Vacancies at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Responsibilities

Under the general supervision of the Head of the Nairobi Convention Secretariat and the direct supervision of the Project Coordinator of the SAPPHIRE Project, the consultant will be responsible for the following

• Assist with the daily administrative functions of the unit, draft routine correspondence, respond to enquiries in respect to relevant administrative and human resources matters.
• Perform general administration functions to the operations and programme team in relation to obtaining vendor quotations, compiling procurement documents, vendor registration, and banking details upload. Raise requisitions for procurement and finance in the system for purchase of various office requirements. Ensure procurement policies have been followed
• Manage contracts between the UN and external contractors for outsourced services. Audit the contractors' invoices against the goods and services.
• Provide administrative support to unit’s meetings; typing and distributing minutes/reports as required.
• Assist in travel arrangements and organization of meetings, workshops, international conferences, liaise with relevant offices at UNEP regarding allocation of meeting rooms, preparation of agenda, list of participants as well as sending out invitations.
• Processing and subsequent follow-up of travel authorizations, organizing tickets, advise on visa acquisition, and arranging for travel advance with Payments Unit,
• Prepare pre-encumbrance for stock requisitions for the office and ensure availability of adequate supplies.
• Support in monitoring accounts and processing of payments to vendors, consultants and individual contractors for services. Review & submission of invoices, delivery notes, POs & Terms of References (ToRs) and other supporting documents
• Communicate with participants on trainings, venue, HR mini master forms and bank documents.
• Prepare documentation for meetings and Missions; meetings and reports.
• Organize and coordinate documents related to seminars, conferences and translations, drafting of agreements.
• Assist to process implementing partner agreements; maintain projects databases and reporting.
• Assist in following up with implementing partners for submission of financial expenditure reports; review of documents and reports; assist in project data compilation and facilitate feedback from stakeholders and implementing partners
• Process payment requests, expense reports, agreement amendments for implementing partners in the Umoja grantor programme
• Assist to coordinate activities of budget in budget implementation and monitoring of expenditure

Qualifications/special Skills

• Academic Qualifications: A high school diploma or equivalent is required. Supplementary training in either business administration, finance, procurement, travel, programme management or contracts management is desirable.
• Experience in the usage of computer and office software packages (MS Word, Excel etc.) is required.
• Practical experience in ERP systems such as UMOJA is desired.
• Prior experience in an international organization such as UN, INGO is desirable.
• Excellent organizational and communication skills is desirable.

Languages

• Languages: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of French is an advantage.

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Specific Duties and Responsibilities

Inception Phase Of The Evaluation, Including

In close consultation with the Evaluation Manager, the Evaluation Consultant will be responsible for the overall management of the Evaluation and timely provision of its outputs, data collection and analysis and report-writing. More specifically:

• preliminary desk review and introductory interviews with project staff;
• draft the reconstructed Theory of Change of the project;
• prepare the evaluation framework;
• develop the desk review and interview protocols;
• draft the survey protocols (if relevant);
• develop and present criteria for country and/or site selection for the evaluation mission;
• plan the evaluation schedule;
• prepare the Inception Report, incorporating comments until approved by the Evaluation Manager

Data Collection And Analysis Phase Of The Evaluation, Including

• conduct further desk review and in-depth interviews with project implementing and executing agencies, project partners and project stakeholders;
• (where appropriate and agreed) conduct an evaluation mission(s) to selected countries, visit the project locations, interview project partners and stakeholders, including a good representation of local communities. Ensure independence of the Evaluation and confidentiality of evaluation interviews.
• regularly report back to the Evaluation Manager on progress and inform of any possible problems or issues encountered and;
• keep the Project Manager informed of the evaluation progress.

Reporting Phase, Including

• draft the Main Evaluation Report, ensuring that the evaluation report is complete, coherent and consistent with the Evaluation Manager guidelines both in substance and style;
• liaise with the Evaluation Manager on comments received and finalize the Main Evaluation Report, ensuring that comments are taken into account until approved by the Evaluation Manager
• prepare a Response to Comments annex for the main report, listing those comments not accepted by the Evaluation Consultant and indicating the reason for the rejection; and
• (where agreed with the Evaluation Manager) prepare an Evaluation Brief (2-page summary of the evaluand and the key evaluation findings and lessons)

Managing Relations, Including

• maintain a positive relationship with evaluation stakeholders, ensuring that the evaluation process is as participatory as possible but at the same time maintains its independence;
• communicate in a timely manner with the Evaluation Manager on any issues requiring its attention and intervention.
• The Evaluation Consultant shall have had no prior involvement in the formulation or implementation of the project and will be independent from the participating institutions. The consultant will sign the Evaluation Consultant Code of Conduct Agreement Form.
• The Evaluation Consultant will be selected and recruited by the UNEP Evaluation Office through an individual consultancy contract.
• Comprehensive terms of reference will be shared with the consultant separately.

