The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works in about 170 countries and territories, including Jordan since 1976, helping to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and exclusion, and build resilience so countries can sustain progress. As the UN’s development agency, UNDP plays a critical role in helping countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The Sustainable Green Pathways & Inclusive Growth Portfolio integrates the solutions for environment protection, climate change mitigation, disaster risk reduction, economic green growth, innovation and gender mainstreaming throughout all of its programs and projects.

This project (Catalyzing a transformative model for circularity through 9R`s in Aqaba) will be implemented in Aqaba, mainly within Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA). The City of Aqaba, with a population of approx. 218,000 inhabitants, lacks a proper solid waste management system, whereby the current dumpsite has no environmental controls, leaving the soil, air, and inhabitants of the surrounding area exposed to pollution and health risks, which creates environmental and health hazards. The current dumpsite, located on land owned by Aqaba Development Company (ADC), is located approximately 12 km south-southeast of Aqaba city (covering an area of around 120 thousand m²) and receives approximately 65,000 tonnes per year of municipal solid waste, collected by private companies. According to the rapid assessment conducted by UNDP, not more than 2% of total generated waste is recycled, mainly by the informal sector.

There is a lack of systematic waste sorting and recycling in Jordan and in Aqaba as well. With the growing population and the lack of holistic approach of implementing the 9Rs of waste management, waste volumes are set to increase. Some of the main issues related to waste management systems and operations include the lack of effective waste collection infrastructures, especially with respect to source separation, waste treatment facilities, proper equipment and capacity building. As a result, a significant amount of valuable resources remain unused, with great economic and environmental costs for the country. Based on the above facts and status in Jordan as well as in Aqaba, the project is formulated as a response to the big need to shift towards a lifecycle-oriented circular economy, which aims to incorporate all residual waste in a closed-loop system as to bring the waste output close to zero. By adopting the principles of circular economy, waste and pollution are eliminated, while circulating products and materials and leading towards regenerating nature.

The Project Assistant is to support the Catalyzing a transformative model for circularity through 9R`s in Aqaba project through (but not limited to) overseeing, reporting and monitoring of the budget controls and the expenditure of funds, provide inputs for relevant plans, as per project document and workplans, as well as supporting the project through full administrative support for its operations, and liaising with the operations units at UNDP.

Under the direct supervision of the Projects Coordination Manager, the Project Assistant is expected to perform the following duties:

Provide administrative support for the project.  

• Support project through efficiently using UNDP’s online interface (Intranet, OneDrive, UNALL, Quantum, Quantum+…etc.) and submitting requests, issuing reports and comparing/validating records.
• Support in development and follow up on hiring plans, procurement plans and activities, logistics and project assets management.
• Support reporting and M&E according to UNDP projects’ reporting mechanisms.
• Liaising with human resources and ICT units and the UNDSS for project staff.
• Support in preparing for project audits.
• Coordinating logistics for meetings/events and travel and any other relevant task.
• Support in country-level coordination, to facilitate coherent on the ground coordination and collaboration.
• Calendar keeping and appointment scheduling.
• Write correspondence with stakeholders and vendors and internal memos (i.e. note to file).
• Maintain filing systems and updating records and bookkeeping tasks (knowledge management).

Provide technical support for the project implementation.

• Prepare structured progress reporting reports.
• Participate in meetings and coordinate activities.
• Forecast and refine/review reports.
• Monitor compliance of the implementation of the activities in reference to plans, with flagging up potential risks and issues to the project team.
• Support developing the work plan and be familiar with, as part of the project team.
• Support the project manager and communications officer in ensuring the visibility of the UNDP and its partners.

Provide financial Support for the project implementation.

• Support in budget planning and annual workplans (AWPs) development.
• Apply budget controls and review expenses compared to project documents, AWPs and available resources.
• Bookkeeping for expenses (offline, shadow reports).
• Well versed in budgeting, inventory maintenance, time management and task prioritization.
• Ensure payments are processed in a timely manner, and the proper use of FACE Forms.
• Ensure vendor supplies are entered in the financial system.
• Solid knowhow of general office procedures and excellent organizational skills.
• Laise with the finance unit for payments processing, project advance payments, Claims (i.e. F10).
• Monitor and report financial and fiscal management compliance with the UNDP regulations, project document and donor’s requirements, and support in project financial reports development.

Support knowledge building and knowledge sharing relevant to the assigned project

• Participate in training on internal procedures for the project staff and provide support to the organization of training and other capacity building activities as needed.
• Make sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

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

Institutional Arrangement

The incumbent will be working under the direct supervision of the Projects’ Coordination Manager and in direct collaboration between the Green Pathways and Inclusive Growth team.

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Technical and Cross-Functional Competencies :

Partnership management       

• Relationship management : Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust and mutual understanding.

Business Management            

• Communication
  • Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience.
  • Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.

Finance             

• Accounting (General): Knowledge of accounting concepts, principles, frameworks, standards, regulations, policies and trends, and ability to apply this to strategic and/or practical solutions.
• Budget Management: Ability to support budgetary aspects of work planning process, drawing and management of team budget.
• Financial reporting and analysis:
  • Understands changes in regulatory, legal and ethical frameworks and standards for financial reporting in the public sector.
  • Ability to extract, evaluate financial data, derive relevant findings and present them in a meaningful and coherent manner to facilitate effective decision making and performance monitoring.
  • Understands the benefits of integrated reporting, including non-financial resources such as human, social and intellectual capital, and environmental and governance performance
• Management and Cost accounting
  • Ability to produce periodic qualitative and quantitative performance reports to facilitate effective decision making and performance monitoring.
  • Ability to use a range of costing techniques and analyse cost related data to provide quantitative information to the users of reports.

Administration & Operations 

• Procurement concepts, processes, and management : Knowledge of operations management, finance, HR, administrative and procurement processes and management.

• Completion of Secondary Education is required. Or
• University degree in Finance or accounting, Business Administration, Public Administration or any related field will be given due consideration, but is not a requirement.

Min. years of relevant work experience          

• Minimum of five (5) years (with Secondary education) or two (2) years (with a Bachelor’s degree) of progressive relevant experience in providing administrative and finance management assistance support or related field is required.

Required skills 

• Solid overall computer literacy, including proficiency in various MS Office applications (Excel, Word, PowerPoint etc.) and email/internet is required.
• Previous experience in project administration is required.
• Experience in budgeting activities and preparing workplans is required.

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section

• Previous experience with UNDP or UN system is desired.
• Demonstrated experience in reviewing and editing documents and ability to produce meeting reports identifying key actions.is desired.
• Experience/Knowledge of administrative and financial management, cost estimation, budget analysis is desired.
• Experience in projects relevant to waste management, circular economy, circularity or relevant fields is desired.
• Excellent data analysis and reporting skills/experience is desired.

Required Language(s)               

• Fluency in written and oral English and Arabic communication skills is required.