Vacancies at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Specific duties and responsibilities:

• Communication Strategy:
• Conduct consultations with internal & external stakeholders to finalize the draft communications strategy
• Develop annual plan and calendar of events and communication requirements in line with the UNEP and GEF policy requirements and expectations, e.g. press release for all new projects, high visibility at key international events, use of GEF and UNEP logos and alignment with brand and visibility policies etc.
• Produce guidance and SOPs for key communications workflows 2 Communications
• Task Force: The consultant will, in collaboration with the communications UNV:
• Support the operations of the newly revamped “communications task force”.
• Assist the identification of a series of communities of practice from across the portfolio.
• Support meetings of the Task Force and Communities of Practice to facilitate group discussions.
• Use the Communities of Practice to identify future webinar / panel events linked to 2.3 below.
• Review and provide support to communication strategies of FSP and MSP projects across the portfolio, including support to development of communications inputs to project proposals and oversight and quality control of communications activities of projects under implementation.
• Webinar and events series: Geneva is the central hub for Chemicals and Waste work globally. It hosts the Secretariats of the BRS and Minamata Conventions, the GFC Secretariat, the UNEP Chemicals and Health Branch, WHO, IPCC Secretariat, UNITAR and other key stakeholders in the C&W World. As such Geneva is a focus of international meetings where the unit often organizes meetings, events, and expert group discussions forums. A number of key project executing partners (GGKP, KRU unit in C&H Branch, WHO) are based in Geneva which provides an opportunity to explore opportunities for more integrated planning to events where the work of the unit can be showcased. The consultant will therefore support the following activities:
• Guide Communications UNV in organization of events linked to major inter-governmental meetings, organize events, including identify key speakers, publicize events, facilitate events.
• Develop a programme of webinar events focusing on key topics, including the GEF 9 strategy development
• Provide metric analysis of the events in terms of numbers of participants per event (min 500 as target), geographic distribution, stakeholder distribution, gender distribution.
• Provide a lessons-learnt analysis on how events can be used more effectively in future.
• Support the unit Senior Task Manager in organization and delivery of localized events such as Programme development meetings, consultations with BRS / Minamata Sec, joint meetings with WHO and other partners and, internal briefings to UNEP units and Divisions.
• Monitoring and Progress Controls Reporting lines: The consultant will be under the direct supervision of the GEF Portfolio Manager. The consultant will work in close collaboration with the Communications UNV based in Nairobi and for day-to-day administrative issues be supervised by the Senior Task Manager (P4) in the GEF unit. The detailed Communications Calendar will include deliverables by month.
• The workplan will be reviewed jointly with the Portfolio Manager and Communications UNV on a monthly basis. Report on the delivery of the workplan will be prepared at the end of each calendar month in combination with the monthly progress report to monitor and identify issues.

Qualifications/special skills

• A bachelor's degree in communications/science communication or other relevant area is required.
• An advanced degree in the same areas is desirable.
• At least two (2) years of working experience in communications and awareness raising on environmental pollution topics at international level is required.
• At least five (5) years of working experience in the same areas is desirable.
• Awareness of multi-lateral process is required. Experience in intergovernmental processes is an advantage.

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Responsibilities

• Budget: Assists in the preparation of supporting documents (narrative and supporting tables) with respect to finalization of cost estimates and budget proposals, in terms of staff and non-staff requirements.
• Supports in extracting information and generating expenditure reports from computerized information system databases; assists in preliminary analyses of the extracted information and the reports generated, and highlights areas of concern for the attention of the Finance Management Officer.
• Assists in the development of resource requirements for budget submissions and in the preparation of budget performance submissions.
• Researches/compiles data and other information required by the Finance Management Officer in the review and analysis of relevant proposals.
• Consolidates data and provides support with respect to budget reviews of relevant intergovernmental and expert bodies.
• Assists in the preparation/finalization of budget performance reports, performing preliminary analysis of variances between approved budgets and actual expenditures.
• Assists in the preparation of budget performance reports, performing preliminary analysis of variances between approved budgets and actual expenditures.
• Assists in the issuance of allotments and related staffing table authorizations.
• Verifies accuracy of input data, ensuring consistency of data in previous allotments to new allotments issued and reconcile Consumable Budget against cash received.
• Finance: Prepares pre-commitments and commitments in UMOJA and review them to ensure that funds are available and the correct budgetline has been used.
• Assists in the financial backstopping of trust funds, including monitoring the status of voluntary contributions, generating expenditure reports from UMOJA and monitoring reporting requirements by donors.
• Reviews draft reports, verifying overall accuracy, consistency and uniformity in the presentation, and ensuring comprehensiveness and compliance with UMOJA; cross-checks consistency of figures in tables with the text of the reports, and verifies references to other reports and documents, bringing errors to the attention of the Finance/Budget Officers(s) concerned; ensures that all necessary corrections are incorporated in the reports; co-ordinates with other finance and budget staff on related issues during preparation of budget reports.
• Tracks invoices to ensure timely payments to vendors,
• Assists in the start to end Grant Management actions, Donor reporting, closure and revision of Projects and Project structures.
• Processes payments to Implementing Partners (IP) and IP expenditure reports as submitted and certified by the Fund Management Officer.
• Maintains an internal tracking tool for all legal agreements and ensure advances to implementing partners are cleared in time

Education

• Completion of High school diploma or equivalent is required.

Work Experience

• A minimum of five (5) years' experience in finance, budget, accounting, administrative services or related area is required.
• The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to three (3) years for candidates who possess a first-level university degree or higher.
• Experience in working with Microsoft Word and Excel is desirable.
• Experience working with Enterprise Resource Platform (ERP) systems such as Systems Applications and Products (SAP) specifically on Grants, Funds Management Modules and Business Intelligence Reporting Tool is desirable.
• A minimum of One (1) year or more of experience in data analytics or related area is desirable.