Programme Management Office Senior Officer

Background Information – Job-specific

The Grants and Contracts team, as part of the larger Programme Management Office (PMO), is in charge of managing the grants and contracts with implementing partners. The Programme Management Office Senior Officer (Grants and Contracts) will be located within the UNOPS Myanmar Programme Management Office, and will be supporting one of the multiple funds and programmes managed by UNOPS Myanmar.

Functional Responsibilities

• Under the overall supervision of the Programme Management Office Specialist (Grants and Contracts), the Programme Management Senior Officer (Grants and Contracts) will work to support the delivery of Fund activities. He/She will collaborate closely and engage actively with the Program Unit assigned role in the designated funds, and will be responsible for:

Grant management

• Prepare grant awards requests, draft grant agreements and subsequent amendments, using the approved templates ensuring that all agreements and amendments are constructed and issued in line with UNOPS legal and financial rules and regulations;
• Review grant budgets, and financial reports against approved budgets, to provide critical feedback to the implementing partners, programme unit, and supervisor;
• Monitor budgets in grant proposals and verify their consistency with prevailing market rate; assist in discussion/negotiation of costs/fees as required;
• Verify reporting requirements are adhered to and liaise closely with the Program and
• M&E teams and the supervisor on any delays or other difficulties;
• Review payment requests and ensure payments are processed based upon the grant agreement. agreed payment schedules, and fund availability;
• Support the Finance Officer in budgeting and forecasting of grant related expenditures; ensure variances are communicated at an early stage;
• Communicate with and provide guidance/advice to implementing partners on grant-related and financial matters, in collaboration with the relevant Program unit and the PMO Finance team
• Resolve operational and process issues related to grant management, and refer complex issues to the supervisor with recommendations for courses of action;
• Coordinate the process of operational and financial closure of grants and projects;
• Contributing to the coordination and follow up on the audits of Implementing Partners;
• Highlight risks and delays to the supervisor and team as appropriate

Capacity assessment and Capacity building

• Contribute to the review and update of the financial and operational capacity assessment approach of the Funds, incorporating best practices and assessment tools.
• Conduct financial and operational capacity assessments of the IPs, and manage follow-up actions identified in the assessment reports.
• Organize and support IP capacity development and training in financial and organisational management.
• Provide day-to-day help and guidance to the IPs and coordinate with the Program Unit to ensure IP understanding of, and compliance with operational guidelines, terms and conditions of the grant agreement, and UNOPS requirements.
• Actively liaising with other MMCO grants teams to align to the extent possible IP capacity development efforts as well as streamlining and harmonizing of practices and tools within UNOPS MMCO.
• Actively compiling lessons learned and best practices, and sharing knowledge and best practices within the Fund and with IPs, on financial and organizational management.
• Provide guidance to and share knowledge with the other members of the Grants and
• Contracts team to improve the overall team’s coherence and competency
• Contribute to the implementation and success of the PMO Center for Fund Management

Documentation:

• Monitor information related to contractual arrangements – on audits, inventories, utilization and all such elements in the contracts and grants
• Ensure that all records are collected and maintained, both hard copies and electronic copies for easy reference and retrieval
• Maintain a database/archive of all grant related information and documentation of all the implementing partners.
• Keep the supervisor updated on progress and issues, and prepare timely briefing materials and reports as requested.
• Other duties as may be assigned by the supervisor

Monitoring and Progress Controls

• The Programme Management Office Senior Officer (Grants and Contracts) will report to the Programme Management Office Specialist (Grants and Contracts), who will monitor his/her performance as per these ToR. Monitoring will look in particular at the following:
• Efficient, timely execution and follow-up of tasks as per the scope of responsibilities detailed above;
• Proactive and professional interaction with colleagues at UNOPS to exchange information and feedback on requests in an effective and efficient manner;
• Demonstration of UNOPS competencies and behaviors at the expected level when interacting with IPs, stakeholders, and colleagues from the PMO, Funds, and MMCO.

Education/Experience/Language requirements

Education

• Advanced University degree – (Master’s degree or equivalent) preferably in administration, development studies, economics, project management, finance or an equivalent degree in related fields is required.
• Bachelor degree in related discipline in combination with additional 2 years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advance university degree
• Completion of the PRINCE2 Foundation certificate is an advantage.

Work Experience

• Minimum of 2 years of experience in contracts/grant management and/or project administration is required.
• Previous experience with, and a good knowledge of the development and humanitarian sector/working with UN, Donors, NGOs is an advantage;
• Additional experience of project support functions (finance, human resources, procurement & logistics) is an advantage.
• Good knowledge of contractual and accounting principles and modalities is preferred;
• Thorough knowledge of UN rules and procedures in budget or grant management and contracting is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct financial and budget analysis is strongly desirable.
• Prior experience with UNOPS is an advantage.
• Experience with Google Workspace is an asset.

Language Requirement

• Fluency in both English and Myanmar/Burmese languages is required (written and oral expression)

Source: https://jobs.unops.org/Pages/ViewVacancy/VADetails.aspx?id=29116