Project Manager cum Component Manager on Project Integration/ Financial Management and Information Management Divisions (SB4)

As a result of many years of war, the land and people of Vietnam are severely affected by landmines and unexploded ordnance (hereinafter called Explosive Remnants of War or ERW). According to the results of the project named "Vietnam National Explosive Remnants of War Contamination Surveying and Mapping" from 2010-2014, all 63/63 provinces/cities across the country are contaminated with landmines, unexploded ordnance left after the war, with a total of 9,116 out of 11,134 communes (wards or townships) contaminated. According to the Government of Vietnam, the total area of contamination is 6.13 million ha, accounting for 18.82% of the country's area. More than 60,000 people have either been killed or injured by ERW since the end of the war.

In recent years, the Vietnamese Government has paid special attention to perfecting management and coordination system, funding and providing guidelines for the effective implementation of mine action operations. Substantial amounts of funds are spent each year on ERW clearance in order to release and recover land for cultivation, ensure safe livelihood activities, as well as provision of emergency treatment to ERW victims and support to their reintegration into communities and educating these communities about the risk to further reduce accidents and prevent casualties.

In this regard, Quang Binh and Binh Dinh, provinces are considered a priority given the anticipated high-level of contamination and number of victims and limited amount of similar interventions in the past. Large amounts of bombs and other types of munitions were dropped on Binh Dinh and Quang Binh provinces during the war. The two provinces also witnessed fierce engagement of the ground forces of the two sides and massive bombing by the US Air force. According to statistics, from 7th Feb 1965 to 30th April 1968, Quang Binh Province suffered from 37,258 bombing missions with about 29 types of general purpose bombs, 13 types of cluster bombs in addition to tens of types of small arms, artillery shells, and rockets. Some small communes, such as Quang Thuan of Quang Trach District, with an area of about only 2 square kilometers, suffered from about 1,500 bombing missions with over 5,000 bombs of different types. According to statistics of the National ERW Survey, the area of ERW contamination in Quang Binh is 224.934 ha (accounting for 27,93% land of the province) Binh Dinh is 246.843 (accounting for 40% land of the province). On average, dozens of ERW related accidents happen each year across the two provinces. The majority of victims are the main laborers and children. The statistics shows that Quang Binh has had nearly 6,000 people killed and injured by ERW. As for Binh Dinh Province, about 3,000 people have been killed and injured by ERW.

ERW presence has a negative impact on all aspects of the social life. It slows down progress and increases the cost of construction of technical infrastructure; hinders people from cultivating on the land due to the fear for being harmed by ERW. As a result, in some areas, the land has become more and more deteriorated while containing in itself the potential risks to the safety of the people. It remains a burden to the people's psychology, economy and society in the contaminated areas. The removal of ERW remains the most effective solution as it detects, remove and destroy the roots of the impacts caused by ERW in the local provinces. 

In order to support the ERW removal effort in Vietnam, the Korea-Vietnam Mine Action Project (KV-MAP) was developed and founded on the close collaboration between the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.  In 2016, the Prime Minister approved the Project with the Ministry of National Defence as Executing Agency and Vietnam National Mine Action Center as the Project Owner. The main purpose of the Project is to strengthen the capacity of the Vietnam Mine Action Centre (VNMAC) and other responsible parties to remove ERW in Quang Binh and Binh Dinh provinces.

Given UNDP’s global and local technical expertise in mine action in various countries around the world, including in the region (Lao, Cambodia and Turkey), long standing experience in managing large projects in Vietnam, strong governance/administration expertise, and supports towards sustainable development, UNDP Vietnam has been entrusted by KOICA to provide project management and technical support to this important project.

In this context, the Project Manager cum Component Manager on Project                            Integration/ Financial Management and Information Management Divisions is desired to be overall responsible for the management and implementation of the Project.  The incumbent will work in close collaboration with the VNMAC Project Manager cum Head of  Project Integration & Financial Management (Deputy General Director of VNMAC),  the Chief Technical Advisor, the International Information Management, Planning and Reporting Technical Advisor.

Within the delegated authority, the Project Manager has the following main functions: Be responsible for planning, management and implementation of the Project. More specifically: 

1.      prepare and update quarterly and annual project work plans, and submit these to the National Project Director (NPD) and KOICA/UNDP for clearance;

2.      ensure that all agreements with Responsible Partners are prepared, negotiated and agreed upon;

3.      draft TORs for key inputs (i.e. personnel, sub-contracts, training, procurement), submits these to the Vietnamese NPD and UNDP CO for clearance, and administers the mobilization of such inputs;

4.      with respect to external project responsible partners:

a)      ensure that these responsible partners mobilize and deliver the inputs in accordance with their letters of agreement or contracts, and

b)      provide  overall supervision and/or coordination of their work to ensure the production, quality and timeliness of the expected outputs;

5.      assume  direct responsibility for managing the project budget by ensuring that:

a)      Project funds are made available when needed, and are disbursed properly,

b)      Expenditures are in accordance with the project document and/or existing project work plan,

c)      Accounting records and supporting documents are kept,

d)      Required financial reports are prepared,

e)      Financial operations are transparent and financial procedures/regulations for DIM projects are properly applied; and

f)       S/he is ready to stand up to audits at any time;

6.      assume  direct responsibility for managing the physical resources (e.g. vehicles, office equipment, furniture, stationary…) provided to the project by KOICA;

7.      supervise the project staff and local or international experts/consultants working for the project;

8.      draft project progress reports of various types (e.g. quarterly report, annual report, and the Final Project Report) as scheduled, and organizes review meetings and evaluation missions in the coordination with KOICA/UNDP;

9.      report regularly to and keeps the NPD and KOICA/UNDP quality assurance team up-to-date on project progress, implementing issues, emerging risks/problems as well as suggests to him/her necessary remedial actions.

The key results have an impact on the success of UNDP interventions in Mine Action area and the strengthened capacity in administration of Mine Action of the relevant Government Ministries and Agencies.

The key expected results include:

·        Proper project work-plans, TORs, quality assurance and M&E mechanism

·        Effective oversight and support to the implementing partners to ensure quality and effective implementation of the project packages assigned to them;

·        Proper mechanism for M&E and reporting

·        Regular update and reports on progress of project activities and results (including visible photos and infographics)

·        Smooth administrative support provided to project counterparts and provinces;

·        Contribution to the resource mobilization, policy dialogues, and documentation of lesson leant.

Education: Master degree on law, public governance, administrative reform or equivalent.

Experience:

1.      General knowledge of substantive matters that are addressed by the project. Have at least five years’ working experience in the UXO area, in particular Information Management 

2.      Extensive knowledge and experience in project management.

3.      Knowledge of gender and practical experience of gender mainstreaming in the activities

4.      Good inter-personal and team building skills.

5.      Familiarity with technical assistance projects and UNDP programme in Viet Nam is an asset.

Language: Fluency in English and national language of the duty station.

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