Project Management Specialist

Africa Regional Office

Based in Nairobi, the Africa Regional Office (AFR RO) supports UNOPS’ offices throughout the region, providing programme, partnerships, management and oversight, health and safety, and human resources support.

The Africa Regional Office helps ensure that programmes and 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.

Under the guidance and supervision of the Regional Management and Oversight Senior Advisor (RMOA) the Project Management Specialist is responsible for operations, management and oversight analysis, and reporting. The Project Management Specialist promotes a collaborative, client-focused, quality and results-oriented approach. She/he works in close collaboration with the operations, programme and project management teams within Africa Region (AFR) and Headquarters (HQ) as required.

More specifically, the duties of the Project Management Specialist include the following:

Process and procedure excellence

• Ensure that AFR is in full compliance with UNOPS rules, regulations and policies;

• Analyse HQ and regional business processes, and make recommendations to further align efficiency and effectiveness improvements of such processes, supporting high quality program delivery and needs of field operations.

• Support drafting and development of regional Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and guidelines in conformity with UNOPS rules and regulations; and (b) templates and training, supporting adequate application and compliance with updated corporate policies and procedures.

• Support implementation of updated corporate standards, tools and templates

• Provide operational support for missions and audits, conducting necessary preparation work prior to such missions and audits.

Reporting and Analysis

• Provide substantive research, analysis and reporting, including contribution to briefing materials and portfolio summary notes for management reports and for programme development needs;

• Analyse and report on the performance of country offices, via products such as monthly reports to the Regional Director, and make recommendations for improvements;

• Undertake regional performance monitoring;

• Prepare regular and ad-hoc management reports as needed;

Finance and Budgeting

• Organise the annual budgeting and target setting process for the Regional Office and Africa Region;

• Manage the investment funding portfolio throughout the process, from proposal submission to update reports to budget revisions to final closure;

• Analyse and report on budget expenditures and assist in advising the Regional Management team on budget status, ensuring that funds allocated is not exceeded or that additional funds are allocated when required;

• Manage budget revisions as required;

• Analyse project and programme  financial reports;

• Manage AFR provisions, write offs, and project financial closures;

• Provide responses to queries on financial and administrative matters from HQ and AFR offices;

Coordination and monitoring support

• Support Quarterly Assurance and monitoring of the regional program portfolio and Quarterly Business Review (QBR) for monitoring of operational and process effectiveness and compliance.

• Contribute to the implementation and monitoring of the regional strategic plan, in collaboration with the AFR teams.

• Support the implementation of corporate and regional operational strategies, assist in the establishment of management targets and monitor achievement of results;

• Support AFR in the coordination of the activities of the Multi Country Office (MCO) / Country Office (CO) Teams and other networks and temporary thematic task forces that are necessary;

• Support the effective implementation of corporate initiatives to the AFR region and make recommendations for further improvements.

• Support the planning, coordination and monitoring of regional strategic initiatives, including Gender Diversity and Inclusion (GDI), Ethics, Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Sexual Harassment (PSEAH) and the regional People Survey Action Plan (PSAP).

Training and capacity building

• Support the RMOA and AFR Human Resource managers as focal point for training, learning, and development;

• Contribute to the development, monitoring and continuous improvement of the onboarding program for new AFR personnel, in collaboration with the AFR Human Resource managers and HQ.

• Support establishing a systematic approach for Learning and Development (L&D) for the region, including assessing business and personnel needs, conducting learning needs and capacity gap assessment, providing orientation on  Learning and Development opportunities, and developing and facilitating a tailored training programme in close collaboration with UNOPS HQ teams and AFR offices.

• Organise, facilitate training and learning initiatives for personnel on areas of expertise.

• Support and provide training and internal consulting in support of new corporate initiatives, policy updates and roll-outs to AFR personnel, as required;

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

Knowledge management (KM)

• Support the region-wide Knowledge Management activities, in collaboration with the UNOPS Knowledge Management focal points in HQ, AFR offices and other regions.

• Contribute to the identification, documentation and sharing of best practices and lessons learned for knowledge building, promoting best practice and mainstreaming.

• Plan and elaborate knowledge-sharing/management needs assessments for AFR business units.

• Collaborates with relevant Communities of Practice to identify and share case studies, lessons learned, and best practices, and use for trainings, communication and mainstreaming.

• An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Business Administration, Development Studies, International Relations or other related field is required. A first-level university with an additional 2 years of work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.

• PRINCE2 Practitioner Certification is highly desirable.

• A minimum 5 years of experience in supporting programmes, operations, or management at the national and preferably international levels, in a multicultural setting; relevant experience should also include knowledge of budgeting, data analysis, reporting, human resources, and procurement. 

• Knowledge of  Google Workspace, particularly Google Sheets, or equivalent is desirable

• Knowledge of UN/UNOPS’ rules, regulations, policies, tools, and systems is highly desirable.

• Experience working in the Africa region will be considered an advantage.

• Fluency in English (speaking, reading and writing) is required.

Contract type: International Individual Contract Agreement (IICA)

Contract level: I-ICA 2 / ICS 10

Contract duration: Ongoing (Subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and/or to satisfactory) performance

For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link:

https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx 

• 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.