Project Management Support - Senior Officer (Project Support Officer)

The Project on Strengthening Resilience Against Violent Extremism in Asia (STRIVE Asia) is a 48- month joint EU-UN initiative. The project supports Member States in the implementation of UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and its subsequent consensus reviews by the General Assembly (A/RES/70/291 and A/RES/72/284), which invites Member States to develop and implement national plans of action to prevent violent extremism conducive to terrorism.The Programme is a EU-UN partnership that is jointly implemented by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It is co-funded by the European Union, and all UN Partners. This is the first year of the four-year programme, which is structured around three main outputs: 

Output 1: Enhancing the capacity of national and local authorities, legislative bodies, civil society and the private sector for PCVE policy-making, in particular, the capacity to develop and implement PVE national action plans; 

Output 2: Enhancing the role of law enforcement actors in preventing violent extremism in close collaboration with non-government actors; and 

Output 3: Strengthening local resilience of at-risk communities through the support of community-led initiatives in the PCVE area.

This Action responds to the spread of violent extremism which poses a significant threat to the international community’s efforts to promote peace and security. The intended impact of STRIVE Asia initiative is to contribute to preventing and countering Violent Extremism in Central, South and Southeast Asia, through a multi-stakeholder approach, including governments, security actors, civil society and private sector entities. It seeks to enhance the roles and capacities of national and local authorities, legislative bodies, civil society and the private sector to develop and implement PCVE action plans and other policy documents based on international standards, good practices and lessons learned, and to strengthen local resilience through community-led PCVE initiatives.

The Project Support Officer will be engaged in the overall coordination of the project “Strengthening of Resilience Against Violent Extremism in Asia (STRIVE Asia)” and capacity development components of the projects. The incumbent of post will be responsible for the following specific tasks:

• Contribute to the planning of the projects as well as the smooth implementation of the projects by actively engaging in supporting project services including recruitment, procurement, organization of conferences, travels and financial management
• Assist in the preparation of proposals, engagement processes and agreements ensuring administrative and financial aspects are in line with corporate policies and guidelines
• Support preparation of budgets ensuring they follow corporate polices and established in the ERP with sound budgetary structures that contribute to financial monitoring and reporting
• Contribute to the preparation of monthly cash flow forecast ensuring the projections are in line with approved budgets, contractual commitments and that cost estimates are reasonable
• Support the monitoring of project expenditures against approved resources and ensure timely adjustments and corrections of over-expenditures and wrongly booked charges
• Support the development of  risk assessment and mitigation measures with input from the project team, and contribute risks management procedures are followed
• Prepare submissions for compliance, oversight and other risks mechanisms reports and data; 
• Actively engage in the project monitoring and evaluation, using established performance monitoring tools, cross cutting themes(capacity building, environment, gender equality), preparing draft report on the results, and assist to develop follow up actions if applicable
• Assist in the preparation of reports and collation of information for quarterly business review processes, year-end closure and projects closure in collaboration with project managers
• Assist the project managers in the review of the status of workplans, activity plans, implementation and aggregate reports regularly prepared on activities, outputs and outcomes
• Support the procurement activities of the portfolio, from preparation of procurement plans, terms of references, bidding process, request for awards to signature of contracts and orders
• Implementation of the different steps of the procurement processes, including Pre-Purchasing: Strategy and Planning; Requirements Definition; Sourcing; Purchasing: Solicitation; Management of Submissions; Evaluation; Review and Award; Post Purchasing: Contract finalization and issuance; Logistics; and Contract Management.
• Implementation of strategic procurement for projects assigned in the Business Unit.
• Research undertaken and data provided for Business Unit’s supply market intelligence and analysis.
• Implementation of proper monitoring and control of procurement processes including organization of RFQ, ITB or RFP, receipt of quotations, bids or proposals, their evaluation, negotiation of certain conditions of contracts in full compliance with UNOPS rules and regulation. 
• Participate in the preparation and review of implementation contracts providing comments on administrative, financial and audit aspects in line with corporate polices and guidelines Support in the human resources activities of the portfolio, such as preparation of terms of references, taking interviews minutes, preparation of personnel and recruitment plans; 
• Support in the facilitation of information sharing and transfer of knowledge, document lessons learned and beneficiary surveys
• Maintain archive of project documentation and ensure access to institutional memory and technical information on related components of the project
• Support in drafting final report detailing outputs and impact of the projects
• Support the Project Manager and the Programme team in any other matter as required.

Monitoring and Progress Controls

• Regular briefings on the projects’ activities
• Accurate and timely reporting of the project progress and highlights

• Master degree or equivalent in areas related to the position.  
• A Bachelor degree with additional two years of experience may be accepted in lieu of the Master requirement.

• Minimum 2 years of professional experience in project support and reporting is essential

• Professional experience in an international organization and/or in post-conflict environments/developing countries is desirable
• Experience in proposal writing, projects monitoring and evaluation, and donor liaising is desirable. 

Certificate

• Certification in project management is an asset. 

• Fluency in English and Russian is required.
• Fluency in Local Language in Turkmenistan such as Turkmen or Uzbek is an asset.

• 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.

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.