Job Identification : 13483

Locations : Beirut, Lebanon

Posting Date : 09/05/2023, 03:04 PM

Apply Before : 09/12/2023, 03:04 PM

Job Schedule : Full time

Agency : UNDP

Grade : NPSA-7

Vacancy Type : Partner PSA

Practice Area : Effectiveness

Bureau : Regional Bureau for Arab States

Contract Duration : 1 Year

Education & Work Experience : Bachelor’s Degree – 4 year(s) experience OR High School certificate- 7 year(s) experience

Required Languages : Fluency in English and Arabic

Vacancy Timeline

1 Week

Mobility required/no mobility

no mobility required

Job Description

Background

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP: we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

The Energy and Environment Programme is one of the main areas of focus in UNDP Lebanon; currently implements numerous projects in Lebanon that range in thematic areas from climate change, biodiversity conservation, institutional support, industrial depollution, decentralized renewable energy projects and solid waste management. The programme also works on the support of host-communities in response to the Syrian refugee crisis and is the Social and Environmental Safeguards focal point for the office; therefore, the team also ensures the integration of environmental best-practices into the overall implementation strategy of UNDP.

As part of the 2017 UNDP Country Programme Document, solid waste management was flagged as one of the critical development areas where crisis and long-term development assistance overlap. UNDP’s strategy in Lebanon focuses on several aspects of environmental governance including the effective management of solid waste and wastewater, the improvement and protection of water resources, and providing beneficiaries with access to clean energy sources at the central and decentralized levels. UNDP set the priority to support government to pursue medium to long-term strategies on integrated waste management, ensuring that environmental considerations are mainstreamed into the national crisis response as part of its priorities. Since then, UNDP has been actively engaged at both policy and local implementation level in the sector. Technical guidelines, a draft national integrated solid waste management strategy and assistance to the coordination of the solid waste sector within the larger Syria crisis response have been provided by UNDP. Furthermore, municipal level projects and the design, construction and operation of larger waste facilities at the level of union of municipalities have been successfully implemented over the years in line with the overall development strategy response and as part of UNDP’s strategic support to host-communities within the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP).

In 2017, the Annual Action Programme of the EU approved the TaDWIR Programme with the object “to enhance the capacity of the Beirut and the Governorate of Beirut and Mount Lebanon (BML) in waste management in order to alleviate tensions in the country related to health and environmental hazards hence preserving Lebanon’s stability”. Since then, the scope of the original TaDWIR programme of the EU has changed considerably as a result of major events in the country. The geographical focus was widened to cover the entire national territory and a scoping study conducted by LDK, a leading European environment consulting firm, reported in March 2020, revisited the entire portfolio of waste management in Lebanon in order to re-orientate TaDWIR’s preferred results. These proposed results were: 1. Improved policy and governance of the national waste sector

2. Management solutions developed for special streams of waste

3. More performant and resilient MSWM facilities

With regard to the second proposed result the scoping report used a broad baseline study and multicriteria analysis to conclude that TaDWIR’s priority shortlist should be on Hazardous Healthcare Waste (HCW), E-waste and Batteries. The other evaluated waste streams (Chemical process waste, Oil and liquid fuel waste, Construction and demolition waste, Agricultural and Food preparation waste and End-of-life vehicles) did not make it to the proposed shortlist. The shift in focus was discussed extensively in 2021 between UNDP and the EU as well as with stakeholders also taking into account results of recent and ongoing studies on, for example, healthcare waste undertaken by UNDP within the current year (2021) as part of and in preparation for the larger TaDWIR project, slaughterhouse waste and cardboard and paper waste. The EU and UNDP agreed to set the start date of the Action as 01 May 2021 and UNDP initiated the needed assessments and analysis needed to scope the project. It led to the integrating conclusion that TaDWIR’s overall objective should be: To improve the overall environmental and financial sustainability of Lebanon’s waste management system by reducing volumes of waste that go to landfills, improving qualities of waste that go to waste-facilities in general and by introducing national systems for cost coverage of managing municipal solid waste.

Improving overall waste quality acknowledges the priority on hazardous HCW, E-waste and Batteries given that they are critical waste streams that currently are a major source of hazardous waste contamination to the municipal waste stream and that removing those from the mixed municipal waste would significantly, albeit not totally, reduce the level of toxicity of the remaining municipal waste. This is also particularly important given that the LDK and other studies have concluded that reducing contamination levels in waste is very much needed in order to improve recyclability of municipal waste.

The Project Associate will be responsible for the day-to-day follow-up of the project’s operational activities, oversight of financial and budgetary issues, and coordination with UNDP Country Office on implementation of the project’s activities.

