BACKGROUND

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has worked directly with the government and people of Yemen for more than 50 years. UNDP’s new programme (2023-2024) aims to increase food security and nutrition, sustainable and resilient livelihoods and environmental stability; improve rights-based good governance, inclusive, gender-sensitive public services and the rule of law; increase income security and decent work for women, youth and vulnerable populations; and strengthen social protection, and basic service delivery focused on support to marginalised groups, and women and youth leadership in decision-making processes.

UNDP Yemen established an organisational structure to align the Country Office capacities with the envisaged new country programme framework. The Oversight and Support Team (OST) in the UNDP Yemen Country Office comes directly under the supervision of the Resident Representative. OST provides strategic planning, oversight support and advisory services to Senior Management on quality programme and project management and leads on strengthening programme and project quality assurance, programme finance management, results-based management systems and gender-sensitive programing in the Country Office. The Head of the OST works closely with Deputy Resident Representative (Programme) and the Deputy Resident Representative (Operations), acting as a bridge and enhancing information sharing between Programme and Operations Units.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the direct supervision and guidance of the Resident Representative- UNDP, this leads and coordinates the work of OST to help the Country Office to ensure systems are in place and capacities are strengthened for programme and project quality assurance, reinforce the communication of results to partners, and support the programme unit to ensure compliance with UNDP’s programming guidelines, and project management rules, regulations and procedures, while leading on preparing Country Office responses to HQ compliance and reporting requirements.

Key duties and accountabilities include:

Ensure effective programme accountability and oversight mechanisms are in place:

• Support Senior Management to ensure that programme activities respond to the development needs of Yemen and per the national and sub-national priorities as articulated in the Country Programme Document (CPD) and all relevant national and sub-national strategies
• Support Senior Management to coordinate the operationalisation of the CPD in collaboration with the main partners and other UN Agencies. Identification of possibilities for joint programming;
• Support Senior Management to ensure accountability of the Country Programme to donors and counterparts through the delivery of outcome-level results and management of programme resources.
• Conduct analysis on and present UNDP policies and procedures, and their implementation in the CO;
• CO business processes mapping and establishing and maintaining internal Standard Operating Procedures for key business processes.
• Ensure strict and consistent application of UNDP rules and regulations and ensure the implementation of clear accountability mechanisms throughout the programmes and in full compliance with quality standards and rules;
• Ensure effective implementation of the Internal Control Framework in collaboration with the Operations Unit
• Coordinate the audit exercises among programme, project and operations staff and ensure compliance with audit quality standards and timeframes.
• Participate in internal control mechanisms for adherence to UNDP rules and regulations in contracts, assets, procurement, recruitment, etc., as required;
• Ensures synergies and complementarity between the various programme components and other units in UNDP Yemen to achieve CPD outcomes

Ensure effective programme management:

• Under the overall guidance of Senior Management, supports the Programme Units and Project Managers to elaborate coherent work plans and budgets for all activities in the Programme portfolio and supports the continuous monitoring of project work plans;
• Under the overall guidance of Senior Management, coordinates with Programme Unit to ensure the Integrated Work Plan is prepared.
• Establish a quality and accountable reporting system and quality assure key programme and project reports.
• Ensure timely and adequate reporting against the Country Office’s annual plans in consultation with Senior Management, including providing timely and articulate progress reports such as the Results Oriented Annual Report (ROAR);
• Support preparation of high-quality project documents and proposals and encouraging adequate peer review of the same through established mechanisms (LPAC);
• Guided by the Resident Representative and in coordination with the Deputy Resident Representatives, facilitate country office resources allocation processes, support resources planning and ensure monitoring of resources;
• Ensure the effective monitoring of resource allocation and delivery, raises delivery gaps and propose adequate and sound solutions.
• Provide advice for risk management and contingency planning, as required.

Effective application of RBM tools, the establishment of management targets and monitoring: 

• Establish and maintain a robust Results-Based M&E system, which ensures quality control of the programme and results.
• Provide strategic oversight of planning, budgeting, implementing and monitoring of the programme, tracking the use of financial resources following UNDP rules and regulations.
• Coordinate development and implementation of the evaluation plan and regular updates of the Evaluation Resource Center.
• Support the utilisation of evaluation findings and recommendations in improving programme quality.
• Provide quality assurance for the programme/project boards by carrying out objective and independent programme oversight and monitoring functions;
• Contributes to preparations for all Audits (CO, DIM and NIM audits);
• Ensures full HACT compliance and roll-out of related policies;
• Ensures the development and implementation of Audit recommendations for the programme;
• Supports the Programme Units, working in coordination with the Operations unit to organise a cost-recovery system for the development enabling services provided by the CO to projects;
• Organize trainings for programme and project staff on aspects required to strengthen Results-based Management and quality assurance;
• Promotes the effective application of RBM tools for Programme effectiveness and achieving results.

