Business Development Consultant, Multiple positions

United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) supports the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to serve people in need by expanding the ability of the United Nations, governments and other partners to manage projects, infrastructure, and procurement in a sustainable and efficient manner. Working in some of the world’s most challenging environments, our vision is to advance sustainable implementation practices, always satisfying or surpassing our partners’ expectations. With a flexible structure and global reach, we can quickly respond to our partners' needs, while offering the benefits of economies of scale. 

Working with us

UNOPS offers short and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECR) supports UNOPS offices in the region, providing management and financial/programmatic oversight of regional and country-specific Portfolios, Clusters and Operations Centres in providing hosting services, fund management, management advisory services, implementing projects, procuring goods and services and managing human resources. ECR strategy is to:

• Strengthen UNOPS role in Operationalizing the Sustainable Development Goals with particular emphasis on health, environment and economic development;
• Position UNOPS in Central Asia, Caucasus and Balkan sub-region as per ECR 2018-2021 Business Development Strategy;
• Strengthen means of implementation of ECR programmes with revitalized partnerships in Infrastructure, Procurement and Project Management.

Per the above strategy, UNOPS is exploring options to work with Central Asian countries and support them in the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through expertise, best practices, and collaborations to fill the missing financing and technical know-how gaps needed to develop sustainable projects.

In line with this background and with UNOPS’ corporate goal to expand its operations across the Central Asia and Caucasus, the ECR is creating multiple positions of Proposal Development Consultants to specifically assist in the identification of new project opportunities in Tajikistan. 

Under the overall direction and responsibility of the UNOPS Program Coordinator for Central Asia, the incumbent will be responsible for the following:

Business Development and outreach:

• Carry out a review and analysis of the National Development Strategy of the Republic of Tajikistan for the period up to 2030, Mid-term Development Programme 2016-2020, UNDAF 2016-2020 for Tajikistan, other  relevant publications and key reference materials to fully understand the country context;
• Collect, analyze and keep abreast of humanitarian and development trends and needs in Tajikistan to identify areas of collaboration within UNOPS’ mandate;
• Analyse markets for business development intelligence and opportunities (facilitate assessments of partner needs, UNOPS comparative advantages, and partner survey analysis, among others); Provide in-depth evaluation of economic, political, social and other relevant reports to assess potential business opportunities and, if needed, submit analytical reports on outcome and proposals for action;
• Draft a sector map of on-going programmes and key actors in the areas of ECR interest per the UNOPS Strategic Plan 2018-2021;
• Carry out sector review and gap analysis for the potential areas of engagement based on meetings and consultations with representatives of the government, non-governmental organizations, private sector, and civil society organizations as well as through review and analysis of existing reports and publications;
• Based on the sector review and initial conclusions, prepare an initial advisory and synthesis note for ECR Management on potential areas of engagement for UNOPS in the country and region;
• Contribute to the identification, design, formulation, and negotiation of new projects and programs and draft concept notes, proposals and project briefs for discussions with partners;
• Support ECR in promoting high visibility of UNOPS’ activities in Tajikistan, including the development and distribution of marketing, communication, and partner relationship management materials.

Partnerships development:

• Develop approaches and provide advice on establishing new partnerships; develop and manage partner relationship management intelligence;
• Support UNOPS in the establishment and maintaining relations with Tajikistan based clients, government departments, non-governmental actors, IFIs’ and other donors’ in-country offices through continuous networking and communications to identify and pursue business opportunities within UNOPS thematic scope initiating the necessary associated arrangements;
• Support UNOPS efforts in developing business opportunities with potential partners, using existing information and materials, as well as inputs from and relevant to substantive discussions between UNOPS and partners;
• Assist the supervisor during meetings, follow-ups, and negotiations with donors, government and other partners and clients to achieve the most cost-effective and mutually beneficial terms for UNOPS engagements with prospective clients and partners;
• Assist clients and partners in adapting/formulating project ideas/project proposals in accordance with UNOPS business patterns and practices;
• Interact actively with all existing and potential new partners and clients to follow-up on meetings, decisions, and commitments as well as to solicit feedback and gauge client satisfaction.

Proposal writing:

• Compile, write, edit, and produce competitive and high-quality concept papers and proposals, both unsolicited and solicited for UNOPS partners, based on substantive inputs provided by UNOPS technical specialists and subject matter experts. This includes analyzing, summarising and the use of continuously solicited feedback and information from potential partners, official statistics, and any other UNOPS and partners materials as appropriate;
• Identify information gaps blocking proposal completion and secure that the necessary information is available to complete the process. Conduct research and collect/ analyze and interpret UNOPS data and information needed for proposals, utilizing UNOPS, partners and other electronic resources to develop proposals;

• Submit multiple drafts for team reviews, incorporating comments from reviewers in liaison with relevant stakeholders;
• Edit and proofread drafts and final versions of proposals. This includes making editorial recommendations and formatting the final design of materials, which includes laying out text in appropriate design software (i.e. MS PowerPoint, MS Word, etc.) and adding graphs as needed.

Other general responsibilities:

• Ensure facilitation and promotion of knowledge building and knowledge sharing among colleagues;
• Perform other duties as directed by the supervisor to support UNOPS ECR’s outreach and business development activities in Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries.

Results/Expected Outputs

• Increased visibility of UNOPS in Tajikistan;
• Increase the pipeline of engagement opportunities in Tajikistan;
• Successfully support ECR in the identification of new funding opportunities for the regional growth in line with the ECR business development strategy;
• Development and implementation of best practices for project development.

Monitoring and progress controls:

• The Proposal Development Consultant’s performance will be measured against his/her ability to support UNOPS’ expansion efforts in Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries. In order to ensure the financial viability of the post, the incumbent is expected to have identified and have cultivated at least 2 substantive leads for Tajikistan and/or any other country in the region by the end of a 6 months period.

Education:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in project management, Business administration, international relations, development studies, social science, engineering, environmental studies or related fields is required.
• Relevant first university degree (bachelor’s or equivalent) with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years of work experience in business development, project development or project management in Tajikistan is required, international experience is a distinct advantage;
• Excellent communication, networking, and presentation skills required;
• Excellent research and drafting skills required;
• Strong negotiation skills required;
• Good time management skills required;
• Experience working with the UN system a distinct advantage;
• Strong networks in Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries desired.

Language:

• Fluency in oral and written English, Russian and Tajik is required. Knowledge of any other regional languages (Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek) is a distinct advantage.

Certifications:

• Certification in PRINCE2 Foundation is desirable.

1. Contract type -  Individual Contractor Agreement
2. Contract level: Local Specialist Level 11
3. Contract duration - Initially up to 100 working days within 6 months, renewable subject to programme requirement, satisfactory performance, and funding availability.

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.