Project Manager

About FieldSight

FieldSight is a technological platform developed by UNOPS in partnership with Nepal Innovation Lab and Miyamoto Relief that supports remote supervision and monitoring in order to improve quality and reduce risk on construction, humanitarian, and development projects. Through the delivery of educational guides, the creation and deployment of customized field assessments, and the ability to provide targeted feedback to specific sites and issues, FieldSight facilitates ongoing engagement between central offices and field sites, enabling monitoring, quality assurance, coaching, and capacity building. At the same time, by creating a central repository for data from multiple sites and projects, FieldSight also helps organizations to review progress across projects, regions, and countries. Targeted at organizations in the development and humanitarian sectors, FieldSight is an open-source platform that anyone can use to improve quality and project delivery.

The project is currently being implemented in over 29,000 sites over a 3 year period, inside and outside the country. It was developed in Nepal after the 2015 earthquake and has been piloted in over 14 projects through a duration of 16 months. Developed in the Nepal Innovation Lab, FieldSight had been piloted to conduct a village-scale Multi-Level Hazard Assessment for the National Reconstruction Authority, to monitor the construction of schools, outreach clinics and health posts constructed by World Vision International Nepal, Miyamoto Engineering, Monitoring of Policing Project under UNOPS and Nepal Police and to monitor the quality of earthquake reconstruction projects funded by UK DFID.

The Project Manager will work under the guidance and supervision of the Innovation Program Advisor and report to the same. S/He shall provide support to the delivery to oversee the ongoing development, implementation, and institutionalization of FieldSight described in this ToR. Specifically, the incumbent will be responsible for the following substantive tasks; the omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related or a logical assignment to this class.

S/he must be able to apply, with some degree of autonomy, the below duties and responsibilities of the project success criteria:

Stakeholder Management:

• Establish solid working relationship with the project board (Executive, Senior Users and Senior Suppliers), client and key stakeholders
• Manage communications and ensure stakeholders are aware of project activities, progress, exceptions and are in a position to accept handover products
• Advise the client on issues that may impact the achievement of their outcomes (including issues of sustainability and post project requirements such as maintenance)
• Manage the information flows between the Project Board/OC Director and the project(s)

Delivery and Performance:

• Develop and maintain project plans
• Implement approved project plans (including the establishment of milestones) within tolerances set by the project board
• Embed sustainability dimensions including social and gender inclusion, environmental and economic aspects into project life cycle.

• Manage the production of the required products, taking responsibility for overall progress and use of resources and initiating corrective action where necessary
• Liaise with any external suppliers or account managers
• Authorize Work Packages
• Advise the Project Board and OC Manager of any deviations from the plan
• Identify and manage risks so that maximum benefit to client and stakeholders is achieved
• Manage and review product quality and ensure products are accepted
• Monitor and evaluate performance of service providers
• Identify and report potential business opportunities for UNOPS to supervisor
• Identify and report threats to UNOPS internal business case to supervisor

Procedures:

• Follow the Project Management Cycle Instructions and ensure that all organizational policy is complied with (Organizational Directives and Administrative Instructions)
• Prepare/adapt the following plans for approval by the Project Board:  I. Project Initiation Documentation; II. Stage/Exception Plans and relevant Product Descriptions
• Prepare the following reports:

                      i.        Highlight Reports

                    ii.        End Stage Reports

                   iii.        Operational Closure Checklist

                   iv.        End Project Report

                    v.        Handover Report

• Maintain the following: i. Electronic Blue File; ii. Procurement, HR and Finance files as required by those practices as per OD12.
• Ensure that all expenditure comply with UNOPS Financial Rules and Regulations (FRR).
• Manage budgets, cash flow and obligations to ensure that deliverables are met and payments to contractors and personnel are received on time.
• Understand and manage UNOPS overheads, allocable charges, and related corporate charges as they apply to the project
• Understand the unique structures of the UN and budget appropriately for personnel
• Manage and remain accountable for expenditures against the budget (based on accurate financial reports)
• Where the Project Manager has no delegation as a committing officer, s/he retains these responsibilities and will monitor and instruct/request others to carry out the relevant commitments and disbursements.