Qualifications/special Skills

• A 1st Level university degree in environmental sciences, international development or other relevant political or social sciences area is required and an advanced degree in the same areas is desirable
• A minimum of 7 years of technical / evaluation experience is required, preferably including evaluating large, regional or global programmes and using a Theory of Change approach
• A good/broad understanding of sustainable consumption and production is desired
• Working knowledge in a development related organization especially the UN system and specifically the work of UNEP is an advantage.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this consultancy, fluency in oral and written English is a requirement and proficiency in Spanish is required.

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Duties and Responsibilities

• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.
• The UN-REDD Programme, a joint initiative between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), was established to bring together the UN system support for forests and climate. It is the UN joint programme on forest solutions to the climate crisis, building on the convening role and technical expertise the three afore-mentioned agencies.
• Over the past years, UN-REDD has completed a structural transition, becoming a "knowledge and advisory platform" with the overall goal to help countries fully implement forest solutions to the climate emergency and mobilise finance for that. The current UN-REDD offer is to provide technical and policy expertise from the partner agencies to the partner countries under a common UN umbrella, seeking to help the global delivery of 1 Gigatonne CO2e reduction from forests, to help mobilise USD 5 billion in results-based climate finance for forests, and to assist over 15 pioneer forest countries implement and enhance their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) forest commitments, all by 2025. This ambitious agenda requires speed, scale and flexibility – hence the need of revising and streamlining the management and operational modalities.
• In this context, the Programme is seeking to ensure that the Programme's functioning is fit-for-purpose for the decade ahead and that the Management Group as the operational hub for UN-REDD is efficient and employs adequate SOPs. For that, the UN-REDD Management Group is seeking to continue the facilitation support process initiated in 2022, to examine how the internal management systems and processes are implemented, serving the strategic objectives of the partnership, while exploring holistically means of improving efficiencies, inter-agency effectiveness and, ultimately, high-quality country services.
• This internal exercise is focused on and intended for the Management Group (MG), which is made of a total of eight members representing managers from the three UN-REDD agencies (one member and one alternate per UN-REDD agency) and the Secretariat (the Head of the Secretariat and one programme management officer). The MG has played an instrumental role in managing operations of the UN-REDD Programme throughout the years, ensuring effective coordination of the Programme implementation between agencies.
• The objective of this exercise is to support the MG in strengthening its operational practices and processes and ensuring they are fit-for-purpose for the new phase of the UN-REDD Programme. This position is home based, under the administrative supervision of Head of the UN-REDD Secretariat and overall guidance by the UN-REDD Management Group.

Qualifications/special Skills

• An advanced-level university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in International Relations, Environment, or related field is required.
• A minimum of 15 years of progressively responsible working experience in facilitation/ moderation/ negotiation processes, organizational reviews, and other aspects of business processes especially in international organisations is required.
• Skills: Strong facilitation skills, experience with organisational reviews, business processes, knowledge of climate affairs and international partnerships. Strong English writing skills are required.

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Duties and Responsibilities

• The UN Environment Programme is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. UNEP’s Communication Division communicates UNEP’s core messages to all stakeholders and partners, raising environmental awareness and enhancing the profile of UNEP worldwide.
• The UN General Assembly has designated the years 2021 through 2030 as UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, with the goal of preventing, halting and reversing the degradation of ecosystems worldwide. UNEP has been assigned to co-lead on the UN Decade, together with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), by takin the lead on communication, global advocacy and partnerships.
• The UN Decade’s launch report “Becoming Generation Restoration” stresses that the 1.5-degree goal can no longer be achieved without ambitious restoration of natural carbon sinks. Climate action and ecosystem restoration need to go hand in hand.
• After the UN Decade’s successful launch with World Environment Day 2021, the campaign has focused efforts and resources on building out a more sophisticated and interactive digital presence. The goal is to use the UN Decade’s “Digital Hub” to reflect efforts on the ground, track Key Performance Indicators from across partners and restoration implementers, and offer a wide range of direct engagement opportunities for interested individuals.
• The Consultant will lead on day-to-day management of the UN Decade’s Digital Hub, and associated digital platforms and outlets. They will work closely with all UN Decade Partners on ensuring that digital tools are utilized to their fullest extent to uplift and garner support to restoration implementers on the ground. As such, they will act as critical link between the UN Decade’s core team, UNEP’s web-team and the wider UN Decade Partner network.

