OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

Under the overall authority of the Director of UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia and the direct supervision of the Education Programme Specialist, the incumbent will contribute to implementations of education programmes/projects, administrative works, partnership building and resource mobilization efforts by Education Unit of UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia based in Beijing, China, covering the new Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Office and the three other regional office countries being Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Japan, and the Republic of Korea (ROK).

Description of Responsibilities:

1. Support the Education Unit to ensure effective implementation and achievement ofresults focusing on achievement of the following results:
o Provides full range of management and implementation assistance at all phases ofthe Unit’s programmes’ field activities, typically, a large and highly complexcomponent of the education initiatives, seeking guidance only in exceptionalcircumstances.
o Coordinate administrative aspect of planning and preparation work for the Unit’sprogrammes’ field activities, typically, for monitoring status of project proposals andreceipt of relevant documentation for review and approval.
o Provide high quality analysis and draft presentation of information/data and relatedtopics; highlight noteworthy issues/trends for consideration by appropriate parties.
o Provide full range of effective implementation of project standard operatingprocedure assistances including effective monitoring of field activities, and timelyproduction of results-oriented draft progress reports in line with UNESCO’sregulations.

2. Provide effective support to the planning, budgeting, and implementation of the Unit’sprogrammes and the relevant field activities including:

o Preparation and analysis of budget proposals; funding source, prepares monitoringchecklists, provides interpretation of budget guidelines; reviews and coordinatessubmissions of work proposal and budget estimates, ensuring that requisiteinformation is included and justified in terms of proposed activities; proposeadjustments as necessary; prepares reports and ensures that outputs/services areproperly categorized.
o Provision of guidance to the executing agencies on routine implementation ofprojects, tracking use of financial resources
o Effective monitoring of budgetary commitments, including verification of chargesand obligation documents for all financial transactions; lead periodic budgetrevisions and ensures appropriate resource allocations; finalize reconciliation ofaccounts with amended budget; evaluate strands of financial implementation andmakes necessary recommendations to line manager.
o Timely preparation of quarterly project reports, in line with the standard templateand presents it to the project assurance team on a timely manner.
o Analysis of the situation a large size – complex project, identification of operationaland financial problems, development of solutions.

3. Provides administrative support to the Unit’s programmes and relevant field activitiesfocusing on achievement of the following results:
o Provision of guidance to implementing partner and serves as focal point forcoordination, monitoring and expedition of implementation activities, involvingextensive liaison with a diverse organizational units to initiate requests, preparestandard terms of reference against programmes’ objectives, obtain necessaryclearances, process and follow-up on administrative actions and resolve issuesrelated to project implementation, e.g. recruitment and appointment of personnel,travel arrangements, training/study tours, authorization of payments, disbursementof funds, procurement of equipment and services, security compliance, etc.
o Serves as focal point for coordination, monitoring and expedition of implementationactivities and participates in evaluation; monitor implementation at all stages toensure work is proceeding according to established plans, including analyzingimplementation difficulties and initiating remedial action; liaises with diverseorganizational units to initiate requests; prepares standard terms of referenceagainst project objectives, obtains necessary clearances, processes and follows-upon administrative actions and resolves issues related to project implementation.
o Provision of secretariat services to working groups, ad hoc tasks forces, etc.; draftsand circulates agenda notes to members/participants; compiles backgrounddocumentation; drafts minutes of the meeting; monitors follow-up actions, etc.

4. Support strategic partnerships and support to the implementation of resourcemobilization including:
o Establishment and monitoring of updated internal databases relevant to the scopeof field activities.
o Preparation of design of periodic and ad hoc reports, statistical tables, graphiccontent, and other background materials/notes to facilitate resource mobilization.
o Development of drafts of concept notes/proposals in communication with thepotential partners in coordination with the partnership-related office staff with a deepen stakeholder knowledge and buy-in to the developing drafts for the resource mobilization-related processes/works.

5. Any other tasks
o Conduct travel if deemed necessary by UNESCO in order to perform the workdescribed above and shall be paid based on the travel cost calculation inaccordance with UNESCO’s travel regulation to cover all travel related expenses,including daily subsistence allowance, tickets for the authorized travel and terminalexpenses under the project budget.
o Perform other tasks deemed necessary within the mandate of UNESCO andactivities of Education Unit as maybe requested by the Director Representativeand/or the Head of Education Unit, UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia inBeijing, China.

COMPETENCIES (Core / Managerial)

–

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION
• Advanced University degree (master’s level and above) in communications,business administration, public relations management, public information,development studies, international relations, project management, marketing orother fields relevant to partnership building.

WORK EXPERIENCE
• Minimum 8-10 years of proven work experience in education/socialscience/partnership building-related.
• Some working experience within the United Nations or other internationalor development organisations is preferred.
• Experience in writing materials for reports, publications, partnership buildingdocuments including policies, concept notes, project proposals, partnershipreports and promotional material.

SKILLS/COMPETENCIES
• Excellent interpersonal skills for teamwork in a multicultural setting and ability tointeract confidently and effectively with different stakeholders inside and outsidethe Organisation.
• Excellent ability to communicate with stakeholders to convey tailored messagesand translate and articulate organizational priorities to potential private partners.This includes strong written, oral, and presentation communication skills.
• Excellent MS Office suite knowledge and analytical skills including the ability toextract, analyze and synthesize credible information from electronic knowledgesystems to support decision-making and partnerships planning.
• Excellent knowledge of rules and regulations in developing and managing extra-budgetary projects within the United Nations or other international ordevelopment organization is preferred.
• Ability to work on performance-based targets for building new partnerships.

• Capacity to work in a team as well as independently.

LANGUAGES
• Excellent knowledge of English and Mandarin (oral and written)

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

BENEFITS AND ENTITLEMENTS