Programme Officer, ISG – UNDP Uganda

Uganda has set out an agenda through its Vision 2040, of transforming the country from a largely peasant to a modern and prosperous economy and to achieve upper middle-income status by 2040 by building a people centred, independent, integrated, resilient, and self-sustaining economy. The vision is to be achieved through six successive five-year national development plans.  The overall goal of the current and third five-year development plan (NDP III) is to increase average household incomes and improve the quality of life of Ugandans. Uganda has made impressive gains in social and economic transformation and this progress is manifested, inter-alia, in; a) doubling of GDP over the last 10 years, from US$ 17.2 billion in 2010/11 to US$34.4 billion in 2019; b) increase in per-capita income from US$745 in 2012/13 to currently US$825; and c) increase in life expectancy from 54.5 years in 2012 to 64 years in 2017.

However, several structural development challenges exist, coupled with the unprecedented long-term impact of COVID-19. The key constraints to accelerated and inclusive growth in Uganda include,  i) low productivity in the exploitation of the growth opportunities in agriculture, tourism, minerals and trade; ii) high cost of doing business; iii) existing gaps in social service delivery; iv) widening inequality as well as increase in poverty level from 19.7% in 2013 to 21.4% in 2016/17, albeit a light reduction to 20.3% in 2019/20; v) constraints to private sector investment, including access to and high cost of credit,  trade barriers, and business regulatory gaps; vi) increase e in poverty levels exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic; vii) rise in levels of inequality and vulnerability; viii) a high youth unemployment rate – estimated at 13.3%;  and ix) increased influx of refugees into Uganda, with the accompanied pressure to sustain them. Uganda is the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, with over a million refugees (1.2 million by February 2019), and over 48 percent of the refugee population in the country live below poverty.  UNDP Uganda through its Country Programme (CPD 2021-2025) is supporting the implementation of the Government’s National Development Plan (NDP III) for the achievement of Uganda’s Vision 2040.

In this regard, UNDP is seeking to recruit 2 Programme Officers to support the implementation of the CPD through one of its constituent programme offers – namely the Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Programme.  The Programme Officers will work under the overall guidance of the Deputy Resident Representative and the direct supervision of the Team Leader, Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Programme. They will be responsible for management of projects under the ISG programme. The Programme Officers will work in close collaboration with other members of the Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Unit, the programme management and operations units, the programme staff in other UN Agencies, as well as with the Programme Stakeholders in Government, Private Sector, and Civil Society

Position Purpose

• Planning, monitoring, and implementation of budgets and workplans.
• UNSCDF/CPD, programme/project and government reporting (ensuring alignment with partner and corporate priorities);
• Guides, negotiates, and monitors partner agreements ensuring compliance with partner and corporate requirements.
• Programme and project compliance (including participating in LPAC; ensuring that project document meets the corporate requirements).

Thorough analysis and research of the political, social, economic and environmental situation in the country and preparation of substantive inputs to strategic documents for the sector.

• Analysis and synthesis of proposals on the areas of support and interventions relate to inclusive economic growth and strategic economic affairs and within the other thematic/sectoral areas assigned.

Manages Country Office assigned programme components, focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Designing and implementing projects relating to inclusive and sustainable growth programmes, translating UNDP’s priorities into local interventions.
• Initiating projects, ensuring project approval, registering projects in Atlas, preparing and finalizing project annual work plans and project documents, contributing in budgetary monitoring and follow-up, and ensure closure of completed projects;
• The programme officer performs functions of Manager Level 1 in Atlas for POs and vouchers approval and participates in recruitment processes for projects as needed.
• Financial and substantive monitoring and evaluation of the projects in ATLAS, identification of operational and financial problems, development of solutions.
• Follow up on audit recommendations. All exceptions are timely reported.
• Preparation of inputs for reporting, including donor reporting.
• Contribution to application of RBM tools and monitoring achievement of results.

Establishes and maintains strategic partnerships and supports resource mobilization, focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Analysis and research of information on donors, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for initiation of new projects, active contribution to the overall office effort in resource mobilization.

Ensures provision of top-quality advisory services and facilitation of knowledge building and management, focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Identification of sources of information related to policy-driven issues. Identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learnt directly linked to programme country policy goals.
• Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.
• Organization of trainings for the operations/ projects staff on programme issues.
• Professional growth through active learning.

Competencies

• UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies (insert up to 7 competencies)

• Business Management – Project Management: Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals
• Business Management – Partnership Management: Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies
• Business Management – Resource Management: Ability to allocate and use resources in a strategic or tactical way in line with principles of accountability and integrity
• 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 – Evaluation: Ability to make an independent judgement based on set criteria and benchmarks – Ability to anticipate client’s upcoming needs and concerns
• Programme and Policy – Effectiveness: Programmatic Risk Management and Analysis
• Programme and Policy – SDG Integration: SDG Monitoring and Reporting

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Economics, Statistics, International Relations, Public Policy or any related areas
• Prince2 training and certification, RMG are desirable.
• Design thinking desirable

• Minimum 2 years of experience in economics and public policy, with a clear focus on sustainable development, ideally in SIDS-context.
• Experience in programme and project management.
• Proven ability to work effectively in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams.
• Sound understanding and capability to empower and develop the capacity of national staff.
• Proven programmatic implementation experience with sound knowledge of all aspects of the project cycle (design, implementation, monitoring & evaluation).
• Excellent skills in fundraising, resources mobilization and donor relations would be an asset.
• Strong interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills.
• Strong strive for innovative ideas and practices.

Language:

• Proficiency in oral and written English

Important: