Le Bureau des Nations unies pour les services d’appui aux projets est un organe opérationnel des Nations unies soutenant la mise en œuvre des projets d’un large éventail de partenaires, notamment des entités onusiennes, des institutions financières internationales, des gouvernements et divers organismes humanitaires.
The Republic of Congo has just received support from the Global Fund under the 2021-2023 grant cycle to strengthen the response to HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has been chosen by the Government and the Global Fund to be the Principal Recipient for the implementation of this support through the grant dedicated to the COVID-19 response mechanism, or C19RM for the fight against HIV and tuberculosis.With the aim of strengthening prevention and care services to fight against HIV and tuberculosis, as well as building resilient and sustainable health systems in Congo in order to ensure quality support to the Ministry in charge of Health in the Republic of Congo, UNDP requires UNOPS’s services in order to (i) strengthen the capacities of the health system and (ii) to improve prevention and care for people living with HIV and Tuberculosis on the other hand. A large warehouse / office will be built through this project along with other related activities.
Reporting directly to the Head of Programme, the Project Manager is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the project(s) and provides services to the different donors, partners and beneficiaries. The Project Manager acts on behalf of the Project Board to manage the project on an ongoing basis during the Implementation Stage. The main responsibility of the Project Manager is to ensure that the project outputs are delivered within the specified project tolerances of time, cost, quality, scope, risk and benefits. He/she is expected to meet the organization’s performance and delivery goals.
The Project Manager has the authority to assign, as per the Project Plan, work packages to Team Managers and approve deliverables produced by them.
The Project Manager is responsible for creating the Implementation Plan, using the Project Initiation Document (PID), Legal Agreement and having a thorough understanding of the terms, conditions, and the respective roles and responsibilities of the partners/stakeholders, to ensure the project(s) outputs are capable of meeting the business cases for both UNOPS and the partner(s). Success of the project(s) and hence of the Project Manager will be based on the defined Success Criteria.
Based in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), since 1991, the UNOPS Central Africa Hub (CDMCO) covers eleven countries: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa, Comoros, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Rwanda. The Hub has forged strong working relationships with international partners, United Nations agencies, including United Nations missions, and governments of Central African countries.For the purpose of execution of its project, UNOPS AFR CDMCO seeks to hire a Project Manager responsible for the day-to-day operations of the project(s) and provides services to the different donors, partners and beneficiaries. He/she is expected to meet and exceed the organization’s performance and delivery goals. The position will be based in Brazzaville, RC, with travel to remote or isolated field locations as needed.
- Project Delivery and Performance
- Develop, complete and update implementation plan(s)
- Implement the approved plan (including the establishment of milestones) within tolerances set by the Project Board.
- Embed sustainability dimensions including social and gender inclusion, environmental and economic aspects into project life spans.
- Manage the production of the required outputs, taking responsibility for overall progress and use of resources and initiating corrective action where necessary.
- Ensure that quality of work packages and deliverables comply with the quality requirements defined in the Implementation Plan.
- Liaise with any external suppliers or account managers
- Manage acceptance and delivery of work packages
- Monitor project progress ensuring that work packages are being executed properly
- Control project and work packages changes
- Accept goods, services or works delivered by suppliers.
- Lead contract management duties including supplier performance evaluation.
- Identify, and anticipate in a timely manner, potential risks and issues and advises mitigating measures to senior management/ Project Board so that maximum benefit to partner(s) and other stakeholders is achieved
- Identify and report to the supervisor potential business opportunities for UNOP
2. Procedures
- Comply with all organizational policy and specifically the Project Management Manual
- Prepare/adapt all relevant plans for approval by the Project Board.
- Manage the reporting obligations defined in the Legal Agreement(s) and in the Implementation Plan
- In collaboration with the Procurement department, ensure the smooth application of Procurement Procedures for Tenders and important acquisitions. Draft the requirements definitions for procurement processes. Approving requisitions and requests for non-purchase order payments; Evaluating submissions received, if appointed to the evaluation team.
- Ensure maintenance of the project files and lessons learned are recorded
- Ensure the development and implementation of project financial management guidelines and control mechanisms, in conformity with UNOPS rules and regulations.
