and in line with UNOPS rules and regulations.

It is headed by the Centre Director who has the overall authority and accountability for the performance of the Peace and Security Centre on behalf of its clients.

One of the main objectives of the Peace and Security Centre is to rapidly deploy project personnel to the field. To accomplish this, it has established a Pool of Experts, from which it deploys and re-deploys personnel in order to fulfil personnel vacancies.  A Pool of Experts is a roster of specialists whose technical knowledge and personal suitability has been evaluated and approved in advance, allowing them to be deployed on short notice and in short order.   Pool members can be deployed on any of UNOPS contract modalities: FTA, TA, or I-ICA (International Individual Contractor Agreement).

Dual reporting lines: the incumbent of this position will report to UNMAS Chief of Programme Planning and Management Section, and ultimately to UNMAS Director on designing and implementing field programmes in accordance with UNMAS mandate and strategy, and will report to Director, PSC on operational management, efficient/effective use of resources and compliance against the UN and UNOPS rules and regulations.

The incumbent of this position will be entrusted with the following duties: 

Stakeholder Coordination and Relationship Building

• Liaise, negotiate and coordinate with national authorities with respect to capacity-development programme/projects;

• Participates in international, regional or national meetings and provides programmatic/substantive expertise on an issue, or hold programmatic/substantive and organizational discussions with representatives of other institutions;

• Identify and build relationships with national institutions, respective governmental authorities, donors, and international partners, including UN agencies, engaged in addressing the issue of mine action and its impact on local communities.  The PM will also advocate and provide advice to relevant stakeholders on all mine action issues, and do so in accordance with recognized international standards, and in acknowledgement of the relevant international treaties;

Expected result: All stakeholders are regularly informed of the status of the programme in the respective country on a timely basis.

Strategic Policy, Advice, and Advocacy

• Provide policy guidance to the Chief of Programme Planning and Management Section on conceptual strategy development and management of the implementation of overall strategies and mandates;

• Provide substantive input in the preparation of position papers and reports for presentation to intergovernmental bodies such as the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budget Questions, Committee for Programme Coordination, the General Assembly, the Security Council and other policy-making organs, as appropriate;

• Identify broad UNMAS strategies required for the development and implementation of the mission’s work programme;

• Develop and maintain a mine action concept of operations and a mine action plan under the guidance of the Director of UNMAS and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) or the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (DSRSG) and in cooperation with peacekeeping and political missions, UN agencies, local authorities and other relevant partners;

• Provide technical advice and guidance to other UN agencies and partners when requested.

Expected result: The strategic activities of the local government and international stakeholders are in accordance with UN objectives and, aligned, where applicable, to the relevant international mine action treaties, and achievement of obligations made under these treaties.

Project Management, Delivery, Administration and Performance of UNMAS funded activities

• Coordinate and ensure the necessary strategic and  managerial, support required for the fulfilment of the UNMAS mandate are carried out in a responsible and timely fashion and are in line with UN quality standards and institutional values. This support includes areas such as planning, budgeting, project and financial reporting, recruitment and human resources management, logistics, communications, staff training, and monitoring and evaluation and programmatic and substantive reviews.

• Provide programmatic and substantive reviews of drafts prepared by others;

• Responsible for establishing and maintaining a database of landmine and ERW-related information, and a master map of mine-affected areas. Actively seeks the information necessary to update and refine this database. He/she will act as the point of contact for, UN agencies, nongovernmental organizations and other organizations seeking information on the mine/ERW situation;

• Capacity Development: actively empower and support key local stakeholders to develop and implement a plan for transition, in order to transfer mine action responsibilities to national authorities;

• Approve draft Statements of Work (SOW) for inclusion in Requests for Proposals (RFP) issued by UNOPS for proposed mine action and ERW activities in the projects target country;

• Promote and support compliance with technical, safety and quality international standards and guidelines;

• This position may also entail safety and security responsibilities within the geographical area of responsibilities of operation to include the protection of all personnel, assets, property and information belonging to UNMAS/UNOPS established offices and programmes;

