Background Information - UNOPS
UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.
UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.
Working with us
UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.
Diversity
With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.
Work life harmonization
UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types.
Background Information – Cambodia Multi-Country Office
UNOPS established its Cambodia Multi-Country Office (KHOH) in early 2013. Since then, KHOH has carried out a diverse set of projects/programs, such as a multi-donor funded project to support the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (also known as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal). Also, KHOH has been providing advisory services in the infrastructure sector to other development partners, such as the Government of the Russian Federation and KOICA, and procurement support and advisory services to different line ministries of the Royal Government of Cambodia.
UNOPS KHOH is also overseeing business activities and/or providing Support and Services to UNOPS operations in other countries, within the Greater Mekong Sub-Region such as Lao PDR and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, as well as the Philippines, mainly focused on the infrastructure sector, but also encompassing good governance, trade facilitation and environmental issues.
Finally, KHOH is providing Support Services to the Malaria Programs and Regional Artemisinin Initiative (RAI) funded by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM).
UNOPS KHOH is in the process of expanding its area of engagement in cooperation with different development partners, focusing mainly on a portfolio comprised of projects and programs in the infrastructure and environmental sectors, as well as continuing with the provision of transactional services (HR and Procurement services). For that, UNOPS is subsequently looking for qualified and committed experts that can contribute to fulfill our mandate in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region and beyond.
Background Information – Lao PDR
In October 2017, UNOPS established its new country office in Vientiane, the capital of Lao PDR. The Project portfolio of UNOPS in Lao PDR traces back to 2007 and it includes Small Grants Programme supported by the Global Environment Fund, the Regional Artemisinin Initiative (RAI) implemented jointly with the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), and Management of the Fleming Fund Country Grant, among others..
The UNOPS Lao PDR Office is part of the UNOPS Cambodia Multi-Country Office (KHOH), which provides oversight, support and services to UNOPS operations in the country offices.
UNOPS Lao PDR is in the process of expanding its area of engagement in cooperation with its development partners, focusing mainly on a portfolio of projects and programs in procurement, infrastructure and governance support to the local government and is subsequently looking for qualified and committed experts.
Background Information - Job-specific
The Project Manager is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the project(s) and provides services to the different donors, partners and beneficiaries. The Project Manager acts on behalf of the Project Board to manage the project on an ongoing basis during the Implementation Stage. The main responsibility of a Project Manager is to ensure that the project outputs are delivered within the specified project tolerances of time, cost, quality, scope, risk and benefits. He/she is expected to meet the organization’s performance and delivery goals.
The Project Manager is responsible to create the Implementation Plan, use the Project Initiation Documents (PID), Legal Agreement and have a thorough understanding of the terms, conditions, and the respective roles and responsibilities of the partners/stakeholders to ensure the project(s) outputs are capable of meeting the business cases for both UNOPS and the partner(s). Success of the project(s) and hence Project Manager will be based on the defined Success Criteria.
The project manager for infrastructure projects will be managing project(s) which ultimate goal is to deliver infrastructure physical assets or technical outputs. Those infrastructures are diverse and range from educational and health facilities to roads, bridges, irrigation systems or ports. While the complexity of those may vary, maintaining high standards in terms of quality, health, safety and sustainability is always expected.
Depending on the nature and configuration of the project, the Project Manager might be executing technical studies, reviews, designs, supervision or operation and maintenance services of one or several physical infrastructure assets, in one or multiple sites. Depending on the implementation modality it may involve large volumes of procurement of goods, services and HR services.
UNOPS operates in complex contexts where resources might be scarce, local capacity low and where professional judgement and experience in these environments are of uttermost importance.
Infrastructure Project Managers at this level are expected to manage infrastructure implementation projects that are of low to moderate complexity from a stakeholder management, financial management,risk management, governance, resource management and quality management perspectives.
Functional Responsibilities
Summary of key results area:
- Project Delivery and Performance
- Procedures
- Monitoring and reporting
- Stakeholder engagement
- Quality assurance
- Knowledge management and innovation
- Personnel management
1. Project Delivery and Performance
- Develop, complete and update implementation plan(s)
- Implement the approved plan (including the establishment of milestones) within tolerances set by the Project Board.
