Background Information - UNOPS

UNOPS – an operational arm of the United Nations – supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by successfully implementing its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian, and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve peace and sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management, and human resources.

Working with us

We are proud of our people. With a wealth of knowledge and skills in various disciplines – engineering, finance, human resources, ICT, leadership, project management, procurement, and more – they help tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time. Their work around the world supports progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

At UNOPS, we offer a range of short- and long-term opportunities in various environments and duty stations – from Denmark and Kenya to Mexico, Switzerland, Myanmar, Senegal, Uganda, and many more.

Diversity

With over 5,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,400 personnel recruited on behalf of our partners, spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced and diverse labor force — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs. We continually strive to maintain our gender-balanced workplace. We encourage qualified underrepresented groups as per UNOPS Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy to apply for our vacancies.

Background Information - Afghanistan

Afghanistan

With more than 20 years of experience in the country, UNOPS Afghanistan focuses on providing maximum support to the people of Afghanistan through the delivery of projects and services that improve the lives of people in need. The UNOPS Afghanistan Country Office (AFCO) serves as an organizational mechanism to deliver a range of projects for which UNOPS has been designated as the implementation agency. At present, UNOPS AFCO activities cover a range of sectors including humanitarian, basic human needs, cash for work, infrastructure, development, procurement and HR services.

The functional objective of UNOPS AFCO is to contribute to improving the lives of girls, boys, men and women living in Afghanistan. The aim of UNOPS AFCO is to provide efficient and cost-effective implementation services on behalf of all our partners to support the humanitarian response and development of the country. UNOPS AFCO’s mission is to exceed the expectations of all stakeholders in the delivery of AFCO services, at all times, in all places, in all circumstances, in order to improve the lives of Afghans in need.

 Background Information - Job-specific

Project specific

The Project for Community-led Climate Change Adaptation in Afghanistan aims to strengthen the resilience of communities by implementing community-led adaptation measures. Its overall objective is to empower people in target communities to have strengthened climate change and disaster resilience through two main components: constructing and rehabilitating small-scale infrastructure for climate change adaptation (e.g., check dams, river bank protection walls, irrigation canals), and strengthening community-based systems to mitigate the impacts of climate change and adverse climate events through training and capacity building.

Under the direct supervision of the Head of Programme, the Senior 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 Senior 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 Senior 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 Senior 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 Senior Project Manager will be based on the defined Success Criteria. 

The senior project manager for infrastructure projects will be managing project(s) which ultimate goal is to deliver infrastructure physical assets or technical outputs. Those infrastructures are diverse and range from check dams, river bank protection walls,irrigation systems. 

The senior project manager will be managing project(s) which ultimate goal is to provide implementation services that contribute to the achievement of partners’ goals through a variety of projects quite diverse which can range from management of grants, development of strategies to delivery of training or providing technical assistance. 

While the complexity of those 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 senior 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.

 Functional Responsibilities

Summary of functions:Project Delivery and Performance

1. Procedures 

2. Monitoring and reporting

3. Stakeholder engagement

4. Quality assurance

5. Knowledge management and innovation 

6. Personnel management
    

1. Project Delivery and Performance 
 

• Develop, complete and update implementation plan(s)

• Implement the approved plan (including the establishment of milestones) within tolerances set by the Project Board. 

• Embed sustainability dimensions including social and gender inclusion, environmental and economic aspects into project life span. 

• Manage the production of the required outputs, taking responsibility for overall progress and use of resources and initiating corrective action where necessary.

• Ensure that quality of work packages and deliverables complies with the quality requirements defined in the Implementation Plan.

• Liaise with any external suppliers or account managers

• Manage acceptance and delivery of work packages

• Monitor project progress ensuring that work packages are being executed properly

• Control project and work packages changes

• Identify, and anticipate in a timely manner, potential risks and issues and advises mitigating measures to senior management/ Project Board so that maximum benefit to partner(s) and other stakeholders is achieved

• Identify and report to the supervisor potential business opportunities for UNOPS

2. Procedures 

• Comply with all organizational policy and specifically the Project Management Manual

• Prepare/adapt all relevant plans for approval by the Project Board.

• Manage the reporting obligations defined in the Legal Agreement(s) and in the Implementation Plan

• Ensure maintenance of the project files and lessons learned are recorded

• 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, allocable charges, and related corporate charges as they apply to the project

• Understand the unique structures of the UN and budget appropriately for personnel

• Manage expenditures against the budget (based on accurate financial reports)

• Where the senior 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.

