Background:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

UN Women Nepal’s Strategic Note (SN) for the period 2023-27 lays out the agency’s unique role and comparative advantage in supporting national stakeholders in advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women in line with internationally agreed normative standards. The SN is aligned with and contributes to Nepal’s national priorities as described in Nepal’s Fifteen Plan, its gender equality commitments, the needs of women’s organisations and the UNSDCF 2023-27 with a commitment of leaving no one behind.

Under the co-supervision of the Deputy Country Representative, and Operations Manager; the Programme Support Management Officer will play a proactive role in the promotion of programmatic and operational oversight, providing support to improve overall efficiency of the programmatic and operational processes, as well as in project and programme development, implementation, and monitoring. Programme Support Management Officer works in close collaboration with programme and operations teams to ensure the effective planning, execution, monitoring and reporting of programmes and projects. Programme Support Management Officer will provide technical secretariat support for the projects that have funding mechanisms.

Key Functions and Accountabilities

Provide advisory support and guidance on project and programme management and manage the strategic alignment and quality assurance efforts.

• Support quality control for the effective project management and programme implementation, including programme partner management to ensure smooth workflow and processes for results-based management.
• Support alignment of project and programme budgets with logical framework matrices and work plans in support to results based budgeting and appropriate cost recovery.
• In coordination with respective Programme Managers/Officers, prepare annual project workplans and related sub-plans (procurement plan, quarterly plans if required, and others as necessary
• Support the project and programme teams for audit and monitoring implementation of audit recommendations.
• Provide technical advice on the corporate requirements and process of project quality assurance mechanisms at the project entry and implementation stages.

Strengthen capacities of programme and operations teams.

• Provide guidance on programme management and implementation procedures, including partner management.
• Provide targeted support to high-visibility, high-risk projects as required.
• Coordinate the organization of training for the office staff and partners on programme related issues such as financial and programme policies, including for peers/ colleagues in the COs in the region.

Provide management, operational, and Project and Programme implementation oversight and support.

• Systemically undertake monitoring of project and programme implementation and analyze financial situation on the portfolios and projects to ensure adherence to delivery rates and utilization of resources to meet agreed upon targets and results.
• Provide project and programme implementation advisory support, including partner management, when required.
• Facilitate effective information flow, communication and coordination across the office, between programmes, projects and operations, with other UN Women offices and units
• Support quality assurance for project documents and donor agreements prior to approval and signing, as needed.
• Support to review and update risk register, identify changes in the external environment and promptly propose necessary solutions/actions (ex. related to the planning and implementation of activities, need for new activities.)
• Provide accompaniment support on programme and financial management including on new business processes and systems including Quantum.
• Provide technical secretariat support for the projects that have funding mechanisms.
• Support the selection of the responsible partners for the projects that have funding mechanism, including in managing the pre-screening of applicants.
• Support the finalization and signing of partner agreements for the projects with funding mechanism.
• Provide capacity development support to responsible partners.

Support knowledge building efforts.

• Develop tools to increase efficiency in the work processes related to programme and operations.
• Support synthesis of lessons learnt and best practices related to programme management– a lessons learnt log can be used in this regard.
• Ensure regular exchange of information/experience with other projects, cross-learning and sharing results and good practices.

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

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting.
• Ability to lead business processes re-engineering, implementation of new systems (business side), and affect staff behavioral/attitudinal change.
• Ability to build strong relationships with clients; focuses on impact on results for the clients and responds positively to feedback.
• Ability to manage complexities.

Recruitment Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Business Administration, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political/Development Studies, or other relevant discipline is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree..
• PRINCE2® Practitioner and/or Project Management Professional (PMP®) and/or Managing Successful Programmes (MSP®) Practitioner certification is an asset.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in project and programme development, strategic planning, coordination support or change management is required.
• Development experience preferably focused on, or strongly involving in project management, programme support, and gender equality at national level is required.
• Experience in an international organization is required.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required.
• Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.
• Technical expertise in financial management, budget management, programme support is desirable.
• Prior experience in the UN System is desirable.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and Nepali is required.
• Working knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

UN Women is committed to achieving workforce diversity (in term of gender, nationality, minority groups, caste/ethnic groups, Person with Disability etc.) and have a policy to have a gender balance among staff at all levels. Qualified female candidates and candidates particularly from disadvantaged and socially excluded groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

Request for Disability-related Reasonable Accommodations: 

It is important for UN Women to create an accessible and inclusive workplace for everyone.  Reasonable accommodation will be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to be recruited and to perform essential job functions.  Should you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the selection and recruitment process, please direct your request and inquiries to hr.nepal@unwomen.org. A member of the HR team responsible for reasonable accommodation will contact you to confidentially discuss your needs.

This email will only be used for any disability-related accessibility requests and not for sending the application itself.

All applications will be treated with the highest confidentiality.

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements