Org. Setting and Reporting
The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) forms part of the United Nations Secretariat and, like the other regional commissions, operates under the supervision of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. ESCWA comprises 21 Arab countries in Western Asia and North Africa. ESCWA provides a framework for the formulation and harmonisation of sectoral policies for member countries, a platform for congress and coordination, a home for expertise and knowledge, and an information observatory. ESCWA activities are coordinated with the divisions and main offices of the Headquarters of the United Nations, specialised agencies, and international and regional organizations, including the League of Arab States and its subsidiary bodies, and the Gulf Cooperation Council. This position is within ESCWA Technology Centre (ETC) located in Amman of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA – unescwa.org). The Senior Programme Management Assistant (Technical Cooperation) reports directly to ETC Chief.
Responsibilities
Within delegated authority and depending on location, the Senior Programme Assistant may be responsible for the following duties: • Independently provides comprehensive management and support across all phases of technical cooperation requests, particularly those related to policy advice, capacity building, and field projects. This includes handling complex components of the programme/technical request cycle with minimal guidance. • Conducts research, compiles, and presents data on a wide range of technical cooperation initiatives, with a focus on analyzing trends and issues that are relevant to Arab governments. This research informs decision-making and the development of tailored support strategies. • Monitors and tracks legislative decisions and resolutions that impact technical cooperation activities. Ensures that databases reflect these changes and that project objectives remain aligned with legislative requirements. • Reviews and appraises submissions related to technical cooperation, ensuring they meet established guidelines and objectives. Identifies and addresses issues, preparing summaries and recommendations for further action by senior management • Collaborates with funding agencies to arrange financing for technical cooperation projects. Ensures that appropriate monitoring and reporting systems are in place, and facilitates regular review meetings to assess progress.. • Drafts budgets and forecasts for technical cooperation requests based on project submissions. Prepares monitoring tools, identifies key stages of project development, and oversees the alignment of resources and funding with project needs. • Monitors financial transactions and budgetary commitments, ensuring that charges and obligations are accurately documented. Prepares periodic budget revisions, evaluates financial trends, and makes recommendations to ensure effective resource utilization. • Prepares and disseminates communications related to technical cooperation activities, including drafting reports, briefings, and correspondence. Supports the creation of newsletters and other materials to share knowledge and updates with stakeholders. • Serves as the focal point for the coordination and monitoring of technical cooperation implementation, ensuring that activities are progressing according to plan. Identifies implementation challenges and coordinates remedial actions. • Liaises with diverse organizational units to initiate and follow up on administrative actions related to technical cooperation, including recruitment, travel arrangements, procurement, and disbursement of funds. • Arranges formal requests closures, ensuring that final budget revisions are completed, and final reports are published and distributed.. • Provides secretariat services to committees and task forces involved in technical cooperation, including preparing agenda notes, assembling background documents, drafting meeting minutes, and monitoring follow-up actions. • May undertake field missions to support technical cooperation activities, including on-the-ground administrative and operational tasks related to project implementation. • Maintain internal databases relevant to technical cooperation activities, ensuring that data is accurately stored, filed, and easily accessible. • Supervises office support staff, including assigning tasks, providing training, and contributing to performance evaluations • Assists with data collection and analysis for information sharing, knowledge management, and decision-making purposes, including creating visualizations and updating informational materials.. • Performs other related duties as assigned to support the effective delivery of technical cooperation services.
Competencies
• Professionalism: Knowledge of internal policies, processes and procedures generally and in particular those related to programme/project/technical request administration, implementation and evaluation, technical cooperation, programming and budgeting. Understanding of the functions and organization of the work unit and of the organizational structure and respective roles of related units. Ability to identify, independently assess, formulate recommendations and/or resolve a wide range of issues/problems, undertake research and gather information from standard sources and to work well with figures including ability to analyze and understand financial data. Ability to design information data bases from multiple sources into an integrated programme evaluation system. Ability to direct, supervise and train office support staff. Demonstrated ability to apply judgment in the context of assignments given and discretion, resourcefulness and ability to deal proactively and tactfully with offices throughout the organization. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Commitment to implementing the goal of gender equality by ensuring the equal participation and full involvement of women and men in all aspects of work. Able to perform analysis, modeling and interpretation of data in support of decision-making. • Communication: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed. • Client Orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.
Education
High school diploma or equivalent is required.
Job – Specific Qualification
First Level university degree in International Relations, Public Administration, or Development Studies is desirable.
