Intersectoral Programme Officer (Beijing, China) contract

Parent Sector : Education Sector (ED)

Duty Station: Beijing

Classification of duty station: [[filter12]]

Standard Duration of Assignement : [[filter13]]

Job Family: Programme Coordination

Type of contract : Non Staff

Level : Level 3

Duration of contract : From 1 to 6 months

Recruitment open to : Internal and external candidates

Application Deadline (Midnight Paris Time) : 5-Jan-2025

UNESCO Core Values: Commitment to the Organization, Integrity, Respect for Diversity, Professionalism

Under the overall authority of the Director of UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia and the direct supervision of the Education Programme Specialist, the incumbent will contribute to implementations of Intersectoral programmes/projects, administrative works, partnership building and resource mobilization efforts by the UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia based in Beijing, China, covering the People’s Republic of Chia, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Japan, Mongolia, and the Republic of Korea (ROK).

Description of Responsibilities:

1. To ensure the effective implementation and achievement of results for Intersectoral Programmes and Projects, primarily in Education and Social and Human Sciences, focusing on the following outcomes:

• Provides full range of management and implementation assistance at all phases of programmes’ field activities of the Unit.
• Coordinate administrative aspect of planning and preparation work for the Units’ programmes’ field activities, typically, for monitoring status of project proposals and receipt of relevant documentation for review and approval.
• Provide high quality analysis and draft presentation of information/data and related topics; highlight noteworthy issues/trends for consideration by appropriate parties.
• Provide full range of effective implementation of project standard operating procedure assistances including effective monitoring of field activities, and timely production of results-oriented draft progress reports in line with UNESCO’s regulations.

2. Provide effective support to the planning, budgeting, and implementation of the Units’ programmes and the relevant field activities including:

1. • Under the overall supervision of the Director and immediate supervisor, facilitate the planning and implementation of Yangtze Culture Forum and Nanjing Peace Forum in case of assignment.
   • Preparation and analysis of budget proposals; funding source, prepares monitoring checklists, provides interpretation of budget guidelines; reviews and coordinates submissions of work proposal and budget estimates, ensuring that requisite information is included and justified in terms of proposed activities; propose adjustments as necessary; prepares reports and ensures that outputs/services are properly categorized.
   • Assistance in provision of guidance to the executing agencies on routine implementation of projects, tracking use of financial resources
   • Assistance in effective monitoring of budgetary commitments, including verification of charges and obligation documents for all financial transactions; lead periodic budget revisions and ensures appropriate resource allocations; finalize reconciliation of accounts with amended budget; evaluate strands of financial implementation and makes necessary recommendations to line manager.
   • Timely preparation of quarterly project reports, in line with the standard template and presents it to the project assurance team in a timely manner.
   • Analysis of the situation a large size – complex project, identification of operational and financial problems, development of solutions.

3. Provides administrative support to the Units’ programmes and relevant field activities focusing on achievement of the following results:

• • Conduct desk reviews/literature reviews as assigned, including formal and non-formal data and sources of information, through their connections and networks to access formal data sets and where feasible; provide strategic and evidence-based data and reports to the immediate supervisor that will guide the office’s operational advice to Governmental departments of Education, SHS, and other thematic areas; Provide input, including verified statistics for the preparation of reports and briefings on the implementation of programmes and projects.
  • With guidance from the immediate supervisor, support developing practical concepts for synergies to operationalize the recommendation into the national institutional and regulatory frameworks and strengthen the consensus on the shared vision for UNESCO.
  • Assistance in provision of guidance to implementing partner and serves as focal point for coordination, monitoring and expedition of implementation activities, involving extensive liaison with a diverse organizational units to initiate requests, prepare standard terms of reference against programmes’ objectives, obtain necessary clearances, process and follow-up on administrative actions and resolve issues related to project implementation, e.g. recruitment and appointment of personnel, travel arrangements, training/study tours, authorization of payments, disbursement of funds, procurement of equipment and services, security compliance, etc.
  • Serves as focal point for coordination, monitoring and expedition of implementation activities and participates in evaluation; monitor implementation at all stages to ensure work is proceeding according to established plans, including analyzing implementation difficulties and initiating remedial action; liaises with diverse organizational units to initiate requests; prepares standard terms of reference against project objectives, obtains necessary clearances, processes and follows-up on administrative actions and resolves issues related to project implementation.
  • Provision of secretariat services to working groups, ad hoc tasks forces, etc.; drafts and circulates agenda notes to members/participants; compiles background documentation; drafts minutes of the meeting; monitors follow-up actions, etc.

4. Support strategic partnerships and support to the implementation of resource mobilization including:

• Establishment and monitoring of updated internal databases relevant to the scope of field activities.
• Preparation of design of periodic and ad hoc reports, statistical tables, graphic content, and other background materials/notes to facilitate resource mobilization.
• Development of drafts of concept notes/proposals in communication with the potential partners in coordination with the partnership-related office staff with a deepen stakeholder knowledge and buy-in to the developing drafts for the resource mobilization-related processes/works.

5. Any other tasks

• Conduct travel if deemed necessary by UNESCO in order to perform the work described above and shall be paid based on the travel cost calculation in accordance with UNESCO’s travel regulation to cover all travel related expenses, including daily subsistence allowance, tickets for the authorized travel and terminal expenses under the project budget.
• Perform other tasks deemed necessary within the mandate of UNESCO as maybe requested by the Director Representative and/or the Head of Education Unit, UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia in Beijing, China.

EDUCATION
• Advanced University degree (master’s level and above) in education, social sciences, communications, business administration, public relations management, public information, development studies, international relations, project management-related; Or other fields relevant to partnership building.

WORK EXPERIENCE
• Minimum 8-10 years of proven work experience in education/social science/partnership building-related.
• Some working experience within the United Nations or other internationalor development organisations is preferred.
• Experience in writing materials for reports, publications, partnership building documents including policies, concept notes, project proposals, partnership reports and promotional material.

SKILLS/COMPETENCIES
• Excellent interpersonal skills for teamwork in a multicultural setting and ability tointeract confidently and effectively with different stakeholders inside and outside the Organisation.
• Excellent ability to communicate with stakeholders to convey tailored messagesand translate and articulate organizational priorities to potential private partners.This includes strong written, oral, and presentation communication skills.
• Excellent MS Office suite knowledge and analytical skills including the ability toextract, analyze and synthesize credible information from electronic knowledgesystems to support decision-making and partnerships planning.
• Excellent knowledge of rules and regulations in developing and managing extra-budgetary projects within the United Nations or other international ordevelopment organization is preferred.
• Ability to work on performance-based targets for building new partnerships.

• Capacity to work in a team as well as independently.

LANGUAGES
• Excellent knowledge of English and Mandarin, both oral and written