- Manage budgets, cash flow and obligations to ensure that deliverables are met and payments to contractors and personnel are received on time.
- Understand and manage UNOPS overheads, allocable charges, and related corporate charges as they apply to the project
- Understand the unique structures of the UN and budget appropriately for personnel
- Manage expenditures against the budget (based on accurate financial reports)
- Where the Project Manager has no delegation as a committing officer, s/he retains these responsibilities and will monitor and instruct/request others to carry out the relevant commitments and disbursements.
- For project closure purposes, provide a formal handover of the project to the closure manager
- Support project audit activities, including planning, preparation and coordination during the audits and follow up on audit observations/recommendations
3. Monitoring and reporting
- Prepare and issue regular project and/or financial reports in accordance with Partner and UNOPS requirements for reporting.
- Regularly review project status, evaluating performance criteria (scope, cost, schedule and quality).
- Maintain diaries and progress reports as required by the organization’s standard procedures.
- Provide routine oversight and analysis of delivery data within the dashboard system.
- Ensure all project team members track and regularly update milestones and targets for the duration of projects’ life
4. Stakeholder engagement
- Develop stakeholder profiles and facilitate the formulation of stakeholder engagement strategies
- Establish solid working relationships with the Project Board (Executive, Senior Users and Senior Suppliers), client and key stakeholders
- Enable the formulation of project communications plans. Coordinate internal project communications. Monitor the effectiveness of project communications
- Coordinate stakeholder engagement and communication, ensuring effective timing and interdependency management of communications. Ensure stakeholders are aware of project activities, progress, exceptions and are in a position to accept handover outputs
5. Quality assurance
- Work with internal stakeholders to ensure projects comply with audit requirements
- Work with procurement/purchasing staff to ensure effective interface with suppliers’ quality systems
- Coordinate quality reviews of project documents and deliverables
- Provide quality control for management outputs (project documents, reports, etc.)
6. Knowledge management and innovation
- Encourage routine and effective capacity building activities to be conducted in order to build the long-term and sustainable capacity of staff.
- Actively interact with other Project Managers and the wider PM community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices
- Contribute to the oversight of lessons learned procedures, ensuring that lessons learnt are shared in a timely and appropriate manner. Participate in the relevant Communities of Practice
- Research and logging of lessons learned throughout the project life span.
- Provide feedback to Practice Groups on policy, supporting guidance with an aim towards continuous improvement of UNOPS policies
7. Personnel Management
- Lead and motivate the project management team
- Ensure that behavioral expectations of team members are established
- Ensure that performance reviews are conducted fairly, accurately and timely
- Select, recruit and train a team as required and take into account gender parity and diversity objectives.
- Ensure safety and security for all project personnel and comply with UNDSS standards
- Create, foster and role model a culture of respect and zero tolerance for discrimination, abuse of authority, harrasement, sexual harrasement and sexual exploitation and abuse. Ensure accountability for actions and perform duties in accordance with protection mechanisms and action plans, as expected by UNOPS policies, standards and commitments.
Education:
- Advanced University Degree (Master’s degree) in Civil Engineering, Construction Management or other relevant discipline is required.
- A first University Degree (bachelor’s degree / first level) with a combination of 2 additional years of relevant professional experience in Civil Engineering, Construction Management or other relevant discipline, may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
Experience:
- Minimum five (5) years experience in Project Management in the area of building construction and civil engineering management is required.
- Procurement experience with exposure to public procurement processes is a strong asset.
- Working experience on implementing complex projects/programmes in implementing and delivering projects for international organizations within the development sector is an asset.
- Experience in multi stakeholder coordination, quality assurance and quality control, Safety, Health and Environment policy implementation, monitoring and Evaluation, reporting, and strategic budget management will be an asset.
- Experience in quality assurance methodologies and risk management in construction projects is an asset.
- Experience in post-conflict/ fragile environments is desirable.
- Experience in managing multicultural teams is desirable.
Language:
- Fluency in French is required
- Intermediate in English is required
- Prince 2 certification (Foundation/Practitioner) or PMP certification would be highly desirable
