Head of Butwal Provincial Project Office , Multiple positions

DFID will contract UNOPS to carry out a “Project Coordination Units (PCU)” Project in close cooperation with DFID leadership. DFID through UNOPS will work closely with the new provincial and local Government to coordinate programmes in the province and provide technical assistance through existing programmes, as appropriate.

The Head of Project Offices in the Provinces will be in charge of the implementation of the project at provincial level and will be based in Province 2 (Janakpur), Province 5 (Butwal) or Province 6 (Birendranagar) with frequent travel to Kathmandu (monthly). The purpose of the assignment is:

• Building a strong relationship with the Provincial and Municipal (urban and rural) governments in the area as well as other important stakeholders.
• Providing local political analysis to DFID to inform programming.
• Linking capacity building needs of the Provincial and Municipal Governments to existing DFID-funded programmes and designing additional support packages as needed.
• Developing a good understanding of DFID-funded programmes in Nepal and Coordinating DFID-funded activities in the province.
• Oversee risk in the Province and specified neighbouring province.

The Head of Provincial Project Office will be responsible for:

• Contributing in setting up the project unit in the province, including renting and equipping the provincial office (if required) and recruiting project unit staff.
• Proposing and assisting in implementing a stakeholder engagement strategy for project coordination activities in the province.
• Developing and consolidating a network of contacts among civil society, community, and political parties in the province.
• Representing the positions of DFID Nepal appropriately to a wide range of stakeholders as required.
• Providing regular information about the political landscape of the province to DFID and developing in-depth analysis of the most relevant topics.
• Providing eregular information about the risk landscape of the province to DFID.
• Conducting  a needs assessment for Provincial and Municipal Governments as necessary and developing a capacity building strategy based on existing DFID-funded programmes and additional resources.
• Mapping all DFID-funded activities in the province, establishing coordination mechanisms and joint reporting.
• Managing staff of the Project Coordination team in the Province (Political Analyst, Field Coordination Associate, Project Support Assistant, Driver and Consultants).
• Acting as a security focal point for the project office.
• Reporting monthly on Project Coordination activities to the Team Leader.

Monitoring and Progress Controls

The Head of Provincial Office’s performance will be monitored through:

• The timely delivery of outputs as per the project plan (stakeholder mapping, stakeholder engagement strategy, political analysis reports, capacity needs analysis, DFID-funded activity mapping, coordination mechanisms etc.)
• Monthly reports and monthly coordination meetings with the project’s team and leadership.
• Regular visits in the province by the Team Leader, UNOPS senior management and DFID leadership.

• Bachelor’s Degree in political science, sociology, governance, development studies, conflict resolution and peace building, management or another relevant field is required;

Work Experience

• At least 4 years of work experience in development, governance, peace building, management, journalism or a related field is required.
• Experience of managing teams is required.
• Experience working in Nepal is highly desirable.
• Experience of working with elected representatives or government officials at the local level is an asset.
• Previous experience of providing or coordinating technical assistance to Government institutions desirable.
• Previous experience with DFID or DFID-funded projects desirable.

• Full professional command of Nepali or Hindi.
• Good level of written and spoken English is required.
• Local/ethnic language skills highly desirable (Maithili, Bhojpuri, Tharu, Awadhi in particular).

• Reputation of impartiality.
• Strong networking, communication, representation and negotiation skills.
• Good understanding of gender issues and knowledge of gender mainstreaming tools.
• Good knowledge of computers, MS Office and cloud-based work.
• Willingness to travel to Kathmandu monthly.
• Readiness to regularly visit remote municipalities of the province, sometimes with simple facilities.
• Ability to work independently and under pressure.
• Collaborative approach to working in a multi ethnic team and ability to empower teams to do the same.
• Commitment to managing a flexible team that supports a good work/life balance.

Contract type: Local Individual Contractor Agreement Specialist (LICA)
Contract level: LICA 9
Contract duration:Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance

• This post is open to Nepal nationals only.
• 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 is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.