Programme Resource Management Support Associate

Organizational Context

The UNDP Tunisia Country Office (CO) leads UNDP’s support to Tunisia in the achievement of its national human and sustainable development objectives in alignment with its national Agenda 2030 and the Paris Climate Agreement commitments.  UNDP Tunisia works on areas such as 1) inclusive growth and human development; 2) climate action, environment, energy and disaster risk reduction; and 3) governance (inclusive political processes, responsive institutions, rule of law, social cohesion, electoral support, HIV/health and empowerment of women and youth. 

The UNDP Resident Representative (RR) leads and oversees the work of the Country Office, seconded by the Deputy Resident Representative. The Country Office includes a total of 120+ staff and personnel and a delivery of $14-16 million in programmatic support to Tunisia annually. The RR also leads UNDP Tunisia’s efforts in cultivating, building, and nurturing strategic relationships and alliances which are essential for advancing and successfully achieving the mission of UNDP, including with the Government of Tunisia, existing and emerging donor countries, multilateral institutions such as the IFIs, the European Union, civil society, the private sector, foundations, academia and think tanks, the wider UN system, as well as global, regional and national media.  As a trusted and impartial partner working at the intersection of social, economic and environmental agendas in Tunisia, UNDP plays a central role in supporting Tunisia’s progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and has supported the Government to develop and revise its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for climate action. To this end, the CO is enhancing its programmatic offer in a bid to respond to the needs and priorities of the country and to deliver timely, cost effective, integrated and dynamic solutions for sustainable development.

Position Purpose

• Under the direct supervision of the Programme Management Support Analyst and the strategic guidance of the Deputy Resident Representative (DRR), the Programme Resource Management Associate works closely with programme and operations personnel to ensure sound substantive and resource management of the UNDP programme portfolio including through improved revenue, contributions, delivery, financial and partnerships target setting;  budgeting; development and implementation of simple and user-friendly standards and procedures aligned with UNDP’s policies and ERP (Quantum); development, establishment of systems to ensure solid administrative and financial management and monitoring of donor and IP/RP agreements.
• The Programme Resource Management Associate acts supports the UNDP programme on strategic planning, delivery monitoring and adjustments, audit, risk management, implementation of the Internal Control Framework and sound financial management of the programme portfolio. The Programme Resource Management Associate also works closely with the Operations teams, acting as a bridge and enhancing information sharing between Programme and Operations units to ensure the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of cooperation between programme and operations colleagues and ensures that lessons and recommendations from policy, practice and corporate audits are collected and applied to promote compliance with UNDP’s policies and procedures as well as effective delivery of Country Programme priorities and results.  The Programme Resource Management Associate also supports workflows and ways of working which help instill a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve UNDP’s strategic goals. This is a recognition of interconnected nature of development risks & crises that the world is facing and that call for assembling of multidisciplinary teams for an integrated & systemic response. Therefore, the Programme Resource Management Associate is expected to work in day-to-day collaboration with the Programme and Operations of the CO, as well as in coordination with UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Arab States and other offices as required.  S/he is expected to carry out his/her functions across issues, units, functions, teams and projects to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.
• 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.

Key Duties and Accountabilities

Provide effective support to the management of the CO programme with a focus on revenue and budget management aspects as well as application and operation of the optimal cost recovery system.

• Provides client-oriented programme resource analysis (weekly) for effective planning of resources, with a focus on simplified and user-friendly presentation of complex data.
• Supports periodic monitoring (weekly) of dashboards and exceptions, identification of remedial actions with translation of issues into concrete proposals for action.
• Under the guidance of the CO management and Programme Management Support Analyst, develops and ensures the proper functioning of a well-organized, concise user-friendly resource management system for CO programme which enables monitoring of financial resources in development projects, timely revenue tracking against all sources; proactive identification of exceptions and monitoring cost-recovery.
• Provides information required for project/programme audits and supports implementation and follow up on audit recommendations.
• Supports in the preparation of simplified procedures and checklists for all aspects of resource management crucial to CO programmes and projects.
• Contributes to the implementation, monitoring and follow-up on cost-saving and cost-recovery strategies in consultation with CO management and in close co-operation with projects, programme and operations.
• Provides project and programme managers with well-packaged information critical to the formulation of the programme budgets and workplans, including through rigorous application of UNDP Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures (POPP) and Quantum standards.
• Enters data, as assigned, relating to new contributions, contracts and budgets in Quantum, in line with signed programme and project documentation.
• Ensures implementation of effective internal controls and matching in corporate ERP (Quantum), IDAM and UNALL systems.
• Ensures a control mechanism for development projects by monitoring budget preparation, amendment and status (including in relation to ASL);
• Tracks, reports on and verifies the accuracy of Combined Delivery Reports (CDRs);
• Coordinates with programme and projects to ensure updates to Quantum UNITY system.
• Advises and trains personnel of the CO programme and projects on use and application of reports in Quantum with a view to promoting sound management of financial, accounting and realization of programme outputs through activities, in compliance with UNDP financial rules and regulations as well as specific Fund/donor requirements.

Supports effective Internal Control Framework (ICF)-related actions, audit exercises, risk management and quality assurance. 

• Support periodic quality assurance, transaction-level analysis, including project-level sampling and reviews, program implementation and risk management and make recommendations on office management improvements.
• Support spot checks of project implementation as required; ensure proper control of supporting documents for payment invoices including by implementing a spot-check system; Ensure systematic archiving in ERP.
• Sample project management transactions to validate compliance with policies and procedures, identifying deviations.
• Prepare financial reports designed for donor consumption as well as PO and non-PO invoices for development projects if and as required.
• Take timely corrective actions on erroneous data in ERP (Quantum)
• Working in close collaboration with the Programme Management Support Analyst, gather information on the status of the Country Office’s Harmonized Approach to Cash Remittances (HACT), highlighting areas for improvement; Support the appropriate use of the HACT platform, including tracking errors and potential deviations.
• Support annual ICF exercises and regular (monthly) monitoring and updates, in coordination with IDAM focal point.
• Collect data, consolidate information to identify trends in management performance against results, recognize root causes and address gaps identified by dashboards, audits, quality assurance reviews and monitoring, online performance monitoring tools.
• Track quarterly compliance reports and certification for the office.
• Under guidance of the Programme Management Support Analyst, monitor compliance of project/portfolio set-up in Quantum and ensure compliance with programmatic quality assurance requirements in relation to risk, SESP, HACT, etc;

Support effective CO resource mobilization and partnerships management actions.

• Monitor accounts receivables and coordinate CO follow up on contributions with partners.
• Monitors financial contributions, maintain receivables documentation, prepares outstanding items in the annual report and maintains documentation related to contributions and receivables.
• Monitor programmatic pipeline and provide user-friendly presentations integrated with contribution tracking on a regular (monthly) basis.
• Review funding and trust fund agreements as required, obtain HQ authorizations as required, and follow up on contributions as part of the CO’s resource mobilization efforts.
• Track and report on mobilized resources by tracking funding agreement information and ensuring UNDP’s ERP is up to date.
• information based on funding agreements to GSSU, including amendments, in close coordination with the UNDP Finance Unit.

Support knowledge management within the CO

• Systematically acquire and share knowledge and experience related to resource management.
• Organizes trainings for office staff on relevant and specific program, financial and operational issues.
• Contribute, as appropriate, to the provision of regular training and technical guidance/advice on audit and compliance matters, including the implementation of the Internal Control Framework (ICF);
• Synthesize lessons learned and best practices in programme funding.

Requirements:

Education

• Completion of secondary (high school) education is required.
• University degree (bachelor’s degree) in Business Administration, Management Sciences, Public Administration, Economics; Management; or related field will be given due consideration, but it is not a requirement.

Experience, Knowledge, and Skills

• A minimum of 6 years (with high school diploma) or 3 years (with bachelor’s degree) of relevant progressively responsible experience in the domain of business administration and/or management and/or public administration and/or finance, and/or accounting and/or economics and/or statistics at national or international level is required.
• Expertise in use of computers as well as office software used in data processing including Excel, Word and MS PowerPoint is required.
• Experience in presentation of complex financial data for non-financial audiences (e.g. decision-makers or policy makers), using visuals and technology, is required.
• Experience of financial analysis and/or financial reporting and/or financial management is an asset.
• Experience working with an international organization is an asset.
• Experience working in programme or project or programme support roles is an asset.
• Fluency in French (written and spoken) is required.
• Working knowledge of English (written and spoken) is an asset.

Source: https://estm.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1/job/22336