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Project Officer; Integrated National Financing Frameworks for financing sustainable development(INFF Support)- Re-advert

Maseru

  • Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
  • Location: Maseru
  • Grade: Consultancy - SB-4 (SC8/SC9), Service Contract, Local Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Development Cooperation and Sustainable Development Goals
    • Economics
    • Banking and Finance
    • Environment
    • Poverty Reduction
    • Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction
    • Project and Programme Management
    • FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT, SDG'S
  • Closing Date: Closed

Background

UNDP is the UN's global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. It works with individual countries on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. The Lesotho Country Programme (2019-2023), is anchored on the NSDP II, the UNDAF (2019–2023) and is guided by the UNDP Strategic Plan (2018–2021) through 3- programme pillars: (i) Governance, Accountability, Social Cohesion and Stability; (ii) Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Growth and (iii) Environmental Sustainability, Climate Change and Resilience. 
 
In context of the NSDP and SDGs, the Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Growth (SIEG) Programme is aimed at strengthening capacities of private and public sector stakeholders to create decent and sustainable jobs, promoting economic diversity, facilitating increased economic participation by promoting innovative and technological interventions, collaborative and informative stakeholder policy -shaping platforms and technical support and development. This will be done through implementation of different projects and initiatives for focused on livelihoods development and economic diversification, and data, research and evidence for policy. 
 
The NSDP II is a government blueprint to achieving economic transformation and a private sector-led economic growth and jobs creation as well as framework for implementation of international development agenda, including the SDGs and Agenda 2063. According to the NSDP II, the government will need to achieve an estimated growth of 5% to achieve its development objectives.  However, government resources have always fallen short of the national development needs, thereby preventing attainment of the annual growth projections and economic development targets. Lesotho will therefore need adequate financing strategies, sources and partnerships to realize its growth objectives and the sustainable development outcomes.  
 
In 2015, the heads of countries and governments signed the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), as a commitment to address challenges to financing the sustainable development agenda. The AAAA provides a framework for financing sustainable development with concrete policy actions, - by introducing the Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFF) – as a tool for planning and delivery tool to finance sustainable development at the national level. The INFF recognizes the importance of public and private finance and roles of different stakeholders in advancing sustainable development; it lays out both national and global actions, necessary to create enabling environment for sustainable economic development. It  is a country-led and country-owned tool aimed at helping policymakers to map the landscape for financing sustainable development and lay out a strategy to increase and make most effective use of investment for sustainable development, coordinate technical and financial cooperation they receive, manage financial and non-financial risks, and ultimately achieve priorities articulated in a national sustainable development strategy or plan. The INFF are in this regard a tool for helping governments operationalize the AAAA. 
 
In this regard, UN Lesotho has received funding from the SDG Fund to implement a joint project aimed at supporting the country to establish a functional and sustainable integrated financing and economic planning ecosystem that facilitates accelerated achievement of the SDGs targets and the NSDP. The project called the UN Lesotho Joint Programme on Economic and Financial Management Integrated System  for Achievement of the SDGs System (UN JP-EFMIS)  is a two-year project, jointly implemented by the UNICEF, UNDP and IOM and in collaboration with the Ministry of Development Planning, and the Ministry of Finance. The project has three outputs, implementing a gender-sensitive Integrated National Financial Framework; improving fiscal transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of the public investment programmes, and establishment of a policy framework and environment that fosters dialogue and a shared value between government, partners, CSOs and private sector for fiscal stability and partnerships for achievement of the Agenda 2030.  The project will facilitate a strategic process to help the national authorities to identify means of implementation to meet the SDGs, to increase tax revenue, improve spending efficiency, tap into remittances, promote debt management, leverage international development cooperation, as well as promote foreign and domestic private-sector investment, to aligned them all to the post COVID-19 recovery, while at the same time maintaining the longer-term objective of SDG achievement within the NSDP II.
 
As part of this project, UNDP will support development and implementation of the INFF and support mobilization of public and private partnerships, domestic and international partnerships to accelerate achievement the Agenda 2030. Therefore, UNDP is looking for a Project Officer to support implementation of the project and delivery of processes for attainment of the Integrated National Financing Framework for Lesotho. The project officer will work with the Ministry of Development Planning, UNDP Finance Hub and the national stakeholders to deliver the  project objectives and ensure a process for sustainable and inclusive engagement of national stakeholders in the project. 
Under the supervision of the Programme Specialist/Head of Unit, Strategy and Policy Unit the Project Officer will be expected to undertake the following: 
 
  • Provide technical support to UNDP, Ministry of Development Planning and partners for implementation of activities towards the Integrated National Financial Framework for Lesotho. 
  • Maintain a strategic network for partnerships and collaboration for project implementation, lessons sharing and networking 
  • Provide project management support to UNDP on the project and ensure effective liaison and coordinated implementation with UNDP Finance Hub, UNICEF and IOM
  • Facilitating knowledge creation and management 

