Programme Manager

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Job Description

The Philippines is the third most disaster-prone and fifth most exposed to climate change impacts globally. Climate change is exacerbating the impacts of weather-related events in the Philippines. With 7,000+ islands and major coastal population centers, it is highly exposed to rising sea levels and extreme weather events, and associated storm surges and flooding.

The Philippines is one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia and plays an important role in the stability of the region. Environmental degradation and more frequent climatic events are likely to be key political, economic, and security disrupters over the longer term. Humanitarian crises can undermine growth, reverse development gains, increase poverty, and cause instability that can last for decades.

The nexus between gender equity, disability, and social inclusion (GEDSI), disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM), and climate change adaptation (CCA) is a well-established human development issue. Climate change and inequality interlink to create a vicious vulnerability-poverty cycle. Socio-economic inequalities are a key determinant in the disproportionate adverse effects of climate hazards on marginalized people and these impacts in turn create greater inequality and marginalization. At the same time, disasters and conflict are integrally linked to the broader national development context in which they occur and can contribute to each other by making a situation better or worse.

The Government of Australia (GOA) has invested AUD18 million in the Strengthening Institutions and Empowering Localities Against Disasters and Climate Change (SHIELD) Programme 2022-2027 to support the Government of the Philippines (GPH) in building institutional and community resilience to climate change and natural hazards. The goal of the SHIELD Programme is to make all people in target communities safer and more resilient to the impacts of natural hazard events and climate change. This will be realized by achieving three inter-dependent outcomes/components:

Component 1: Government, private sector, and civil society stakeholders in targeted local government units (LGUs) are collaborating to unlock funding and implementing informed and inclusive resilience actions
Component 2: Relevant national government agencies (NGAs) are prioritizing action on local climate and disaster resilience
Component 3: Philippine scientific agencies are producing tailored and accessible information for local resilience action

In partnership with the Government of the Philippines, the SHIELD Programme will be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), together with consortium partners, UN-Habitat, Philippine Business for Social Progress, National Resilience Council, and the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society. All five Consortium partners will serve as Implementing Partners responsible for managing respective project outputs and activities, in harmony with other workstreams, and manage risk in accordance with the agreed project document.

UNDP, as Consortium Lead, has entered into a cost-sharing agreement with the Australian Embassy in Manila – Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for the implementation of the SHIELD Programme and takes overall responsibility and accountability for the effective use of resources and the delivery of outputs, as set forth in the SHIELD Portfolio Document.

UNDP will set up a SHIELD Support Unit (SSU) responsible and accountable for day-to-day management of SHIELD Programme interventions across the 3 components, achieving programme outputs, and for the effective use of resources through collaborative engagement with the Consortium, GPH, multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs), and GOA. While administratively reporting to UNDP, the SSU will serve as the implementation arm of the whole SHIELD Consortium.

The SSU will undertake key functions to support the SHIELD Programme Board, Executive Committee, and Programme Management Team, including secretariat duties, GEDSI support to programmes, whole-of-programme monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL), and professional partnership brokering through MSPs at the sub-nat/ional and national levels.

Position Purpose:

Under the overall supervision and guidance of the Deputy Resident Representative, working closely with the UNDP Climate Action Programme Team, and in close collaboration with the SHIELD Consortium partners, UNDP teams in the Philippines Country Office and Bangkok Regional Hub, and DFAT, the SHIELD Programme Manager is responsible for the overall management of the SHIELD Programme and supervision of the SHIELD Support Unit.

The Programme Manager will be primarily responsible in ensuring that the main objectives of the SHIELD Programme are implemented in the most efficient and effective manner through adaptive management. S/he will play a lead role in partnership brokering with multi-stakeholder partners/stakeholders (including national and subnational government, civil society, academe, private sector, and communities) along with managing, implementing, coordinating the delivery of the programme. Taking a holistic view of the SHIELD Programme, s/he will guide the SSU to engage and facilitate harmonization of activities with the Consortium, government and other stakeholders to maximize results.

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

Management of the SHIELD program and supervision of the SHIELD Support Unit:

Lead the partnership brokering for all stakeholders (consortium, GPH/LGUs, MSPs, etc.) and ensure their engagement and participation in all activities
Ensure that the main objectives of the programme are achieved in the most efficient and effective manner
Provide strategic oversight of planning, budgeting, implementing and monitoring of the programme, tracking use of financial resources in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations
Undertake day-to-day management of the programme, including effective programme implementation and documents progress towards the achievement of outputs;
In coordination with the SHIELD Consortium, ensure the identification of clear and achievable physical and financial targets, a realistic work plan to reach them and an agreed upon monitoring and reporting system for the Implementing Partners
Lead the SHIELD Support Unit, whether staff and consultants, in both substantive and operational issues ensuring optimization of human and financial resources and nurturing a culture of results with highest performance standards
Conduct an iterative review and re-design of the programme including the framing, implementation, revision and documentation of an agreed monitoring, evaluation and learning framework
Ensure compliance with donor agreements
Facilitate transparent financial management of the programme that is able to stand to regular audits and evaluation
Lead the preparation of monitoring and progress reports, work plans, budget and expenditure statements for approval by the SHIELD Programme Board
Ensure that the SHIELD Programme promotes Philippine Government ownership and institutionalization of resilience initiatives and sustainability
Manage the risks of the SHIELD Programme by identifying and adopting strategies to address unforeseen challenges impacting the success of the project

Policy and Programme Services:

Lead the analytical and policy development work of the team and ensure high quality products
Work with a number of counterparts including national and subnational Philippine Government and other multistakeholder partners towards resilient development
Ensure that the best technical assistance is provided for programme implementation
Encourage cross-practice work while implementing the programme including considerations of the GEDSI and social and environmental safeguards
Ensure the highest UNDP standards in the provision of technical and advisory inputs, organization of workshops, seminars, training and delivery of outputs

Strategic partnerships and resource mobilization:

Engage and work with the Consortium, government partners, and multistakeholder partners, including national and subnational government, civil society, academe, private sector, donor towards achieving the resilience agenda
Establish and maintain partnerships with all stakeholders at the national and subnational levels to ensure effective and efficient implementation of the programme
Create new partnerships/collaborations and coordinate existing partnerships/collaborations amongst the Government, various beneficiary entities, implementing partners, donors, and other actors in the resilience space to initiate and adopt innovations in local resilience building for the timely, resource-bound, and effective implementation of the programme activities
Implement co-financing/resource mobilization strategies to achieve programme outcomes

Knowledge Management:

Support knowledge management related to resilient development across SHIELD workstreams at both national and subnational levels
Ensure that programme results are captured and recorded in knowledge products to communicate programme results and to promote replication
Promote a learning environment and systematic information sharing within the programme team, partners, and stakeholders
Ensure the quality of all knowledge products, reports and services, and effective integration and compatibility with other practice areas
Provide sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice at regional and global levels

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in environment, climate change, disaster risk reduction and management, urban planning, public administration, economics, social or political sciences or related fields is required, or
A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with additional 2 years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of Master´s degree.

Experience:

Minimum 7 years (with Master´s degree) or 9 years (with Bachelor´s degree) of demonstrated experience in building, managing, leading, and coordinating multi-stakeholder teams, including partnership brokering.
At least 7 years of previous work experience on resilient development, climate change, disaster risk reduction and management policy, programming and working with Government of Philippines, multilateral, or civil society organizations in a multi-cultural setting is desired.
At least 5 years of senior-level management responsibilities of similar size and complexity is desired.
International experience is highly desirable.

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