Under The Direct Supervision Of The Communication Manager For The UN Decade On Ecosystem Restoration And Overall Guidance From UNEP’s Head Of Web, The Consultant Will Offer Their Expertise To The Following Areas Of Work

• Map out operational management of the UN Decade, including a plan for day-to-day management of the Digital Hub, with a special view on climate action;
• Advise on liaison with UN Decade Partners to secure high-quality content and timely updates to be showcased digitally;
• Employ expertise to other digital communication products and channels, such as website, newsletters, social media campaigns, reports, etc.
• Lend expertise to facilitation of smooth internal communication and collaboration between the UN Decade’s core team, UNEP’s web-team and the wider Partner Network, as well as partners relevant to climate action;
• Advise on improving Key Performance Indicators, such as page views, visitor numbers, engagements, opening rates and other indicators, based on the overall strategic guidance from UNEP’s web-team;
• Advise on smooth liaison between UNEP’s teams and external vendors in regards to the UN Decade’s digital presence;
• Offer expertise to continuously onboarding new partners and restoration implementers to the digital interface;
• Employ expertise to trouble-shoot any problems the core team, UN Decade partners, or restoration implementers may encounter in interacting with the UN Decade’s digital interface.

Qualifications/special Skills

• Academic Qualifications: Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies, Education, Communication, Political Sciences, or other related field is required.
• A minimum of two years of experience in environment, education, communication, or related field is required.
• Ability to learn on-the-job and willingness to familiarize themselves with relevant digital tools, such as Drupal (CMS), other CMS interfaces, Hubspot, and other tools as needed.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this position, fluency in another UN language is an advantage.

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Task description

This post is located in UNEP’s Economy Division, GEF Climate Change Mitigation Unit at the Nairobi, Kenya duty station. Under the direct supervision of the Unit’s Administrative Officer, the UNV IT will be responsible for the following duties:

• A single (or multiple linked) standardised unit database(s)
• Support the monitoring function of the unit.
• Data quality assurance, analytics, and document client needs
• Test and document automation algorithms for data cleaning and calculation
• Automate the Units IA fee model tracking system
• Conduct Training sessions and demonstrations of the system to colleagues on the use of the Information management Systems tools
• Draft Reports on the technical and user-oriented documentation
• Assist with process improvement mechanisms.
• Assist with data acquisition and data cleansing.
• Assist in maintaining databases, with data collection efforts, creating statistics
• Assist with the identification and analysis of patterns in data using standard technique
• Assist with the preparation of data sets and responds to queries;
• Perform other related duties as assigned Results/expected outputs:
• Understand, Identify, and resolve a wide range of issues/problems/risks, and effectively handles unforeseen situations at all stages of the programme/project management cycle.
• Establish new, and Improve existing, internal databases and information management systems.
• Provide technical and user-oriented documentation on the dashboard published and distributed internally.
• Provide consistent, accurate, and comprehensive data in order to accomplish work programme needs and independently provides accurate, well-organized reports and/or records.
• Organise and lead training sessions for CCMU staff as well as acquire and implement the feedback received through the training sessions.

Required experience

• 3 years of experience in IT, data science, data analytics, information management or related area.
• Experience with software applications for data storage, management, (self) analytics and (self) presentation is required
• Excellent working knowledge of office computing tools including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint is required
• Experience with automated self-service data analytics and visualization applications with business intelligence tools including SAP Business Objects, etc. is required
• A Microsoft associate-level certification in data analysis is desirable
• Good written communication skills with proven ability to work across several teams to produce high-quality financial data, analysis and reports.
• knowledge and understanding of UN Policies and Procedures and UMOJA is an asset.
• Ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel is an asset
• Self-motivated, ability to work with tight deadlines;
• Sound security awareness;
• Have affinity with or interest in climate change-related issues, volunteerism as a mechanism for durable development, and the UN System.