Partnerships Senior Officer

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 Portfolios Office (NYPO) 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 the Small Grants Programme (SGP).

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) is implemented by UNDP on behalf of the GEF Partnership and executed by UNOPS. The SGP forms a central part of the UNDP Local Action Cluster of NCE.

SGP grantmaking 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 27,000 community-based projects in 127 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 last 30 years, SGP has developed extensive partnerships at global, national and local levels. See http://sgp.undp.org for further background information. 

The Nature, Climate and Energy team within the UNDP Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) in New York exercises strategic, technical and fiduciary oversight for all of its GEF activities, including the SGP. Within the NCE, the Local Action Cluster Coordination team, through the SGP Central Programme Management Team, provides the overall global management of the SGP, including strategic, thematic, and operational guidance and support to the Country Programmes. As the responsible Executing Agency for the SGP, UNOPS provides services to UNDP for human resources, administrative, financial and legal aspects of grantmaking and country operations.  

Community-Based Adaptation Programme (CBA Phase 3) and the Community Development and Knowledge Management for The Satoyama Initiative (COMDEKS Phase 4) are partnership programmes under the GEF Small Grants Programme.

CBA Phase 3- The Australian Government is providing 12 million Australian dollars to implement the Community-Based Adaptation Programme (CBA Phase 3) through the GEF SGP, over the period 2022- 2026. The programme is being implemented across countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Building on global momentum towards locally led adaptation, the main goal of CBA Phase 3 is to further enhance the capacities of local communities across priority landscapes/seascapes by building their social and ecological resilience to climate change and contextualize these initiatives within COVID-19 recovery and resilience efforts. Individual grants under the programme address a range of key development needs facing communities as a result of climate change impacts, including food and water security, livelihood diversification, economic resilience, empowerment and capacity building.

The Partnership contractor main functions will be to provide support for oversight, programmatic, technical inputs and logistical needs of CBA Phase 3 and COMDEKS Phase 4. Tasks will include support on administrative matters such as organizing periodic calls with countries, providing feedback on operational matters of the projects, tracking grant and programme budgets, drafting briefs and donor reports and providing support to the knowledge management and monitoring and evaluation aspects of the partnership programmes. As and when required, the contractor may be required to travel to participating countries to undertake tasks detailed below or as assigned by the SGP Global Manager.

The Partnership Senior Officer will be responsible for assisting the Partnership Specialist and CPMT with the following key areas:

Objective 1: To provide support for technical and management oversight of the CBA and COMDEKS portfolios.

1. Provide strategic support on all aspects of CBA and COMDEKS global portfolio implementation through anticipatory action, proactive monitoring, and creation of tools to facilitate agile monitoring of key processes, budget and expenditures tracking, pipeline management and overall realization of annual work plans.
2. Prepare donor reports and other reporting documents as requested by the donors and partners.
3. Provide support to the SGP NCs and PAs to help coordinate the development and progress of high quality CBA and COMDEKS projects and pipelines, and conduct routine follow up with participating countries on programme status.
4. Liaise regularly with UNOPS on administrative and operational matters for CBA and COMDEKS programmes, including annual country operation budgets, monitoring programme budgets and expenditure, and generating financial reports.
5. Draft and finalize CBA and COMDEKS grant allocation letters and track the progress and delivery of the resources.
6. Work closely with all CPMT staff and relevant contractors to provide logistical support such as preparing and administering annual surveys, sharing lessons across countries.
7. Proactively working with NCs and PAs to provide needed information and verifying the accuracy of project information and results for preparations of knowledge products and other related SGP materials. 
8. Arrange training, webinars and workshops on specific components of CBA and COMDEKS programmes. These include inception workshops, M&E training, gender training etc.
9. Devise and maintain an up-to-date registry for the partnership programmes, file documents and information efficiently on CPMT shared filing systems. 
10. Maintain strong and effective communication with UNOPS, SGP country teams and donors.
11. Conduct research and keep abreast of emerging trends on CBA and socio-economic landscapes and seascapes as relevant. 

Objective 2: Knowledge Management

1. Preparation of specified KM products for global and regional events and when required by CPMT as part of its outreach and communications efforts for CBA and COMDEKS.
2. Develop case studies, fact sheets, flyers or brochures on the CBA and COMDEKS programmes as required by SGP.
3. Update CBA and COMDEKS information and pages on the SGP website (i.e. events, conferences, articles and stories) to showcase results from the projects and establish appropriate links/contribute to other relevant websites or knowledge platforms.
4. Collaborate with the SGP KM and Communication specialist, NCE team and external partners (including donor communication focal points) for the distribution of knowledge products as needed.
5. Work with CMPT and partners to prepare content, and to coordinate CBA and COMDEKS events and conferences.

Objective 3: Monitoring and Evaluation

1. Monitor the SGP database to ensure the CBA and COMDEKS information is well entered and regularly updated by SGP county programmes. 
2. Monitor the CBA and COMDEKS annual work plan and key annual deliverables and apply adaptive management strategies as relevant.
3. Work with the CPMT M&E specialist to ensure that CBA and COMDEKS technical results are generated periodically, consolidated, analyzed, benchmarked against targets, and reported by region and globally in accordance with internal and external requirements. This process should be aligned to the SGP Annual Monitoring Reporting (AMR) exercise.
4. Provide input to the SGP AMR on the partnership programmes.
5. Design and issue relevant surveys to capture results and learnings from the participating countries. This activity will provide information needed to prepare relevant donor reports and other documentation required by the donors.
6. Provide guidance and training to SGP county teams on collecting data and reporting against the CBA and COMDEKS indicators.
7. Track data related to partnerships building, especially with UN agencies and monitor co-financing levels in the database and at national levels.
8. Provide support on any mid-term or terminal evaluations to be conducted for CBA and COMDEKS.

• Advanced university degree (master or equivalent) preferably in natural sciences and/or resource management, meteorological fields or climate sciences, social sciences and/or sustainable development, project management. A Bachelor’s degree in combination with additional two/three years of experience is acceptable. 

Required experience: 

• A minimum of two (2) years of professional experience with the UN system or an international organization, preferably providing program support in the design, administration and/or implementation of programmes that serve local communities is required;
• Knowledge of and/or experience working in the areas of biodiversity, land degradation, climate change and development is required. 

• Demonstrated international event planning and management skills is desired;
• Familiarity with UNDP’s community-based initiatives is an advantage;
• Familiarity with the GEF Small Grants Programme, and other UNDP implemented initiatives at the local level is an advantage. 

Language: 

• Excellent command of English is required;
• Fluency in Japanese is an advantage; 
• Knowledge of other UN languages is an asset.

Contract type: Individual Contractor Agreement (ICA) 
Contract level: Local Individual Contractor Agreement (L-ICA 9)
Contract duration: Open-ended (renewable subject to funds availability and satisfactory performance)

• The contractor will work from home with possibility of limited mission travel;
• The contractor will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
• The contractor will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to a reliable internet connection;

• 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.

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.

Small Grants Cluster

UNOPS executes the UNDP-implemented Small Grants Programme though the Small Grants Cluster. Funded by the Global Environment Facility, the Small Grants Programme efficiently channels direct grants to non-governmental and community-based organizations to help them cope with climate change; conserve biodiversity; protect international waters; reduce the impact of Persistent Organic Pollutants; and prevent land degradation. Helping communities with their initiatives for sustainable livelihoods while generating global environmental benefits is the core inspiration of the Small Grants Programme.