Programme Support

In Guinea-Bissau, although the Constitution is founded on democratic governance principles, notably the consecration of people as the holder of sovereignty, rule of law as an affirmation of the primacy of legality, separation of powers, respect for human rights, participation of citizens, and a multi-party system of government, challenges ahead persist relative to effective transparent and inclusive democratic governance. The challenges primarily stem from intertwined causes, including the political instability that has been affecting the country since its independence, the legacy of colonial and post-independence forms of centralized government systems, and the political-military dynamics.

Guinea-Bissau has shown overall Governance deterioration, as measured by the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance with notable poor performance in areas that include rule of law, personal safety, participating and human rights, welfare and sustainable economic opportunities. Weaknesses in areas such as access to justice, endemic corruption, decentralization, public administration and civil services, parliament human rights and gender inequality require attention as they result in the state inability to provide effectively and efficiently goods and services to the population and to build social cohesion between the state and citizens.

The UNDP Country Office (CO) in Guinea-Bissau, as key Government partner in the area of governance, is developing and implementing various projects in a variety of governance related domains, including rule of law and justice, anticorruption and accountability, decentralization and local governance, electoral support, parliamentary support and civic engagement. Additionally, taking into consideration the UN mission transition, UNDP is taking over some of its responsibilities.

In this framework, UNDP is recruiting a Programme Associate that will be responsible for the overall support of implementation of the ongoing programme/project, performing a variety of standard operational services within the Governance unit ensuring high quality and accuracy of work. The Programme Associate facilitates knowledge building and knowledge sharing on communication activities. S/he will work closely with all members of the Governance Unit as well as with other projects’ personnel and UNDP CO team to ensure relevant requirements are fulfilled in a timely manner with required quality, following the highest standards in line with UNDP guidelines and procedures.

Summary Key Functions:

1. Provide support in the conceptualization, formulation, monitoring & evaluation and reporting of governance initiatives;
2. Contribute to the creation of strategic partnerships and implementation of the resource mobilization strategy;
3. Provide support and assistance to the Democratic Governance Team in the implementation and management of the team initiatives;
4. Assist in the administration and implementation of programme delivery through ATLAS-based processes and procedures;
5. Support to knowledge building and knowledge sharing.

1. Provide analytical support to the Governance Team in the conceptualization, formulation, monitoring & evaluation and reporting of governance initiatives:

• Conduct analytical research and collect relevant information as inputs in the conceptualization of governance related initiatives;
• Assist in the drafting of, conference / workshop proceedings, lessons learned reports, project accomplishment reports and other knowledge products;
• Provide comments to Consultants Reports, Concept Notes, Project Documents and other documents.

2.    Support the creation of strategic partnerships and implementation of the resource mobilization strategy for the Governance Unit initiatives:

• Assist in the analysis of information on donors and partners, preparation of donor’s and partners profile and database;
• Drafting of project proposals / concept notes, and the establishment of contacts with donor and partner counterparts;
• Assist in monitoring and reporting on mobilized resources;
• Provide support to donor reporting.

3.  Provide support and assistance to the Democratic Governance Team in the implementation and management of the team initiatives on rule of law, parliamentary development, accountability and anti-corruption, electoral support, civil society, e-governance and local governance as well as other governance service lines that may be assigned in future:

• Provide support in the delivery of project, including capacity development and training activities to governments, regional organizations, civil society organizations and other development partners;
• Assist in the collection, and presentation of information for project, work plans, budgets, proposals on implementation arrangements, MOUs, and submission to the Contracts, Assets and Procurement (CAP) Committee, etc;
• Assist in the initiation of a project, entry of projects into Atlas; generation of monthly financial delivery reports, updating of issue and risk logs, and other Atlas-based requirements;
• Assist in the follow up on performance indicators/ success criteria, targets and milestones, preparation/review/comments of/on reports;
• Assist in the preparation of Unit workplan, preparation of periodic project reports and results reporting.

4.    Assist in the administration and implementation of programme delivery through ATLAS-based processes and procedures. Support to results-based management focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Logistical arrangements for conferences/workshops/Forums/meetings undertaken by the Governance Unit;
• Creating information packages, letters of invitation relevant to upcoming events, liaison with Foreign Affairs for conference related activities;
• Assist in logistical arrangements for visiting missions and in obtaining visas for staff and consultants traveling to the field;
• Presentation of information on the status of financial resources as required;
• Presentation of information/ reports for identification of areas for support and interventions

5.    Support to knowledge building and knowledge sharing:

Core:

Education: 

• Secondary Education completed.
• University Degree in Business or Public Administration, Economics, Political or Social Sciences is desirable.

Experience: 

• Three (3) years of relevant programme experience at the national or international level.
• Knowledge of procedures for the implementation of UN projects, including procurement, disbursements, and reporting and monitoring is preferable.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc) and knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.
• Experience in the use of ATLAS is an asset.

Language Requirements: Fluency of the language of the duty station (Portuguese) and good knowledge of French or English. 

Important applicant information

All posts in the SC categories are subject to local recruitment of national personnel or other legally authorized to work in the country.

Workforce diversity

UNDP is commited to achieving diversity within its workforce, and encourages all qualified applicants, irrespective of gender, nationality, disabilities, sexual orientation, culture, religious and ethnic backgrounds to apply. All applicantions will be treated in strictest confidence

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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