Background
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP: we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories.
UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
Moldova is part of the EU’s European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) and in the Eastern Partnership framework, which aims at strengthening individual and regional relationships between the EU and countries in its neighborhood. Moldova is also part of the Energy Community Treaty since 2010 and has signed the Association Agreement with EU in June 2014, including the DCFTA which entered into force in 2016. As a follow-up, Moldova is required to ensure transposition of the EU acquis Communautaire, which underpins the EU energy legislation on electricity, gas, oil, renewables, energy efficiency and environment. The country has synchronized its electricity network with the ENTSO-E to connect to European electricity market.
Considering the ongoing energy crisis, the energy sector is one of the top priorities for the Government and it is addressed in Government’s Plans and a number of policy documents, laws and regulations which outlined the need to undertake more actions towards a green and just energy transition of the Republic of Moldova.
In accordance to the existing strategic planning documents, one of main priorities of the Government is to diversify the energy mix with more renewable energy, which is also fully in line with commitments under the EU Clean Energy for all Europeans package. Achieving this goal will require significant investment in the medium and long term, but also the country’s ability to attract and absorb the funds. The development of renewables, such as wind and solar, will also depend on improving the balancing capabilities of the Moldovan power system and its integration with neighboring countries.
This regard the EU and Moldova stressed the importance of resilience against any potential efforts by third parties to use energy as a geopolitical lever. The EU has urged Moldova to ensure that the energy sector reform demonstrates full respect of the Energy Community acquis and is in line with the EU Third Energy Package. The EU side confirmed its support to the objective of Moldova for integration into the EU energy system and market, an important step being the recent synchronization of its electricity network with the Continental European Network (CEN).
Recognizing the importance of a just and green energy transition in addressing the root causes of the ongoing crisis, the “Accelerating a Just Energy Transition in the Republic of Moldova” portfolio of interventions has emerged – co-designed with the Government and other representatives of the energy system to ensure its relevance and effectiveness.
Through this Portfolio of interventions, the Government of Moldova will be further assisted to tackle the current energy crisis and energy poverty and addressing prioritized systemic elements in the energy sector to cope with potential future energy crisis.
The Accelerating a Just Energy Transition in Republic of Moldova has the following five key areas of intervention:
- Accelerate Energy Diversification and Efficiency: By supporting the modernization of infrastructure, buildings, and the grid, the Project aims to increase access to renewable energy sources, promote energy efficiency, and encourage investment in renewable energy and innovative technologies.
- Decarbonizing Industries and Economic Sectors: The Project seeks to drive the decarbonization of various economic sectors such as construction, transportation, agriculture, and the private sector. It aims to promote sustainable practices, share green business models, and develop vocational skills for the green energy sector to create equitable employment opportunities and support the transition to a low-carbon economy.
- Foster Sustainable Consumption Patterns: Through comprehensive public awareness campaigns and educational materials, the Project aims to deepen understanding of energy efficiency and renewable energy among community members, business leaders, and government agencies. It strives to promote behavior change towards sustainable energy practices, particularly among vulnerable populations.
- Strengthen Inclusive Energy Governance: The Project recognizes the importance of inclusive energy governance at both the national and local levels. It aims to strengthen the capacity of relevant institutions and stakeholders to effectively govern and manage the energy sector. By promoting transparency, accountability, and participation, the Project seeks to ensure that decision-making processes related to energy transition are inclusive, empowering all segments of society, including marginalized groups.
- Addressing Energy Vulnerability and Promoting Resilience: One of the Project ‘s primary focus is to address energy vulnerability and promote resilience among households and businesses. It will provide further support to the Government in improving and implementing compensation mechanisms, including the established an on-bill compensation mechanism targeting the households by level of vulnerability. This intervention aims to provide immediate relief to energy-poor households and the private sector, while also fostering long-term energy resilience and efficiency. The Project places a strong emphasis on meeting the energy needs of vulnerable groups, prioritizing affordability, reliability, and sustainability. To this end, it will explore conceptualization of decentralized energy solutions, off-grid options, and harness the role of energy access in conflict and disaster recovery efforts, livelihoods, and social inclusion.
Implementation period: 2023-2027.
Duties and Responsibilities
The Project Finance Associate will ensure, in line with the Project scope, the provision of the following development services and products pertaining to an effective administrative and financial management, as well as procurement:
Financial management:
- Ensure compliance with all corporate rules of UNDP in the field of financial planning, reporting, and auditing;
- Monitor budget expenditures and maintain a proper record of approved project budgets and their revisions;
- Prepare proposals for budget revisions; budget corrections etc.;
- Upon request, prepare and submit expenditure and program budget status reports;
- Maintain accurate budget reporting in both UNDP and EU standard templates;
- Prepare other recurring reports as scheduled and special reports as required for budget/financial preparations and audit;
- Respond to queries from the UNDP and EU in respect to financial aspects of the program, liaise with UNDP-appointed and external auditors wherever required;
- Prepare requests for advance of funds and/or direct payments, as well as proposals for budget revisions;
- Perform necessary checks of the financial reports submitted by project suppliers;
- Advise international and national consultants on all aspects of allowances, travel claims and other financial matters and calculate payments due for claims and services;
- Prepare Travel Requests and F10 claims for project staff and consultants;
- Ensuring payments in Quantum to project suppliers;
- Verify and monitor the accuracy of e-requisitions in Quantum;
- Provide advice to the team on project financial issues;
- Undertake other financial tasks as required;
Administrative management:
- Assume overall responsibility for the coordination of project administrative matters;
- Contribute to project implementation and ensure conformity to expected results and work plans;
- Monitor compliance with both UNDP and Donor standards and ensure the corresponding quality control;
- Provide advice to the project team on administrative issues, at the necessity;
- Maintain records on all project suppliers, including their respective status (e.g. appropriate contract management, monitoring of deadlines, ToRs and reports, etc.) in accordance with accepted policies and procedures;
- Ensure compliance with corporate human resources policies and strategies under UNDP HR procedures;
- Supervise other support staff (assistant, Driver) and coordinate short-term consultants on administrative and financial matters;
- Undertake other administrative tasks on an ad hoc basis.
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
Institutional Arrangement
The Project Finance Associate will execute the duties and responsibilities outlined above under the guidance and supervision of the Project Manager.
Project Finance Associate works in close collaboration with the Programme, Operations, Communications and other project teams in the Country Office (CO) for effective achievement of results, anticipating and resolving complex project-related issues and information delivery.
The incumbent is expected to exercise full compliance with UNDP programming, financial, procurement and administrative rules, regulations, policies and strategies, as well as implementation of the effective internal control systems.
Competencies
Core Competencies:
- Achieve Results: LEVEL 2: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
- Think Innovatively: LEVEL 2: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements
- Learn Continuously: LEVEL 2: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
- Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 2: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible
- Act with Determination: LEVEL 2: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
- Engage and Partner: LEVEL 2: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
- Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 2: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination
People Management Competencies:
UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.
Cross-Functional & Technical Competencies:
- Digital awareness and literacy:
- Ability and inclination to rapidly adopt new technologies, either through skillfully grasping their usage or through understanding their impact and empowering others to use them as needed
- Working with evidence and data:
- Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making
- Monitoring:
- Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results
- Budget management:
- Ability to support budgetary aspects of work planning process, drawing and management of team budgets
- Financial planning and budgeting:
- Ability to create and manage processes to achieve UNDP’s long and short-term financial goals, including through planning, budgeting, forecasting, analyzing and reporting
- Financial reporting and analysis:
- Understands changes in regulatory, legal and ethical frameworks and standards for financial reporting in the public sector.
- Ability to extract, evaluate financial data, derive relevant findings and present them in a meaningful and coherent manner to facilitate effective decision making and performance monitoring.
- Understands the benefits of integrated reporting, including non-financial resources such as human, social and intellectual capital, and environmental and governance performance
- Assets management:
- Knowledge of policy & procedures on PP&E; ability to prepare financial statements on PP&E; maintain Asset Management Module in Quantum, Asset Dashboard; develop supporting tools for assets certification and further enhancements for AM module; design and run training programs, etc. on assets management and assets recording; run AP-AM interface; perform AP-AM-GL reconciliation; perform analytical review of AM reports and asset information to ensure completeness and accuracy of asset information.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Secondary education with specialized certification in accounting and/or finance is required.
- Bachelor’s degree in finance or accounting is desirable.
- Part-qualified accountants from an internationally accredited institute of accountancy will have a distinct advantage (the degree must state that the major is in accounting or finance. Degrees in Business Administration or Public Administration are not considered equivalent.).
- Fully Qualified Accountant, from an internationally accredited institute of accountancy or Full Completion of the UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP). No UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) is required.
- Candidates with no professional accountancy qualifications, but with degrees that major in accountancy and/or finance must complete UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP), if recruited. However, no UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) is required.
- Candidate with no professional accountancy qualifications but with relevant experience must successfully undertake UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) before shortlisting and must complete the UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP), if recruited.
Experience:
- Minimum 7 years (with Secondary education) or 4 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of experience in administrative work, accounting/finance, economics, audit or other substantive area.
Languages:
- Fluency in English and Romanian is required.
- Knowledge of one or more minority languages relevant for Moldova, including Russian, Romani, Gagauzian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian and sign language, is an asset.
Desired Skills:
- Proven experience in a similar position in UN Agencies will be considered an advantage.
- Experience in development assistance or related work for a development organization, consulting company, or NGO.
- Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.), advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.
Disclaimer
Applicant information about UNDP rosters
Note: 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.
Non-discrimination
UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
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