Programme Support Officer

Details

Mission and objectives

As the United Nations lead agency on international development, UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Our work is concentrated in three focus areas; sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience. UNDP’s mandate is to end poverty, build democratic governance, rule of law, and inclusive institutions. We advocate for change, and connect countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.

Context

Supporting the IFAD Multi-Country Office’s (MCO) work plan and delivery, the UNV will get exposure to and support a range of rural development initiatives. This includes close collaboration with the borrowing governments and their line ministries, the project management teams in country implementing IFAD-supported projects and programmes, rural producers and their organizations, national and international partners and donor organizations, senior technical specialists and IFAD colleagues from several departments and their technical wings. The UNV will have the opportunity to closely work on a few projects and/or country strategic work, and in addition get wide exposure to the work of the MCO as a whole. The UNV will also be engaged in analytical work to support evidence-based decision-making in the Multi Country Office and the projects support from here, as well as contribute to knowledge generation and dissemination. You will be able to participate in selected IFAD-internal events, such as the ESA regional workshop and potential workshops in other in-country offices or elsewhere.
The UNV will mainly work on three areas:
1. Management of Country Programme;
2. Monitoring and Evaluation of IFAD supported projects;
3. Portfolio support.

Task description

Under the direct supervision of IFAD Country Representative, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:
1. Management of Country Programme:
• Contribute to project implementation and supervision, through the preparation of, participation in and reporting on IFAD-led implementation support and supervision missions of active loan-finance projects i.e. contribute to the development of mission Terms of References (ToRs), co-leading assessment of selected project com-ponents, drafting of report sections, and discussing mission reports with IFAD internal reviewers;
• Review country programmes Annual Work Plan and Budgeting (AWPB) & Procurement Plan (PP) and provide inputs to the Country Directors (CDs) and Country Programme Officers (CPOs);
• Monitoring of execution of Country Programme implementation and compliance to key performance indicators/parameters;
• Support compliance of projects and country programme’s with IFAD corporate level policies, such as the Operational Results Management System (ORMS), Annual reviews, Country Strategic opportunity Programme (COSOP) Review, Mid Term Reviews (MTRs), etc.
• Provide tailored implementation support to projects between mission, and follow up on agreed actions from supervision missions and discuss with the project; management teams how to address issues and shortcomings in a timely manner;
• Work closely with the CD/CR on country strategic aspects, such as reporting towards the IFAD contributions to the national UN framework and its objectives, engagement in donor /sector working groups (especially in line with your specialization), support portfolio level reflection in line with the valid IFAD country strategies;
• In line with the UNV skill set and the portfolio, contribute to strengthen thematic partnerships with relevant donor agencies, private sector and academia, to introduce re-quired skills/knowledge/assistance and co-investment into the portfolio;
• Contribute to the daily operational work of project management, by reviewing project requests as appropriate and in line with the UNV background and experience;
• Contribute to the MCO knowledge agenda by generating technical inputs (papers/posters/blog posts) to showcase lessons from the portfolio;
• Contribute to cross-country learning within the MCO and beyond, through technical presentations and appropriate communication of findings from missions / project analysis;
• Support project design, as required and appropriate: this entails the contribution to the process of project design documentation, participation in design missions and follow-up with government and other stakeholders on relevant communications/documentation;
• Support and co-lead project completion, and ensure appropriate reporting on project’s achievements toward set development objectives in line with IFAD and government requirements;
• As required, work on replies to IFAD’s internal evaluation office on completion reports;
• Contribute to preparation of senior management visits to the MCO and its countries and potential participate;
• Contribute to thematic events and workshops at the hub and participate and potentially co-lead sessions;
• Support the reporting on MCOs events in appropriate channels within IFAD.
2. Monitoring and Evaluation:
With a particular focus on food security, provide support to:
• Review country programmes AWPBs & PPs and provide inputs to the CD and the CPO;
• Monitor execution of Country Programme implementation and compliance to key performance indicators/parameters;
• Monitor the Country Programme Performance (CPP) on their Log-frames and update the IFAD monitoring systems – ORMS accordingly;
• Periodically review and monitor the performance of Country Programme Monitoring & Evaluation System in line with national and IFAD monitoring and evaluation requirements;
• Contribute to country project/programme’s design, and reviews including annual and midterm review;
• Contribute to COSOP preparation and review and monitor performance;
• Support compliance of projects and country programme’s with IFAD corporate level policies in food security in ORMS, Annual reviews, COSOP Review, MTRs, etc.;
• Monitor implementation status of project/programme’s supervision recommendations;
• Monitor programmes’ compliance to key deadlines, which may include meeting deadlines to recommendations of supervision missions, submission of key reports (annual and audit reports);
• Support the documentation, packaging and dissemination of lessons learnt;
• Periodically draft portfolio score cards and country performance sheet based on COSOP indicators.
3. Portfolio support:
• Support the overall country portfolio of IFAD in South Africa, Eswatini, Botswana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Namibia;
• Work with all active IFAD projects, engage with the project coordinators to follow up mission agreed actions, planning of review meetings and engage around mission preparation and other key deliverables;
• Portfolio monitoring and reporting – Focus on monitoring and reporting by working closely with the projects and monitoring teams to ensure timely reporting, adequate quality of ME data, and promote the use of ME in knowledge and communication;
• Communication and Knowledge – Support the IFAD country team in aspects of communication and knowledge sharing by working with IFAD in-house COM and Knowledge teams and assist projects with compiling high-quality knowledge products;
• Mission preparation and participation – Assist the respective team leaders in preparing IFAD missions and lead on the monitoring and Knowledge aspects;
• Product development /Branding support – Support the MCO and IFAD supported projects on branding and product development. Including webpages, advertising materials, social media presence but in close collaboration with IFAD COM where required.