South Sudan: Project Associate

Background

The Republic of South Sudan became an independent state on July 9, 2011 after 99% of the population voted for cession from northern Sudan in the January 2011 Referendum. Whilst the attainment of independent by South Sudan opened an unprecedented window of opportunity to turn the devastation of over 20 years of civil war, displacement and underdevelopment into a new era of peace and prosperity. The signing of the August, 2015 peace agreement has put South Sudan back on development path. However, the July 8 conflict has altered the development context of the country. For all intent and purposes, currently South Sudan is in the throes of a multifaceted crisis of political, humanitarian, social and economic dimensions. The overall security situation in South Sudan remain fragile and uncertain.

South Sudan is a near complete oil revenue dependent economy although it has unexploited reserves of natural and mineral resources. The recent volatility and sharp fall in global oil prices jointly with the drastic reduction in oil production levels since the onset of the conflict in mid- December 2013 has significantly reduced oil revenue receipts, impacted fiscal balances, fiscal sustainability and the overall macroeconomic stability in the country. The budgetary allocation to the subnational governments which stood at 20% of the national budget have also been severely impacted due to the extreme austerity measures adopted. The states have vast service delivery responsibilities at the subnational levels and there is a steep vertical imbalance between service delivery responsibilities and budgetary allocation to the states. Meanwhile, the domestic resource generation system of the state governments is still weak with the staff largely untrained.

The subnational governments particularly the ones in the relatively peaceful states, have an imperative to step up on their efforts on diversifying and generating domestic resources in a systematic manner, enhancing the capacity of tax officers and developing sustainable and efficient revenue generation system as a medium term objective. This is also expected to mitigate the extant risks of conflict spill-over in the relatively peaceful states, and prevent to some extent, potential adverse development fallouts at the local level.

The peace agreement signed in August 2015 has created an opportunity for South Sudan to return to a development path, particularly in the conflict affected states. In this environment, it would be critical to help the country both at national and subnational levels to maintain core public financial management functions while consolidating the gains made. The proposed project would contribute to the mitigation of the impact of the conflict on service delivery at the subnational levels, thereby laying the foundation for the implementation of the current peace agreement.

By 2018, through the ICF, the UNCT will assist the Government to take further steps in achieving good governance, economic growth, social and human development, conflict prevention and security, access to justice, and rule of law and human rights. The UNCT will support public service delivery equitably at the subnational, and take steps to expand a Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) to programming at county and community levels. Special focus will remain on the rights of women and children in South Sudan.

Duties and Responsibilities

UNDP South Sudan is looking to recruit a dynamic individual to join its Public Public financial Management project Under the direct supervision of the Public Financial Management Project Manager the Project Assciate will provide support to all aspects of project management including administration, procurement and asset management and financial management; S/he will work in a fast changing and dynamic environment with multiple priorities and pressing demands.

Summary of Key Functions:-

In this role the Project Associate will be responsible for implementation and execution of project strategies by:

• Providing effective administrative and logistics support to the project in compliance with UNDP rules and regulations policies and strategies;
• Procurement and Asset Management
• Supporting implementation of project activities and implementation of Project budget and Action Plans
• Participating in knowledge building and sharing activities

Providing effective administrative finance, and logistics support to the project in compliance with UNDP rules and regulations policies and strategies

• Assist in preparing for conferences, workshops, training, and any other project related events. This includes organizing travel and accommodations for workshop/training participants, coordinating with hotels/facilities that provide venues, arranging for supplies, processing payments and responding to any other needs that are under the responsibility of the project. Perform Atlas management duties attached to these coordination tasks.
• Manage travel arrangements for staff. Prepare and ensure the processing of travel authorizations, security clearance, flight reservations, and payment requests (for DSA, reimbursement claims and working advances), etc.
• Maintain staff attendance sheets and monitor their leave. Ensure the timely payment of salaries and allowances to the staff holding SCs or ICs.
• Maintain electronic and hard copy filing systems.
• Ensure proper physical arrangements of the project office, including functioning of computers, printers and peripherals and photocopiers, availability of office supplies and appropriate locations of various office objects.
• Prepare documents and materials necessary for meetings/workshops.
• Undertake other tasks as requested by Project Manager, Project Officer or other project staff or the Human Development and Inclusive Growth (HDIG) Unit.
• Coordinate the arrangement of appointments and meetings, including compilation of briefing and presentation materials, speeches, ground information and documentation;
• Provide information for audit needs
• Maintain filing system ensuring safekeeping of confidential materials and documents.

