Project Associate (NPSA-6)

In Asia and the Pacific, UNDP is increasingly being requested to provide governance related services that support governments in articulating their response to climate change. These services include strengthening government’s institutional and administrative frameworks to be able to deliver integrated climate policy and programming within a range of sectors; strengthening government’s planning and budgeting processes to be able to account transparently for climate relate services and climate finance; strengthening parliament and civil society’s roles in holding governments to account for their response to climate change and supporting sector ministries and local governments in integrating climate related services into their programming.

To respond to the growing demands, UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub (BRH) has established a multi-disciplinary team to deliver services which can support governments to develop comprehensive approaches to govern the challenge of climate change in ways that support their overall development. Governance of Climate Change Finance (GCCF) is a regional project that aims to ensure that more budget resources are allocated to address climate change and also promote gender equality in Asia Pacific. It also aims to strengthen the national and local planning and budgeting processes to enable public investments to deliver sustainable development goals in an integrated manner, focusing on enhancing gender equality whilst tackling climate change.

Another regional programme, Climate Finance Network is now being established which will support select countries across Asia Pacific in fostering knowledge management across the region and provides support to the countries in implementation of climate finance reforms around six workstreams. These two programmes has close collaborations with global and regional sustainable finance programmes and initiatives namely Equanomics, Insurance and Risk Financing, and GCF multicountry proposal. Ministry of Finance, other relevant line ministries and development partners (The Embassy of Sweden and FCDO) are the key stakeholders for these global and regional programmes. The Project Associate will deal with the relevant financial and administrative matters in relation to the regional and global programmes of the climate portfolio of the Resilience and Inclusive Growth Cluster in an effective and accountable manner, complying with UNDP guidelines and reporting requirements. The Project Associate is expected to perform the relevant duties in a coherent manner to enhance the synergies and linkages among the global and regional programmes of the climate portfolio of the UNDP and ensure efficient use of resources while implementation.
 

Key functions of Project Associate are:

a. Support in overall financial, administrative and logistics managements of the project; 

b. Support for implementation of project activities;

c. Participating in knowledge-building and sharing activities;

a) Support in overall financial, administrative and logistics managements of the project;

• Oversee all day-to-day administrative, budgetary and financial management of the project;
• Provide support to prepare annual and quarterly work plans and budgets in consultation with Project Manager;
• Assess the budget heads and ensure its expenditure is as per the approved annual/quarterly work plans; Maintain expenditure statement and support in budget processes;
• Review all payments/claims of staff and other service providers and ensure on time settlement of claims as per UNDP rules;
• Assist Project Management in settlements of DSA and other claims of staff and other service providers as per UNDP rules;
• Prepare financial advance requests to be submitted to Donors/UN agencies on quarterly basis and maintain bank reconciliation, financial transaction and certification of expenditure reports;
• Ensure all Atlas related transaction i.e. budget analysis, upload budget, monitor project budget, and enter necessary GLJE in Atlas etc.
• Verify Combine Delivery Report (CDR) for Certification;
• Prepare payment request for all the financial transaction and process payment request including to UNDP country office;
• Support any other relevant tasks assigned by the supervisor.

b) Support for implementation of project activities; 
 

• Follow up on the activities and monitor advance balances of resource disbursed, verify availability of funds for project activities and recommend for changes in budget line if needed. Draft budget for budget revision;
• Monitor fund disbursement and adjustment of partner organization;
• Assist Project Management in day to day administrative support for smooth operation of the project;
• Ensure the proper maintenance of the record keeping and filing system related to administration, logistics, equipment and vehicles of the project;
• Supervise and maintain equipment, vehicles and assets of the Project for security and proper functioning; if required assist transfer of title of assets on behalf of UNDP;
• Ensure that proper inventory of all components of vehicles are maintained and checked frequently;
• Ensure full compliance of UN rules and regulations, policies and strategies on travel management and ensure that vehicles are used in accordance with UN rules and regulations and that vehicle usage date is correctly recorded;
• Assist staff evaluation, contract extension, recruitment & other HR related issues;
• Maintenance of proper filing system for HR records and documents;
• Assist Project Management in contract management;
• Oversee the management of various contracts with implementing partners—government entities, NGOs, UN agencies, etc.;
• Support to plan, organize and coordinate high-level meetings, workshops and result sharing/dissemination events involving appropriate stakeholders;
• Assist international, short-term consultants by organizing their travel schedules, arranging meetings with different stakeholders, and book hotel accommodations.

c) Participating in knowledge-building and sharing activities;

• Participate in the training for the operations/projects staff on financial procedures;
• Provide training to project staff on the administrative and financial procedures;
• Identify scope of collaborations/synersgies with other projects/programmes.
  

Institutional Arrangement

The Project Associate is part of the Governance of Climate Change Finance (GCCF) and Climate Finance Network (CFN) team and is supervised by the Project Manager, GCCF/CFN . UNDP will provide office space at the country office for desk works and printing facilities.

• Ability to use MS Office packages;
• Initiative, sound judgment, and capacity to work independently; and
• Knowledge in general administration, Procurement (PPR), govt. authorities will be treated as an extra advantage.
• Knowledge of ERP (Quantum/Atlas/SAP) will be treated as an advantage.
• Ability to formulate and manage budgets, manage contributions and investments, manage transactions, conduct financial analysis, reporting and cost-recovery:
• Excellent project oversight functions, including audit, accurate and thorough risk assessment.

• Strong understanding of budgeting and the UN/GoB accounting system—candidates familiar with UNDP and governmentadministrative, program, and financial procedures could be added advantage.
• Finance Certification Management would be an advantage.
  

• English and Bangla is required.