Programme Management and Quality Assurance Analyst

Background and Organizational Context

UNDP is working with the Government of Pakistan, civil society, national partners and the people of Pakistan to help find solutions to persistent development challenges. We work to build lasting institutional capacity, provide technical expertise to improve development outcomes and help link the Government and people of Pakistan to innovative global solutions in areas such as improved data quality and collection, better environmental management, climate change finance and adaptation, strong and accountable governance mechanisms and capacities to respond effectively to conflict and disasters. 

Resilience, Environment, and Climate Change is one of the biggest programme portfolios for UNDP Pakistan Country Office (CO). Currently, the portfolio is funded by various resources including the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund which on average constitutes about a quarter (25%) of the CO’s program delivery targets of around USD 52M in 2021. It is foreseen that the resilience, environment and climate change portfolio remain one of the important programme areas in the coming Country Programme Document period from 2023 – 2027 with an increased shift towards a resilience-driven lens focusing on development pathways, economic policy options and approaches, and efforts to operationalize new financial instruments expanding beyond the current focus on the environment. 

Position Purpose

• Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Assistant Resident Representative, RECCU, the Programme Management and Quality Assurance Analyst ensures the effective delivery of the CO programme by entering and managing data and supporting programme implementation consistent with UNDP rules and regulations.
• The Programme Management and Quality Assurance Analyst will be responsible for supporting programme quality assurance and programme management in the Country Office (CO) funded through various trust fund sources including Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund and other multilateral and bilateral donors.
• S/he also works with the UNDP CO Management Support Unit, Programme and Operations teams, Bangkok Regional Hub and UNDP HQ, programme staff in other UN agencies, Government officials, technical advisers and experts, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors.
• UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Ensures programmatic support in expanding the portfolio size of the RECCU through programme development.
• Ensures results-based management (RBM) of the unit-managed projects through enhanced quality control and reporting tools.
• Ensures that projects comply with the UNDP rules and regulations based on various implementation modalities and funding sources.
• Provide quality assurance and oversight support to the RECCU Unit.
• Ensures risk management of the projects in Quantum, results reporting and enhanced quality control.
• Ensures facilitation of knowledge-building and sharing by managing a knowledge and learning database

Ensures Programmatic support in Quality Assurance & oversight to the Programme Unit focusing on the achievement of the following results:

• Provide support in efforts to develop new programmatic opportunities in line with RECCU’s strategic objectives.
• Ensure the alignment of project proposals with donor expectations, government priorities, and UNDP’s mandate.
• Guide and support fundraising and resource mobilization efforts by engaging with donors and partners.
• Support to mainstream gender concerns in strategies, programming and policy papers.
• Facilitate/support project audits and evaluations and use audit and evaluation recommendations to introduce systems improvements in portfolio management and oversight.
• Support corporate planning, such ROAR, IWP, IB budget planning, COBP.
• Active involvement in SOP development and introduction of best practices for greater efficiency and effectiveness.
• Works closely with Programme Analyst to establish quality assurance processes to ensure the quality of programming results, through the development of standard operating procedures, guidance notes, checklists, and sharing best practices.
• Support preparation and submission of periodic and ad hoc reports by coordinating with project managers ensuring timely completion of required quarterly and annual reports.

Ensure results-based management of the unit programmes and projects portfolio, focusing on achievement of the following        results in close cooperation with the Risk Management Unit:

• Effective application of RBM tools, follow-up on a unit evaluation plan, establishment of management targets and monitoring achievement and reporting of the results as per the unit AWP.
• Review and ensure that results reporting is done to meet corporate quality standards and that indicator establishment and measurement are verifiable.
• Coordination of programme implementation with the project teams, the introduction of key performance indicators (KPI) / success criteria, cost recovery, targets, and milestones.
• Establishment and efficient use of the unit monitoring dashboard for project-specific data and delivery, results monitoring, and expenditure forecasting.
• Support ARR and Programme Analyst in building close coordination with regional COSQA and central level Resilience, Nature, Climate and Energy Portfolio experts on corporate requirements to help adjust the office to meet the rising corporate expectations in this area.
• Ensure the spot check activities are aligned with the CO assurance plan and recommended areas are implemented as needed.
• Serves as the unit focal point for corporate, CO and HACT audits for applicable projects in support of the Programme Associate

Ensures projects under the unit comply with the UNDP rules and regulations based on various implementation modalities and funding sources focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Provides support to the national project managers on UNDP rules and regulations applicable for project implementation arrangement; on budget management; management of budget performance on a portfolio basis, including project staff budget allocations and actual time allocations.
• Conducts exceptions/compliance reviews on the use of all program budgets; identifies issues and recommends system improvements.
• Works with the Programme Analyst in close coordination with the projects and HQ teams and keeps the PIMS entries managed in accordance with the vertical funding requirements.
• Support in the resource mobilization and expansion of the unit’s portfolio by developing Concept notes, EOI and proposals for various donors.
• Efficient and timely follow-up of donor contributions as per the agreements signed and keeps the dashboard green.

Ensures results reporting and enhanced quality control focusing on achievement of the following results in close collaboration with the head of RMU:

• Coordination of data for internal/external audits.
• Support the internal and external audit follow-up actions for timely implementation.
• Coordination and support to HACT audit and spot-check activities with efficient and timely follow-up with recommended actions implementation in close cooperation with respective projects.

Ensures facilitation of knowledge building, learning and data sharing in the CO focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Organization/conduct of training for the operations/ programme/projects staff on RBM and various reporting requirements.
• Develop and maintain a knowledge and learning database to facilitate knowledge building and sharing among RECCU team members and across units.
• Organize capacity-building activities, workshops, and webinars for knowledge dissemination.
• Document lessons learned, best practices, and success stories from RECCU’s projects.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Developmental Studies, Project Management, Public Administration and Environment or any related area. OR
• A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree

Experience:

• Applicants with master’s degree (or equivalent) in a relevant field of study are not required to have professional work experience.
• Applicants with a bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) are required to have a minimum of two (2) years of relevant professional experience at the national and/or international level in Project management, providing management advisory services and hands-on experience in the design, monitoring and evaluation of development projects.
• Relevant experience in working with quality assurance instruments and results-based management models is desired.
• Experience in programme management and working with multilateral development stakeholders is desired.
• Experience in resource mobilization and strong proposal development including concept notes, EOI and donor proposals such as GEF, GCF is required.
• Experience working in a vertical-funded project is required.
• Experience in handling web-based management systems and ERP financials, preferably Quantum, Cloud and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages is required.

Language Requirement

• Fluency in English and Urdu is required.

Source: https://estm.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1/job/22301