Head of Project Management Office

Context:

The reform of UNESCO field office network strengthens the role of field offices as key drivers for the Organization impactful implementation of its programs. Within this reform, regional offices have received increased responsibilities and accountability, and need to increase their capacity, particularly regarding portfolio management.

UNESCO Regional Office for Central Africa in Yaoundé covers 10 countries, 3 national Offices (Libreville, Brazzaville and Kinshasa) and 3 Antennas (Ndjaména, Bujumbura and Luanda).  The Office implements regionally the 41 C/4 and 42 C/5 in the region and ensures alignment with UNESCO overall strategy, specific Africa Priority Program, and UN adopted frameworks in the region.

Starting in the 1st Semester of 2025, a new generation of Extrabudgetary Projects  will start implementation. Some are already confirmed, like large Global Partnership for Education (GPE) funded project in Chad (≈ 50 millions $ over 4 years) and in Cameroon (≈ 50 millions $ over 4 years). Others others are still being negotiated for a combined in the reaches of 150 million $ in volume by the end of 2024, mostly in the education and science sectors.

This sharp increase in resource mobilization calls for enhanced capacities to manage the Regional Office’s project portfolio. Therefore, the Regional Office seeks to create a new Project Management Office (PMO) to support sector teams in their responsibility along the whole project cycle, from project design to implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The PMO will ensure the Regional Office permanent capacity and institutional knowledge of UNESCO and UN processes relating to portfolio management, as well as assist the Director to ensure strategic planning and alignment with the UNESCO strategy as well as UN regional and national frameworks. The PMO will be the Regional Office designated interface with the Bureau for Strategic Planning (BSP) at Headquarters.

Main duties and responsibilities:

As Head of the PMO, the incumbent will provide technical expertise, leadership, and management to set up and maintain the PMO as detailed below.

Main duties and responsibilities include:

Set-up and management of the PMO

• Set up and manage the PMO in accordance with the functions and objectives laid out in section 5.
• Provide supervision and guidance to the PMO team, including the Monitoring and Evaluation Analyst and the Project Cycle Support Associate.
• Undertake an inventory of the Regional Office’s portfolio, including the following:
• Identify and organize strategic objectives, business value, etc.
• Identify project and organization objectives, budgets, project attributes, and priorities
• Categorize, classify and organize projects
• Identify gating projects
• Map projects to strategic goals
• Launch the portfolio of projects
• Using best practices, standards, and principles, especially with regards to Results-Based Management (RBM) and in collaboration with project managers, the Director’s Office and the Administration, set up a model for projects that facilitates consistent planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, reporting, and closing.
• Create and continuously update project schedules and plan delivery of projects, i.e. contracts.
• Finalize the gating process.

Strategic alignment

• Ensure strategic alignment of the Regional Office’s projects, programmes and portfolio with the UNESCO strategy and other UN regional and national frameworks.
• Provide a prioritization of projects and activities, eliminate redundancies and balance resources according to strategic objectives.

Project cycle and delivery support

Provide programming and project support as well as quality assurance to project coordinators throughout the project cycle for individual and interlinked VC projects and RP programmes, including for the following steps:

• Initiation of new projects
• Definition of project objectives and theories of change
• Project planning
• Budget creation and revision
• Implementation
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Reporting
• Project closure
• Support project coordinators in delivering projects successfully and meeting targets and requirements within defined timeframes and budgets.
• Provide guidance to project coordinators on procedures and next steps, increasing productivity and accelerating turn-around times.

Risk management

• Evaluate and manage external and internal risks to project delivery.
• Review internal and external capacity and work with Heads of Sectors and project coordinators to ensure that projects are estimated more accurately and that the right resources are put into the right work at the right time to minimize any risks.

Collaborative and evidence-based decision-making

• Using the Organization’s tools and processes, contribute to stimulating a culture of collaboration and evidence-based/data-driven decision-making to strengthen collaborative relationships and promote trust within and beyond project coordination teams.
• Streamline data, provide real-time updates on project metrics, and share insights with the Director, Heads of Sectors and project coordination teams for proper decision-making and improved project performance.

Organizational environment and partnerships:

• The Head of the PMO will work within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Director of the UNESCO Regional Office in Yaoundé.
• Managerial responsibility with reference to operational and policy guidelines includes supervision of the Monitoring and Evaluation Analyst (P2) and the Project Cycle Support Associate (international UN Volunteer).
• The Head of the PMO will closely work with Heads of Sectors, individual project coordinators, programme specialists and overall UNESCO staff.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Academic qualifications

• Advanced university degree in international relations, public administration, social or natural sciences, or a related discipline.

Relevant work experience and expertise

• At least 10 years of relevant professional work experience;
• Demonstrated experience and expertise in project, programme and portfolio management, including RBM;
• Expertise in organizational accountability, strategy, internal audit, oversight, and change management;
• Expertise of risk management, compliance, monitoring and evaluation, and governance;
• Understanding of UNESCO governance, decentralization model, and  Field Office Network;
• Familiarity with United Nations policies, procedures, rules, and regulations.

Language requirements

• Excellent knowledge of English is a requirement, good knowledge of French is desirable.

Source: https://careers.unesco.org/job/Yaounde-Head-of-Project-Management-Office/807626602/