Job Description

Job Identification
13775

Locations

• 
  Putrajaya, Malaysia

Posting Date
11/23/2023, 02:17 AM

Apply Before
12/07/2023, 09:59 AM

Job Schedule
Full time

Agency
UNDP

Vacancy Type
National Personnel Service Agreement

Practice Area
Inclusive Growth

Bureau
Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific

Contract Duration
1 Year

Education & Work Experience
Master\'s Degree - 2 year(s) experience OR Bachelor\'s Degree - 4 year(s) experience

Required Languages
English and Bahasa Malaysia

Vacancy Timeline
2 Weeks

Mobility required/no mobility
no mobility required


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 \xe2\x80\x98leave no one behind\xe2\x80\x99 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. Beginning in February 2020, the Youth Environment Living Labs (YELL) was jointly ideated by UNDP and UNICEF in Malaysia to reimagine youth participation in climate and environmental action in the country. The concept by the two UN agencies was supported by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Environment and Water. YELL\xe2\x80\x99s concept is anchored on the Living Labs model that promotes sustainability through action learning. In July 2021, YELL was piloted after it received UNDP-UNICEF regional seed funding through the \xe2\x80\x9cInvesting in 21st Century Skills, Engagement and Entrepreneurship for Young People across Asia Pacific\xe2\x80\x9d initiative. Through this seed-funding, YELL initiated its work focusing on building the YELL network and a resource hub, developing local narratives for climate and environmental action, and organising a series of extensive stakeholder engagements that provided insights to the development challenge and inputs toward the current model of YELL. In attaining the 2030 Agenda, it is important to consider that any transformation to the way communities live and work should be mindful of any social aspects in ensuring the delivery of equitable outcomes and sustainable livelihoods, especially for disadvantaged communities, such as rural communities. Therefore, YELL wants to focus on moving youth from awareness to action, empowering young people with the knowledge, skills, and networks to address sustainability issues. YELL wants to prioritise youth that faces barriers of entry in taking their first steps by providing them with structured entry points. This also includes a focus on youth from low-income backgrounds, or who are otherwise marginalised. YELL has two objectives:

• Address the knowledge and resource gaps among local youth from a diverse background that motivates them to take action to tackle the environmental and climate threats affecting their community; and ii)
• Strengthen the ecosystem of actors to support and hold the space for youth to engage as agents of change in environmental policy-and decision-making and in environmental actions

Therefore, UNDP and UNICEF are currently seeking to engage a qualified and experienced Project Manager who will be responsible for the overall project management and managing donor/partner relationships. S/he is expected to communicate objectively, able to initiate strategic conversation and partnerships with senior levels of the partners\xe2\x80\x99 organizations and will also be responsible for providing leadership in the resource mobilization strategy in response to the emerging opportunities and challenges related to YELL. The person will be reporting to both the Head of Inclusive Growth & Prosperity and UNICEF Climate & Environment Specialist and is also expected to work closely with the YELL Project Coordinator to strengthen the execution and coordination of YELL\xe2\x80\x99s activities and contribute to the objectives of this project.
Duties and Responsibilities

The Project Manager will be under joint supervision and will report to both the UNDP Head of Inclusive Growth & Prosperity and the UNICEF Climate & Environment Specialist. The person will also work closely with the YELL Coordinator,and YELL focal points for UNDP (Youth Engagement Analyst) & UNICEF (Climate & Environment Consultant) . The position will be based in Putrajaya and is expected to report to the respective supervisors minimally once a week or when the assignment necessitates more regular check-ins on progress updates of consultancy deliverables. Project Management \xe2\x80\x93 Financial, Administrative and Human Resources

• Overall lead for the Project Management Unit consisting of the YELL Coordinator, Youth Environment Community Facilitators, Communications Officer and Interns
• Undertake overall management of the project, including effective project implementation, progress documentation, human resource, and achievement of project outcomes;
• Work closely with UNDP and UNICEF\xe2\x80\x99s focal points to provide and facilitate periodic reporting, in line with UNDP and UNICEF\xe2\x80\x99s reporting requirements. Manage the project budget and facilitate budget approvals and revision processes as per UNDP & UNICEF policies and procedures;
• Ensure appropriate recording and accounting documentation as required by UNDP & UNICEF and the preparation of required financial reports. Facilitate transparent financial management of the project that is able to stand up to regular audits and evaluation;
• Prepare work plans, and produce timely reports \xe2\x80\x93 financial and progress reports \xe2\x80\x93 as required by UNDP and UNICEF and donor reporting systems; ensuring that UNDP and UNICEF rules and regulations concerning finance, procurement and human resources are adhered to; and,
• Support an environment of learning for staff within the programme.

Project Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation

• Develop the necessary strategic documents concerning programme planning and implementation, such as policy papers, concept notes, etc;
• Provide strategic advice, direction and direct technical input to the UNDP & UNICEF senior management on youth in climate and environmental strategy in Malaysia while keeping them informed of emerging issues;
• Coordinate overall assessment for YELL, and ensure that the relevant baseline data collected for project monitoring and evaluation can take place;
• Oversee compliance with the monitoring and evaluation plan of the project;
• Ensure proper documentation of the project including efficient and effective collection, storage and analysis of information and data throughout the project, including sex and age-disaggregated data where relevant;
• Provide guidance to the project\xe2\x80\x99s communication strategy in close collaboration with relevant partners;
• Ensure gender is integrated and mainstreamed throughout the project outcomes;
• Provide oversight to the Terms of References developed by the Project Coordinator for project consultants/experts hired on a short-term basis and ensure the proper delivery of technical services and submission of technical and other reports;
• Ensure the participation and involvement of relevant stakeholders in project-implementation, planning and design to ensure an inclusive, participatory and transparent process;
• Ensure higher-level engagement and coordination among strategic partners, donors and with government ministries and administrations;
• Ensure sustainability of the project intervention by promoting leadership and ownership of the youth group and youth organizations and through proper capacity building;
• Ensure the timeliness and quality of the YELL project outcomes as well as timely preparation of reports on achievements and challenges faced within the project;
• Ensure delivery of resources and results according to planned targets;
• Ensure the development of linkages between the Country Programme of UNDP and UNICEF and other relevant projects and programmes for mutually reinforcing impact;
• Ensure compliance with donors\xe2\x80\x99 agreements; and
• Promote identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learned for organizational sharing and learning.

