Programme Specialist – Team Leader

The UNDP’s work is strongly focused on the provision of policy advice and technical support to the Government of Lao PDR in the design and implementation of national legislation and strategies across four broad Priority Pillars – (1) inclusive growth and reduced inequalities, (2) UXO clearance and risk education, (3) natural resources, climate change and disaster risk reduction, as well as (4) effective, responsive, and accountable governance (Lao PDR | UNDP). 

UNDP has a long history working in Lao PDR. UNDP’s comparative advantage has been its ability to work closely with a very broad range of government and local-level institutions at all levels. The new UNDP country programme is aligned with the 9th NSEDP and is anchored in UNDP’s long-term partnership with the Government of more than three decades. The new programme builds on the achievements of the previous CPD that saw the incorporation of the SDGs into the national planning architecture. It will aim to support Lao PDR recover from the economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and continue its transition from LDC status, with a particular emphasis on supporting inclusive growth and reducing inequality.

The UNDP’s programming on effective, responsive and accountable governance, inter alia, focuses on the provision of policy advice and technical support to the Government of Lao PDR to (1) enhance the rule of law, access to justice, and protection of human rights, (2) strengthen people’s participation in decision-making through increased access to information and political representation, (3) enhance public administration reform through institutional capacity-development. 

Under the supervision of the Deputy Resident Representative and overall guidance of the Resident Representative, the Programme Specialist acts as the Team Leader and ensures effective oversight on programme/ portfolio management, accountability, and achievement of the CPD results within the assigned outcome, and supervises staff assigned within the Governance Unit. The Programme Specialist/Team Leader leads in policy development, strategic planning and advisory services on all aspects of the country programme and implements activities related to programme design, monitoring, identification of new areas and opportunities for programmatic engagement in line with the CPD. 

The Programme Specialist develops innovative solutions while ensuring quality assurance, programme oversight and compliance of the programme and project management. 

The Team Leader works in close collaboration with other Team Leaders and across all teams in programme and operations, Communications, Accelerator Lab and other staff in Regional Bureau, Bangkok Regional Hub and HQ locations. S/he also ensures strong cooperation with UN Agencies, national partners from the Government, civil society, and international partners, including donors through multilateral and/or bilateral arrangements. The position requires occasional travel within the country to conduct monitoring/field visits, as required by the nature of the portfolio and programming interventions.

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.
 

• Leads programme/ project design with development partners, UN Agencies and implementing partners for the portfolio, ensuring robust articulation of Theory of Change and results from framework linking inputs and activities to programme outputs and outcomes, supported with evidence to report on the Strategic Plan and CPD indicators. 
• Contributes to the analysis of the political, social, and economic situation in the countryand ensures collaborative and coordinated preparation/revision of Common Country Analysis (CCA), UN Sustainable Cooperation Development Framework (UNSCDF), CPD, CO business planning (COBP), Integrated Work Plan and results reporting, project documents, policy briefs, briefing notes and other programmatic documents.
• Identifies and analyze strategic programmatic areas of cooperation based on strategic goals of UNDP, country needs and donors’ priorities and operationalization of CPD with the Government and other partners of UNDP.
• Promotes and facilitates innovation and innovative approaches as well as identification of innovative development solutions to the delivery of results. 
• Leverages innovative approaches, resources, and collaborative efforts to enhance programme and project impact.
• Ensures regular monitoring and analysis of the programme environment, timely adjustment of programme, measuring of the impact of the projects, and that results, and lessons learned to inform analysis, policy and programme, and project work.
• Ensures that women empowerment and gender mainstreaming aspects are integrated and applied in all programmes/projects from the design to implementation, including planning and budgeting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, as well as reporting in line with and using the corporate gender equality commitments, tools and strategies. 
• Ensures effective application of results-based management tools and high-quality reporting of results for internal and external audiences.
• Ensures the integration of women empowerment and gender equality into programming and budgeting/resource allocation and supports the CO efforts to uphold the Gender Equality Seal requirements
• Participates and contributes to the CO and Inter-Agency (if applicable) thematic focal teams actively making sure that the responsible activities under the respective plans are delivered successfully. 
• Facilitates robust monitoring of key performance indicators and risks of the portfolio and leads the direction and implementation of corrective strategies and management measures based on risk-informed analysis and trends.
• Ensures effective monitoring of pipeline management system, programme delivery and applies appropriate actions for delivery acceleration measures.
• Applies UNDP’s Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework in the assigned portfolio, including the application of the Social and Environmental Standards (SES) in each project and ensures adequate safeguards measures. 
• Manages team(s) and ensures that the team-specific enabling actions are included in the annual plans and implemented to meet the set targets contributing to the CO’s performance in corporate and regional Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
• Coordinates UNDP’s support to development institutions working towards addressing national development priorities in collaboration with the Government and other strategic partners. 

