Project Associate for Strengthening Integral Local Development by Building the Capacities of the Municipal Authorities in Timor-Leste Project

The establishment of strong institutions and capacities at all levels to ensure the delivery and quality of public services has been at the focus of the government and political agenda of Timor-Leste since 2002. Since then, significant progress has been made towards enhancing the process of governance and public service delivery through improved efficiency, accountability, and transparency. At the same time, a lot of challenges and opportunities lie ahead. 

The Constitution of Timor-Leste envisages that the State will be territorially organized in a decentralized manner and the local units will have a status of corporate bodies vested with representative organs and their organization, competence, functioning and composition of the organs will be defined by law. In this line, since the independence of the country, administrative decentralization has been considered a useful tool to promote national identity, territorial cohesion, and socio-economic development.

An initial policy towards administrative decentralization was laid out in early 2006. However, the process could not take momentum due to several political and administrative reasons. Nearly ten years ago, a new impulse to this process was given with the new administrative division of the country followed by the Implementation Strategy of the Administrative Decentralization and the Setting up of the Representative Bodies of the Local Power in Timor-Leste which envisages a gradual but progressive decentralization. Recently, the Government has reaffirmed its commitment to decentralization through Government Resolution                            n.º 45/2020 (Implementation of Administrative Decentralization Strategy and Installation of Representative Organs of Local Government) and aims at developing and approving the necessary legal framework for the implementation of the decentralization process and preparing for the municipal elections in 2022. 

In order to meet its commitment and building on the past experiences, the Government of Timor-Leste has been working on revising the legal framework on decentralization. The Ministry of State Administration (MSA), as the nodal agency on decentralization, has been leading this exercise. To support the Government in general and the MSA in particular in their decentralization endeavor, UNDP Timor-Leste has been partnering with the Ministry. Earlier in 2020, UNDP Timor-Leste launched the project “Strengthening Integral Local Development by Building the Capacities of the Municipal Authorities in Timor-Leste”, in partnership with the European Union.

Building on its long-standing experience in supporting decentralization in Timor-Leste and other countries, UNDP will support the Ministry to enhance its capacities to strengthen the legal, policy and institutional framework for administrative decentralization. In this regard, UNDP will support the MSA’s efforts to identify gaps, harmonize legal, policy and institutional framework, including amendment of the existing laws, and build capacities of the local authorities. UNDP is going to hire a team of national and international advisors to provide the technical assistance to the MSA on this matter. This Terms of Reference (ToR) describes duties and responsibilities, competencies, qualifications etc. of Project Assistant.

Under the supervision of the National Project Manager (NPM) and the Project Coordinator, Project Assistant’s main responsibility is supporting the project team in the planning, budgeting, and implementation of the project activities:

• Assistant the Project team in the formulation of the annual and quarterly work plans with particular attention to human resource and procurement plans
• Support project management activities related to admin, finance, procurement and human resource management
• Assist project team to take minutes of meetings internally and with partners, including project board
• Support in organizing workshops, seminars, learning events, training, and other events, including arrangement for venues, logistics, transportation as well as documentation of events
• Ensure project related documents are properly documented and project assets are properly managed
• Assist in managing contracts with responsible parties and contractors
• Assist in budget revisions and assist in preparing quarterly financial reports
• Support the field visits by the Project team and coordinate logistics
• Provide translation services (mainly English-Tetum), including meeting minutes, as needed
• Support learning events
• Any other responsibility given by the NPM and the Project Coordinator. 

Building Strategic Partnerships

Analyzes general information and selects materials in support of partnership building initiatives Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing

• Researches best practices and poses new, more effective ways of doing things

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise

• Understands the main processes and methods of work regarding to the position
• Possesses basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks

• Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments

Promoting Organizational Change and Development

• Demonstrates ability to identify problems and proposes solutions

Design and Implementation of Management Systems

• Uses information/databases/other management systems

Client Orientation

• Reports to internal and external clients in a timely and appropriate fashion
• Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines
• Responds to client needs promptly

Promoting Accountability and Results-Based Management

• Gathers and disseminates information on best practice in accountability and results-based management systems

Education: 

• High school graduate and bachelor’s degree or equivalent degree in the field of accounting, finance, public financial management, economics.

Experience:

• At least six (6) years of experience for high school graduate and 3 years for bachelor degree in procurement management, finance, admin, human resources and asset management.
• Has project management and operation experience
• Experience working with INGO and UN system in similar post would be an asset.
• Previous working experience with the governmental institutions would be an asset
• Good oral and written communication skills in English are essential
• Good knowledge of the UN system and its procedures would be an added advantage.

Language Requirements:

• English, Portuguese, and Tetum. The knowledge of the local language(s) is highly valuable. 

Important applicant information

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

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

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.

Scam warning

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.