Senior Project Manager

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.

 General Background

The Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM) is a tri-partite agreement involving the Palestinian and Israeli authorities as well as the United Nations that is designed to enable the entry and use of what the Government of Israel classifies as “dual use” materials into Gaza to enable reconstruction and development of Gaza after the summer 2014 hostilities. Please refer to the online reporting of progress related to GRM at http://grm.report. 

In order to facilitate the GRM, the Government of Palestine (GoP) requested the UN to establish a Materials Monitoring Unit (MMU) led by UNSCO and administered by UNOPS that works with the GoP to monitor the entry and use of dual use items in Gaza. 

In 2019 UNOPS established the Programme Management Unit (PMU) to provide enhanced project management capacity in Gaza, including the continuing facilitation of access to ‘dual-use’ materials through the MMU, as well as other coordination activities relevant to the implementation of a series of infrastructure and other projects to response to urgent humanitarian needs.

The PMU is a multi-disciplinary team located in Gaza that monitors the supply chain of dual-use materials. This team of engineers, quantity surveyors, stock monitors, and IT experts monitors the storage facilities, suppliers, concrete processing plants, as well as repair and constructions sites. This monitoring is managed through the Gaza Reconstruction and Materials Monitoring System (GRAMMS), which is an online tool to monitor the flow and use of dual-use materials. The unit is responsible for conducting site visits to potential vendors, contractors, concrete processing plants and projects to monitor the flow and use of dual use materials as required by the GRM and report these visits. 

The Senior Project Manager is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the PMU and is expected to meet and exceed the organizations performance and delivery goals.

The Senior Project Manager is responsible for all aspects of the project life cycle. S/he must be able to apply, independently, the below duties and responsibilities of the project success criteria:

Government Collaboration and Partnership Management in coordination with UNSCO:

• Liaison with donors, partners, UN and NGO’s to ensure complementarity of efforts in the thematic areas focused on priorities identified by the AHLC including but not limited to water, energy and health infrastructure and cash for work.

• Identification of bottlenecks to implementation of the PMU projects which require intervention and propose solutions. 

• Conduct researches for the area of potential future support in Gaza in collaboration with relevant UN agencies.

• Suggest the mechanism of the additional/revised monitoring activities to respond to the situation in Gaza.

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)

• Liaison with the Israeli Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration to the Gaza Strip (CLA), the Palestinian Ministry of Civil Affairs (MoCA), and other relevant Palestinian authorities for the smooth implementation and coordination of the project.

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 Director 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:

  1. Highlight Reports

  2. End Stage Reports

  3. Operational Closure Checklist

  4. End Project Report

  5. 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: if applicable

• 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

Core Values and Principles:

• Understand and respect UNOPS sustainability principles

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

2. Seek opportunities to champion gender equality at work place

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

• Understand and Respect National ownership and capacity

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

  2. Seek opportunities to recruit qualified local staff

  3. Look for ways to build capacity of local counterparts

• Partnerships and Coordination 

  1. Understand the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and UNOPS, the project’s place in the UN system

  2. 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

  1. 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 to a supervisor

• Excellence

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

Education

• Advanced University Degree in Social Sciences, Project Management, Business Administration, International Relations, Political/Security/Development Studies, Public Administration, Anthropology, Law, Economics or other relevant discipline.

• University Degree (bachelor’s degree / first level) with a combination of 2 additional years of relevant professional experience  may be accepted in lieu of the advance university degree

• PRINCE 2 Practitioner & Foundation Certification or PMP – 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.  

Work Experience 

• Seven years (or more based on academic credentials) of progressive experience in project development and management, economic and social development, aid coordination or a related filed with focus on monitoring, reporting, development and coordination in either public or private sector organizations.

• Proven experience of managing large teams in complex environments is required.

• Experience participating in inter-agency coordination mechanisms at the local or national level is desirable. 

• Experience working in the occupied Palestinian territory is desirable.

• Evidence of coordination and implementation of projects is a strong advantage

• Experience working in areas of international development, preferably with the United Nations and/ or International NGOs and donors is a strong asset

• An in-depth understanding and familiarity of the development issues in Gaza is a strong advantage.

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Contract type: International ICA

• 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
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• 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.