• Depending on the role this position will be assigned to within the project administration setup in a specific country/programme (i.e. office structure, DOAs, ATLAS functions, segregation of duties, etc.), the incumbent will have responsibilities determined by UNOPS rules and regulations embodied in its regulatory framework - Organizational Directives, Administrative Instructions and other documents as periodically issued and updated by UNOPS. Reporting lines with regards to compliance with UNOPS rules and regulations are ultimately to UNOPS Director PSC through Portfolio Manager. In addition, division of responsibilities when it comes to administrative processes in support of the programme objectives will be as determined for each country office and confirmed in writing by UNOPS Director PSC.

Expected result: UNMAS budget(s) are delivered within spending deadlines and in accordance with UN/UNOPS Rules and Regulations.

Resource Mobilization and Management

• Contributes to the reporting to donors and intergovernmental bodies on budget/programme performance or on programmatic/ substantive issues, as appropriate;

• Actively participate in the development and implementation of a resource mobilization strategy targeting in-country funding opportunities: a strategy that includes timely and appropriate acknowledgement at both national and international levels of current and past donors contributions and their impact;

• Provide input to the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) and the annual Portfolio of Mine Action Projects;

Expected result: Timely and accurate financial reporting. Funding opportunities within the programme country are optimized through an active strategy to pursue opportunities, supported by a timely recognition of current and past donor contributions.

• Professionalism: Demonstrates ability to provide seasoned effective specialized advice in a broad range of mine action matters to Headquarters and senior mission staff; Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; Demonstrates sound and mature political judgment; Ability to produce reports and technical papers on mine action matters and to review and edit the work of others. Ability to apply UN rules, regulations, policies and guidelines in work situations. Shows pride in work and in achievements; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations.
• Communication and representational skills:  Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed; demonstrates ability to conform to UN and local protocol and cultural requirements.
• Planning& Organizing:  Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.
• Accountability: Takes ownership of all responsibilities and honours commitments; delivers outputs for which one has responsibility within prescribed time, cost and quality standards; operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules; supports subordinates, provides oversight and takes responsibility for delegated assignments; takes personal responsibility for his/her own shortcomings and those of the work unit, where applicable.
• Client Orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

Managerial Competencies:

• Leadership: Serves as a role model that other people want to follow: empowers others to translate vision into results; is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives; establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions; drives for change and improvements; does not accept the status quo; shows the courage to take unpopular stands. Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work; demonstrates knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing.
• Vision: Identifies strategic issues, opportunities and risks; clearly communicates links between the Organization’s strategy and the work unit’s goals; generates and communicates broad and compelling organizational direction, inspiring others to pursue that same direction; conveys enthusiasm about future possibilities.
• Managing Performance: Delegates the appropriate responsibility, accountability and decision-making authority; makes sure that roles, responsibilities and reporting lines are clear to each staff member; accurately judges the amount of time and resources needed to accomplish a task and matches task to skills; monitors progress against milestones and deadlines; regularly discusses performance and provides feedback and coaching to staff; encourages risk-taking and supports creativity and initiative; actively supports the development and career aspirations of staff; appraises performance fairly.
• Judgement/Decision-making: Identifies the key issues in a complex situation, and comes to the heart of the problem quickly; gathers relevant information before making a decision; considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them; takes decisions with an eye to the impact on others and on the Organization; proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on all available information; checks assumptions against facts; determines the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision; makes tough decisions when necessary.

• Advanced University Degree (Master’s Degree or equivalent) with a minimum of 10 years of relevant experience; a First Level University Degree (Bachelor’s degree) with a minimum of 12 years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in project development and management operating in post conflict environments, with a focus on monitoring, reporting and coordination in either public or private sector organizations, along with proven success in national capacity development, are required for this position.
• Experience in mine action is an asset.
• Fluency in written and spoken English is required. Fluency in other official languages of the United Nations, in particular Arabic, French and Spanish, is an advantage.