Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Head of Field Office, the Programme Quality Support Officer will support the Head of Field Office. The incumbent will be responsible for representing UNDP in the region, building partnerships with UN Agencies, Civil Society Government of Nepal and Community based organizations. The incumbent will also support programmatic synergies between UNDP projects in the region, with a focus to ensuring efficiency and effectiveness by utilizing UNDP’s Quality Assurance principles. When needed the incumbent will be responsible for the provision of support services to UNDP Country Office and regional projects.

Representation and Partnership building.

• Support the Head of Field Office to identify and build partnerships with development actors, government officials, civil society and stakeholders in the regional and local level;
• Support the Head of Field Office to maintain coordination and collaboration of activities among partner agencies;
• Facilitate sharing of relevant data between UNDP and other development partners;
• Support the Head of Field Office to liaise as necessary with government and other UN agencies and development partners at the regional and local level to facilitate implementation of the UNDP Country Programme and projects;
• Promote visibility of UNDP activities at the regional and local level;
• Assist UNDP Country Office in problem-solving at the regional and local level.
• Support the Head of Field Office to participate in UNDP annual planning and review processes;
• Share information, experiences and best practices among partners and other relevant stakeholders;
• Ensure practical implementations issues and matters of concern are raised with the district authorities to ensure regional projects and partners have conducive environment to implement projects;
• Support the dissemination, advocacy and awareness of SDGs within the region.

Support UNDP projects to promote programmatic synergies:

• Support overall coordination of UNDP regional projects and follow up on areas for integration and synergy;
• Support and maintain lines of communication and coordination between regional UNDP projects, to ensure cost efficiency, maximize results and foster a continual learning environment;
• Coordinate with other UN agencies to promote joint UN efforts and raise awareness of shared progress towards SGD goals;
• Coordinate with government partners to ensure ownership of projects and support advocating for mobilization of government resources to scale up successful UNDP models.

Quality Assurance of UNDP projects:

• Under the supervision of the Head of Field Office organize the collection of data from beneficiaries, focusing on change bought about by development initiatives of UNDP;
• Under the supervision of the Head of Field Office support the verification of project outputs;
• Ensure integration of cross-cutting issues such as Gender Equality and Social Inclusion, accessibility, environment, disaster risk reduction, voice and participation of beneficiaries and following the principles of Do No Harm into project planning, implementation and results;
• Follow up on quality assurance recommendations to ensure projects are following best practice;
• Facilitate the collection and alignment of high quality data for country office from projects in area, including but not limited to, the creation and maintenance of real-time data system accessible by UNDP country office staff;
• Administer and collate data and findings for annual country office quality assurance cycle for all projects in the region.

Service provision for UNDP projects and Country Office:

• Support the country office and Head of Field Office to gather relevant socioeconomic and political data and analysis for project and programme planning, project review and continual evaluation of ongoing projects;
• Support the facilitation of field visits by UNDP Country Office staff, donors, media and others when requested;
• Compile and disseminate good practice and lessons learnt from projects in region with country office;
• Facilitate and conduct the compilation of data for communications and gender team’s country office teams as requested;
• Support the country office programme units to coordinate and ensure best practice with projects in region;
• Conduct ‘third party’ monitoring of project activities at the request of projects and/or country office staff, providing feedback for improvement.

Field Office functionality:

• Support the Head of Field Office to manage day to day administration and financial activities of field office;
• Support the Head of Field Office to Ensure fiduciary accountability of the field office;
• Handle petty cash in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations
• Ensure proper use, management, maintenance and record keeping of assets and equipment;
• Follow all safety measures as prescribed by Country Office and under the direction of the Head of Field Office;
• Comply with Head of Field Office’s annual work plan and staff performance requirements, as outlined by UNDP policies and procedures for field office staff, including setting annual targets and staff performance reviews.

Gender and Social Inclusion

• Support the Head of Office to ensure gender and social inclusion standards as outlined in the Common Framework for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion, developed by the IDPG GESI Working Group, are mainstreamed throughout all regional projects;
• Facilitate the Head of Field Office to represent UNDP in a manner consistent with international norms and corporate standards covering the rights of women, minority, vulnerable, LGBT and indigenous groups;
• Support the Head of Field Office to uphold the values of the UN and ensure UN values and standards are advocated for in partner organisations;
• Maintain regional awareness of the challenges facing vulnerable and other marginalised groups, reporting to other UNDP offices and Country Office as needed.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of the UN.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Ability to work in complex and challenging situations
• Capacity and willingness to visit remote areas for extended periods of time
• Excellent networking and negotiation skills
• Self-motivated, innovative and able to work with minimum supervision

Functional Competencies:

Leadership

Level 2: Takes initiative

• Identifies opportunities and challenges and recommends options
• Checks assumptions against facts
• Assumes responsibility for decisions and outcomes
• Shares information proactively, also when not required to do so

Innovation

Level 2: Analyzes and recommends

• Analyzes complex technical materials (including data) and makes concise, relevant recommendations
• Contributes reliable production of knowledge services and transactions
• Identifies and addresses potential challenges quickly and develop action plans
• Sees specific opportunities for immediate improvement within own field

People Management

Level 2: Seeks opportunities to learn and share

• Demonstrates behaviors such as teamwork, knowledge sharing, maintaining relationships
• Recognizes potential road blocks to completing tasks and seeks guidance from supervisors to address issues.
• Based on formal and informal feedback received, takes action to address areas for growth and improvement
• Encourages team engagement
• Produces new ideas and approaches in relation to own role
• Distinguishes between high and low performers objectively
• Expresses encouragement to those who try to develop or who show improvement

Communication:

Level 2: Listens, eager to develop professional voice, shares information

• Learns to relate constructive knowledge to others
• Presents coherent analysis
• Adds rigor and technical expertise to discussions
• Represents self and work with appropriate professional standards
• Eager to voice new ideas
• Productive in challenging situations
• Demonstrates a desire to support colleagues by actively helping others

Delivery

Level 3: Adapts and Implements

• Takes responsibility for addressing critical situations
• Demonstrates commitment to clients and quality
• Works to agreed goals dealing with challenges constructively
• Responsible for project implementation or team deliverables
• Takes responsibility and works towards planning targets, overcoming obstacles, setbacks and uncertainty
• Always acts in a compliant manner and uses resources responsibly

Education:

• Completion of Master’s Degree or Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences (Rural Development, Social Work) or any other relevant field.

Experience:

• Minimum of three years’ experience for Master’s and five years for Bachelor’s in coordination, partnership building and management;
• Experience in the field of monitoring and evaluation.

Language and Computer Requirements:

• Proficient in use of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, email, etc);
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Nepali is essential.

Important applicant information

All posts in the SC categories are subject to local recruitment.

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.

Workforce diversity

UNDP is committed to achieve work force diversity (in terms of nationality, minority groups, caste/ethnic groups, persons with disability etc.) and has a policy to have gender balance among staff at all levels.  Qualified female candidates and candidates particularly from disadvantaged and socially excluded groups are strongly encouraged to apply. 

All applications will be treated with highest confidence

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