Project Manager, Global Fund Grant

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

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.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience, and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 170 countries and territories, working with Governments and people on their own solutions to global and national development challenges to help empower lives and build resilient nations.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the pledge to leave no one behind reflect the interconnectedness of health and sustainable development issues such as the widening economic and social inequalities, the climate crisis, rapid urbanization, the continuing burden of HIV and other infectious diseases (e.g., malaria, tuberculosis, COVID.19), the growing burden of non-communicable diseases and the emergence of health threats. The scope and scale of delivering health and well-being for all demands innovative partnerships and financing.

UNDP’s partnership with the Global Fund (GF), in line with UNDP’s HIV and Health Strategy 2022-2025: ‘Connecting the Dots’, makes a vital contribution to UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the pledge to leave no one behind.   When requested, UNDP acts as interim Principal Recipient (PR), working with national partners and the Global Fund to ensure management, implementation, and oversight of GF grants, while simultaneously strengthening health institutions and systems for national entities to assume the PR role over time.

UNDP has an important role in supporting health outcomes by supporting countries to address the social, cultural and economic determinants of HIV and health, in partnership with UN entities and other organizations. This is done through UNDP’s core work in reducing inequalities and social exclusion that drive HIV and poor health, promoting effective and inclusive governance for health, and building resilient and sustainable systems for health. UNDP also contributes through its coordinating and convening role in bringing together multiple partners and resources at national and local levels.

As a trusted, long-term partner of The Global Fund (GF), UNDP’s value proposition lies in providing an integrated package of development solutions to strengthen institutions to deliver health services. Through its contributions as interim Principal Recipient (PR) and provider of technical assistance in over 53 countries since 2003, UNDP’s provision of integrated policy, implementation and capacity development support to countries has yielded significant health and development results in challenging operating environments. Proactive risk management and investing in sustainability are the cornerstones of UNDP’s portfolio management approach and providing technical assistance to national counterparts during all phases of implementation, strengthening legislation, policies and regulatory frameworks, and building capacities across key functional areas, including financial management, health information systems, procurement and supply chain management. Within the HHD Group the Global Fund Partnership and Health Systems Team (GFPHST) is a dedicated team providing support to UNDP Country Offices implementing health and development programmes. 

Tajikistan remains in the concentrated stage of HIV epidemic among key population groups. UNAIDS estimates that there were 15,000 PLHIV in Tajikistan in 2022 (SPECTURM 2022). HIV prevalence among adults (15-49 years) is 0.2%. The burden of HIV infection is higher among key populations, where the prevalence of HIV infection is 15–45 times higher than in the general population. HIV prevalence is high among people who inject drugs (estimated at 8.9% in 2022) and other key populations, including female sex workers, men who have sex with men and prisoners (according to the latest estimates the prevalence of HIV infection is 2.9%, 4.3% and 3.4% accordingly). As of January 1, 2024 about 78% of PLHIV know their status, 89.3% of PLHIV who are aware of their status are on ART, and viral load suppression rate of those on ART reached 88,6%.   The basis for HIV testing and treatment in the country is the national HIV clinical protocol, which was reviewed in June 2023 to align the protocol with the 2021 World Health Organization HIV Guidelines and other international standards.

Tajikistan remains among the world’s 30 high multidrug/rifampicin-resistant TB (MDR/RR-TB) burden countries and is also one of the 18 high TB priority countries in the WHO European Region. In the past decade, TB incidence has been decreasing until the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to WHO, in 2021, the estimated TB incidence (all forms) was 8,600, or 88 (67-112) per 100,000 population; estimated MDR/RR-TB incidence – 2,700 (2,000–3,400); estimated HIV negative TB mortality – 1,200 (1,000–1,400). Estimated TB mortality had a sharp spike broking the decreasing trend in 2020. At the same time the reported TB notification in Tajikistan was 4,148 and 4,158 (with the decreasing rate from 43.5 to 42.6 per 100,000 population), respectively, indicating the treatment coverage rate is falling dramatically to 52% in 2020 and 48% in 2021, leaving about a half of people with TB missing by the healthcare system as an impact of COVID-19.

The overall goal of the current Project is to reduce the burden of HIV and TB in the country through addressing challenges related to HIV, drug resistant (“DR”) TB, co-infection of TB/HIV, human rights barriers, and underlying health systems shortcomings calling for urgent actions. The Project is streamlined around four main objectives, aiming at ensuring effective HIV response measures among key populations (KPs), scaling up access for early and quality diagnosis, treatment and care, ensuring integrated care for those affected both by TB and HIV, as well as strengthening national public heath response. The Project builds up on the previous projects’ achievements and results; additionally, it introduces innovative approaches, such as index testing for HIV, introduction of TB-LAM diagnostic method and new community active case finding interventions. The Project contributes to the national health care reform by building and improving the technical and managerial capacities of health professionals, promoting participation of civil society organizations in the response to the HIV/AIDS and TB epidemics, and enhancing the cooperation of non-governmental organizations with the public health sector.

