Project Management Specialist at United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)

Functional Responsibilities:
More specifically, the duties of the Project Management Specialist include the following:
Process and procedure excellence

• Ensure that AFR is in full compliance with UNOPS rules, regulations and policies;
• Analyse HQ and regional business processes, and make recommendations to further align efficiency and effectiveness improvements of such processes, supporting high quality program delivery and needs of field operations.
• Support drafting and development of regional Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and guidelines in conformity with UNOPS rules and regulations; and (b) templates and training, supporting adequate application and compliance with updated corporate policies and procedures.
• Support implementation of updated corporate standards, tools and templates
• Provide operational support for missions and audits, conducting necessary preparation work prior to such missions and audits.

Reporting and Analysis

• Provide substantive research, analysis and reporting, including contribution to briefing materials and portfolio summary notes for management reports and for programme development needs;
• Analyse and report on the performance of country offices, via products such as monthly reports to the Regional Director, and make recommendations for improvements;
• Undertake regional performance monitoring;
• Prepare regular and ad-hoc management reports as needed;

Finance and Budgeting

• Organise the annual budgeting and target setting process for the Regional Office and Africa Region;
• Manage the investment funding portfolio throughout the process, from proposal submission to update reports to budget revisions to final closure;
• Analyse and report on budget expenditures and assist in advising the Regional Management team on budget status, ensuring that funds allocated is not exceeded or that additional funds are allocated when required;
• Manage budget revisions as required;
• Analyse project and programme financial reports;
• Manage AFR provisions, write offs, and project financial closures;
• Provide responses to queries on financial and administrative matters from HQ and AFR offices;

Coordination and monitoring support

• Support Quarterly Assurance and monitoring of the regional program portfolio and Quarterly Business Review (QBR) for monitoring of operational and process effectiveness and compliance.
• Contribute to the implementation and monitoring of the regional strategic plan, in collaboration with the AFR teams.
• Support the implementation of corporate and regional operational strategies, assist in the establishment of management targets and monitor achievement of results;
• Support AFR in the coordination of the activities of the Multi Country Office (MCO) / Country Office (CO) Teams and other networks and temporary thematic task forces that are necessary;
• Support the effective implementation of corporate initiatives to the AFR region and make recommendations for further improvements.
• Support the planning, coordination and monitoring of regional strategic initiatives, including Gender Diversity and Inclusion (GDI), Ethics, Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Sexual Harassment (PSEAH) and the regional People Survey Action Plan (PSAP).

Training and capacity building

• Support the RMOA and AFR Human Resource managers as focal point for training, learning, and development;
• Contribute to the development, monitoring and continuous improvement of the onboarding program for new AFR personnel, in collaboration with the AFR Human Resource managers and HQ.
• Support establishing a systematic approach for Learning and Development (L&D) for the region, including assessing business and personnel needs, conducting learning needs and capacity gap assessment, providing orientation on Learning and Development opportunities, and developing and facilitating a tailored training programme in close collaboration with UNOPS HQ teams and AFR offices.
• Organise, facilitate training and learning initiatives for personnel on areas of expertise.
• Support and provide training and internal consulting in support of new corporate initiatives, policy updates and roll-outs to AFR personnel, as required;
• Encourage routine and effective capacity building activities are conducted in order to build the long-term and sustainable capacity of personnel.

Knowledge management (KM)

• Support the region-wide Knowledge Management activities, in collaboration with the UNOPS Knowledge Management focal points in HQ, AFR offices and other regions.
• Contribute to the identification, documentation and sharing of best practices and lessons learned for knowledge building, promoting best practice and mainstreaming.
• Plan and elaborate knowledge-sharing/management needs assessments for AFR business units.
• Collaborates with relevant Communities of Practice to identify and share case studies, lessons learned, and best practices, and use for trainings, communication and mainstreaming.

Impact of Results

• The Project Management Specialist directly impacts on the achievement of regional results, enhancing intra-regional collaboration. This consequently reinforces the visibility and image of UNOPS as an effective service provider in project services and management and strengthens its competitive position as a partner of choice in sustainable development and project services.

Education/Experience/Language requirements:
Education

• An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Business Administration, Development Studies, International Relations or other related field is required. A first-level university with an additional 2 years of work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.
• PRINCE2 Practitioner Certification is highly desirable.

Experience

• A minimum 5 years of experience in supporting programmes, operations, or management at the national and preferably international levels, in a multicultural setting; relevant experience should also include knowledge of budgeting, data analysis, reporting, human resources, and procurement.
• Knowledge of Google Workspace, particularly Google Sheets, or equivalent is desirable
• Knowledge of UN/UNOPS’ rules, regulations, policies, tools, and systems is highly desirable.
• Experience working in the Africa region will be considered an advantage.

Language requirements

• Fluency in English (speaking, reading and writing) is required.