Promotes partnership building and resource mobilisation in support of implementing the Country Programme: 

• Effective and efficient preparation and clearance of agreements with partners (donors, government, CSOs, UN agencies and other partners);
• Supports the Communications Unit to communicate results to partners, both Government and donor partners
• Support the development, elaboration and implementation of the CO partnerships and resource mobilisation strategies to achieve programme outcomes;
• Develop mechanisms and instruments for the selection of appropriate government and civil society partners in the implementation of the programme;
• Facilitate the engagement with non-traditional donors to support the programme;
• Lead and coordinate the rollout of partner and staff feedback surveys and consolidate the programme response and follow-up as and when required;
• Promote closer linkages with the other UN Offices, programmes, agencies and IFIs, and other international and national stakeholders concerned with or providing assistance on the programme issues; Lead the development of Joint Programme Documents when needed.
• Conduct research on information on donors, and support preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost-sharing;
• Support regular and ad-hoc liaison with donors and partners as required;
• Assist CO in organizing regular donor meetings.

Ensures provision of high-quality advisory services and technical expertise, and facilitation of knowledge-building and gender mainstreaming: 

• Provide technical support and advice for programme implementation to Pillar Leads, project teams and counterparts based on CO programme priorities.
• Identify policy-driven issues, best practices and lessons learned on at global, regional and national level and ensure these are integrated into the programme planning and implementation;
• Advise on the design and implementation of coherent institutional capacity development strategies by the Programme Pillars ensuring these strategies contribute to the national development plan and SDG achievements;
• Proactively identify risks and challenges to the on-going operations of the country programme and provides project teams on mitigation strategies;
• Identify sources of information related to policy-driven issues. Identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learned directly linked to programme country policy goals;
• Make sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice;
• Promote national staff skills and technical knowledge development through coaching, mentoring and encouraging staff learning and participation in specialized knowledge networks.
• Advice and support to UNDP management on gender issues
• Lead gender seal certification process and follow up
• Advice policy and facilitation of knowledge building on gender issues
• Management and implementation of the CO gender equality strategy
• Advocacy and promotion of UNDP’s mandate and mission

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: 

• This position will supervise the positions in the Oversight and Support Team, including at a minimum Deputy Head, OST, Gender Analyst, Programme Finance Associates (2), M&E Analyst. This position will be responsible for timely conduct of Performance Reviews, and supporting learning, career and professional growth of the Unit members.

COMPETENCIES

Core Competencies: 

• Achieve Results:  LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact
• Think Innovatively:  LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems
• Learn Continuously:  LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
• Adapt with Agility:  LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands
• Act with Determination:  LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
• Engage and Partner:  LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion:  LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

People Management Competencies: 

• UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.

Cross-Functional & Technical Competencies:

Business Management: Results-based Management

• Ability to manage programmes and projects with a focus at impro􀁙ed performance and demonstrable results

Business Management: Partnerships Management

• Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies

Partnership management: Resource Mobilization

• Ability to identify funding sources, match funding needs (programmes/projects/initiatives) with funding opportunities, and establish a plan to meet funding requirements

Business Management: Client Management

• Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers’ needs.
• Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy.
• Look for ways to add value beyond clients’ immediate requests.
• Ability to anticipate client’s upcoming needs and concerns

Business Management: Working with Evidence and Data

• Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discerning useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making

Business Direction and Strategy: Systems Thinking

• Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system

Finance: Financial planning and budgeting

• Ability to create and manage processes to achieve UNDP’s long and short-term financial goals, including through planning, budgeting, forecasting, analyzing and reporting

QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Economics, Political Science, Business Administration, Public Administration, Law, Development Sciences, Social Sciences or related field. OR
• A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience, Knowledge, and Skills: 

• Minimum of 7 years (with Master’s degree) or 9 years (with Bachelors’ degree) of relevant work experience at the national or international level in providing management advisory services, hands-on experience in design, implementation, operations, monitoring and evaluation of development/cooperation projects and establishing inter-relationships among international organizations and national governments.
• Practical experience in development cooperation in crisis affected, middle income and/or developing countries.
• Proven experience in partnership building and networking;
• Demonstrated knowledge of and experience applying RBM methodologies and tools (i.e. project and programme management, design and implementing monitoring systems, managing evaluations and analytical report writing);
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.
• Thorough knowledge of UNDP Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures is essential
• Knowledge of UNDP’s ERP and CPS platforms is an asset.
• Experience and Knowledge in UNDP’s corporate planning and reporting requirements is an asset.
• Knowledge and Experience in Programme Finance is an asset.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience applying risk management systems, including the Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfer (HACT) Framework, particularly within a UNDP Direct Implementation Modality (DIM) context is essential.
• Demonstrated experience managing and leading teams.

Languages: 

•  Fluency in oral and written English Language is required;
• Arabic language would be an asset.

Note: Please upload copies of your academic qualifications and 3 latest performance evaluations (if applicable). 

Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.

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Under US immigration law, acceptance of a staff position with UNDP, an international organization, may have significant implications for US Permanent Residents. UNDP advises applicants for all professional level posts that they must relinquish their US Permanent Resident status and accept a G-4 visa, or have submitted a valid application for US citizenship prior to commencement of employment.

UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications.

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Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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