Project Associate (Malaysia Nationals Only)

Kuala Lumpur

Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
Location: Kuala Lumpur
Grade: Level not specified - Level not specified
Occupational Groups:
- Administrative support
- Project and Programme Management
Closing Date: Closed

Office/Unit/Project Description

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

UNDP is the leading United Nations organization in fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet. Learn more at undp.org or follow at @UNDP

UNDP multi-country office in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam provides technical assistance, policy, and technical advisory services to the Governments of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam in their efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in partnership with development partners, financial institutions, the private sector, and civil society.

In Malaysia, UNDP’s programme priorities and partnerships are defined and operationalized through the Country Programme between the Government of Malaysia and UNDP to support and contribute to the development priorities and results envisioned in the 5-year Malaysia Plan. Malaysia is currently implementing several projects (with public sector partners) that support the 12th Malaysia Plan, which is anchored around three key themes, namely resetting the economy, strengthening security, well-being, and inclusivity, as well as advancing sustainability.

Given this, UNDP is currently seeking a qualified project associate to perform a variety of standard administrative processes and logistics to support the development and implementation of multiple projects related—but not limited to—the environment, poverty, and governance, with high-quality and accuracy of work.

Scope of Work

Actively support the project team to ensure effective project planning and implementation.

•    Compile and summarize information and data for the formulation of project work plans, draft annual/quarterly budgets, proposals on implementation arrangements, and on other specific project related topics or issues.
•    Provide comprehensive support in all aspects of project implementation in accordance with the project documents, annual work plans and other agreements between UNDP and responsible partners. Ensure quality of delivery by consultants, beneficiaries, and contracted companies; and communicate findings to the supervisor.
•    Ensure compliance of project business processes with UNDP Project Operational Policies and Procedures (POPP) and UNDP Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). When necessary, provide guidance to project staff on business processes, administrative and other requirements and procedures.
•    Support mainstreaming gender equality in the project implementation, including in data collection and compilation. Prepare gender equality background materials for use in discussions, briefings, and correspondence.
•    Provide administrative and logistical support to ensure successful project delivery that includes organizing/coordinating project events and selecting appropriate venues, coordinating project procurement procedures, maintaining project records and files, recruiting project team members, and supporting contracting activities.

Support partnerships and resource mobilization.

•    Establish and maintain contacts and cooperation with the relevant UN Agencies, government institutions, NGOs, tertiary institutions, partners, and other relevant stakeholders. Provide support in updating the database of the relevant public and development partners, and other stakeholders who are counterparts for the project.
•    Ensure regular communication and coordination with partners, project counterparts, stakeholders, and beneficiaries; and develop and maintain effective mechanisms for integrating and responding to their feedback and insight.
•    Support creation of high quality information and visibility of the project activities among the stakeholders; and ensure careful selection of communication tools and tailoring the messages to take into account the overall socio-political and development context in host countries.
•    Undertake horizon scanning and explore opportunities for resource mobilization in consultation with direct supervisor.

Provide support to the effective monitoring, evaluation, and reporting on progress of project implementation.

•    Support implementation of the project monitoring system in alignment with its Monitoring and Evaluation framework to ensure effective information sharing, provision of feedback, and elaboration of high-quality progress reports.
•    Collect, analyze and present information for monitoring and evaluation of project implementation against project targets as well as for audit purposes. Identify gaps in implementation and provide support in bridging those gaps in consultation with supervisor and partners.
•    Assist in the organization of field and study visits, missions, workshops, roundtables, and conferences within the project.
•    Assist in implementation of effective risk management for the project with a well-documented risk mitigation plan in place. Support monitoring of previously identified and emerging risks.
•    Regularly monitor expenditures and commitments against the project budget and relevant plans, and provide finance-related information to support project implementation. When necessary, recommend corrective actions and draft various correspondence concerning finance, operations, and budgetary issues.
•    Prepare and consolidate required project reports on a timely basis and in line with monitoring and reporting guidelines and donor requirements.

Substantially contribute to knowledge building, knowledge sharing and capacity building relevant to the assigned project.

•    Participate in training and organize briefings on internal procedures for the project staff. Provide support to other capacity building activities, including to the design and delivery of tools, materials for workshops, or platforms that tap into the collective intelligence of communities and mobilize action.
•    Provide support in the dissemination and sharing of relevant data and lessons learned within the CO and regionally. Keep pulse on emerging best practices nationally, regionally, and internationally that relate to the work of the assigned project.
•    Make sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice. Support compiling and systematizing project knowledge, products and tools as well as their wide distribution to partners.

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

Institutional Arrangement:

The Project Associate works under the general supervision of a Programme Analyst, working on multiple projects (either in development or implementation phase), and collaborates closely with other members in the functional unit and other project associates.

Competencies

Core
Achieve Results:	LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
Think Innovatively:	LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements
Learn Continuously:	LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
Adapt with Agility:	LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible
Act with Determination:	LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
Engage and Partner:	LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
Enable Diversity and Inclusion:	LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Thematic Area	Name	Definition
Business Management	Working with Evidence and Data	Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making
Business Management	Digital Awareness and Literacy	Ability and inclination to rapidly adopt new technologies, either through skillfully grasping their usage or through understanding their impact and empowering others to use them as needed
Business Management	Customer Satisfaction/Client Management	Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers' needs. Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy. Look for ways to add value beyond clients’ immediate requests. Ability to anticipate client’s upcoming needs and concerns.
Business Management	Communication	Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience. Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media, and other appropriate channels.
Business Management	Monitoring	Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results.
Technical - Finance	Budget management	Ability to support budgetary aspects of work planning process, drawing and management of team budgets
Technical – Procurement	Procurement management	The ability to acquire goods, services or works from an outside external source

Minimum Qualifications of the Successful NPSA

Minimum Education requirements	Secondary education is required, or University Degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, or equivalent field will be given due consideration, but it is not a requirement.
Minimum years of relevant work experience	A minimum of 6 years (with high school diploma) or 3 years (with bachelor’s degree) of progressively responsible administrative or project experience is required.
Required skills	Experience in the use of computers, office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and web-based management systems, and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages.
Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section	Experience in preparation of financial reports and overviews Proven Knowledge of monitoring and evaluation tools Proven Knowledge of project management processes Proven Knowledge of procurement procedures of national / international organizations
Required Language(s)	Fluency in English and Bahasa Melayu (Malay Language)

The following documents shall be required from the applicants :-

Personal CV and P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.
A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.
Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials.

This vacancy is now closed.