Additionally, UNDP intends to maximize the potential of partnerships among main stakeholders. This is accomplished through strengthening the capacity of local counterparts and government counterparts; expansion of partnership with domestic and international stakeholders and technical agencies; more effective use of existing UNDP country office implementation structures in cross cutting areas and continuing to advance effective coordination and collaboration with the existing and future partners. 

The Project Manager provides technical leadership to the implementation of the grant, in collaboration with Government, UN Agencies, donors and other partners, to ensure that the implemented project contributes to the broader national strategy. When requested by the Deputy Resident Representative or the Resident Representative, the Project Manager represents UNDP in international and national fora, liaises with external clients and a broad range of constituencies and UNDP counterparts in the Government, local and international media, civil society as well as counterparts from other international organizations. 

This will be done in accordance with UNDP rules, policies and procedures, the grant agreements, and corporate agreements and technical guidance notes, as applicable, with the GF, and working in partnership with national stakeholders, and close coordination with the GF (including Local Fund Agent), National Coordination Committee (NCC) technical partners and UN entities, the GFPHST and other UNDP business units and programmes.  
 

Under the overall supervision of the Deputy Resident Representative, the Project Manager shall be responsible to lead, supervise and coordinate the daily activities of the Global Fund projects and provide strategic direction for the development and provision of support services in the implementation of projects, in order to assure: i) the achievement of planned targets and ii) the effective and transparent execution of the financial resources of the project.

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.

• Oversight and management of the planning and implementation of grants with an emphasis on achievement of the project’s objectives.
• Coordination and supervision of administrative, financial, procurement, asset and programmatic aspects of the Global Fund grants in accordance with the grant agreement, UNDP rules and regulations and corporate agreements with the Global Fund.
• Financial and substantive monitoring of the Grant, identification of potential implementation constraints and recommendation of appropriate solutions.
• Supervise the development, implementation and review of the risk management matrix for the Grants.
• Lead on the GF grants’ audits and ensure timely follow up on audit recommendations and developed action plans.
• Ensure timely and quality submission of core documents and report to the Global Fund.
• Ensure the project compliance with appropriate UNDP policies and procedures;
• Participate in recruitment processes of staff, performance management and supervision and effective leadership of the project team (15 personnel, including 2 technical experts);
• Negotiate and provide technical assistance to the governmental partner to prepare the annual workplans and detailed action plans as required by the project.
  

Ensures provision of policy advice and strategic technical guidance to the Government and project partners, focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Manage the overall strategic direction and provide leadership to UNDP on HIV/AIDS and TB in line with the approved Country Programme Document and the United Nations Development Strategy.
• Ensure harmonization and integration of the Grants into the national strategic documents on HIV/AIDS and TB; the National Development Strategy and Health strategic papers.
• Provide high level technical advice to the Ministry of Health, related government ministries, national disease programmes, and implementing partners.
• Develop technical/position papers to support advocacy efforts and contribute to regulatory improvements.
• Facilitate learning and experience sharing for government officials, local community leaders, NGOs, CBOs and local experts.
• Provide technical guidance to UNDP project staff, participate in technical committees of the CCM and provide advice on Global Fund procedures as required;
• Coordinate activities and exchange information/ideas with other UNDP projects to establish and maximize on synergies and contribute to the achievement of overall country programme objectives.
  

• Coordinate and build partnerships with the national disease programmes, Ministry of Health, UN Agencies, Joint Team on HIV/AIDS, financial and technical partners and other implementing partners, as well as with international and local stakeholders to ensure transparent and effective implementation of the Grants.
• Support the national strategic planning processes for the Grants based on evidence gained during implementation.
• Establish strong relations with donors, partners and stakeholders to maintain effective working relationships, sustain interests, resources mobilization and cooperation.
• Maintain close co-ordination between the Grants with other health initiatives in the country to ensure and promote continuity, partnership building and avoid duplication of programmatic activities.
• Oversee the development of communication strategies with national and international stakeholders.
• Contribute to the development of new concept notes and project documents as necessary

• Engage with national partners to build the capacity of national systems and health institutions including national disease programmes in the key areas of procurement, financial management and oversight, risk management, project implementation and monitoring.
• Engage with national partners and oversee the development of capacity development (CD) strategies aimed at assisting governments and national entities to implement and assume the PR role.
• Document lessons learned and best practices in health project development and implementation and develop documents and briefing papers to be disseminated jointly with Government counterparts.
• Promote a knowledge sharing and learning culture among programme staff and implementing partners at national and district levels.
• Provide support in coaching and guiding  the project staff tol enhance their capacity to deliver results.

• Core Competencies:

Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact.

Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems.

Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences.

Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands 

Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results.

Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration.

Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity.

• Cross Functional and  Technical Competencies: