Regional Infrastructure and Project Management Advisor

Background Information - Job Specific

UNOPS Africa Region is recruiting for this position: Regional Infrastructure and Project Management Advisor to be based in Nairobi, Kenya (Family Duty Station).


Regular travel and mission across Africa is to be expected (35% of the time).

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.



The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners' peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world.  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.  

UNOPS Africa Region has close to 300 operational projects in approx. 40 countries and counts over  1200 personnel, with annual delivery value of circa $500M. The regional portfolio of programmes and projects focuses mainly on supporting fragile and conflict-affected states and the region’s operations are divided into five sub-regional Multi Country Offices. The Office of the Regional Director is currently based in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Office of the Regional Director is responsible for the management of opportunities as well as strategic and operational risks for the regional portfolio. The office also provides strategic leadership, technical guidance, and advisory support and oversight to the operations across offices within the Africa region.

The incumbent will play a meaningful role working within the Africa Region (AFR),  helping facilitate the successful delivery of programmes and projects and broadening the Africa infrastructure and project management capabilities. 

The incumbent will be responsible for providing technical advice and support in infrastructure and project management to the Regional Director and the UNOPS offices across the Africa Region. The incumbent will also play an active role in respect of strategic positioning and thought leadership as this relates to Africa. The role will support Africa Regional Director and the Multi-Country and country directors in relevant events such as conferences and in high level meetings e.g. with government officials and funding partners. 

This role will support the Africa region with quality assurance, support and advice regarding the implementation of projects, with particular attention to infrastructure projects, and partnerships development. The incumbent will support the partnership's development agenda in Africa through their expertise, regional contacts and ability to demonstrate a depth of experience in their field. 

The Regional Infrastructure and Project Management Advisor will be a critical link between AFR and its operations in the field. This position will report to the Regional Director. The incumbent will be required to work in a collaborative manner, with colleagues at all levels across the organisation. 

1. Strategic Positioning and Partnerships Development Support

• Support UNOPS Partnership Development & Strategic positioning agenda through her/his expertise, regional contacts and demonstrated ability

• Represent UNOPS at appropriate regional or country level forum within Africa 

• Review proposals for infrastructure projects as appropriate, identify risks, raise awareness and provide advice to Country teams and Regional Director on appropriate mitigation measures, provide technical inputs including project planning, governance, and approach considerations to help reduce risks during high-risk engagements development 

• Leverage networks of experts and ensure the involvement of appropriate experts during high-risks engagements development

• Incentivize the capture, learning and use of lessons learnt to feedback engagement development

• Provide expert advice and support on new initiatives, with focus on quality assurance and quality control of project documents, costing and cost implications, implementation plans, achievements and benchmark indicators.

• Support the planning, implementation and progress monitoring of the Africa portfolio especially high-risks / high-value projects and programmes throughout their whole life cycle, make improvement (Back-on-Track) recommendations to Country offices when required and follow-up to ensure annual targets are reached.

• Ensure early identification of delivery-related risks and issues across the Africa Region and provide timely advice and support to Country offices on mitigation strategies and corrective actions within area of responsibilities.

• Implement high impact processes improvements at regional level to reduce risks, improve management control and enhance portfolio oversight.

• Achieve process and operational excellence and contribute towards the organizational transformation/change journey/initiatives within the area of responsibilities.

• Monitor key performance indicators for Infrastructure, Project management and portfolio delivery, and provide reporting as a means to improve accountability and results

• Support the deployment and implementation of corporate initiatives as opportunities to improve planning, and risks and controls management

• Lead the regional Health and Safety efforts to achieve Goal Zero targets and significantly increase awareness on Health and Safety 

• Through the Health & safety regional specialists reporting to the Infrastructure and Project management Advisor, monitor the regional Health & safety performance, identify gaps and propose recommendations to improve the Health & safety culture and performance, reduce risks and address poor performance, and ensure adequate capacity building for project teams

• Raise awareness of the regional team via monthly risk / hazard / incident reviews; Include  Health & safety in key messages and interactions with the personnel’s teams. 

