Partnerships Specialist (Standards and Capability Development)

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.

Afghanistan

UNOPS strategy for Afghanistan is aimed at providing maximum support to the Government and people of Afghanistan though the delivery of projects and services in line with the government’s own priorities. The UNOPS Afghanistan Operation Center (AFOC) has been established as an organizational mechanism to deliver a range of projects for which UNOPS has been designated as the implementation agency. At present, UNOPS AFOC is implementing a number of projects in a range of sectors including infrastructure (roads and schools) development, capacity building to various ministries, and environmental protection, among others, on behalf of the Government of Afghanistan and the donor community.

Reporting to the Director and Representative, the Partnerships Specialist (Standards and Capability Development) (PS-SCD) is responsible for providing support to enhance strategic standards and capability of AFOC. In particular, she / he is responsible for the following:

Strategic Planning

•Providing up to date strategic research inputs to AFOC senior management (SM) (Director, Head of Programme (HOP), Head of Support Services (HOSS)), including internal and external trends (SWOT, PESTLE, stakeholder analysis and mapping), and business trends;

•Supporting and assisting the Director and Representative with enhancing standards of coordination and management practices required to ensure smooth and effective operations across the AFOC;

•Supporting the Director and Representative in strategic capacity development through maintenance of AFOC strategies (including, but not limited to, Stakeholder Engagement, Gender, and Benefits Management Strategies);

•Contributing to the development of AFOC’s internal planning processes and being prepared to guide alignment of AFOC’s strategies and plans with internal and external frameworks, with a special focus on the OneUN Mutual Accountability Framework;

•Monitoring, participating in, and reporting on, key developments within the framework of the inter-agency and governmental planning processes, with a view to positioning UNOPS as a partner of choice in infrastructure, procurement and project management;

•Supporting the Director and Representative in establishing and maintaining strategic partnerships within and beyond Afghanistan;

•Liaising closely with the Project Development Unit (PDU) and ensuring timely handover of potential business opportunities developed through strategic partnering, for subsequent technical engagement development by the PDU;

•Be prepared to act as, or support, AFOC’s Gender Focal Point, and be prepared to represent AFOC in the UN Afghanistan Gender Working Group; in support of the Gender Strategy, engage closely with Programme and PDU teams to provide gender-sensitive inputs to concept notes, proposals and implementation plans.

Monitoring and Coordination

•Monitor and evaluate results of existing plans to identify and help manage changes needed to support AFOC’s strategies;

•Support AFOC with the development and maintenance of a results-based M&E framework (including logframe solution) in line with AFOC’s strategic priorities, UNOPS’ Strategic Plan, and the Asia Region Business Plan;

•Support regular reviews of project M&E frameworks and ensure performance indicators and targets remain relevant and in accordance with project design;

•Support the AFOC quarterly assurance process;

•Undertake monitoring visits to project implementation sites.

Knowledge Management and Communication

•Provide strategic support to the Office of the Director regarding external communications (with other UN agencies, multilateral institutions and development partners);

•As required by the Director, represent AFOC in relevant inter-agency working groups;

•Maintain AFOC’s stakeholder engagement strategy and associated communications plan, and take ownership of, and maintain, the AFOC partners’ database;

•Develop and support implementation of the AFOC visibility plan;

•Support the Office of the Director with development of strategic material and products, including presentations, papers and reports, briefing notes and talking points;

•Participate in UN-wide communications planning by representing AFOC in the UN Communications Working Group (UNCG) and associated task forces, and liaising with other information managers, including those from within Government, UNAMA and other UN agencies, funds and programmes;

•Coordinate regularly with UNOPS’ communications office in HQ and the Asia Region focal point to ensure timely updates of AFOC information;

•Interact and follow up with PMs and project teams to solicit case studies, lessons learned, success stories, and best practices for capitalization of institutional knowledge;

•Lead in the preparation and publication of success stories for inclusion in internal and external communication products.

In addition to the above, the PS-SCD will be prepared to perform any other duties as may be assigned by the Director and Representative.

Education:        

A Master’s degree in communications, project management, security, public administration, social science or any other relevant related field is required.

Certification:    

PRINCE2 Foundation (or higher) is an asset.

Experience:       

A minimum of 5 years’ experience including communications and / or reporting, project and / or programme management support is required.

Experience in UN system organizations, preferably in a fragile state environment, is desirable.

A combination of a Bachelor’s degree with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the education requirements outlined above.

Language Requirements:            

Fluency (oral and written) in English is essential.

Knowledge of Farsi and/or Dari is an asset.

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• 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
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.