- Embed sustainability dimensions including social and gender inclusion, environmental and economic aspects into project life span.
- Manage the production of the required outputs, taking responsibility for overall progress and use of resources and initiating corrective action where necessary.
- Ensure that quality of work packages and deliverables complies with the quality requirements defined in the Implementation Plan.
- Liaise with any external suppliers or account managers
- Manage acceptance and delivery of work packages
- Monitor project progress ensuring that work packages are being executed properly
- Control project and work packages changes.
- Accept goods, services or works delivered by suppliers.
- Lead contract management duties including supplier performance evaluation.
- Act as the Employer’s Representative within the FIDIC works contracts.
- Identify, and anticipate in a timely manner, potential risks and issues and advises mitigating measures to senior management/ Project Board so that maximum benefit to partner(s) and other stakeholders is achieved
- Identify and report to the supervisor potential business opportunities for UNOPS
2. Procedures
- Comply with all organizational policy and specifically the Project Management Manual.
- Prepare/adapt all relevant plans for approval by the Project Board.
- Manage the reporting obligations defined in the Legal Agreement(s) and in the Implementation Plan
- Ensure maintenance of the project files and lessons learned are recorded
- Manage budgets, cash flow and obligations to ensure that deliverables are met and payments to contractors and personnel are received on time.
- Understand and manage UNOPS overheads, allocable charges, and related corporate charges as they apply to the project
- Understand the unique structures of the UN and budget appropriately for personnel
- Manage expenditures against the budget (based on accurate financial reports)
- Where the Project Manager has no delegation as a committing officer, s/he retains these responsibilities and will monitor and instruct/request others to carry out the relevant commitments and disbursements.
- For project closure purposes, provide a formal handover of the project to the closure manager
- Support project audit activities, including planning, preparation and coordination during the audits and follow up on audit observations/recommendations
3. Monitoring and reporting
- Prepare and issue regular project and/or financial reports in accordance with Partner and UNOPS requirements for reporting.
- Regularly review project status, evaluating performance criteria (scope, cost, schedule and quality).
- Maintain diaries and progress reports as required by the organization’s standard procedures.
- Provide routine oversight and analysis of delivery data within the dashboard system.
- Ensure all project team members track and regularly update milestones and targets for the duration of projects' life span
- Ensure timely entry, update and review of project data in UNOPS online systems.
4. Stakeholder engagement
- Develop stakeholder profiles and facilitate the formulation of stakeholder engagement strategies
- Establish solid working relationships with the Project Board (Executive, Senior Users and Senior Suppliers), client and key stakeholders
- Enable the formulation of project communications plans. Coordinate internal project communications. Monitor the effectiveness of project communications
- Coordinate stakeholder engagement and communication, ensuring effective timing and interdependency management of communications. Ensure stakeholders are aware of project activities, progress, exceptions and are in a position to accept handover outputs.
5. Quality assurance
- Work with internal stakeholders to ensure projects comply with audit requirements
- Work with procurement/purchasing staff to ensure effective interface with suppliers' quality systems
- Coordinate quality reviews of project documents and deliverables
- Provide quality control for management outputs (project documents, reports, etc.)
6. Knowledge management and innovation
- Encourage routine and effective capacity building activities are conducted in order to build the long-term and sustainable capacity of staff.
- Actively interact with other Project Managers and the wider PM community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices
- Contribute to the oversight of lessons learned procedures, ensuring that lessons learnt are shared in a timely and appropriate manner. Participate in the relevant Communities of Practice
- Research and logging of lessons learned throughout the project life span.
- Provide feedback to Practice Groups on policy, supporting guidance with an aim towards continuous improvement of UNOPS policies
7. Personnel Management
- Lead and motivate the project management team
- Ensure that behavioural expectations of team members are established
- Ensure that performance reviews are conducted fairly, accurately and timely
- Select, recruit and train team as required and taking into account gender parity and diversity objectives.
- Ensure safety and security for all project personnel and comply with UNDSS standards
COMPETENCIES
- Strategic Perspective: Develops and implements sustainable business strategies, thinks long term and externally in order to positively shape the organization. Anticipates and perceives the impact and implications of future decisions and activities on other parts of the organization. (for levels IICA-2, IICA-3, LICA Specialist- 10, LICA Specialist-11, NOC, NOD, P3, P4 and above)
- Integrity & Inclusion: Treats all individuals with respect; responds sensitively to differences and encourages others to do the same. Upholds organizational and ethical norms. Maintains high standards of trustworthiness. Role model for diversity and inclusion.
