The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Iraq developed the Iraq Crisis Response and Resilience Programme (ICRRP) to help people cope with the crisis by targeting IDPs, Syrian refugees, returnees and host communities in the IDP and refugee-hosting and liberated areas. ICRRP provides immediate and long-term support to the target beneficiaries through lifesaving, stabilization and sustainable recovery support, while supporting government and civil society as well. The programme also emphasizes marginalized youth and vulnerable groups, such as women heads of households, widows and girls. The livelihoods component of the ICRRP supports recovery of the returnee and host communities by providing them with the immediate and long term employment opportunities, through cash for work, job placement and grants for assets recovery, business start-ups and SMEs. The aim is to build the resilience of communities and restore local municipal and community infrastructure, including markets.
The Sr. Project Assistant - Livelihoods will perform his/her duties under the direct supervision of the ICRRP Livelihoods Programme Analyst. He/she will ensure effective and timely implementation of ICRRP livelihoods activities, in close collaboration with the Livelihoods Team members, with other ICRRP teams including the ICRRP Project Implementation Support Unit. He/she will contribute to knowledge management and information sharing in the UNDP country office. He/she is also expected to ensure mainstreaming gender equality and women empowerment throughout all livelihoods projects. He/she will support the efforts of maintaining partnerships and professional relationships with national and local partners.
Support to design of livelihood projects and contracting of implementing partners
- Support drafting of ToRs for contracting responsible parties and contractors to achieve the objectives of livelihoods support programmes, targeting returnees, IDPs, refugees and host communities;
- Assess funding proposals from potential partner organizations and evaluate proposals on quality and consistency;
- Support the selection of responsible parties and contractors through the RPA and RFP modalities; including by carrying out NGO short-listing, assessments and preparing necessary contractual documents;
- Support the ICRRP Livelihoods Programme Analyst in preparing analytical reports and products to contribute to the design of new projects by the ICRRP livelihoods team.
Support to project management by ICRRP Implementing Partners:
- Maintain professional working relationships and cooperation with ICRRP Responsible Parties, and implementing partners;
- Provide thorough and timely follow-up on the implementation of projects by the ICRRP, including cash for work, vocational training and employment, and SME support;
- Assist the ICRRP Livelihoods Programme Analyst to ensure quality control of livelihoods activities which UNDP is supporting;
- Support identifying project delivery issues and recommend solutions to overcome bottlenecks in implementation; covering technical, programmatic, financial and operational aspects;
- Conduct frequent field missions to monitor the implementation of livelihood activities and provide inputs/assist with writing timely assessment and field monitoring reports;
- Provide support and assistance in preparation of progress reports on the implementation of ICRRP livelihoods projects, including challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations for future improvement;
- Support the development of specific livelihoods activities which are tailor-made for women and ensure that gender concerns are integrated into livelihoods programming;
- Support preparation of contract amendments by preparing communication with Responsible Parties/Implementing Partners and preparing necessary Amendment packages;
- Support the HACT micro-assessments, third party spot checks and HACT audit of responsible parties, by communicating with the RPs and auditors, and maintaining and providing required documentation;
- Collect and maintain relevant data and information on the livelihood projects, including:
- Signed beneficiary lists
- Studies and reports produced under the project
- Evidence of project deliverables
- Evidence of programmatic monitoring
- Project documents and contracts with all supporting documents;
- Policies and guidelines of the responsible parties
- Financial and expenditure records in collaboration with operations support team;
- Support the Emergency Livelihoods Cluster activities and management when/if needed;
- Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.
Support to knowledge management by ICRRP livelihoods team
- Assist production of communication materials on ICRRP livelihoods work, including the database of high-quality pictures, videos, human stories and success stories/lessons learned;
- Disseminate ICRRP livelihoods success stories through social media outlets;
- Keep abreast of new developments in livelihoods approaches and share new knowledge with ICRRP livelihoods team and with Responsible Parties (RPs)/Implementing Partners.
Corporate Competencies:
- Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
Functional Competencies:
Management
- Good Project management skills;
- Demonstrate strong coordination and organizational skills;
- Ability to work as a part of a team, sharing information and coordinating efforts within the team;
- Consistently approaches to work with energy and a positive and constructive attitude;
- Excellent analytical and writing skills.
Communication
- Good communication skills both in writing and oral including networking and interpersonal skills;
- Proven ability to persuade and influence others to cooperate.
Client Orientation
- Researches potential solutions to internal and external client needs and reports back in a timely, succinct and appropriate fashion;
- Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines;
- Ability to undertake and apply gender analysis to ensure gender equitable solutions.
Partnership
- Build, coordinate and advise on programmatic partnership;
- Maintains an established network of contacts for general information sharing and to remain up-to-date on partnership related issues;
- Analyzes and selects materials for strengthening strategic alliances with partners and stakeholders.
Professionalism
- Understands and applies fundamental concepts and principles of crisis response and early recovery;
- Possesses knowledge and experience in livelihood enhancement, employment creation, private sector development;
- Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments.
Judgment/Decision-making
- Identifies the key issues in a complex situation;
- Gathers relevant information before making a decision;
- Considers the positive and negative impacts of decisions before making them.
- High School certificate or Bachelors degree in economics, business administration, development studies, engineering, information management, social science or a related fields.
- Minimum of 7 years of work experience or 4 years with Bachelor's degree in the area of livelihood support and community development;
- Proven experience of working with national or international-development NGOs or UN agencies is required;
- Proven experience of livelihood support programming and implementation in post-conflict contexts is required;
- Solid knowledge of result-based management, including progress monitoring is an asset;
- Excellent writing and communication skills are required.
- Fluency in English, Arabic and Kurdish is required.
Important applicant information
All posts in the SC categories are subject to local recruitment.
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.
Workforce diversity
UNDP is committed 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 applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.
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Contract Duration: One year from the EOD