Assistant Resident Representative (Nationals only)

undp - Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea | 2024-09-03 03:50:28

Background 
 
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP:  we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories. 
 
UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
 
UNDP Papua New Guinea’s recently approved Country Programme Document (CPD) 2024-2028 sets out four Outcomes, which correspond to key shifts which will be required for acceleration towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda in PNG, and to which UNDP will contribute through its support over the next five years.
 
Under the supervision of the Deputy Resident Representative and the overall guidance of the Resident Representative, the Assistant Resident Representative will manage UNDP’s work contributing to the following Outcomes: 
  • Outcome 3 on Sustainable economic transformation. 
  • Outcome 4 on Environment and Climate Change. 

The Assistant Resident Representative will oversee the implementation of the programme under those Outcomes. S/he will lead the team in strategic planning, identifying new programming opportunities while ensuring consistency with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) and UNDP CPD priorities. The Assistant Resident Representative will also provide innovative responses to new and emerging challenges and opportunities.

The Assistant Resident Representative supervises the Environment and Climate Change Unit. S/he works in close collaboration with the other teams and units in the Country Office. Externally, s/he partners closely with Government officials, counterparts in other UN agencies, UNDP HQ and Regional Hub colleagues, technical advisors and experts, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors and civil society to successfully implement the CPD. S/he serves as the focal point responsible for providing strategic guidance, promoting rights-based programming and implementing relevant initiatives.

UNDP also plays a critical role in leading joint environment and climate change initiatives within the broader UN Country Team, and the Assistant Resident Representative will act as Secretary to the Environment and Climate Change Outcome Group under the UNSCDF which is co-chaired by UNDP.

The function requires strong political sensitivity and diplomatic skills, as well the aptitude to manage complex processes with strong relationship-building and problem-solving abilities. As a member of the Senior Management Team, the incumbent will also actively participate in Country Office senior leadership forums and support the implementation of shared Office priorities in programme, operations, security and management areas. 

The key results have an impact on the overall success of the country programme and reaching the UNSDCF/ CPD goals, particularly on:

  • Seizing the strategic opportunities for UNDP programming/support and partnership opportunities with national and development partners.
  • Translating such strategic opportunities into the innovative design, operation and programming of activities.
  • Strategic positioning of UNDP and its programme assistance and partnership. 
  • Raising the profile and credibility of UNDP in the area of environment, nature, climate change, energy, circular economy, governance, gender equality and peacebuilding.
  • Maintaining the relevance and high quality of UNDP programme assistance, policy advocacy and advisory services. 
  • Creating strategic partnerships and reaching resource mobilization targets.

Position Purpose

Under the direct supervision of DRR, the Assistant Resident Representative will play a key role in delivering a range of outcomes for the Country Office. S/he will assume senior representational responsibilities, oversee the delivery of key programme results, and the mobilization of new resources in the area of resilience, climate change and environment, energy, nature, including the development /operationalization of new climate and nature financing, green economic growth resilient recovery from natural and climate induced disasters. S/he will manage existing partnerships and seek to build new partnerships both within the UN development system and among external development partners, Government, civil society and the private sector. The Assistant Resident Representative will play a key role in guiding strategic thinking over a number of programmatic areas based on comprehensive political, conflict and socio-economic analysis to shape national policy settings, improve programme impact and assist the Government of Papua New Guinea meet its own national aspirations and the SDGs.   

UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.
 

Duties and Responsibilities

Spearhead the strategic direction, coordination and management of UNDP’s resilience, environmental sustainability and crisis management including joint UN programmes with UNDP’s participation and other collaborative UN initiatives:

  • Leads the analysis of the political, social and economic situation in the country and collaborative preparation/revision of the UNSDCF, UNDP`s Country Programme Document (CPD), annual business planning, dialogue compact, integrated work plan and ROAR project documents, their work plans, and other programmatic documents, guided by the global UNDP Strategic Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals. ;
  • (As a member of the CO management team), leads identification and analysis of strategic programmatic areas of cooperation based on strategic goals of UNDP, country needs and donors’ priorities.  Operationalization of the UNSDPF and CPD in collaboration with key national partners, UN agencies and development partners; identifies and leads engagement on possibilities for UN joint programming; analysis and presentation of UNDP policies and implementation strategies;
  • Development of the country office programme portfolio in the respective areas and participation in response to national priorities, UN/DP programming frameworks, including corporate Strategic Plan;
  • Determination of programmatic areas of cooperation and contribution to the definition of related policy research, advocacy, and advisory work, based on strategic goals of UN/DP, country needs and partner priorities.
  • Working closely with concerned government agencies, UNDP HQs and Regional Hub on the related issues; disseminating policy decisions and responding accordingly.
  • Keep updated about key global and national political and socio-economic issues, assess their implications on PNG as well as UNDP’s programme and advise the team and Senior Management Team on planning, policy, and resource mobilization interventions.
  • Leads the design of the climate and biodiversity finance strategy, as well as a comprehensive landscape and key stakeholder analysis to determine implementation activities existing in climate and biodiversity financing, and the key stakeholders involved.

