Programme Management Officer (Peri-Urban Programme)

The Livelihoods and Food Security Fund (LIFT) is a multi-donor fund set up in 2009. LIFT aims to strengthen the resilience and sustainable livelihoods of poor households by helping people to reach their full economic potential. This is achieved through increasing incomes, improving the nutrition of women and children, and decreasing vulnerabilities to shocks, stresses and adverse trends.

LIFT is a significant actor in Myanmar’s development. To date, over 14.5 million people in 82 per cent of Myanmar’s townships have benefitted from LIFT’s programmes. From January 2019, LIFT has been guided by a new five-year strategy that puts ‘leaving no one behind’ at the centre and will in particular focus on social inclusion and cohesion, increased support to areas affected by conflict, bringing displaced people into LIFT’s development programmes and working with Government at all levels on targeted policies that achieve gains in these areas. 

LIFT has received funding from altogether 16 international donors since it was established. The current donors are the UK, the European Union, Switzerland, Australia, the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and Ireland. For more details, visit www.lift-fund.org. 

Rural to urban migration is rapidly increasing in Myanmar, with many unemployed and under-employed people moving to seek new jobs in cities. These internal migration flows have resulted in a dramatic increase in the population of Yangon’s peri-urban industrial zones and have had a particular impact on the livelihoods of women due to the highly feminised nature of employment in garment factories. However, poor wages and working conditions, combined with barriers to accessing nutritious food, safe and affordable housing and adequate water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, frequently result in negative outcomes for migrant workers.

The LIFT Peri-Urban Programme has been developed as a three-year multi-disciplinary intervention to respond to these intersecting and intractable development challenges, with a view to migrants who are “stepping out” of the agricultural sector to seek improved livelihoods in urban areas. By ameliorating the conditions that lead to labour exploitation and poor health and nutritional outcomes, the programme will address the key barriers preventing migrant households from climbing out of poverty and reaching their full potential.

The overall goal of the programme is improved nutritional status, increased household income and assets and reduced vulnerability to exploitation for women and men migrants in the peri-urban areas of Yangon. The programme will achieve this goal through three component outcomes:

1. Expanding access to information, services and peer support for women and men migrants;

2. Increasing opportunities for decent work for women and men migrants; and

3. Improving nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene conditions, particularly for mothers and children.

A Programme Management Officer is needed to promote active coordination among implementing partners and key stakeholders for the Peri-Urban Programme, working in close cooperation with LIFT’s Decent Work and Labour Mobility and Nutrition programme teams. For more information on the Peri-Urban Programme, visit https://www.lift-fund.org/en/lift-peri-urban-programme-framework-2020

The Programme Management Officer will work under the direct supervision of the Senior Programme Manager (Decent Work and Labour Mobility), in accordance with UNOPS policies, procedures and practices. Additional technical backstopping will be provided by the relevant programme focal points responsible for management of the peri-urban projects. The Programme Management Officer shall carry out the following duties:

Ensure efficient and effective management of the programme

• Organize quarterly programme coordination meetings and sub-group cluster meetings among implementing partners and follow-up on agreed upon action points.

• Support capacity building trainings and communities of practices for implementing partners on relevant subjects. 

• Assist with coordination of public campaign events between programme partners, including International Women’s Day, International Migrants Day, International Workers’ Day, 16 days of activism, Nutrition Promotion Month, World Food Day and others.

• Pro-actively identify potential synergies and eliminate geographic overlaps within programme activities across the peri-urban projects.

• Stay abreast of key emerging situational developments in peri-urban Yangon which may impact the programme and disseminate information to LIFT and programme partners where appropriate.

Establish and strengthen relationships with and among programme partners and key stakeholders

• Liaise with key government, private sector, labour organization and civil society stakeholders to build cooperation on programme activities.

• Maintain clear lines of communication with programme partners to ensure that they are aware of and adhering to LIFT policies and procedures.

• Administrate the programme’s Facebook group and other social media platforms to ensure active communication between partners.

• Develop contact lists for programme partners and key stakeholders to facilitate meetings and events.

Support robust monitoring and evaluation for accountability and learning (MEAL) of the programme

• Organize and participate in regular field visits to monitor progress on implementation of activities and provide recommendations for improvements.

• Support the review and consolidation of reports from programme partners to produce periodic reporting, including the LIFT annual and semi-annual reports.

• Assist with data collection for research studies and evaluations related to the programme activities.

• Contribute to the identification and documentation of good practices and lessons learned to be shared in LIFT reporting and knowledge products.  

Increase the visibility and reputation of the LIFT peri-urban programme through effective communication activities

• Assist with the organization of donor and VIP field visits to observe programme activities.

• Support the documentation of beneficiary case studies through multiple media to share stories about the programme’s impact.

• Collect inputs from partners to produce and disseminate a quarterly programme newsletter in cooperation with the LIFT Communications team.

Other duties

• Drafting terms of reference for procurement of services as necessary.

• Assisting with interpretation and translation of documents in Myanmar/English language.

Education

• A Bachelor’s degree in international development, industrial relations, economics, business management, public policy, sociology or a related field is required.

• A Master’s degree in one of the above fields from an accredited academic institution is desirable but not required. 

Experience

• A minimum 2 years of professional experience in project or programme  development, management and monitoring and evaluation with a development organization is required.

• Proven ability to write analytical and summative reports in English is required.

• Experience liaising with key stakeholders from government, private sector, CSOs, labour organizations, INGOs and UN organizations is considered an asset.

• Technical expertise in labour migration, labour rights, skills development, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene is considered an asset.

• Computer literacy in Microsoft packages is required. Experience with Google Suite is considered an asset.

Language requirements

• Fluency in both English and Myanmar languages is required.

Contract type: Local Individual Contractor Agreement  Contract level: LICA8/ICS8
Contract duration:  Open ended (subject to organizational requirements, avaliability of funds, and satisfactory performance)

For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link:
https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx 

• 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
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• 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.

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.