Project Management Support - Associate

WEC Background information

UNOPS Water and Energy Cluster (WEC) supports the design and management of multi-stakeholder initiatives by providing services in financial and grant management, procurement, human resources, and project management.The cluster has supported projects in the areas of water resource management, climate change adaptation, mitigation and transparency, energy access and distribution and environmental conservation under the Paris Agreement. 

The WEC has also supported operations and financial management services, in Vienna, the rest of the ECR region and beyond.The main partners include UN agencies, bilateral agreements (with the Nordics, Germany, and Italy ), the Green Climate Fund and several NGOs (such as CIFF and CWF).

The UNDP/GEF “CLME+ Project background:

The Caribbean and North Brazil Shelf Large Marine Ecosystems (jointly referred to as CLME+) are two of the world’s 66 Large Marine Ecosystems. Together, they cover a total marine area of ± 4.4 million km2. This vast marine space is a major contributor to regional socio-economic development and is key to many globally important ecological processes. The CLME+ region is bordered by over 35 States and Territories, and is therefore considered one of the most geopolitically diverse and complex marine regions in the world.

A US$ 12,5 million grant was released by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) -through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)- to support the execution of a new 5-year Project (the “CLME+ Project”; 2015-2020). This project is seeking tocatalyze the implementation of the larger 10-year, region-wide“CLME+ 10-year Strategic Action Programme (SAP) which provides Governments and Inter-Governmental Organisations (IGOs) with a roadmap to reverse degradation of the marine environment and to secure its important resource base. The SAP had been endorsed at the political level by 35 Ministers representing 25 countries and 6 overseas territories from the region.

As a member of the CLME+ Project Coordination Unit (PCU), the Project Management Support – Associate will perform a variety of administrative and secretarial, financial, procurement and communications/outreach services in order to ensure the efficient daily running of the PCU and in support of the CLME+ Project activities and senior management.

• Provide general administrative and secretarial services to the Project, ensuring full compliance with UNOPS rules and regulations.
• Coordinate designated procurement processes (services, goods and works), evaluation of quotations, coordination with vendors and ensuring effective implementation of services according to expected standards and in full compliance with UNOPS procurement processes, rules, systems and policies.
• Maintain a systematically updated database on the status of procurements done by the Project and an efficient filing system of all procurement documents.
• Ensure administrative follow-up of delegated office operations undertaken with Office and/or Project partners, respond to enquiries from external and internal Office and/or Project Partners and advise them appropriately.
• Assist the Operations & Financer Manager (OFM) in the maintenance of a solid system of financial and administrative records.
• Assist the OFM in the monitoring and reporting of expenditures when required.
• Verify the accuracy of received invoices and run the payment process in UNOPS ERP system (includes purchase order and supplier creation when required).
• Review of supporting documentation for completeness, accuracy, and correctness of account entries.
• Support in liaising with CLME+ partner countries, organizations and stakeholders, related projects and other relevant regional or national initiatives and entities.
• Organize the logistical and operational aspects of CLME+ meetings and workshops (identify venue, sign contract, hotel rooms, meeting services, etc.)
• Prepare PCU staff members travel arrangements as well as for other financially supported meeting participants.
• Disseminate relevant information about CLME+ organized meetings, provide secretarial services to meetings and circulate minutes and reports.
• Manage petty cash efficiently, preparing and maintaining ledgers and support documentation, as well as planning properly petty cash needs in advance.
• Manage assigned office service’s payments and requirements, establishing internal control and ensuring correct operations of office installations and machines.
• Assist with the formatting of project deliverables and communication materials. Support the CLME+ PCU with the translation of documents.
• Maintain systematically updated PCU shared calendars and shared meeting folder.
• Other administrative and secretarial tasks, as and when necessary.

Education and Experience

• High School Diploma with minimum of 6 years of relevant experience in general administrative, logistics, or operations’ support services in national or international public or corporate organizations is required.
• Bachelor degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, or equivalent disciplines is preferred; In case of university degree, some or entire years of experience may be discounted.
• Some experience in UN system organizations is desirable.
• Previous work experience with international development projects will be considered as a strong asset.
• Experience in use of Enterprise systems including OneUNOPS is desirable.

• Proficiency in computers and office software packages (MS Office) and experience in handling of web-based management systems is required.

• Fluency in English and Spanish language 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.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• 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.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• 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.
Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.