Procurement and Asset Management

• Assist in the recruitment and management of individual consultants and experts through the advertisement of ToRs, setting up vendors in Atlas, preparing attendance sheets, making travel arrangements in South Sudan, processing payment requests, etc….
• Assisting in the procurement of goods and services, This tasks include: preparing procurement requests; creating e-requisitions in Atlas; ensuring the accuracy of information contained in the procurement-related documents such as RFQs, evaluation results, Purchase Orders (PO); ensuring the timeliness of actions by the Procurement Unit as well as suppliers; confirming the quantity and quality of received goods or service.
• Maintain and regularly update inventories of durable items (assets) and non-durable items (consumables) procured under the Project

Supporting implementation of project activities and implementation of Project budget and Action Plans

• Support in managing and monitoring project budgets in Atlas. Duties include but are not limited to: preparing budget revisions, maintaining project shadow budgets, following-up and answering queries on project expenditures, commitments and cash balances; and generating project financial reports;
• Timely actions on preparing and following up on requests for payments to various vendors including staff, suppliers, consultants, government counterparts;
• Support in maintaining the internal expenditures control system, ensuring the accuracy of documents, proper recording of transactions and posting in Atlas

Participate in knowledge building and sharing activities of the project and UNDP

• Participate in the trainings for the operations/projects staff on administrative and financial procedures;
• Provide training to project staff on the administrative and financial procedures;
• Train the office/project staff engaged in the conduct of physical inventory;
• Contribute to the project’s knowledge management and learning agenda

Competencies

Building Strategic Partnerships: Identifying and building partnerships

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
• Self-development, initiative-taking
• Acting as a team player and facilitating team work
• Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively
• Creating synergies through self-control
• Managing conflict
• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member.
• Informed and transparent decision making

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Developing tools and mechanisms;

• Effective presentation and report-writing skills; strong analytical and strategic skills as well as good write
• Reports to internal and external clients in a timely and appropriate fashion
• Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines
• Responds to client needs promptly
• Demonstrates ability to identify problems and proposes solutions

Knowledge/Technical Expertise: In-depth knowledge of the subject-matter

• Understands the main processes and methods of work regarding to the position;
• Possesses knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks (specialized knowledge related to financial resources management, including formulating budgets, maintaining Accounts Receivables and Accounts Payables, reporting);
• Strives to keep job knowledge up-to-date through self-directed study and other means of learning;
• Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments

Required Skills and Experience

The successful candidate should have the following skills, experience and qualifications:

Education:

• Secondary Education with a Certificate or Diploma in Administration or Programme/Project management or related field
• A First Degree with at least 1year of progressively responsible Administrative or Programme/ Project experience will an added advantage;

Required expeience:

• At least 6 years of progressively responsible administrative or Programe/Project experience is required at the National level
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web based management systems
• An experience with a tax institution will be a distinct advantages;
• Demonstrated experience in capacity development, coaching and mentoring;
• Excellent command of written and spoken English is essential;
• Excellent command of common Microsoft Office programs;
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Providing project support and/or coordination of activities with NGOs, UN agencies and/or other donor or international organizations;
• Willingness to undertake occasional field visits and interact with different stakeholders.

Language Required:

• Proficiency in both written and spoken English.
• Knowledge of Arabic will be an added advantage

Disclaimer

Application Procedure:

This vacancy announcement is for qualified South Sudanese nationals only

To start the application process, applicants are required to register at http://jobs.undp.org by creating a personal profile and completing UNDP Personal History Form. Please note that UNDP only accepts degrees from accredited educational institutions. Only applications received throughhttp://jobs.undp.orgwill be considered and applications received after closing date will not be considered. Due to the large number of applications received for UNDP South Sudan vacancies, only applicants short-listed for written test and interview will be contacted.

General Information

UNDP is committed to gender equality in its mandate and its staffs and encourages applications from qualified female candidates and persons with disabilities.

UNDP is a United Nations organization whose staff are expected to uphold the highest standards of integrity, neutrality and impartiality. This includes respect for and commitment to human rights, diversity, and non-violent means of dealing with all kinds of conflict. UNDP staff are expected to uphold these values at all times, both at work and outside. Only persons who fully and unconditionally commit to these values should consider applying for UNDP jobs.

UNDP has zero tolerance of sexual abuse, abuse of authority and exploitation.

The United Nations does not charge fees at any stage of the recruitment process (application, testing, interviewing, etc). The United Nations does not concern itself with information related to bank accounts.