• For project closure purposes, provide a formal handover of the project to the closure manager

• Support project audit activities, including planning, preparation and coordination during the audits and follow up on audit observations/recommendations

3. Monitoring and reporting

• Prepare and issue regular project and/or financial reports in accordance with Partner and UNOPS requirements for reporting.

• Regularly review project status, evaluating performance criteria (scope, cost, schedule and quality).

• Maintain diaries and progress reports as required by the organization’s standard procedures.

• Provide routine oversight and analysis of delivery data within the dashboard system.

• Ensure all project team members track and regularly update milestones and targets for the duration of projects' life span

4. Stakeholder engagement

• Develop stakeholder profiles and facilitate the formulation of stakeholder engagement strategies

• Establish solid working relationships with the Project Board (Executive, Senior Users and Senior Suppliers), client and key stakeholders

• Enable the formulation of project communications plans. Coordinate internal project communications. Monitor the effectiveness of project communications

• Coordinate stakeholder engagement and communication, ensuring effective timing and interdependency management of communications. Ensure stakeholders are aware of project activities, progress, exceptions and are in a position to accept handover outputs

5. Quality assurance

• Work with internal stakeholders to ensure projects comply with audit requirements

• Work with procurement/purchasing staff to ensure effective interface with suppliers' quality systems

• Coordinate quality reviews of project documents and deliverables

• Provide quality control for management outputs (project documents, reports, etc.)

6. Knowledge management and innovation

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

• Actively interact with other Project Managers and the wider PM community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices 

• Contribute to the oversight of lessons learned procedures, ensuring that lessons learnt are shared in a timely and appropriate manner. Participate in the relevant Communities of Practice

• Research and logging of lessons learned throughout the project life span.

• Provide feedback to Practice Groups on policy, supporting guidance with an aim towards continuous improvement of UNOPS policies

7. Personnel Management

• Lead and motivate the project management team

• Ensure that behavioural expectations of team members are established 

• Ensure that performance reviews are conducted fairly, accurately and timely

• Select, recruit and train team as required and taking into account gender parity and diversity objectives.

• Ensure safety and security for all project personnel and comply with UNDSS standards

 Education/Experience/Language requirements

Education:
 

• Advanced University Degree (Master's Degree or equivalent) in a relevant discipline (International Relations, Development Studies, Project Management, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Water Engineering, etc) is required.

• A Bachelor’s degree in combination with an additional two (2) years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the education requirements outlined above.

Certification:
 

• Certification in Project Management (PRINCE2, PMI, etc.) is an asset.

• Complete the UNOPS PMM, UNOPS PMM Infra perspective and oneUNOPS Projects trainings within (3) months from joining UNOPS.

• Professional certification from an accredited institution ( PEng., CEng. , etc) is an asset

Experience:
 

Infrastructure Senior Project Managers:

• A minimum of seven (7) years' experience on implementing complex projects/programmes is required.

• A minimum of seven (7) years' experience in Implementing and managing infrastructure projects check dams, river bank protection walls, irrigation canals) is an asset.

• Experience working in JICA or Japan funded projects  is an asset.

• Technical acumen, with the ability to understand and speak to technical project plans and documents.

• Experience in planning and applying Health & Safety procedures is an asset.

• Experience in developing Procurement strategies is an asset.

• Proficient in MS Project and Schedule Analysis is an asset.

• Experience in developing countries or post conflict environments is an asset.

• Experience in writing reports, performing data analysis, and writing technical documents is an asset.

• Knowledge of quality assurance methodologies is an asset.

• Experience in risk management is an asset.

• Experience working in multicultural teams is an asset.

• Experience in managing teams is an asset.

• Strong analytical capabilities with the ability to manage tasks associated with the development of projects.

• Strong Problem Solving Skills.

Language Requirements:
 

• Full working knowledge of English  is essential.

• Knowledge of another official UNOPS language is an asset.

Please click on the below link for actual vacancy announcement to see the complete details and submission guideline as this is only an attempt for attracting female applicants for gender parity in organization. Please make sure you fill your profile/application properly with all relevant details in order to be considered for the next stage of recruitment/selection.

https://jobs.unops.org/pages/viewvacancy/VADetails.aspx?id=30804