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide technical support to UNDP Lesotho, Ministry of Development Planning and partners for implementation of activities towards operationalization of the  Integrated National Financial Framework for Lesotho, and related UNDP-led activities under the UN JP – EFMIS project. 
  • Engage with the UNDP Finance Hub to ensure effective technical support and implementation of standardized processes for operationalizing the INFFs at country level.  
  • Work with the government and partners to establish an inclusive and consultative process and oversight committees for development of the INFF roadmap and  consensus building 
  • Aggregate  documents, information, from a wide range of stakeholders including government, private sector, development partners and international finance institutions to support the Development Finance Assessment and other consultations necessary for operationalizing the  INFF in Lesotho  
  • Ensure coordinated and inclusive mechanisms for review, feedback and adoption of written outputs and recommendations on the DFA and INFF roadmap processes
  • Identify and ensure active engagement of coordination and oversight bodies for NSDP and SDGs in the INFF process 
 
Maintain a strategic network for partnerships and collaboration for project implementation, lessons sharing and networking 
  • Identify opportunities for collaboration and partnership with different stakeholders for attainment of the project objectives and realization of the INFF 
  • In collaboration with the Ministry of Development Planning, support strengthening and development of inclusive coordination platforms for INFF implementation and oversight Support establishment of platforms for participatory and inclusive government-led dialogues, and oversight mechanisms 
 
Provide project management support to UNDP on the project and ensure effective collaboration and coordinated implementation with UNDP Finance Hub, UNICEF and IOM
Actively engage the Ministry of Development Planning to ensure  realization of the project outputs and maintain inclusive coordination mechanisms for involvement of relevant stakeholders
  • Undertake a constant monitoring and analysis of the project environment and identify and obtain any support and advice required for the management, planning and control of the project for timely readjustment of implementation modalities.  
  • Engage the project partners develop project workplans and determination of joint activities  
  • Mobilize goods and services to initiative activities, including drafting TORs and specifications for technical assistance and experts required in the project;
  • Contribute to periodic project reporting processes by preparing the progress report and delivery of UNDP-led project activities , and other areas of accountability for regular performance monitoring and as may be required for project coordination. 
  • Monitor financial resources and accounting to ensure accuracy and reliability of financial reports; 
  • Ensure compliance to MPTF SDG Fund guidelines and consistency to overall coordination requirements in the implementation of the UNDP-led project component 
  • Liaise with the identified technical teams and consultants to the project to ensure relevance and sustainability of interventions. 
 
Provide sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice by generating knowledge resources and tools on Lesotho’s INFF experience 
Identify and synthesize reports on best practices and lessons learned that are directly linked to the project. 
  • Establish project-specific communication and visibility channels and content for disseminating project related results and information.  
  • Participate in the technical committees, and other such platforms related to development of national statistics and data development.

Competencies

Corporate Competences:
  • Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN`s values and ethical standards 
  • Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP 
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability 
  • Treats all people fairly without favoritism
 
Functional Competences:
  • Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting 
  • Ability to lead formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects 
  • Demonstrate understanding of SDGs, NSDP and the regional development programs 
  • Knowledge of Monitoring and Evaluation concepts, and use as well as national planning and reporting processes 
 
Excellent analytical and writing skills
  • IT literacy and ability to operate with on-line web-based applications 
  • Knowledge and the ability to apply some data analysis tools and methods 
 
Knowledge Management and Learning
  • Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture 
  • In-depth knowledge of relevant development issues 
  • Ability to provide policy advice 
 
Management and Leadership
  • Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback 
  • Effective communication skills in various contexts: strategic planning, mentoring, training and making presentations 
  • Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors 
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities 

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
A Bachelor’s  degree in Economics, Development Studies, or any other relevant areas. Masters degree is an added advantage 
 
Experience:
Minimum of 5 years’ relevant work experience for a bachelor’s degree or at least 2 years of relevant experience with the master’s degree in economic policy management, planning and public finance 
Practical working experience within the public sector, private sector and/or a development organization on projects management, stakeholder coordination and support 
Exposure to design, implementation, coordination and management of development projects or programmes  
Experience working and coordinating multi-stakeholder development initiatives, government counterparts, partners and non-government stakeholders 
Strong technical knowledge of Lesotho’s development landscape, and appreciation of the SDGs, the NSDP II and other regional development programs 
 
Other attributes 
•Strong coordination, monitoring and evaluation skills of projects/programmes 
•Familiarity with UNDP and UN system and its values is an advantage 
•Ability to perform under a heavy workload and tight deadlines 
•Strong communication skills and interpersonal skills 
•Proficiency in using computers and different software packages 
•Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
 

Disclaimer

Important applicant information

All posts in the SC categories are subject to local recruitment.

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Note: 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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This vacancy is now closed.
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