Job Description

Background Information

Background information – Cities Alliance (CA) 

Cities Alliance is a global partnership promoting the role of cities in poverty reduction and sustainable development. The Cities Alliance is hosted by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), with the Secretariat headquartered in Brussels. The Cities Alliance is a unique partnership with a diverse membership including – global organisations of local authorities, national governments, international non-governmental organisations, foundations, knowledge networks and multilateral organisations – which have come together to strengthen both impacts and coherence in urban development. Cities Alliance is a global leader, with a strong track record in grant making, that supports strategic city planning, slum upgrading strategies and national policies designed to make cities more inclusive and sustainable. Members promote longer-term and integrated work programmes, while actively promoting gender equality throughout all activities. 

Background information – UNOPS and ECR 

UNOPS supports the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to serve people in need by expanding the ability of the United Nations, governments and other partners to manage projects, infrastructure and procurement in a sustainable and efficient manner. Working in some of the world’s most challenging environments, our vision is to advance sustainable implementation practices, always satisfying or surpassing our partners’ expectations. With over 7,000 personnel spread across 80 countries, UNOPS offers its partners the logistical, technical and management knowledge they need, wherever they need it. A flexible structure and global reach allows quick responses to our partners' needs, while offering the benefits of economies of scale. 

Based in Geneva, the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECR) supports UNOPS offices throughout the region through: management, financial and programmatic oversight of global and country-specific portfolios, clusters and operations centres, including hosting services; fund and management advisory services; project implementation; procuring goods and services; and managing human resources.

ECR ensures that projects are executed to the highest standards, providing a shared knowledge base and ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are disseminated between business units and projects across the entire region.

ECR operates global portfolios from offices in Geneva, Brussels and New York, and country-specific programmes from its operations and project centres located in Eastern Europe and Central Asian countries. The Cities Alliance, which is based in Brussels, reports to UNOPS through ECR in Geneva, and implements programmes in Africa and other regions. 

Background information – job specific 

The Cities Alliance is preparing a multi-year engagement in Ethiopia with a focus on urban development and municipal finance in secondary cities. Against this background the Cities Alliance is seeking a highly motivated, experienced and skilled professional to manage the implementation of the project. The successful candidate will demonstrate excellent knowledge of the key developmental challenges confronting contemporary Ethiopia, as well as a deep understanding of urban development and management and municipal finance. In addition, the candidate will have experience in project implementation involving local communities across multiple dimensions and strong project management and relationship building skills. 

The Project Manager will report to the Head of Programmes and work under the guidance of the Principal Urban Advisor, both based in Brussels (Belgium). S/he will work in partnership with Cities Alliance members and partners in Addis Abbeba to drive the effective and efficient implementation of the project.

Job Requirements

Functional Responsibilities

1. Project Management  

• Prepare annual work plans with activities, performance targets, human resource allocations and budgets, ensuring alignment with the Cities Alliance goals and objectives; 
•  Manage all aspects of project implementation according to the projects’ grant agreements and annual work plan ensuring delivery of activities and outputs;
•  Recruit, manage and motivate a team of local and international personnel;
• Ensure that all project reporting is undertaken in accordance with the quality requirements of the donor.
•  Lead all project-related meetings and events, including but not limited to Steering Committee meetings and workshops.
• Liaise with the UNOPS Ethiopia Operational Hub as appropriate;
• Comply with UNOPS/UNDSS security procedures;
•  Support fiduciary management in line with UNOPS policies and procedures;
• Procurement of goods and services with assistance from the CA Secretariat – drafting TORs, contract management and ensuring service providers deliver on-time and to quality standards;
• Monitoring fiduciary risks and advising CA Secretariat of potential issues;
• Identifying solutions for operational and programmatic challenges and managing the implementation of solutions which ensure accountability, compliance and efficiency.
• Perform other related duties as assigned by the supervisor.

2. Monitoring and reporting

• Budgeting, reporting against budgets and using UNOPS ERP systems to track, monitor and produce reports;
• Ensure that all data is collected in accordance with the monitoring and evaluation plan.
•  Ensure the Projects' Steering Committee has a functioning Terms of Reference and meets regularly to assess deliverables, progress, risks and milestones;
• Provide reports to the Head of Programmes on through the bi-monthly reporting and on an ad hoc basis when requested

Provide reports – narrative and financial, to donor(s) as per signed project agreement(s)

3. Stakeholder engagement

• Represent the Cities Alliance and engage with a wide range of national, local government, international development, private sector and civil society actors;
• Support the Cities Alliance in engaging the International financial Institutions and private sector linking them to the activities planned in the programme with the view of promoting follow-up investment in the project identified during the programme planning processes;
• Develop a network of contacts and scope out potential opportunities for the project or other related CA activities in Ethiopia;4. . Gender mainstreaming
•  Ensure that gender considerations are actively promoted and adequately mainsteamed through production, implementation and monitoring of a gender mainstreaming strategy for the Programme.
• Ensure that the projects activities, outputs and indicators mainstream gender.

Promote a gender friendly institutional environment for the office in accordance with the Cities Alliance Gender Equality Strategy. Education

Advanced university degree in urban development, international development or environmental studies; economics; or related disciplines. 

A relevant combination of academic credentials and/or industry certifications and qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the university education. 

Certifciations

PRINCE2 Foundation or a similar foundation level project/programme management certification (i.e. PMP, PMI) is desired. The successful incumbent will be required to complete PRINCE2® Foundation within the first 6 months

Experience

• At least 5 years of progressive experience in project development and management, with focus on monitoring, reporting, development and coordination in either public or private sector organizations.
• At least 1 year of experience managing development programmes in Ethiopia is required
• Previous experience in managing projects funded by international bi- and multilateral development partners required.
•  Experience with USAID funded projects is considered an asset.
• Experience in managing, and motivating teams to deliver results on time, within budget, and against results-based performance indicators. Experience managing operational aspects of project management required – preferably in UN context.
• Familiarity with the work of the Cities Alliance and other multilateral, bilateral and civil society development partners in urban development is desirable.
• Experience of promoting constructive dialogue between diverse stakeholders and of communicating clearly and respectfully at the highest levels of government and with civil society. 

Languages 

Fluency in written and oral Amharic and English required.

 Travel 

Willingness to travel both within Ethiopia and internationally as required.

Contract type, level and duration 

1. Contract type INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTOR AGREEMENT (ICA)
2. Contract level: LOCAL ICA SPECIALIST -LICA10
3. Contract duration: 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 

Additional Consideration 

• 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.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• 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.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ONLY ETHIOPIAN NATIONALS OR THOSE WHO HAVE THE RIGHT TO LIVE AND WORK IN ETHIOPIA ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CONSIDERATION FOR THIS NATIONAL POSITION.

How to Apply

Please apply using the below link.

https://jobs.unops.org/Pages/ViewVacancy/VADetails.aspx?id=20379#7