Under the supervision of the Deputy Resident Representative and with overall guidance of the Resident Representative, the Assistant Resident Representative serves as the team leader for the Governance and Participation unit of the UNDP Viet Nam Country Office (CO). He/she oversees the implementation of the governance programme, leads the programme team in strategic planning and identifies new programming opportunities while ensuring consistency with UN One Strategic Plan and UNDP Country Programme Document (CPD) priorities and providing innovative responses to new and emerging challenges and opportunities.
The ARR supervises the Governance and Participation team and works in close collaboration with the other teams and units in the CO, Government officials, counterparts in other UN agencies, UNDP HQ and Regional Center colleagues, technical advisors and experts, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors and civil society to successfully implement the UNDP governance programme. He/she serves as human rights focal point responsible for providing strategic guidance, promoting rights-based programming and implementation of relevant initiatives.
The UN in Viet Nam is one of the initial 8 pilot countries for Delivering As One and has completed two cycles of operating under a One Strategic Plan. In this context a high priority is placed on joint programming, and the ARR will play a substantial role in UNDP’s leadership of the Governance and Justice Results Group under the One Strategic Plan.
The function requires strong political sensitivity and diplomatic skills, as well the aptitude to manage complex processes with strong relationship-building and problem-solving abilities. As a key manager and a member, the incumbent also actively participates in the CO senior staff (team leaders) group and supports the implementation of shared office priorities in programmed and management fields.
Summary of Key Functions:
- Spearheading the strategic direction of governance programmes including joint UN programmes with UNDP’s participation and other collaborative UN initiative
- Management of the programme portfolio and related joint UN programmes, direct supervision of the Governance and Participation team, substantive oversight and quality assurance of the work of project staff
- Development of strategic partnerships and resource mobilization for the Governance portfolio
- Provision of quality policy advice services to the Government and other partners, and facilitation of knowledge building and management, including the area of human rights.
- Thorough analysis of the political, social and economic situation in the country and collaborative preparation/revision of joint UN country analysis/assessment, UN One Strategic Plan, UNDP Country Programme Documents (CPD), Annual Business Plan, and Annual Work Plans (AWPs) and other documents, guided by the global UNDP Strategic Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals (with particular attention to goal 16).
- Operationalization of UN One Strategic Plan and CPD in collaboration with key national partners, UN Agencies, development partners and civil society; identification of possibilities for UN joint programming. Support UNDP’s chair role in UN Results Group on Governance.
- Analysis and presentation of UNDP policies and their implementation in the CO.
- Development and expansion of the country office programme portfolio in the area of Governance and Participation in response to national priorities, UN/UNDP programming frameworks, including corporate Strategic Plan
- Ensure that new programmes incorporate gender equality and women’s empowerment at the design stages, supporting the gender marker targets under the Country Office Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy and UNDP’s global Gender Equality Strategy.
- Working closely with concerned Government agencies, UNDP HQs and Regional Center on the related issues, disseminating policy decision and responding accordingly.
- Keeping abreast of national/regional/global development trends in the areas of democratic Governance and providing advices on planning, policy and resource mobilization interventions.
- Promote the application of innovative approaches in UNDP governance programmes
2. Ensures effective management of the CO governance programme and supervision of the Governance and Participation Team focusing on quality control of the full cycle of programming from formulation to implementation achieving the following results:
- Responsible for achievements of identified results and effective delivery of allocated resources
- Effective application of RBM tools, establishment of management targets and monitoring achievement of results.
- Design and formulation of the CO governance programme, translating UNDP priorities into high-quality programmatic interventions; coordination of programme implementation with implementing partners.
- Strategic oversight of planning, budgeting, implementing and monitoring of the governance programme, tracking use of financial resources in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations.
- - ARR-P performs the function of Manager Level 2 in Atlas as well as other roles in the CO Internal Control Framework (ICF) based on delegated authority from CO management.
- Effective monitoring, measuring the impact of the CO governance programme and evaluation. Constant monitoring and analysis of the programme environment, timely readjustment of programme.
- Ensure gender mainstreaming in all governance projects and programmes, and support the implementation of the Country Office Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy, in line with UNDP’s global Gender Equality Strategy.
- Follow up on audit recommendations and report all exceptions in a timely manner.
- Aggregate reports are regularly prepared on activities, outputs and outcomes. Preparation of donor reports.
- Application of appropriate cost recovery for the services provided by the programme unit to projects.
3. Establishes and maintains strategic partnerships and supports the resource mobilization in cooperation with the CO Senior Management focusing on achievement of the following results:
- Actively develop strong partnerships with national and international partners (government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, IFIs, private sector, civil society), thus contributing to raising the profile and credibility of UN/UNDP in the area of governance
- Work in synergy with the UN Agencies, especially in the implementation of the One Strategic Plan and through UN joint programming and policy advocacy mechanisms.
- Determination of programmatic areas of cooperation, based on strategic goals of UN/UNDP, country needs and donors’ priorities. Two key areas for programme expansion include mine action for sustainable development and justice and legal empowerment.
- Development of close interaction and substantive dialogue with donors, identification of partnership and resource mobilization opportunities, including domestic fund cost sharing, and lead for the materialization of those opportunities.
- Directly support the coordination of relevant Joint Results Group(s) under the UN One Strategic Plan, and support UN/UNDP senior managers in coordinating joint initiatives
- Active representation of UN/UNDP and substantive participation in Governance fora and thematic groups involving Government, civil society and development partners.
4. Ensures provision of quality advisory services and facilitation of knowledge building and management including in the area of human rights, focusing on achievement of the following results:
- Identification of key governance and participation issues and challenges, identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learned directly linked to programme country policy goals, leading to the formulation of substantive policy advice.
- Coordination of development of policies and institutions that will address the country problems and needs in collaboration with the Government and other strategic partners.
- Serving as the Human Rights focal point responsible for providing strategic guidance, promoting rights-based programming and implementation of relevant initiatives, including in support to the One UN Human Rights Thematic Group.
- Establishment of advocacy networks at national level and linked to international networks focusing on the executing relevant, high-impact advocacy campaigns with key partners.
- Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.
- Organization of necessary trainings for the unit staff and project personnel on critical programmatic and substantive matters
Impact of Results
The key results have an impact on the overall success of the country programme and reaching One Strategic Plan/ CPD goals. In particular, the key results have an impact on:
- seizing the strategic opportunities for UN/UNDP programming/support and partnership with national partners,
- translating such strategic opportunities into the innovative design, operation and programming of activities,
- strategic positioning of UNDP and its programme support
- raising profile and credibility of UN/UNDP in the area of governance
- maintaining the relevance and high quality of the UNDP programme support, policy advocacy and advisory services, and
- creation of strategic partnerships as well as reaching resource mobilization targets.
Corporate Competencies:
- Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards
- Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
Functional Competencies
Knowledge Management and Learnin
- Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example
- Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills
Development and Operational Effectiveness
- Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting
- Ability to lead formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects, mobilize resources
- Ability to formulate and manage budgets, manage contributions and investments, manage transactions, conduct financial analysis, reporting and cost-recovery
- Good knowledge of the Results Management Guide and Toolkit
- Good ICT skills, ability to learn and operate Atlas
- Ability to implement new systems and affect staff behavioral/ attitudinal change
Management and Leadership
- Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback
- Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
- Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills
- Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities
Master’s Degree or equivalent in Political Sciences, Law, Public Policy, Human Rights, Public Administration, Development Economics, Social Sciences or related field.
Experience with computer applications and office software packages, experience in handling of web based management systems.
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Contract Duration: 1 Year