• Ensure implementation of the applicable actions of UNOPS Health and Safety Improvement Plan plan, including participation in the dedicated Working Group

• Advise the Country management teams regarding compliance with UNOPS Health and Safety and Environmental Management System and Standards

• Advise infrastructure practitioners on the application, interpretation and adoption of corporate policy, guidance and best practices 

• Advise the Country management Teams regarding design considerations and design review requirements

• Substantive support to the Programme and Project Managers in the implementation of projects in particular infrastructure and high-risk projects 

• Support the identification, engagement and management of strategic collaboration with local and regional consultancy firms providing design and/or infrastructure consultancy services. 

• Provide technical advice to Country teams and a quality assurance framework in relation to infrastructure projects, assess the quality of design and construction. 

• Advise and provide expertise/support in the implementation of UNOPS Project and Programme Management methodologies, based on best practices as recommended by PMI and PRINCE2®, including governance structure, risk management, planning, etc.

• Assist with the development of work plans and provide tangible support in helping country offices raise their Project  / Programme Management maturity.

• Assist the Africa Region in meeting its strategic objectives for its contributions to the SDGs, in particular contributing further in its Climate, Energy and health effort.

• Create an ecosystem to facilitate culture change toward greater knowledge-sharing and taking via role-modelling, incentivization / reward of desired behaviour 

• Be aware of the capacity and capabilities of the various infrastructure in-house units and Country teams across the region, identify the expertise, capacity and capabilities within Africa team personnel, strengthen regional networks of experts to support engagements development and implementation 

• Support the recruitment of business critical / program / project and/or infrastructure roles in the Country offices, ensuring skills alignment of new recruits with portfolio and projects needs & risk profile

• Ensure best practices and lessons learnt are disseminated within the region and within the organisation generally via high-impact knowledge-sharing sessions to support Africa strategic objectives 

• Dissemination of training for corporate guidance and instructions that impact infrastructure practitioners, as required

• Participate to organisational knowledge by gathering case studies and best practice examples from the region, making recommendations on policy and tools, as well as participating to the development of guidance material and tools

• Conduct missions to and undertake assessments of Country Offices and projects to review and advise on quality and progress related issues, and highlight operational risks, within the region.

• Provide expertise and support in implementation of standards and frameworks, procurement and contract modality selection and management, Quality Control, Quality Assurance, EMS, etc.

• Support and help build project team's capabilities on Design development, Management and Review

Education:

• An advanced university degree (Master's or equivalent such as MEng, MASc) in Civil Engineering, Architecture (CEng, PE, P. Eng.), Construction Management, Infrastructure Project Management or relevant field minimum of 7 years of experience is required.

• A first-level university degree (Bachelor's or equivalent such as BEng, BASc) or professional certification in combination with 9 additional years of experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Certifications:

• Certification in a recognized project management methodology, e.g. PRINCE2® or PMP is desired.

• Knowledge of programme management methodology (e.g. MSP®) is desired.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of seven (7) years’ progressive work experience in the Management of Infrastructure Projects and/or Construction Management role is required.

• A minimum of five (5) years’ progressive work experience in Project Management is required.

• Strategic leadership or strategic advisory role is highly desired.

• Experience in interacting with and influencing senior stakeholders within an organisation is highly desired.

• Experience in dealing externally government officials is highly desired.

• Experience working in developing countries (especially Africa) in an international environment is highly desired.

• Experience working in and providing creative technical solutions for post-conflict and/or, post-disaster environments is an asset.

• Experience working on Renewable energy programmes (especially solar power), climate resilience, health infrastructure, water & sanitation and waste to energy is an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in English is required.

Africa Region

Based in Nairobi, Kenya, the Africa Region supports UNOPS country offices in the region, providing support and oversight to the diverse portfolio of projects and programme.

AFR helps ensure that projects are executed to the highest standards, providing a shared knowledge base and ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are disseminated between projects across the entire region.