Country: Ethiopia
Closing date: 07 Apr 2019
Background Information - Job-specific
UNOPS Ethiopia Operational Hub, comprising Ethiopia, Sudan and Djibouti, has been supporting both UN agencies and the Government in Procurement projects and work-packages. With an annual portfolio of over 25million annually, UNOPS is looking for a Project Manager who will be responsible for the management of the transactional projects by providing services (HR/Admin/Logistics/Finance/Procurement) to the different donors, partners and beneficiaries. He/she will be expected to meet and exceed the organizations performance and delivery goals and targets, thus building the capacity of our partners in supply chain management.
The project manager will manage UNOPS's Operational Support to the Establishment of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)'s Think Tank Capacity project, in direct coordination with UNECA's Public Information and Knowledge Management Division. This includes but is not limited to project management support, project coordination, recruitment and management of non-staff positions, and procurement and management of services.
The Project Manager is responsible to understanding the project initiation documents (PID), Legal Agreement and to have a thorough understanding of the terms, conditions, and the respective roles and responsibilities of the partners/stakeholders to ensure the project outputs are capable of meeting the business cases for both UNOPS and the Partners. Success of the Project and hence Project Manager will be based on the Success Criteria of UNOPS engagements which are linked to the below responsibilities.
Functional Responsibilities
The project manager must be able to apply independently, the below duties and responsibilities of the project success criteria:
Stakeholder management
- Have solid working relationships with the project board (Executive, Senior Users, Senior Suppliers), Client and key stakeholders
- Manage communications and ensure stakeholders are aware of project activities, progress, exceptions and are in a position to accept handover of products
- Advise the client on issues that may impact the achievement of their outcomes (including issues of sustainability and post project requirements such as maintenance)
- Manage the information flows between the Project Board / Operational Center (OC) Director and the project
Delivery and performance
- Implement approved project plans (including the establishment of milestones) within tolerances set by the project board
- Manage the production of the required products, taking responsibility for overall progress and use of resources and initiating corrective action where necessary
- Liaise with any external suppliers or account managers
- Authorize Work Packages
- Advise the Project Board and OC Director of any deviations from the plan
- Identify and manage risks so that maximum benefit to clients and stakeholders is achieved
- Manage and review product quality and ensure products are accepted
- Monitor and evaluate performance of service providers
- Identify and report potential business opportunities for UNOPS to supervisor
- Identify and report threats to UNOPS internal business case to supervisor
Procedures
- Follow the Project Management Cycle Instructions and ensure that all organizational policy is complied with (Organizational Directives and Administrative Instructions)
- Prepare/adapt the following plans for approval by the Project Board:
- Project Initiation Documentation
- Stage/Exception Plans and relevant Product Descriptions
- Prepare the following reports:
- Highlight Reports
- End Stage Reports
- Exception Reports
- Operational Closure Checklist
- End Project Report
- Handover report
Maintain the following records:
- Blue File - all project related documents
- Procurement, HR and Finance files as required by those practices as per OD12
Ensure that all expenditures comply with UNOPS Financial Rules and Regulations (FRR)
Manage budgets, cash flow and obligations to ensure that deliverables are met and payments to contractors and personnel are received on time
Understand and manage UNOPS overheads, centrally managed direct costs, and related corporate charges as they apply to the project
Understand the unique structures of the UN and budget appropriately for personnel
Manage and remain accountable for expenditures against the budget (based on accurate financial reports)
Where the Project Manager has no delegation as a committing officer, s/he retains these responsibilities and will monitor and instruct/request others to carry out the relevant commitments and disbursements.
Knowledge Management
Participate in the relevant Communities of Practice
Actively interact with other PMs and the PM community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practice on the Knowledge System
Provide feedback to Practice Directors on policy, supporting guidance with an aim towards continuous improvement of UNOPS policies
Complete lessons learned as per reporting format
Incorporate lessons learned from others as per planning format.
Personnel management
- Lead and motivate the project management team
- Ensure that behavioral expectations of team members are established
- Ensure that performance reviews are conducted
- Identify outstanding staff and bring them to the attention of the OC Director
- Have a thorough understanding of UNOPS personnel contract modalities (including ICA and Staff)
- Select, recruit and train team as required by project plans
- Unless appointed to another person(s), perform the Team Manager role
- Unless appointed to another person (or corporate/programme function), perform the Project Support role
- Ensure safety and security for all personnel comply with United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) standards. Other Duties: Performs any other tasks as requested by the supervisor and the Hub/OC Director.
A. Education
- A masters Degree in Project Management, Business Administration, International Relations, Political/Security/Development Studies or other related disciplines with an internationally recognized Procurement Certification e.g. CIPS.
- A bachelor Degree in relevant disciplines with 2 additional years of relevant professional experience may be accepted in lieu of the masters degree outlined above
B. Experience
A minimum of 5 years (or more based on academic credentials) of progressive experience in project development and management, with focus on monitoring, reporting, development and coordination in either public or private sector organizations
Prince 2 (Project Management) Foundation Certification is desirable
Additional Requirements and Considerations:
- Experience in Procurement Administration is required.
- Human Resources Management experience is required.
- Experience working with a UN Mission in a post-crisis environment is desirable.
- Fluency in English (writing, reading, speaking) is required.
Contract type, level and duration
Contract type: International Individual Contractor (IICA)
Contract level: I-ICA 2, and
Contract duration: Ongoing ICA – ‘Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and 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
How to apply:
To apply please go to: https://jobs.unops.org/pages/viewvacancy/VADetails.aspx?id=17614
- Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
- Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
- Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
- Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
- Addis Ababa is a family duty station.
- Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
- The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.
It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.