Programme Management - Senior Assistant

*** THIS IS A LOCAL POSITION FOR WHICH ONLY APPLICANTS WHO POSSESS THE  NATIONALITY OF SAMOA ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CONSIDERATION *** 

UNOPS supports partners to build a better future by providing services that increase the efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability of peacebuilding, humanitarian, and development projects.  Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement, and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors, and United Nations organizations.

New York Service Cluster (NYSC) supports the United Nations Secretariat, as well as other New York-based United Nations organizations, bilateral and multilateral partners in the delivery of UNOPS mandate in project management, infrastructure management, and procurement management.

Sustainable Development Cluster (SDC) supports diverse partners with peacebuilding, humanitarian, and development operations. It was formed by combining the following portfolios: Grants Management Services (GMS), UN Technology Support Services (UNTSS), Development and Special Initiatives Portfolio (DSIP). It provides Services to partners' programmes that are designed, structured, and managed with a global perspective and primarily serving partners headquartered in New York.  The SDC has a footprint of approximately 125 countries.

UNOPS has signed an agreement to implement the project activities for Small Grants Programme (SGP).

SGP grant making supports community-based innovation in addressing global environmental issues and improved, more sustainable livelihoods through initiatives led by civil society and community organizations, with special consideration for indigenous peoples, women, youth and persons with disabilities. SGP has supported over 25,000 community-based projects in over 125 countries aimed at biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and adaptation, sustainable land management, protection of international waters, and sound chemicals and waste management. Over the years, SGP has developed extensive partnerships at global, national and local levels. See http://sgp.undp.org for further background information.

The incumbent of this position will be a UNOPS supervised personnel.

Post’s Organizational Accountability:

• Effective day-to-day technical, administrative, financial, and knowledge management support to the SGP country programme to ensure effective and efficient operation and management of the GEF-SGP country programme portfolio with partners.

• Contribute to day-to-day support to programme/project implementation and ensuring conformity to expected results, outputs, objectives and work-plans;
• Assist the National Coordinator (NC) in prescreening project concepts and project proposals, and evaluate the financial part of the project proposals;
• Assist the NC in development and revision of grant application forms and other management tools, requirements of the programme and other SGP documents;
• Advise potential grantees on project preparation processes and guidelines, and report to NC and NSC on project development activities, as required;
• Provide day-to-day support and guidance to new and ongoing projects and its grantees, as required;
• Assist the NC in project implementation, monitoring and evaluation, including participation in fiel visits;
• Support on organization and preparation of minutes of NSC meetings and other SGP events;
• Maintain contacts and professional working relationship with NGOs, governmental institutions donors, other SGP stakeholders;
• Assist NC in reporting regularly to the Central Programme Management Team (CPMT), UNOPS an
• United Nations Development Programme Country Office (UNDP CO), and assist NC in timel preparation of annual monitoring survey, and other CPMT / UNOPS surveys and reports as required;
• Draft memos and other operational documents on behalf of NC, and respond to queries on SGP programme matter;
• Regularly update and maintain SGP project database as well as stakeholders’ database;

• Provide guidance, review, and control the accuracy of supporting documentation of projects’ interim and final financial reports, such as invoices, and advise the NC as required
• Process payment requests from grantees and vendors through obtaining necessary clearances and authorizations and ensuring payments are effected promptly, and in accordance with SGP Standard Operating Procedures ;
• Maintain close working contact with respective UNOPS Regional Focal Point and seek her/his support, advice and guidance on how better to operate OneUNOPS in accordance with SGP SOPs, if needed.
• In collaboration with the NC, maintain financial integrity of the programme, implement and monitor accounting system and databases of SGP country operational budget;
• Prepare and maintain the grant disbursement table and calendar; as well as track the Country Operating Budget to ensure compliance with the approved yearly budget. Draft annual SGP Country office administrative and project budget proposals;
• Management of the Petty Cash account with proper documentation and proper tractable records.
• Enter, extract, transfer data from OneUNOPS and SGP database and produce reports as required;
• Follow up of travel arrangements and DSA payments for NC and NSC members. 
• Provide other financial reports as required.

• A high school diploma is the minimum academic requirement of this role.
• University degree, preferably in Business Administration or an environmental science field is desirable.

Contract type: Individual Contractor Agreement (ICA) 
Contract level: Local Individual Contractor Agreement (L-ICA 5)
Contract duration: Open-ended (renewable subject to funds availability 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.
• 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.