Project Manager (Open to all applicants)

Job Description

Background

With a total gross domestic product (GDP) of over USD 430 billion, Bangladesh is the second-largest economy in South Asia. Between 2000 and 2019, Bangladesh’s economy registered high GDP growth, averaging around 6% per annum. During this period, there were several notable improvements across different socioeconomic indicators, putting the country on track for a formal graduation from the group of least developed countries (LDCs) in 2026. Bangladesh’s score on the human development index (HDI) increased from 0.49 in 2000 to 0.68, placing it among countries categorized as medium human development. The national poverty rate fell from over 48% in 2000 to less than 19% in 2022. 

Despite the progress, Bangladesh faces several development challenges, and with the current trend, the country is unlikely to meet several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Even before the political crisis in 2024, Bangladesh was grappling with double-digit inflation. According to the latest estimate, GDP is expected to grow by 3.7% in 2025, much slower than the GDP growth in the past. Without an uptick in private investment, the economy cannot diversify, a necessary condition for creating decent jobs. With low social spending and weak capacities, the government is constrained from providing quality services to the people. Bangladesh is also one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and is prone to natural hazards, including climate-induced disasters.   

As the UN’s development agency, UNDP has been in Bangladesh since 1972, promoting inclusive growth and democratic governance, and helping the country to achieve equitable and sustainable development. UNDP has been a close partner of Bangladesh in co-designing policy solutions, building national capacities, and promoting innovations to help meet its developmental aspirations.

The UNDP Plastics Sector Circularity Portfolio in Bangladesh is aimed to driving transformative change towards eradication of plastics pollution and sector circularity. At present, the portfolio consists of two initiatives: The Bangladesh TCCF Plastics Circularity Project and the National Plastic Action Partnership (NPAP).

Funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation, the Bangladesh TCCF project promotes sustainable plastic waste management by establishing Circularity Hubs, engaging informal sector workers, supporting CMSMEs, and fostering gender-inclusive solutions to reduce plastics pollution. The project supports improved plastic collection, recycling, and reduced environmental leakage, ultimately contributing to public health, environmental protection, and inclusive green growth.

The NPAP is a multistakeholder platform that gathers government, academia, researchers, experts, industry, financial institutions, the private sector, and civil organizations in the efforts to resolve plastic pollution. NPAP serves as a catalyst to accelerate the development of solutions to the plastics value chain that are based on circularity, maintaining the balance between economic growth and environmental preservation.

NPAP Bangladesh is one of the most recent among 25 NPAPs globally as a part of the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), that is led and hosted by the World Economic Forum. It aims to shape a more sustainable and inclusive world through the eradication of plastic pollution. Through multistakeholder platforms designed for all, the partnership brings public, private, and civil society leaders together to develop joint solutions to the plastic pollution crisis, both globally and nationally. Further insights on the framework and approach can be found on GRAP´s website: https://www.globalplasticaction.org/home.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Project Manager will work under the direct supervision of the Programme Analyst – Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Resilience and Inclusive Growth Cluster. 

The Project Manager will be responsible for strategically leading the management of the Circularity Portfolio projects (NPAP and TCCF), including planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting, in accordance with the approved agreements and project documents. They will work closely with the UNDP RIG Cluster, local government agencies, informal sector actors, NGOs, private sector stakeholders, the business community, and national partners. The Manager will ensure the timely achievement of project outputs and outcomes, while also contributing to the broader goals of transitioning to a circular economy, reducing plastics pollution, and promoting inclusive market development.

Under the guidance of the NPAP Leadership Board and in close coordination with the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP) Secretariat and the UNDP Country Office, the Project Manager will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of National Plastic Action Partnership (NPAP) activities, ensuring coherence and strategic alignment between local-level actions and national policy objectives. Additionally, the Project Manager will lead the implementation of the TCCF – Plastic Circularity Project in Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, and Tangail, providing overall coordination and operational oversight in line with the directives of UNDP Bangladesh country office.

Key Responsibilities:

Coordination and implementation of the NPAP Bangladesh initiative:

• Management of the NPAP Secretariat, including staff supervision and operational support.
• Strong collaboration with the GPAP Secretariat, NPAP Chair, and Ministry focal points.
• Strong collaboration with the NPAP Engagement and Communication Analyst 
• Identification, establishment, and operation of the NPAP Steering Board
• Development of a landscape analysis of the plastics ecosystem in Bangladesh
• Support for the development of a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Strategy, and an NPAP Plastic Action Roadmap.
• Identification of strategic investment partners and investment opportunities for plastic action
• Quarterly progress reporting to GPAP

Result-based Project Management, including Planning, Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation:

• Provide strategic oversight and operational leadership to ensure timely and quality implementation of project activities across all three cities.
• Manage projects finances and ensure achievement of quarterly and annual programmatic and financial delivery targets, with accountability to the Project Board and UNDP Bangladesh.
• Lead the preparation and updating of annual work plans, procurement plans, budget forecasts, monitoring frameworks, and progress reports.
• Identify project risks and mitigation strategies and implement adaptive management in consultation with the UNDP Programme Analyst and the Resilience and Inclusive Growth (RIG) Cluster Lead.
• Supervise the project team, including technical experts, consultants, and support staff, ensuring clear roles, performance targets, and regular appraisals.
• Coordinate planning and delivery of services from national and international experts and vendors to produce required deliverables and knowledge products.
• Oversee the organization of trainings, learning events, consultation workshops, steering committee and technical working group meetings.
• Ensure strong linkages with other UNDP projects in environment, climate change, and resilience and inclusive growth portfolios to create synergies and avoid duplication.

Partnership and Stakeholder Management, and Networking:

• Identify key stakeholders and implementation partners, including city corporations, NGOs, informal sector representatives, recyclers, and development partners. For the NPAP Steering Board, ensure multistakeholder and high-level representation, in close collaboration with the GPAP Secretariat. 
• Lead the preparation and implementation of a stakeholder engagement strategy with targets and timelines.
• Liaise with local governments, Ministry of Environment, Department of Environment, and other national counterparts for effective coordination and support.
• Foster coordination with UNDP Country Office units and other relevant portfolios/projects to ensure alignment and resource sharing.
• Develop and maintain partnerships with development agencies, donors, private sector, civil society, and academic institutions to support project objectives and scale-up opportunities.

Evidence-based Advocacy and Support for Policy Reforms:

• Consolidate project outputs and results into evidence-based reports and policy briefs to inform national and local policy dialogues.
• Organize policy consultation events and participate in multi-stakeholder platforms on circular economy and plastic waste management.
• Support capacity development of government counterparts and waste management institutions in circularity, plastic traceability, and informal sector integration.
• Ensure all technical and advisory inputs meet UNDP and GPAP quality standards and align with the National Plastic Action Plan (NPAP) and related policy frameworks.

Facilitate Knowledge Management and Resource Mobilization:

• Lead development of knowledge products, communication materials, and training content in collaboration with project teams, UNDP, and partners.
• Promote documentation and dissemination of lessons learned, innovations, case studies, and best practices.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization

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 

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

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:

General (across the functions)          

• Public relations - Ability to build and maintain an overall positive public image for the organisation, its mandate and its brand, while ensuring that individual campaigns and other communications and advocacy initiatives are supported in reaching the public

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
• Resource mobilization - Ability to identify funding sources, match funding needs (programmes/projects/initiatives) with funding opportunities, and establish a plan to meet funding requirements

2030 Agenda: People              

• Gender - Gender Equality Seal for public institutions

2030 Agenda: Prosperity       

• Inclusive Growth - Multidimensional poverty and human development

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 information and to turn it into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need. 
  • Ability to apply existing concepts to new situations, and to develop new concepts to generate workable solutions and new approaches. Knowledge of relevant concepts, conceptual models, and theories that can be useful in addressing new situations.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Social Sciences, Environmental Studies, Urban Planning, Business Administration, Public Administration, Development Studies, Economics, Political Science; bachelor’s degree in engineering, or any other relevant discipline is required. Or 
• A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the above fields, in the areas mentioned above in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum two (2) years (with master’s degree) or four (4) years (with bachelor’s degree) of relevant hands-on experience in the planning, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of development projects.

Required skills

• Demonstrated experience and knowledge of plastic pollution challenges, value chains, and circular economy principles
• Proven track record of excellent oral and written communication skills, enabling effective collaboration with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proficiency in office software (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and web-based management systems for effective documentation, reporting, and coordination.

Desired skills

• In-depth experience in plastics circularity, and/or informal sector integration in the context of Bangladesh.
• Demonstrated networking and stakeholder coordination experience across government, civil society, and private sector.
• Proven experience in building and managing public-private multistakeholder partnerships.
• Coordinating diverse partners across government, private sector, development agencies, academia, and civil society.
• Experience in results-based reporting and knowledge sharing.
• Experience in facilitating knowledge exchange and learning processes across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Strong Bangla writing skills, particularly for drafting or reviewing policy and programmatic documents.
• Experience of working with international development organizations, international financial institutions, NGOs/ INGOs is desired.

Required Languages

• Fluency in English and Bangla is required. 

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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