Knowledge Management:

• Participate in the relevant Communities of Practice
• Actively interact with other PMs and the PM community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practice on the Knowledge System.
• Provide feedback to Practice Leads on policy, supporting guidance with an aim towards continuous improvement of UNOPS policies
• Complete lessons learned as per reporting format
• Incorporate lessons learned from others as per planning format

Personnel Management: 

• Lead and motivate the project management team
• Ensure that behavioural expectations of team members are established
• Ensure that performance reviews are conducted
• Identify outstanding staff and bring them to the attention of the OC Director
• Have a thorough understanding of UNOPS personnel contract modalities (including ICA and Staff)
• Select, recruit and train team as required by project plans
• Perform the Team Manager role, unless appointed to another person(s)
• Perform Project Support role, unless appointed to another person or corporate/programme function
• Ensure safety and security for all personnel and comply with UNDSS standards

Review Implementation and Continue Development of FieldSight

• Collect feedback from users of FieldSight on issues, challenges, and problems as well as additional features and uses they might need.
• Maintain a list of bugs and potential additional features that will inform further development of FieldSight.
• Oversee ongoing adjustments and modifications to FieldSight based on feedback from user tests.
• Design and oversee the development of new features for FieldSight, such as a community feedback portal and data analysis modules.

 Develop Projects Using FieldSight

• Present FieldSight to organizations inside Nepal and within the broader development and humanitarian community that focus on how the platform can support their work.
• Coordinate and Liaison with partners and organizations to develop new projects to provide supervision using FieldSight.
• Work with UNOPS Nepal country office, World Vision Nepal Earthquake Response, and other UNOPS offices to deploy FieldSight across projects.
• Identify ways to integrate FieldSight with other existing IT tools and resources of partner organizations. 
• Provide support to FieldSight users in the form of project development, content development, training, IT help, and project review.  

Travel as necessary to present FieldSight and support partners.

 Core Values and Principles:

• Understand and respect UNOPS sustainability principles

                      I.        Look for ways to embed UNOPS sustainability principles in day to day project management

                    II.        Seek opportunities to champion gender equality at work place

                   III.        Champion and communicate project’s sustainability aspects with key stakeholders

• Understand and Respect National ownership and capacity

                      i.        Understand the principles of the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness and mainstream them into the project plans

                    ii.        Seek opportunities to recruit qualified local staff

                   iii.        Look for ways to build capacity of local counterparts

• Partnerships and Coordination Understand the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and UNOPS, the project’s place in the UN system

                      i.        Strive to build strong partnerships and effective coordination among relevant project actors (e.g. United Nations, governments, and non-governmental organizations or other relevant partners)

• Accountability for results  and the use of resources

                      i.        The project management processes are designed to deliver maximum accountability, transparency and results. If a project or processes is not in line with this, it is the responsibility of the PM to raise the issue with  a supervisor

• Excellence

                      i.        Contribute to innovation and the adaptation of best practice standards of sustainability and quality.

General: 

Ensure that the project(s) produce(s) the required products within the specified tolerance of time, cost, quality, scope, risk and benefits. The Project Manager is also responsible for the project producing a result capable of achieving the benefits defined in the Business Case(s). Contribute to the overall business targets and needs.

Education

• Advanced University Degree in Project Management, Business Administration, Social Science, Design, Engineering, Business Administration, Public Administration or relevant discipline is required.
• University Degree (bachelor’s degree / first level) with a combination of 2 additional years of relevant professional experience  in Project Management, Business Administration, Social Science, Design, Engineering, Business Administration, Public Administration or other relevant discipline, may be accepted in lieu of the advance university degree.
• PRINCE2 Practitioner Certification – Preferred
• Complete the UNOPS Project Management Foundation course (within one year after signing this TOR)
• A relevant combination of academic credentials and/or industry certifications and qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the university education.                                                  

Experience 

• Five years of progressive experience in project development and management, with focus on monitoring, reporting, development and coordination in either public or private sector organizations.
• At least 3 years’ professional experience in design, planning, collaboration, project management, risk reduction, resilience, innovation, technology, government, and/or public policy.
• Minimum 2 years work with agencies, donors, NGOs, and/or governments in developing country contexts is 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.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• 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.