Country Programme Support Officer

Background information- Cities Alliance

Cities Alliance, which is hosted by UNOPS, is the global partnership promoting the role of cities in poverty reduction and sustainable development. Headquartered in Brussels and supported by a Secretariat, it is a unique partnership with a diverse membership which has come together to strengthen both impacts and coherence in urban development. Cities Alliance is a global leader, with a strong track record in grant-making to support strategic citywide planning, slum upgrading strategies and national policies designed to make cities more inclusive and sustainable. Through UNOPS, the Cities Alliance operates a Multi-Donor Fund supported by an efficient, flexible grant-making mechanism with global reach.

Background information - Job-specific

At the programmatic level, Cities Alliance is now implementing its 2018-2021 Strategic Plan, with a recalibrated business model combining global programmes for normative work and country/city programmes for operations across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the MENA region.

Country Programmes are longer-term programmes tailored to the country’s context and government’s needs, delivered by financing a series of key urban sustainability initiatives in a coherent, sustained manner to achieve impact at scale. Country Programmes are implemented in partnership with national and sub-national government and operationalised through Cities Alliance members and partner organisations active in the country. The Secretariat is generally responsible for ensuring the convening of members and partners that characterises Cities Alliance in-country activities, as well as technical coordination, financial support and fiduciary control and, when appropriate, technical execution.

The Cities Alliance has over the last decade designed and supported a number of urban operations within Uganda in collaboration with several institutions, development agencies and civil society organisation in the country. These operations and engagements have been firstly developed through the Land, Services and Citizenship (LSC) and Future Cities Africa (FCA) initiatives. They have more recently been maintained by the Equitable Economic Growth Joint Work Programme (EEG). Currently, two more initiatives are being launched, these are the Kampala Jinja Expressway safeguards and the Joint Work Programme on Cities and Migration.

Cities Alliance is seeking a highly motivated and dynamic Programme Support Officer to strengthen the Cities Alliance presence in the country and the quality of programming undertaken both by the Cities Alliance directly and by partner organisations.

The Programme Support Officer will be a key member of a small in-country office under the guidance and supervision of the Country Programmes Coordinator/Africa Regional Manager. The Programme Support Officer will work closely with the different Cities Alliance Project and Programme Managers in charge of activities in Uganda providing support as required. This support will extend to research, analytics and donor reporting, M&E at project and portfolio level and organisation/facilitation of events, workshops and other communications activities.

• Support the design and development of Uganda country programme, through analysis, background research, document writing and consultation/facilitation.

• Act as a key in-country resource enabling the setup of new initiatives , such as the new Cities Alliance Joint Work Programme on Cities and Migration. This may include support in logistics, arranging key stakeholder meetings and the preparation of briefing notes and other documentation.

• Provide in-country support to ongoing project activities in coordination and cooperation with project partners. This may include attending meetings, workshops and stakeholder consultations, reviewing project documents, coordinating and communicating with project stakeholders, providing logistical support and organising travel arrangements.    

• Develop a Uganda Monitoring and Evaluation system for the country programme that links to the overall corporate results framework of the Cities Alliance. The incumbent will also provide M&E services for identified projects.

• Monitor assigned projects ensuring that they are delivering according to the requested quality standards and within budget and time. This may also include support to implementing partners to strengthen their capacity, and specific guidance on M&E and reporting requirements.

• Support the development of new proposals through the collection of secondary information and the writing up of appropriate context and political economy analysis.

• On request, review and comment on relevant documents both directly relevant to the Uganda Country programme, project activities in Uganda and other related issues. This may also include support to the drafting of communications material related to activities in Uganda, such as blog posts, articles, project and issue briefs and city profiles.   

• Support the organisation of events in Uganda and east Africa. This may include logistical support, including procurement of goods and services, travel arrangements, drafting and disseminating concept notes, meeting agendas and event invitations, and coordinating relevant stakeholders.  

Education

An advanced university degree (Masters' or equivalent) in Urban Planning, Urban Sociology, Politics, Economics or other related field is required. A first-level university degree (Bachelors) in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience

At least two years of relevant working experience in the Uganda urban field or in programme/project support role or related fields. 

Languages

Fluency in English is required.

• Contract type: Individual Contractor Agreement
• Contract level: Local Specialist Level 9
• Contract duration: Ongoing ICA – ‘Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance.

• 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
• 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.

APPLICATIONS WITHOUT A MOTIVATION LETTER WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

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.