UNOPS will be leading the implementation of a three-year World bank funded multi million USD Project “Enhancing Community Resilience and Local Governance (ECRP)' in South Sudan starting in August 2020 with the Objective is to improve access to basic services and strengthen community institutions in South Sudan.
The ECRP is a follow on Project to the Local Governance and Service Delivery Project (LGSDP) that was implemented in South Sudan from 2014 and involved the transfer of block grants from the national government directly to county government with the Objective of helping develop an annual intergovernmental fiscal transfer system for local development.
The ECRP Project will be implemented by UNOPS and the International Organisation for Migration, with UNOPS being the primary grant recipient and responsible authority for the establishment and implementation of the Project Management Unit (PMU) whose primary tasks will include: project management, stakeholder and communication management, fiduciary and procurement management, community engagement, results management and risk management. UNOPS will be the grant recipient and will be directly accountable to the World Bank in all aspects related project delivery (Project Management - Social and Environmental Safeguards, Fiduciary Oversight and Procurement Planning, Infrastructure Quality and Standards; Project Implementation – of community infrastructure as per agreed scope; as well as directly liaising with the Government of South Sudan).
The ECRP comprises the following four components
Component 1: Community Infrastructure and Services This component will provide block grants to boma-level communities to fund infrastructure and service delivery initiatives based on the priorities established by Boma Development Councils (BDCs). Other than a short negative menu of projects that the program cannot fund, communities are free to identify a wide variety of other types of initiatives to meet their needs.
Component 2: Local Institution Strengthening. This component will provide support and capacity building assistance to boma and payam level institutions as well as county governments. The primary focus of ECRP’s capacity-building will be among boma level counterparts, followed by payam and county level institutions.
Component 3: Project Management and Learning. This component will support (a) project management including technical planning, financial management (FM), procurement, social and environment risk management, and communications; (b) project monitoring which includes a geo-enabled monitoring system and beneficiary feedback/grievance redress mechanism (GRM); (c) continuous data collection on beneficiary impacts and social dynamics; and (d) just-in-time studies as and when needs arise. Such studies may include O&M study, technical assessment of the subprojects, GBV assessment, and so on.
Component 4: Contingency emergency response. A contingency emergency response component (CERC), initially without a budget allocation, will allow for the rapid reallocation of project funds in the event of natural or man-made crisis and major disease outbreaks of public health importance during the implementation of the project,
The ECRP will be implemented throughout the country’s 10 states and select target counties. The community infrastructure sub-projects are divided by area and implemented by IOM and UNOPS separately. While the two UN-agencies will implement their respective projects, a harmonized approach will be managed and governed by UNOPS through the Infrastructure Compliance Guidelines and the Project Implementation Manual. The anticipated sectors for sub-projects will include water supply and sanitation; rural roads; primary health facilities; primary schools; small scale irrigation schemes and community markets. UNOPS will be responsible for quality assurance of all sub-projects during the planning, design and construction stages, through a monitoring plan. IOM will be responsible for community mobilization and capacity support envisioned in Component 2.
The Administrative Associate reports to the Procurement Officer who provides broad supervision and guidance. The role is responsible for supporting the Project Manager and procurement Officer with the day-to-day operations of the field mission and coordinating mission progress and implementation. He/she maintains a close eye on the operational and financial performance, identifies probable issues that may need attention, supports in problem analysis and solution identification as necessary, coordinate resolution as per action-items assigned, drafting required correspondences to stakeholders concerned and preparation of mission reports. The role can often be required to work in complex and challenging environments with limited resources. The role is responsible for assisting in the provision of all project operations related to supporting project personnel, transport and storage of project equipment and supplies in the Project Locations. He/she will need to identify probable issues that may require attention, supporting problem analysis and solution identification as may be necessary, coordinate resolution as per those action-items which may be assigned. The role is in support of project work which often takes place in complex and challenging environments with sometimes only limited resources.