Programme Assistant

UNOPS helps its partners in the United Nations system meet the world’s needs for building peace, recovering from disaster, and creating sustainable development.  UNOPS is known for its ability to implement complex projects in all types of environments around the globe.  In an effort to promote organizational excellence, UNOPS seeks highly qualified individuals for the following position: 

Vacancy Details

Vacancy Code	UNOPS/2010/SDOC/CSS/VA018
Post Title	Programme Assistant
Post Level	ICA (Individual Contractor Agreement), SC3 (ICS5), Q2- (local position)*
Org Unit	AFO – SDOC
Duty Station	Juba, SUDAN
Duration	9 months (renewable)
Opening	February 26th, 2010
Closing Date	March 14th, 2010

Background

The UNOPS Sudan Operations Centre (SDOC) was established in February 2004 to provide client services in the areas of infrastructure, large scale operations and procurement throughout Sudan. Currently, SDOC is implementing 18 different projects with a total 2009 value of $60 million, including donors such as the Government of Southern Sudan, USAID, Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF), the World Bank, UNDP and FAO. UNOPS is the UN cluster lead for Basic Infrastructure and Settlement Development, which has provided an opportunity for the agency to play a leading role in infrastructure program design and implementation. UNOPS has over 150 staff in Sudan and an established presence in Khartoum, Juba, Bor, Wau, Yambio and Rumbek, with projects ongoing in nearly all 10 States of Southern Sudan. An administrative support office is maintained in Khartoum. Other field locations include Nyala, (South Darfur) and Kurmuk, (Blue Nile State). While being a project based agency, UNOPS is seeking to adjust its central program support structure to the geographical expansion of UNOPS’ projects as well as its growing responsibilities as leading infrastructure agency. The role of the Program Assistant in Juba will be to strengthen UNOPS institutional presence and the quality of program management by providing support to the Program Officer, Head of Program and Country Director in the areas of project planning, reporting, monitoring and evaluation, UN coordination and program financial management.

Duties and Responsibilities

Reporting to the Programme Officer, SDOC Juba, and in coordination with the Head of Programmes, the Programme Assistant will be responsible for, but not limited to, the following functions and responsibilities:  Planning and Reporting: Facilitate the preparation of annual project work plans by preparing templates, providing guidance to projects and consolidating data on cash flow projections, targets and outputs. Support to project managers in developing reporting formats and editing reports for external use. Support to project managers in implementing new reporting templates and cross-cutting issues. Support the office in fulfilling reporting requirements, coordinate with projects and provide guidance in internal financial and progress reporting. Synthesize and monitor inputs of donors into the reporting/communication. Support the Program Officer and the Head of Program in HQ/AFO and donor reporting. Knowledge Management: Continuous update and supervision of the SDOC Program Shared folders with relevant documents. Supervision and organization of all archived project and administrative files. Research on best practices in project management in UNOPS globally and provide support to SDOC in implementing lessons learned. Centralize best practices and lessons learned in SDOC projects. Administration of SDOC library. Project Monitoring: Assist the Program Officer in monitoring of project performance against schedule, milestones and budget. General Program Support: Support the mobilization and start-up of projects and ensure proper hand-over of all project documents to Project Managers and other Project staff as soon as recruited. Support to Program Officer in ordering and updating public info materials. Support the office in communication, public relation matters as well as donor and government liaison by preparing and disseminating articles, project updates and relevant reports. Support the Program Officer, Head of Program and Head of Admin and Finance in any other matters as required.

Required Selection Criteria

Competencies  Excellent writing, conceptual, and analytical skills required. Knowledge of the political and economic context of Sudan is an advantage. Previous experience with project management, including reporting methods, strongly preferred. Advanced knowledge in the use of MS Office, especially MS Excel and other office equipment. Ability to work independently, handles multiple tasks, work under pressure and deliver assignments on time. Team player with excellent communication, coordination and personal interaction skills. Motivated, professional and ability to work in a stressful and difficult environment. Education/Experience/Language Secondary education. Specialized certification in Public Policy, Public Administration, Economics, Business Administration, Engineering or other relevant field. University degree is desirable. Minimum of 3 – 5 years of full-time relevant professional experience. Professional experience in an international organization and/or in post-conflict environments/developing countries. Experience with report writing, proposals drafting, monitoring and evaluation of projects. Written and oral fluency in English.

Submission of Applications

Qualified candidates may submit their application, including a letter of interest, complete Curriculum Vitae and an updated United Nations Personal History Form (P.11) (available on our website), to Mr. Koma Henry, Senior HR Assistant, behind ministry of physical infrastructure, Juba, Southern Sudan via e-mail to vacanciesSDOCNat@unops.org. Kindly indicate the vacancy number and the post title in the subject line when applying by email.

* Please note that this is a local post and is open to all nationals of the country of the duty station and to individuals who have a valid work permit.

Additional Considerations

• 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.
• UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a level below the advertised level of the post.

For more information on UNOPS, please visit the UNOPS website at www.unops.org.

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