Coordination Specialist

Reporting to the Capacity Development and Grants Operations Manager, the Coordination Specialist, Operations and Systems is responsible for (1) coordinating the UNTF to EVAW’s operational side of the Grant-making Programme to ensure compliance with UNTF timelines, requirements and quality standards; (2) coordinating with national partners and other stakeholders in all operational aspects related to grant-giving and grant selection processes; (3) managing and maintaining grants management systems utilized by applicants and grantees to report on their projects to the UN Trust Fund; and (4) supporting activities at the UNTF-EVAW and UN Women corporate level as requested.

Key Functions and Accountabilities:

Coordinate end-to end operational aspects of the Grant-making Programme:

• Implement the operational components of the Grant-making Programme work plan in alignment with the UNTF-EVAW’s Call for Proposals timelines, the Annual Work Plan, and in accordance with both the 2021–2025 and upcoming 2026–2030 UNTF Strategic Plans, working closely with the Grants and Programme Management Team
• Manage financial resources for operational side of the Call for Proposals processes, including budgeting, and expenditure tracking and reporting;
• Prepare the Budget Guidance document and other finance and operations related documentation of the annual Call for Proposals, including through consultations and feedback from internal and external stakeholders;
• Manage the identification, selection and recruitment of external expertise required for the successful implementation of the Fund’s annual Call for Proposals, including translators, issue area experts and members of the Fund’s Technical Review Groups (approximately 60+ technical experts in ending violence against women each year with various language skills and regional expertise);
• Maintain and update external consultant rosters for technical reviewers, translators, and technical assistance for database use during grant review as needed, including through targeted recruitment of new issue experts based on the specific focus of each grant-giving cycle;
• Oversee payments to the technical reviewers, translators, and GMS vendors.
• Coordinate finalization of Partner Agreement documents in compliance with UN Women rules and regulations: Review and edit the Partner Agreement documentation as needed; Coordinate the Partner Project Documents preparation, approval, and signatures;
• Oversee and monitor the allocation and disbursement of funds to new grantees under each grant-giving cycle.
• Ensure high-quality, timely and complete documentation and records management on all operational aspects related to the grants management programme;
• Provide inputs into yearly assessments of Fund’s processes as related to the Grant-making Programme and compile lessons learned and best practices to increase the Fund’s operational efficiency and efficacy.

Coordinate with national partners and other stakeholders in all operational aspects related to grant-giving and grant selection processes:

• Provide capacity development support to applicants through the preparation of easy-to-understand tips and tools (including webinars and FAQs) on how to complete their financial and operational requirements for application submission.
• Provide technical/system related guidance to potential grant applicants to support the completion of applications, including Concept Notes and Full-Fledged Proposals, to ensure compliance with Fund’s policies and use of application technologies;
• Coordinate the NGO capacity assessment documentation request to the pre-selected applicants, as well as the quality assurance and records management of the documents received;
• Coordinate the review of the NGO assessments by UN Women RO/COs: identify capacity gaps and provide advice and support to offices to facilitate their timely completion of the with the NGO assessment exercise for pre-selected for grant organizations;
• Coordinate and conduct the NGOA assessments undertaken by the UN Trust Fund;
• Review completed implementing partner assessment forms (NGOA) and supporting documentation packages; conduct and disseminate the analysis of the results of the NGO capacity assessments.
• Ensure high-quality, timely and complete documentation and records management on annual NGO assessment processes.

Manage and maintain grants management systems utilized by applicants and grantees to report on their projects to the UN Trust Fund: 

• Manage the implementation and maintenance of the UN Trust Fund’s Grants Management Systems (GMS), including monitoring of the timeline, deliverables, budget and expenditure;
• Prepare and present work-plans, periodic narrative progress reports and expenditures status reports related to GMS;
• Coordinate the technical support with external vendors to ensure the grants management systems are functioning smoothly;
• Coordinate the development and quality assurance of any subsequent enhancements of the Grants Management Systems (GMS), including through conducting the User Acceptance Test (UAT) for all modules in English, French and Spanish by using different roles/users.
• Coordinate online application system set up, refining, editing web related applications, coordinate translation of edits to the web application documentation and all system related changes with the vendors, as well as ensure quality assurance of each application cycle in the GMS in three languages;
• Serve as the main contact for the Helpdesk Support and provide webinars to a range of system users. Provide troubleshooting on technical issues reported to the Helpdesk: investigate into and report the issues in the Issue Register; verify the fix with the vendor and revert to the user.
• Conduct the application assignment process to the Technical Review Group Members (technical experts in ending violence against women) in the Grant Management System, provide training on their use of the online database system, and compile and analyze their feedback for further GMS enhancement and improved user experience;
• Update system user guides for grantees and fund users to reflect changes in the grants management systems and to improve the content and reader-friendliness based on feedback and suggestions from users.
• Oversee capacity development activities related to all type of system users, including webinars, guidance materials, in person and online training..
• Support team members in running database reports and exports and ensure timely updates of call-related documentation on the system site as well as regular email status updates to applicants.
• Record and maintain documents on relevant activities, issues, and risks related to GMS.

Recruitment Qualifications:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, Political Science, Development, Public Administration, Gender Studies or related field is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A project/programme management certification would be an added advantage

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in managing complex and multi-component programme interventions with national partners, related to Grant-making and Operations;
• Experience in coordinating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating development programmes and projects is required;
• Experience in Grants Management is required;
• Experience with databases and data management is required;
• Previous experience working in the UN system is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese, or Russian.

Source: https://estm.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1001/job/24187