- Leading Self and Others: Acts as a positive role model contributing to the team spirit. Collaborates and supports the development of others. For people managers only: Acts as positive leadership role model, motivates, directs and inspires others to succeed, utilizing appropriate leadership styles.
- Partnering: Demonstrates understanding of the impact of own role on all partners and always puts the end beneficiary first. Builds and maintains strong external relationships and is a competent partner for others (if relevant to the role).
- Results Orientation: Efficiently establishes an appropriate course of action for self and/or others to accomplish a goal. Actions lead to total task accomplishment through concern for quality in all areas. Sees opportunities and takes the initiative to act on them. Understands that responsible use of resources maximizes our impact on our beneficiaries.
- Agility: Open to change and flexible in a fast paced environment. Effectively adapts own approach to suit changing circumstances or requirements. Reflects on experiences and modifies own behavior. Performance is consistent, even under pressure. Always pursues continuous improvements.
- Solution Focused: Evaluates data and courses of action to reach logical, pragmatic decisions. Takes an unbiased, rational approach with calculated risks. Applies innovation and creativity to problem-solving.
- Effective Communication: Expresses ideas or facts in a clear, concise and open manner. Communication indicates a consideration for the feelings and needs of others. Actively listens and proactively shares knowledge. Handles conflict effectively, by overcoming differences of opinion and finding common ground.
EDUCATION
- Advanced University Degree in a relevant technical discipline (Architecture, Civil Engineering, Water Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Structural Engineering, etc.).
- A combination of Bachelor’s degree with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the education requirements outlined above.
Certification:
- Certification in Project Management (PRINCE2, PMI, etc.) is required or achieve certification within the first (3) months of appointment.
- Professional certification from an accredited institution ( PEng., CEng. , etc) is an asset
Complete the UNOPS PMM, UNOPS PMM Infra perspective and oneUNOPS Projects trainings within (3) months from joining UNOPS.**EXPERIENCE**
A minimum of 5 years' experience in implementing and managing infrastructure projects (Roads, Bridges, Health facilities, Buildings, Water services, Renewable energy and distribution, etc.) is required.
Experience in contract management is an asset.
Knowledge of FIDIC contracts is an asset.
Experience in writing reports, performing data analyses, and writing technical documents is an asset.
Strong analytical capabilities with the ability to manage tasks associated with the development of projects is desirable.
Experience in planning and applying Health & Safety procedures is an asset.
Experience in developing Procurement strategies is an asset.
Experience in risk management for infrastructure implementation projects is an asset.
Experience working in multicultural teams is desirable.
Experience in managing teams is an asset.
Experience in establishing partnerships with UN agencies, international development organisations, governments, foundations, international NGOs or private sector organisations is an asset.
Prior experience working in international organisations, international development, post-disaster and/or emergency contexts would also be an advantage.
Experience in the South East Asian Region is desirable and a distinct advantage.
Experience in developing countries or post conflict environments is an asset.
Experience working for Lao Ministries is desirable.
Strong networks in Lao Ministry are desirable.
Prior experience and a sound knowledge of Lao PDR context will be a distinctive advantage.
Knowledge of quality assurance methodologies is an asset.
Proficient in MS Project and Schedule Analysis is desirable.
Technical acumen with the ability to understand and speak to technical project plans and documents is an asset.
Strong problem-solving skills are desirable.
Languages
- Fluency in English is required.
- Fluency in Laotian languages is desirable.
How to apply:
The Link to the VA: https://jobs.unops.org/Pages/ViewVacancy/VADetails.aspx?id=19810#6
Interested and qualified candidates are requested to submit online application ONLY, according to the following procedure:
- Step 1: Please create an account on https://jobs.unops.org/.
- Step 2: Click on the “Title” to read the position requirement and “Apply” to submit your application.
The candidate must complete step 2 in order for your application to be considered. You will receive automatic response once you submit.
Note:
- Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
- Preference will be given to equally qualified women candidates.
- UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
- Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types.