Programme Support Specialist

Job Title: Programme Support Specialist

Organization: United Nations Volunteers (UNV)

Host entity: UNDP

Assignment country: Türkiye

Expected start date: 15/10/2023

Sustainable Development Goal: 13. Climate action

Volunteer category: International UN Volunteer Specialist

Type: Onsite

Duration: 12 months (with possibility of extension)

Number of assignments: 1

Duty stations: Istanbul

Details

Mission and objectives

As the United Nations lead agency on international development, UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Our work is concentrated in three focus areas; sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience.

Context

Further, under UNDP’s Climate Hub, the “Climate Promise” initiative is the world’s largest offer of support to countries on NDC enhancement and has contributed to an increase of climate mitigation and adaptation ambition. One of the most critical challenges to countries in designing and delivering their NDC targets is an effective data and transparency system. The ability to track, monitor and report on progress directly informs an understanding and ability to advance ambition in subsequent NDC revisions. As such, data and transparency have become critical workstreams within the Climate Promise. Under the Climate Promise, the Government of Belgium has approved a contribution of 1.2 million euros to provide capacity building support on data and transparency to lusophone and francophone countries and foster south/ south exchanges. The project, “Enhancing climate transparency in developing countries – a contribution to the Climate Promise”, has as a primary objective to provide targeted countries with effective governance and enabling environment over time, to accelerate and scale NDC implementation, by providing streamlined support and capacity building on data and transparency. This will be delivered at the country and regional level with a focus on francophone and lusophone countries.

Task description

The Programme Support Specialist will support the Programme Analyst in delivering the project’s expected activities while following UNDP financial and administrative rules and procedures. The primary objective of the Project Support Specialist is to provide support in various administrative and operational tasks to facilitate the smooth execution of project activities, including providing UNEP GSP team with data and information requested for the CBIT platform and reporting purposes. The specialist will contribute to the achievement of project goals and outcomes by ensuring high quality administrative and operational support to the coordination of travel arrangements, procurement processes, budget/financial monitoring, and event organization. The incumbent will report to the Project Manager and will work in close collaboration with other project staff and consultants. Support to the delivery of Climate Transparency related activities under the Climate Policy and Strategies Team, as part of the Climate Hub is also anticipated. Duties and Responsibilities (a)Proactively assist in the planning, organization and delivery of ECT project activities as defined in the ECT workplan and as dictated by the management team (b)Oversee the day-to-day operations of the ECT project; including procurement processes, travel and logistics, financial and administrative tasks, as requested (c)Prepare, develop and institute processes to ensure proper preparation, clearance and archiving of all procurement, payments and travel documents, results and other deliverables and results for evaluation, audit and reporting purposes (d)Coordinating reporting processes with the Programme Analyst to ensure on-time and complete donor reporting as dictated by the project oversight plan (e)Assist in data collection and processing for communications, knowledge sharing and outreach purposes; including providing UNEP GSP team with data and information requested for the CBIT platform and reporting purposes (f)Support the preparation of the projects’ recruitment and procurement plans; coordinate the selection process of technical experts to be hired by the Project according to the rules and procedures established by UNDP (g)Tracking, monitoring and reporting on the use of project and other allocated resources; providing financial authorizations; creation of requisitions; receipts; and communication with UNDP-HQ and COs on financial matters as required.

Eligibility criteria

Age

27 - 80

Nationality

Candidate must be a national of a country other than the country of assignment.

Requirements

Required experience

3 years of experience in project support, preferably in a humanitarian, development, peace, and/or climate change related field. In lieu of a Master’s degree a Bachelor’s degree in the aforementioned categories in addition to 2 years relevant professional experience will be considered. •Demonstrated experience in organization and tracking of regional and global events, preferably for international organizations; experience with climate related events will be considered an asset. •Experience in partnerships and/or inter-agency cooperation is essential; •Demonstrated competency in using online platforms such as Teams, Sharepoint, etc. •Experience working with international institutions, including UN agencies and partners. •Ability to operate corporate and commercial software applications such as Microsoft Office, Outlook, and Excel. •Excellent coordination, organizational and interpersonal skills. •Ability to meet deadlines, prioritise and maintain high-qualityof output working under pressure. •Highly motivated, enthusiastic, pro-active and positive can-do attitude. •Exceptional attention to detail. •Ability to work in an independent manner and across time-zones •Knowledge of French and/or Portuguese will be considered an asset.

Area(s) of expertise

Communication, Development programmes, Business management

Driving license

-

Languages

English, Level: Fluent, Required

Required education level

Master degree or equivalent in project management, public/business administration or related fields

Competencies and values

☒ Accountability ☒ Commitment and Motivation ☒ Communication ☒ Ethics and Values ☒ Integrity ☒ Knowledge Sharing ☒ Planning and Organizing ☒ Professionalism ☒ Working in Teams

Other information

Living conditions and remarks

The UN Volunteer will be based in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey where everything is available including education, health services, accommodation and entertainment. There is a lively and large group of international community. Istanbul airport has direct connections with all European and global cities. Istanbul is a Security level 2 (Low) duty station. Living Conditions for Istanbul: Turkey is an upper middle-income country, with highly-urbanized cities and well developed infrastructure systems. Most of Turkey is assessed to be at security level 1-Minimal. Security level 2 Low applies to Ankara and Istanbul. Seismic activity remains one of the primary hazards in Turkey. Turkey’s population of nearly 81 million is almost entirely Muslim. Turkish is the official language. English predominates as the second language. The post will be located in Istanbul, which has a population of around 15M people, and straddles the European and Asian continents. Istanbul is a UN Hub for the Europe and Central Asia Regional Offices of several UN agencies, including UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women among others. There is a lively and large group of international community. Istanbul International Airport and Sabiha Gokcen Airport have direct connections with all European, Central Asian and global cities. Istanbul provides modern services and entertainment opportunities and an elaborate medical services system. Healthcare is exceptionally good with various public and private hospitals with experienced doctors and medical staff, some of whom speak English. No specific vaccination is required to enter Turkey. Considering the rapidly changing pandemic situation in Istanbul, travelers should consult the receiving entity or the partner UN Agency, or UNDSS about the latest travel requirements/restrictions.

Inclusivity statement

United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements

Selected candidates for certain occupational groups may be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) in line with the applicable host entity policy

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