Project Manager

During the last weeks of July 2022, violent demonstrations against MONUSCO and the United Nations were organized in North-Kivu and South-Kivu provinces, leading to the death and injury of several demonstrators, MONUSCO peacekeepers as well as the looting and destruction of MONUSCO property. 

In Butembo, demonstrations have developed into a semi-insurrectional movement with elements of Mayi-Mayi groups taking control and carrying out several attacks against civilians, the prison, defense and security forces. These demonstrations were supported by dissemination of false information and hate messages against MONUSCO and several UN agencies operating in the DRC. 

Unprecedented digital attacks targeted the mission, demonstrating a sophisticated, well-planned and well-orchestrated digital campaign from various locations in Eastern DRC, Mali, Europe and North America. The degree of this aggression surprised the Mission and demonstrated that the efforts of the Mission's new digital multimedia unit were not sufficient to anticipate and counter attacks of this magnitude.It is therefore urgent to strengthen the Mission's digital capabilities, both in terms of human and technical resources, so that it is able to monitor professionally and to both anticipate and react to such attacks.

UNOPS has the required expertise to provide Support and Transactional Services to MONUSCO; this in conjunction with UNOPS mandate for which it has adequate resources within the allocated budget to carry out such projects, aimed at attaining the objectives sought by MONUSCO. 

The Project Manager will report directly to the Head of Programme on programmatic matters.

1. Project Delivery and Performance

• Develop, complete and update implementation plan(s) (if applicable);

• Implement the approved plan (including the establishment of milestones) within tolerances set by the Project Steering Committee;

• Embed sustainability dimensions including social and gender inclusion, environmental and economic aspects into project life span;

• Manage the production of the required outputs, taking responsibility for overall progress and use of resources and initiating corrective action where necessary;

• Ensure that quality of work packages and deliverables complies with the quality requirements defined in the Implementation Plan;

• Liaise with any external suppliers or account managers;

• Manage acceptance and delivery of work packages;

• Monitor project progress ensuring that work packages are being executed properly;

• Control project and work packages changes;

• Accept goods, services or works delivered by suppliers (if applicable);

• Lead contract management duties including supplier performance evaluation (if applicable);

• Act as the Employer’s Representative within the FIDIC works contracts (if applicable);

• Identify, and anticipate in a timely manner, potential risks and issues and advises mitigating measures to Senior Management and Project Steering Committee so that maximum benefit to partner(s) and other stakeholders is achieved; and

• Identify and report to the supervisor potential business opportunities for UNOPS.

• Comply with all organisational policy and specifically the Project Management Manual (UNOPS PMM);

• Prepare/adapt all relevant plans for approval by the Project Steering Committee;

• Manage the reporting obligations defined in the Legal Agreement(s) and in the Implementation Plan;

• Draft the requirements definitions for procurement processes approving requisitions and requests for non-purchase order payments, evaluating submissions received, if appointed to the evaluation team (if applicable);

• Ensure maintenance of the project files and lessons learned are recorded;

• Ensure the development and implementation of project financial management guidelines and control mechanisms, in conformity with UNOPS rules and regulations (if applicable);

• 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 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;

• For project closure purposes, provide a formal handover of the project to the closure manager;

• Support project audit activities, including planning, preparation and coordination during the audits and follow up on audit observations/recommendations;

• Conduct fund mobilisation activities with Radio Okapi in order to raise more funds to the project; and

• Manage potential contractual gaps between donor’s contracts and do proactive budget planning in order to avoid funding gaps and maintain project implementation.

• Prepare and issue regular project and/or financial reports in accordance with the partner's and UNOPS' requirements for reporting;

• Regularly review project status, evaluating performance criteria (scope, cost, schedule and quality);

• Maintain diaries and progress reports as required by the organisation’s standard procedures;

• Provide routine oversight and analysis of delivery data within the dashboard system; and

• Ensure all project team members track and regularly update milestones and targets for the duration of projects' life span.

• Develop stakeholder profiles and facilitate the formulation of stakeholder engagement strategies;

• Establish solid working relationships with the Project Steering Committee (Executive, Senior Users and Senior Suppliers), client and key stakeholders through regular meetings with Radio Okapi point person and key personnel;

• Enable the formulation of project communications plans;

• Coordinate internal project communications;

• Monitor the effectiveness of project communications;

• Coordinate stakeholder engagement and communication, ensuring effective timing and interdependency management of communications; and

• Ensure stakeholders are aware of project activities, progress, exceptions and are in a position to accept handover outputs.

• Work with internal stakeholders to ensure projects comply with audit requirements;

• Work with procurement/purchasing staff to ensure effective interface with suppliers' quality systems;

• Coordinate quality reviews of project documents and deliverables; and

• Provide quality control for management outputs (project documents, reports, etc.).

• Encourage routine and effective capacity building activities are conducted in order to build the long-term and sustainable capacity of staff;

• Actively interact with other Project Managers and the wider PM community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices;

• Contribute to the oversight of lessons learned procedures, ensuring that lessons learnt are shared in a timely and appropriate manner;

• Research and logging of lessons learned throughout the project life span; and

• Provide feedback to Practice Groups on policy, supporting guidance with an aim towards continuous improvement of UNOPS policies.

• Lead and motivate the project management team;

• Ensure that behavioural expectations of team members are established;

• Ensure that performance reviews are conducted fairly, accurately and timely;

• Select, recruit and train the team as required and taking into account gender parity and diversity objectives; and

• Ensure safety and security for all project personnel and comply with UNDSS standards.

• Create, foster and role model a culture of respect and zero tolerance for discrimination, abuse of authority, harrasement, sexual harrasement and sexual exploitation and abuse. Ensure accountability for actions and perform duties in accordance with protection mechanisms and action plans, as expected by UNOPS policies, standards and commitments.

• Ongoing ICA – ‘Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance.

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation

• Duty station : Kinshasa is a family duty station

Terms and Conditions 

• 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 (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. For more information on a retainer contract here.

• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.