South East Asia Multi-Country Office (EAPMCO)
The South East Asia and Pacific Multi Country Office (EAPMCO) supports, develops and oversees the UNOPS projects in South East Asia and the Pacific. EAPMCO was established in January 2023 following the merger of the Thailand Multi-Country Office, which covered 20 countries across North East Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific, and the Cambodia Multi-Country Office, which covered 4 countries South East Asia - 3 countries in the Mekong Sub-region (Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam) and the Philippines. EAPMCO currently covers 24 countries across North East Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific. With its head office in Bangkok, the Multi-Country Office comprises nine business units: SEMCO Thailand, EAPMCO Indonesia, EAPMCO Pacific Operations Cluster, EAPMCO Papua New Guinea, EAPMCO China, EAPMCO Vietnam, EAPMCO Lao PDR, EAPMCO Philippines and EAPMCO Cambodia.
Local Context: EAPMCO Pacific Cluster
The EAPMCO Pacific cluster, established in 2017, was formed to support the implementation of UNOPS projects across the Pacific, dealing with the challenges and constraints associated with a combination of Pacific Islands' remoteness, availability of resources, demography, weather, or a combination of all these factors. Many Pacific Islands continue to suffer from diseconomies of scale in production and exchange of goods and services, and access to export markets, with the main economic activities remaining concentrated around tourism, fisheries, forestry, and agriculture, with remittances still playing a significant role in the economy of several Pacific Islands. Currently, UNOPS is working across 12 Pacific Island countries, implementing projects in the areas of health systems strengthening, digital transformations, climate change adaptation, governance, etc.
Project Background:
Against this background, UNOPS EAPMCO Pacific is hiring a Project Manager to oversee a project to procure medical items for the Republic of Marshall Islands, not only to the capital city but also another city on another island, which requires close coordination and collaboration with the various stakeholders and timely implementation. The Ministry of Health is keen on UNOPS' future expansion to the procurement assessment and/or procurement advisory in the health sector of the country. The Project Manager is strategically important and is expected to demonstrate UNOPS’s strong performance for the further diversification of the services,
The Project Manager is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the project(s) and provides services to the different donors, partners and beneficiaries. The Project Manager acts on behalf of the Project Board to manage the project on an ongoing basis during the Implementation Stage. The main responsibility of a Project Manager is to ensure that the project outputs are delivered within the specified project tolerances of time, cost, quality, scope, risk and benefits. He/she is expected to meet the organization’s performance and delivery goals.
The Project Manager is responsible to create the Implementation Plan, use the Project Initiation Documents (PID), Legal Agreement and have a thorough understanding of the terms, conditions, and the respective roles and responsibilities of the partners/stakeholders to ensure the project(s) outputs are capable of meeting the business cases for both UNOPS and the partner(s). Success of the project(s) and hence Project Manager will be based on the defined Success Criteria.
The project manager for Implementation projects will be managing project(s) which ultimate goal is to provide implementation services that contribute to the achievement of partners’ goals. The variety of projects is quite diverse and can range from management of grants, development of strategies to delivery of training or providing technical assistance.
While the complexity of those projects may vary, maintaining high standards in terms of quality, health, safety and sustainability is always expected.
Depending on the nature and configuration of the project, the project manager might be executing technical studies, reviews, designs, supervision or operation and maintenance services of one or several physical infrastructure assets, in one or multiple sites. Depending on the implementation modality it may involve large volumes of procurement of goods, services and HR services.
UNOPS operates in complex contexts where resources might be scarce, local capacity low and where professional judgement and experience in these environments are of uttermost importance.