Institutional Arrangement

The Project Associate will be working under the overall guidance of the Project Manager and Solid Waste Advisor. The Project Associate will be located at UNDP Country Office and at the Ministry of Environment and should be willing to commute regularly to various meetings in ministries and on-site.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Project Associate will assist in managing the project’s finances for the above-mentioned project, human resources, assets, procurement, logistics and administrative matters, ensuring full coordination with UNDP country office, effective use of resources and compliance with UNDP rules and requirements. Specific tasks are as follows:

•  Assist in the preparation of relevant procurement documents (Request for Proposals, Request for Quotation, Contracts, Request for Payments, etc.) ensuring all supporting documents in accordance with UNDP requirements;
•  Responsible for managing the logistics of project events (technical workshops, training sessions, stakeholder meetings, project review meetings, etc.);
•  Maintain databases and inventories of all project outputs and activities;
•  Follow up on travel, shipment arrangements, transport, etc. for the project;
•  Draft correspondence in English and/or Arabic, and follow up on correspondence;
•  Assist in the preparation of workshop and meeting agendas and assist in collecting material for meetings and conferences;
•  Consolidate progress reports by providing substantial inputs;
•  Support the project manager in preparing donor reports regularly on activities, outputs, and outcomes as per UNDP rules and regulations and ensure that gender dimensions are highlighted in all products;
•  Maintain a monitoring and evaluation database for the two-project based on information collected from the respective project teams;
•  Perform additional tasks, within the administrative scope of work and as required by the Project Manager;
•  Full compliance of project activities, financial recording/reporting system and audit follow up with UN/UNDP rules, regulations, policies, and strategies; implementation of the effective internal control, proper design and functioning of the financial resources management system;
•  Assist in the preparation of project work plans in collaboration with the project partners while ensuring the financial budgets are maintained and in line with donor requirements;
•  Understand the legal requirements of the donor to ensure that project expenditures meet the donor eligibility criteria;
•  Creation of requisitions in Quantum for the projects, registration of goods reception in Quantum;
•  Preparation and updating of project budget and maintenance on Quantun, including timely corrective actions on budget check errors, matching exceptions, unapproved or unprocessed vouchers/RDPs, incorrect supporting documents, etc.;
•  Compilation of supporting documents for POs/contracts and preparation of requests for direct payments in line with the UNDP internal control procedures;
•  Financial reporting and provision of required supporting documentation in line with donor requirements and UNDP;
•  Ensuring that project budget lines and amounts are maintained and flag any risks or issues related to the financial management of the project.

Competencies

Core

Achieve Results:

LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline

Think Innovatively:

LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements

Learn Continuously:

LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback

Adapt with Agility:

LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible

Act with Determination:

LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident

Engage and Partner:

LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships

Enable Diversity and Inclusion:

LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Thematic Area

Name

Definition

Administration & Operations

Events management (including retreats, trainings and meetings)

•  Ability to manage events, including venue identification, accommodation, logistics, catering, transportation, and cash disbursements, etc.

Administration & Operations

Documents and records management

•  Overall document (hard or electronic) management; registry and retention policy including storing and archiving

Finance

Financial planning and budgeting

•  Ability to create and manage processes to achieve UNDP’s long and short-term financial goals, including through planning, budgeting, forecasting, analysing and reporting

Procurement

Contract management

•  Knowledge of contract management concepts, principles and methods, and ability to apply this to strategic and/or practical situations

Business Management

Monitoring

•  Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results

Business Management

Monitoring

•  Ability to effectively plan, organise, and oversee the organisations business processes in order to convert its assets into the best results in the most efficient manner.
•  Knowledge of relevant concepts and mechanisms

Business Direction & Strategy

Communication

•  Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience;
•  Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Academic Education

•  Completion of Secondary Education is required; or
•  University degree in Business Administration, Business Management, Accounting or any related fields.

Min. years of relevant Work experience

At least 7 years( with a secondary education) or 4 years (with a Bachelor’s degree) of progressive relevant experience in similar admin/finance ‎tasks

Required skills

•  Highly motivated, pleasant character with good teamwork spirit;
•  Excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
•  Systematic, organized, proactive, motivated, and meticulous (good planning skills);
•  Ability to perform a variety of standard tasks related to screening and collecting of project documentation, projects data entering preparation of revisions, filing, provision of information, and reporting.
•  Ethics and Integrity

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section

•  Previous experience with the UN, the EU or other international organization is an asset.French is a plus.
•  Previous experience in the financial management of development or social projects is an asset;
•  Experience in coordinating events and planning meetings;
•  Experience in working with a team.

Required Language(s)

Fluency in English and Arabic.

Professional Certificates

Not Applicable.

Disclaimer

Important information for US Permanent Residents (‘Green Card’ holders)

Under US immigration law, acceptance of a staff position with UNDP, an international organization, may have significant implications for US Permanent Residents. UNDP advises applicants for all professional level posts that they must relinquish their US Permanent Resident status and accept a G-4 visa, or have submitted a valid application for US citizenship prior to commencement of employment.

UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications.

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.

Non-discrimination

UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

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