Ensures accountability and effective management of the environment and climate change unit and supervision of the relevant teams focusing on quality control and effective oversight of the full cycle of programming from formulation to implementation achieving the following results:

  • Develop the unit’s mandate, plan, and strategies in line with the UNDP Strategic Plan, CPD and priorities of the government.
  • Strategic oversight of portfolio programmes/projects and compliance with corporate programming, quality assurance, and reporting requirements. Specific oversight on the vertical funds (VF) projects to ensure compliance with their programming requirements, including planning, monitoring, evaluations and quality assurance. Organize annual work planning and quarterly progress reviews and ensure adequate monitoring and quality assurance.
  • Serve as the primary interlocutor between the portfolio and the Government counterpart officials and institutions (public and private) partnering on the relevant thematic areas.
  • Leading and providing strategic oversight of planning, budgeting, implementing and monitoring of the programme, tracking use of financial resources in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations.
  • Ensures that women empowerment and gender mainstreaming is integrated and applied in all programmes/projects from the design to implementation, including planning and budgeting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, as well as reporting in line with and using the corporate gender equality commitments, tools and strategies.
  • Take a leadership role in coordinating with other portfolios and Operations Team to ensure complementarity/harmonization with the activities and plans;
  • In support of Senior Management, play a lead role to ensure that UNDP has system, policies and means of resources for responding to crisis and disasters;
  • Oversee and ensure maintenance of risks and issues logs of each programme/project within the portfolio, manage and mitigate the risks and issues appropriately, and raise them to senior management as required
  • Effective application of RBM tools: establishment of management targets and monitoring the achievement of results agreed in COBP; translating UNDP priorities into high-quality programmatic interventions; coordination of programme implementation with implementing partners;
  • Performing the function of Manager Level 2 in Quantum, as well as other roles in the CO Internal Control Framework (ICF) based on delegated authority from CO management; Follow up on audit recommendations and report all exceptions in a timely manner;
  • Coordinate with the CO Communications and Reporting unit to ensure proper visibility of the activities and timely reporting to donors.
  • Ensuring that a system is in place to meet all external and internal reporting requirements and tasks are accordingly delegated and monitored to achieve high quality.
  • Follow up on all review and audit recommendations including timely reporting of all exceptions.
  • Lead implementation of UNDP’s programme standards and strategies and policies i.e. Gender equality, Digital strategies, resilience guidelines and all signature solutions.

Establishes and maintains strategic partnerships and leads  the resource mobilization in cooperation with the CO Senior Management and other programme units focusing on achievement of the following results:

  • Ensure that UNDP’s thought leadership is recognized, and the government is supported with high-quality and demand-driven policy advice.
  • Leads deployment of partnership strategies and related actions with a focus on programme portfolio development and the identification of sustainable and predictable funding mechanisms for the implementation of the country programme, including but not limited to GCF, GEF and other sources of Vertical Funds. Generation of a predictable, multi-year pipeline of non-core resources contributing to sustaining UNDP’s portfolio; and support resource mobilization efforts under the direction of the RR, DRR with a focus on financing the CPD and UNDP’s contribution to the UNSDPF
  • Strong partnership with national and international partners (government institutions, bilateral and multilateral donors, IFIs, vertical funds, private sector, civil society), contributing to raising the profile and credibility of UN/DP in the related areas;
  • Ensuring the delivery  against key partnership commitments and demonstrating UNDP’s added value, and mainstreaming  active communication of UNDP’s results within the portfolio’s work;
  • Building synergy with the UN agencies, especially in the implementation of the UNSDCF and through UN joint programming, resource mobilization, and policy advocacy mechanisms; Active representation of UN/DP and substantive participation in relevant fora and thematic groups involving government, private sector, civil society and development partners.
  • Analysis and research of information on donors, preparation of substantive briefs on possible programmatic areas of cooperation and common interest, identification of opportunities for cost-sharing based on strategic goals of UNDP, country needs and partners’ priorities. 