Ensures accountability, quality control and effective oversight of the projects:

• Provides strategic planning, quality assurance and oversight of the assigned portfolio of programmes/projects and ensures their compliance with programme and operations policies and procedures (POPP) and quality assurance standards.
• Ensures annual work planning, monitoring, evaluation and reporting of assigned portfolio in line with requirements (e.g., budget revisions, approval of CDRs, etc.).
• Facilitates and quality assures the project documentation prior to final approval by the Senior Management and ensures proper document management and update in the corporate systems and regional platforms (Quantum, Quantum+ and others). 
• Performs the Approving manager function within the authority delegated by the Resident Representative in line with the established Internal Control Framework and ensures appropriate separation of duties is in place. 
• Ensures implementation of the Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfer (HACT) framework covering micro assessments, assurance plans and assurance activities, carries out programme/monitoring visits, tracking mechanisms, ensuring appropriate remedial actions are implemented in accordance with UNDP Financial Rules and Regulations and HACT policies.
• Implements risk-management and anti-fraud mechanisms, tracking of financial resources, and provides support in addressing gaps or applying corrective measures in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations.
• Performs clearance measures (incl. tracking of NIM advances/reimbursements, liquidation of NIM advances, clearance of Funding Authorization and Certificate of Expenditure (FACE) forms, escalating and advising the CO Management on timely remedial actions required).
• Facilitates assessment of barriers and opportunities to enable private sector engagement and participation and quality assures all required capacity and risk assessments, including private sector due diligence.
• Ensures compliance with a cost-recovery system for the services provided in close collaboration with the Operations Manager and Programme Support Unit.
• Supervises the team and ensures adherence to the POPP as well as established CO business processes and internal controls, contributes to design of the Standard Operating Procedures on programme and project management.
• Supervises Project Managers / Coordinators, as required.

• Identifies strategic opportunities and leads engagement on potential joint programming with other UN Agencies and entities.
• Ensures development and implementation of CO partnerships and resource mobilization strategies to achieve country programme outcomes related to rule of law and governance. Leads effective pipeline development on governance related initiatives in the Office. 
• Supports deployment of partnership strategies and related actions with a focus on programme portfolio development and the identification of sustainable and predictable funding mechanisms for the implementation of the country programme.
• Leads and maintains strong partnerships with relevant development partners and government, UN Agencies, IFIs, government institutions, bilateral and multilateral donors, private sector, and civil society in the designated support areas.
• As part of the overall CO partnerships and communications strategy and action plans, develops new project concepts to ensure project documents and financing agreements are developed with high quality and in line with UNDP corporate rules and procedures. 
• Ensures the preparation of analysis and research of information on partners, donor profiles, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost-sharing and initiation of new projects, active contribution to the overall CO efforts in resource mobilization.
• Leads engagement, networking and mobilization of experts of the international development community, government partners, UN Agencies, and prominent think tanks.
• Leads development of strategies for government cost-sharing in the area of governance, as required. 
• Ensures quality and timely donor reporting and adherence to the conditions and requirements of partnership agreements by programme teams and projects.

Leads provision of top-quality advisory services and facilitates effective knowledge management: 

• Integrates evaluation findings, real-time monitoring data, and applied learning to adaptive programme and project management and policy advisory work.
• Ensures capacity building of national counterparts for effective management and compliance with funding partner’s requirements within UNDP projects.
• Maintains effective network with development partners and Government at the national level and sub-national level and where necessary links up with the corporateGlobal Policy Networkof UNDP and other international development actors.
• Leads the implementation of awareness building and advocacy around UN/UNDP events and supports strategic communications work and knowledge management initiatives. 
• Provides sound and proactive contributions on key governance issues to corporate, regional and CO events, knowledge networks and communities of practice.
• Writes and communicates on best practices and lessons learned linked to programme and policy goals.
• Facilitates knowledge building and management especially between the programme and projects and facilitates trainings for the UNDP staff and personnel and national counterparts on relevant programme issues.
• Contributes to development of training materials and organizes workshops, as required by the supervisor.

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

People's Management

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
2030 Agenda: Peace-Rule of Law, Security and Human Rights: Safeguarding human rights and protecting vulnerable groups
Business Management-Communication: Ability to communicate in a clear, concise, and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication;
Business Management-Results-based Management: Ability to manage programmes and projects with a focus on improved performance and demonstrable results
Business Management-Partnerships Management: Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts, and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies
Business Management-Risk Management: Ability to identify and organize action around mitigating and proactively managing risks
Business Management-Portfolio Management: Ability to select, prioritize and control the organization programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity; ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimizing return on investment