Project Coordinator

<!–

Description

–>

“Further Improvement of Public Service Delivery in Uzbekistan” is a joint project conducted by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funded by the European Union. The overall goal of the project to improve the quality of life of the rural population – particularly of women, youth and children, the elderly and people with disabilities – by increasing their access to affordable, convenient and high-quality public services, with a focus on remote, self-service online public services as well as by expanding the citizens’ participation in decision making at the local level.

The project will support the Government of Uzbekistan. In further transforming and modernizing the public administration at central, regional, and district levels to improve the quality of public services and local governance in rural areas. This will be achieved through enabling access to inclusive and user-centric public services, integrating advanced technologies and practices through digitalization, applying decentralized and multi-channel service delivery.

The project is expected to produce the following main outputs:

• Transform institutional, legal, and regulatory frameworks underpinning the back office of the national public services delivery system.
• Enhance capacity of the back-office institutions in public service delivery to ensure their effective operation at the national, regional and local levels.
• Conduct digital and user-centric transformation of the back-office institutions to improve availability and quality of public services.
• Transform the system of local governance to ensure responsiveness, accountability and better operation of regional and local institutions functioning as back offices.
• The project’s interventions will focus both on the country as a whole (systemic reforms) and the selected remote pilot districts for more targeted results. This will be done through improving policies, enhancing capacity, digital transformation and streamlining the functions of (1) government bodies processing requests from citizens and businesses in back-offices (BOs), (2) Public Services Centres (PSCs) acting as one-stop shops for public services, (3) Ministry of Justice responsible for the unified state policy in public service delivery, and (4) Councils of People’s Deputies (Kengashes) and other local administrative bodies in charge of local governance.
• Under the direct supervision of the Project Specialist, Project Coordinator will be responsible for the strategic direction of interventions as well as the entrusted functions and tasks within the project’s activities, as described below:

Duties and Responsibilities

The Project Coordinator will ensure  smooth and timely delivery of operations in accordance with annual and quarterly work plans of the relevant projects through performing the following duties and responsibilities: 

Coordinate and Monitor Implementation of The Project Activities:

• Work closely with the national partners and Public Services Agency to ensure the appropriate and effective implementation of project activities and the use of EU and other co-financing resources.
• Develop systems and processes necessary for the tracking, planning and execution of all project activities and project-related governance structures.
• Coordinate the project implementation at all stages, paying special attention to the analysis of risks and other difficulties, initiate remedial actions when necessary.
• Support an effective partnership with all stakeholders and ensure the long-term sustainability of the project.
• Aggregate reports are regularly prepared and monitored on activities, outputs and outcomes. Preparation of donor reports.
• Prepare and provide guidance for staff and implementing partners on RBM and performance indicators focusing on outputs and outcomes.
• Ensuring synergy of the project activities with other Governance and Sustainable Development Cluster projects to prevent overlap and maximize cost-efficiency.
• Participation in cross-functional teamwork and task forces established within CO as per senior management decision.

Preparation and Submission of Strategic and Technical Inputs:

• Contribute to the preparation of substantive, financial and other project reports stipulated in the Programming Document for their submission to the EU and the annual workplan including the financing required (to be approved by the Project Board).
• Coordinates the preparation of internal and external reports, communication material, terms of reference, promote the exchange of best practices and innovative approaches.
• Follow-up on project activities with due consideration to budgetary issues.
• Reviews regular reporting to the Project Board on the status of the project, delivery progress, impact assessment, project formulation, communication, and advocacy.
• Consolidates regular reports to donor in line with the Contribution Agreement and Project Documents and donor requirements.
• Providing project inputs to Country Programme Document (CPD), UNDAF reports as well as inputs to new CPD and United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) in line with national development priorities on public service delivery.
• Actively engage in United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) (UNSDCF) Results Group on Good Governance and others as relevant.
• Sharing progress updates to UNDAF and UNSDCF Joint Work Plan implementation.

Provide Advisory Support to Project Board, Implementing Partners and Stakeholder Engagement:

• Coordinate with all key partners including government, EU, UN agencies, donor community and NGO levels to ensure harmonization of interventions with other efforts particularly on capacity-building and technical assistance.
• Organize Donor coordination meetings on public administration reform/public service delivery with involvement of key national partners, international organizations and donor community.
• Contribute to strengthening donor relationships and raise funds for activities within the program.
• Analysis and research of information on donors, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost-sharing.
• Act as liaison person for ensuring synergy and complementarity with other EU-funded projects as well as other projects funded by donor organizations, including World Bank, USAID, UK FCO and others.
• Provide support and substantive advice on various technical matters related to evaluation and implementation of activities in countries.
• Contribute to the promotion of gender equality by reaching, involving and benefiting both women and men in the project activities (gender mainstreaming).

Facilitate Knowledge Sharing:

• Facilitate knowledge exchange and sharing of best practices between projects, UN agencies, national implementing partner, government, communities to deeper integrate the work and idea of the project; participate in relevant networks and meetings of practitioners.
• Organize periodic consultations with key stakeholders, women leaders, local community representatives’ experts and UN partners to gather inputs on programme implementation, as necessary.

Institutional Arrangement:

Under the overall guidance of the Cluster Leader on Effective Governance and direct supervision of the Project Specialist, The Project Coordinator (PC) will be responsible for strategic guidance, effective coordination, quality assurance strategic and technical inputs and direction to the project team in coordination with UNDP senior management and national project counterparts and ensuring effective linkages with other similar initiatives and projects. S/he will cooperate closely with the Project Board and will be responsible for day-to-day coordination and will ensure that Action implementation produces the results specified, to the required corporate standards and within the constraints of time and cost. In addition, the Project Analyst/Coordinator may be called on to support related policy and programming issues relevant to the thematic subject area.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Achieve Results:

LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work.

• Think Innovatively:

LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking.

• Learn Continuously:

LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning.

• Adapt with Agility:

LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process.

• Act with Determination:

LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously.

• Engage and Partner:

LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships.

• Enable Diversity and Inclusion:

LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making.

Cross-Functional & Technical Competencies:

System Thinking:

• Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system;

Business Acumen:

• Ability to understand and deal with a business situation in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome;
• Ability to make good judgments and quick decisions within such frameworks Knowledge and understanding of the operational frameworks in the organization;

Knowledge Generation:

• Ability to research information and to turn it into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need;
• Ability to apply existing concepts to new situations, and to develop new concepts to generate workable solutions and new approaches;
• Knowledge of relevant concepts, conceptual models, and theories that can be useful in addressing new situations;

Digital Awareness and Literacy:

• Ability to monitor new and emerging technologies, as well as understand their usage, potential, limitations, impact, and added value;
• Ability to rapidly and readily adopt and use new technologies in professional activities, and to empower others to use them as needed;
• Knowledge of the usage of digital technologies and emerging trends;

Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Ability to systematically monitor results of strategies, programmes, and activities with a view to make sure that they are being implemented effectively;
• Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback and reporting on the consistency or discrepancy between planned activities and programme management and results;
• Ability to make independent judgment of the management and results of strategies, programmes and activities based on set criteria and benchmark, keeping in mind the needs and concerns of client, current and upcoming;
• Knowledge and understanding of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, concepts, methodologies, systems, processes, and tools;
• Ability to make an independent judgement based on set criteria and benchmarks;
• Ability to anticipate client’s upcoming needs and concerns;

Governance: 

• Public Administration Reform;

Conflict Prevention Peacebuilding and Responsive Institutions:

• Civil Service Reform.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’ degree or equivalent in Public Administration, Public Policy, Law, Social Sciences, International Development, or a related field is required. OR;
• Bachelor’s degree, in the areas stated above.

Experience:

• Minimum 2 years (with master’s degree) or 4 years (with bachelor’s degree) of progressive work experience at the national or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects.

Required Skills:

• Solid experience in programme and portfolio management in relation to good governance and rule of law, preferably strong knowledge and experience in areas of public service delivery, e-government, digital transformation and overall public administration reform.
• Demonstrated experience and solid understanding of application of public and social policies, tools, approaches, and standards on the topic.
• Proven experience of research, analyses, report writing on public service policies.

Desired Skills:

• Proven/previous experience and strong knowledge in areas of public-service delivery, e-government, digital transformation, public administration reform will be an asset/advantage.
• Proven/previous experience in project coordination, M&E, financial management, and policy research will be an asset/advantage.
• Proven/previous experience in effectively managing technical and administrative teams, working with a wide range of stakeholders (government agencies, civil society associations and communities) to develop durable partnerships.
• Experience in strategic planning and Results Based Management/analytic.
• A project/programme management certification.

Required Languages:

• Fluency in English and Uzbek is required.
• Good command of Russian is an asset.

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Source :  https://estm.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1/job/26052

<!—

<!–

–>