Leads  provision of top-quality advisory services and facilitation of knowledge building and management, focusing on achievement of the following results:

  • Provides thought leadership and identifies strategic policy and programme issues in close collaboration with national partners leading to the formulation of substantive policy advice and programming. 
  • Coordinates and supports  of development institutions working towards  addressing national development priorities  in collaboration with the government and other strategic partners;
  • Translates evaluation findings, real-time monitoring data, and applied learning to formulate adaptations in UNDP’s programme / project and policy advisory work.
  • Ensures that gender is mainstreamed in environment and climate change programme related documents such as: technical briefs, analytical reports, assessments, communication strategy, terms of references, call for proposals, requests for proposals etc.
  • Establishment of advocacy networks and platforms at the national level and linked to international networks focusing on executing relevant, high-impact advocacy campaigns with key partners;
  • Maintains effective network with development partners and Government at the national level and sub-national level and where necessary links up with the corporate Global Policy Network of UNDP and other international actors.
  • Leads the implementation of awareness building and advocacy around UN/UNDP events and observances related to environmental conventions on climate change (UNFCCC), Biodiversity (CBD) Desertification (UNCCD) and chemical conventions.
  • Ensures capacity building of national counterparts for effective management and compliance with funding partner’s requirements including those of vertical funds.
  • Organization of necessary trainings for the unit staff and project personnel in required areas.
  • Contributes proactively to knowledge networks and communities of practice regionally and globally.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: Environment and Climate Change team leader

  • Providing high-quality guidance and supervision to the UNDP CO and Project Staff in the portfolio and to UNDP technical advisory staff embedded within government offices.
  • Ensure  Performance Development Goals (PMD) of the staff meet organizational expectations and behavior – and their learning targets are set and supported.
  • Ensure that responsibilities are assigned among the team so that all projects within the portfolio are updated regularly.
  • Ensure that team has sufficient capacity to deliver the strategy and work plan including achieved through efficiency gain.
  • Leads development and nurturing of an empowering work environment in the unit, providing guidance and supporting unit members to deliver at their optimum level.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Competencies

Core Competencies

  • Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact 
  • Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems 
  • Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
  • Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands 
  • Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
  • Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
  • Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

People Management 

  • UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.

Cross-Functional and Technical competencies. 

  • Business management - Portfolio management
    • Ability to select, prioritize and control the organization’s programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity; ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimizing return on investment.
    • Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need.
    • Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.
    • Direction & Strategy
  • System Thinking 
    • Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system
  • 2030 Agenda: Planet - Environment 
    • Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation 
  • 2030 Agenda: People - Gender
    • Gender mainstreaming
  • Partnerships management - Resource Mobilisation
    • Ability to identify funding sources, match funding needs programmes/projects/initiatives with funding opportunities and establish a plan to meet funding requirements.
  • Strategic engagement
    • Ability to capture and sustain attention, interest and agreement of high-level, influential policy and decision makers and secure their buy-in of high-level vision and objectives.
Required Skills and Experience 
 
Education:
  • Advanced University Degree (Master’s Degree or equivalent) in Environmental Sciences, Political Sciences, Public Administration, Development Economics, or a related field is required, or
  • First-level university degree (Bachelor´s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with additional 2 years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of Master´s degree.
Experience:
  • Minimum 7 years (with Master’s degree) or 9 years (with Bachelor’s Degree) of technical expertise in the design, implementation, and overseeing development programmes/projects in the area of resilience, environment, nature, climate change, and energy or related SDG areas is required. 
  • At least 5 years of experience in leading and managing teams is required. 
  • Proven experience and knowledge about global and national architecture and processes on climate change, disaster management, biodiversity conservation; environmental sustainability; and global practices in those areas is highly desirable.
  • Demonstrated experience in providing policy advice to the Governments and support to the development of strategic policies is required.
  • Demonstrated experience on climate and environment policies and Governance: Understanding of international, national, and local climate change, energy and environment’s frameworks/treaties, policies, regulations is an asset; 
  • Strong experience in developing and management of development projects is desirable. 
  • Experience with working in a multicultural environment international or regional organizations or United Nations is an asset.
  • Experience in building partnerships and resource mobilization through different funding sources is an asset.
  • Experience in the use of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc), database packages, and web-based management systems such as ERP is required. 

Language:

  • Fluency in English and Tok Pisin is required 
Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period. 
 
Disclaimer 
 
Applicant information about UNDP rosters 
 
Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements. 
 
Non-discrimination
 
UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.  
 
UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
 
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