Lead in partnerships and resource mobilization

• Establish and maintain partnerships with stakeholders (government, private sectors, UN agencies, donors);
• Identify emerging trends related to YELL within the development partners, corporates, academia, policymakers, philanthropists and foundations, and others in leveraging partnerships and opportunities for funding;
• Analyze, compile and keep an updated database of key stakeholders engaged in YELL financing and funding: impact ventures, institutional and individual investors, potential donors and other funders for YELL-aligned investable projects;
• Identify and establish collaborations between YELL and key partners, including donors and investment companies, who have a regional or global presence. These partnerships will aim to align YELL\xe2\x80\x99s sustainability plan with UNDP and achieve the SDGs;
• In consultation with the UNDP and UNICEF Partnership & Corporate focals-points and senior management team, develop YELL\xe2\x80\x99s partnership and resource mobilisation strategies and action plans that include securing new, diverse and additional resources for YELL. The strategy should respond to YELL\xe2\x80\x99s funding needs;
• In consultation with the senior management, lead in negotiations with strategic partners, and ongoing management of key partnership action plans while identifying new partnerships and opportunities;
• Develop partnership proposals with potential donors and pitching materials for strategic alliances and partnerships on YELL, for targeted potential partners in Malaysia.
• Support the preparation of materials for MoUs, Financing Agreements or any other legal documents to effectively onboard new partners;
• Work closely with UNDP BRH Partnership Specialists and Private Sector Focal points and with UNICEF regional resources and networks to ensure the identified potential partners are aligned with UNDP and UNICEF\xe2\x80\x99s due diligence policy including developing UNDP\xe2\x80\x99s Risk Assessment Tools (RAT) and UNICEF\xe2\x80\x99s HACT framework with comprehensive information about the partner as required; and
• Act as the focal point for the YELL partnership at the regional and global engagement or dialogues with national stakeholders.

Lead in advocacy, policy-level outcome discussion, knowledge-building, sharing and advocacy efforts in line with the national agenda

• Provide insights into the drafting of policy-centric communications products, policy documents, briefs and other strategic papers/ materials for use in the development and presentation of YELL impacts and results;
• Link YELL impacts and results to relevant policies, including the Twelfth Malaysia Plan, in line with the UNDP and UNICEF country programme action plan;
• Ensure advocacy materials, communications products, and package information are in compliance with UNDP and UNICEF guidelines and branding.
• Provide technical input on climate and environmental issues, with emphasis on the youth lens;
• Provide leadership and advocacy support to address policy-related issues and other challenges on climate and environment;
• Extract lessons learned to support programme improvement and feed into UNDP and UNICEF climate and environmental solutions policies and programming knowledge globally (Facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing); and
• Perform other duties as assigned by management relevant to YELL.

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

People Management competencies:

• UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies: Partnership management

• Multi-stakeholder engagement and funding: Knowledge and ability to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships, and remove any obstacles to resource mobilization and multi-stakeholder funding platforms
• Strategic engagement: Ability to capture and sustain attention, interest and agreement of high-level, influential policy and decision makers and secure their buy-in of high-level vision and objectives

Business Direction & Strategy

• 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 Development

• Knowledge Generation: Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need

Business Management

• Project Management: Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals.
• Risk Management: Ability to identify and organize action around mitigating and proactively managing risks
• Change Management: Ability to prepare, support and help individuals and teams in designing and implementing organizational change

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master\xe2\x80\x99s degree or equivalent) in social sciences, environment/ climate, education, arts and humanities, management, life/natural sciences, urban studies or a related field is required. OR
• A first-level university degree (Bachelor\xe2\x80\x99s degree) in areas mentioned above in combination with 2 additional years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of Master\xe2\x80\x99s degree.

Experience:

• Minimum of 2 with Master\xe2\x80\x99s degree or 4 years of experience with Bachelor\'s degree in project/ programme management, preferably in the field of sustainability, climate action or youth empowerment
• Partnership experience in Malaysia and/or in Asia-Pacific, including multinational companies (MNCs), private sector/foundations on environment, youth development and/or sustainable development issues.
• Knowledge of climate and environmental issues in Malaysia is a necessity.
• Youth engagement expertise is a bonus.
• Experience in resource mobilization in fundraising, philanthropy, and corporate social responsibility/sustainability.
• Understands Malaysia policy agenda (12 Malaysia Plan or similar) and is able to link up project activities into higher level policy conversation and results/impact reporting.
• Experience working in a development setting, project design, reporting and monitoring & evaluation in multilateral agencies, UN, INGOs, EU or in any development organizations.
• Experience in managing complex negotiation, communications, advocacy and stakeholder engagement, and a proven track record of excellent communication and presentation skills and ability to mobilize support from a wide range of partner stakeholders.

Language Requirement:

• Require fluency in written and spoken English and Bahasa Malaysia

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