Work Experience
Ten (10) years of experience in programme or project administration, technical cooperation or related area is required. The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to three (8) for candidates who possess a first-level university degree or higher. At least three years of demonstrated experience in Country technical cooperation or related area is desirable. At least three years of experience managing country requests and addressing demand primarily in the Arab region is desirable.
Languages
English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. In addition, Arabic is a working language at ESCWA. For this position, fluency in English and Arabic is required. Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.
Assessment
Evaluation of qualified candidates may include assessment(s) which may be followed by an interview.
Special Notice
• This position is temporarily available for an initial period of 364 days. Extension of the appointment is subject to availability of funding, continued need for the position, and the satisfactory performance of the incumbent. • If the selected candidate is a staff member from the United Nations Secretariat, the selection will be administered as a temporary assignment. • While this temporary assignment may provide the successful applicant with an opportunity to gain new work experience, the selection for this position is for a limited period and has no bearing on the future incumbency of the post. • This position is subject to local recruitment pursuant to staff rule 4.4 of the United Nations Staff Rules. Applicants for positions in the General Service and related categories must be authorized to work for the United Nations in the duty station where the position is located. Eligible applicants selected from outside the duty station are responsible for any expenses in connection with their relocation to the duty station. Staff members subject to local recruitment are not eligible for allowances or benefits exclusively applicable to international recruitment. • Candidates are fully responsible for all arrangements and costs for attending all assessments and interviews. All candidates shall receive the same notice period for attending the assessments and interviews. • The candidate is fully responsible for all costs and arrangements related to travel and relocation (including visas and permits) to the duty station and for continued employment at ESCWA. • Staff members of the United Nations common system organizations who will reach the mandatory age of separation or retirement within the duration of the current temporary need period are not eligible to apply. Submitting an application or selection for the current temporary job opening does not delay or increase the mandatory age of separation. • Retirees above the mandatory age of separation who wish to be considered for the current temporary job opening must indicate the reason for their last separation as “retirement.” Such retirees shall not be employed by the Organization, unless (a) the operational requirements of the Organization cannot be met by staff members who are qualified and available to perform the required functions; and (b) the proposed employment would not adversely affect the career development or redeployment opportunities of other staff members and represents both a cost-effective and operationally sound solution to meet the needs of the service. • The United Nations Secretariat is committed to achieving 50/50 gender balance in its staff. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for this position. • At the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the recruitment and employment of staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, with due regard to geographic diversity. All employment decisions are made on the basis of qualifications and organizational needs. The United Nations is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. The United Nations recruits and employs staff regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religious, cultural and ethnic backgrounds or disabilities. Reasonable accommodation for applicants with disabilities may be provided to support participation in the recruitment process when requested and indicated in the application. • Limitation of General Service Category: This position falls under the General Service category. If selected and you wish to be considered for a future position in the Professional category, please note that you must first separate from the Organization and acquire the required professional skills through academic training or professional experience to be considered as an external candidate. Alternatively, you can apply for and succeed in the YPP General Service to Professional category (G-to-P) competitive examination.
United Nations Considerations
According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Candidates will not be considered for employment with the United Nations if they have committed violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment, or if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have been involved in the commission of any of these acts. The term “sexual exploitation” means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. The term “sexual abuse” means the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. The term “sexual harassment” means any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that might reasonably be expected or be perceived to cause offence or humiliation, when such conduct interferes with work, is made a condition of employment or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, and when the gravity of the conduct warrants the termination of the perpetrator’s working relationship. Candidates who have committed crimes other than minor traffic offences may not be considered for employment. Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible. The United Nations places no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. The United Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process. By accepting a letter of appointment, staff members are subject to the authority of the Secretary-General, who may assign them to any of the activities or offices of the United Nations in accordance with staff regulation 1.2 (c). Further, staff members in the Professional and higher category up to and including the D-2 level and the Field Service category are normally required to move periodically to discharge functions in different duty stations under conditions established in ST/AI/2023/3 on Mobility, as may be amended or revised. This condition of service applies to all position specific job openings and does not apply to temporary positions. Applicants are urged to carefully follow all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira, and to refer to the Applicant Guide by clicking on “Manuals” in the “Help” tile of the inspira account-holder homepage. The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and guidelines. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications according to the instructions provided in inspira to be considered for the current job opening. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application. Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at 11:59 p.m. (New York time) on the deadline date.
No Fee
THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.