Portfolio manager

Background

United Nations Volunteers Programme

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. Volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tackling development challenges, and it can transform the pace and nature of development. Volunteerism benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer by strengthening trust, solidarity and reciprocity among citizens, and by purposefully creating opportunities for participation. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for recognition of volunteers, working with partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing an increasing number and diversity of volunteers, including experienced UN volunteers, throughout the world. UNV embraces volunteerism as universal and inclusive, and recognizes volunteerism in its diversity as well as the values that sustain it: free will, commitment, engagement and solidarity.

UNV engaged 7,765 UN volunteers in 2010, on a total of 7,960 assignments. With an average age of 37 years and the requisite professional skills and qualifications of some 5 to 10 years relevant experience, UN volunteers served in 132 countries in 2010 and came themselves from 158. The majority – 80 per cent – come from developing countries themselves. One third of UN volunteers served in their own countries, with the others carrying out international assignments. The financial equivalent of programme activities exceeds US$235 million annually. In addition, as the focal point in the United Nations for the International Year of the Volunteers (IYV2001), UNV is active in the follow-up to the Year, for which the key objectives are the recognition, facilitation, networking and promotion of volunteerism.

UNV is headquartered in Bonn, Germany and has approximately 150 staff positions – with the majority in Bonn and some positions with different UN peacekeeping and political missions, and in other Headquarters locations (e.g. New York and Tokyo). The major organizational groups within UNV are:

•  the Office of the Executive Coordinator (OEC);
•  the Evaluation Unit (EU);
•  the Corporate Planning and Performance Unit (CPPU);
•  the Volunteer Programming and Management Group (VPMG) comprising the Peace Division (PD) and the Development Division (DD), Volunteer Recruitment Resources Section (VRRS), Quality Assurance Unit (QAU), Volunteer Knowledge and Innovation Section (VKIS);
the Partnerships and Communications Division (PCD) comprising the Partnerships Section (PS) and the Communications Section (CS);
• The Management Services Division (MSD) comprising the Information and Communication Technology Section (ICTS), Finance Section (FS),
• Human Resources Section (HRS), and the Administration Unit (AU)
• Additionally the Common Services Unit (CSU) provides support to the UN presence in Bonn.

Organizational setting

The UNV Peace and Development Divisions oversee and implement UNV’s programme strategy. They advocate for the integration of volunteerism in peace and development at global, regional and national levels, targeting specific focus areas in which the role of volunteerism adds significant value.

They mobilize volunteers to support the peace and development agenda of UNV partners, including national volunteerism interventions as well as proactive mobilization of UNV and other volunteers. They ensure quality volunteer management of UN volunteers.

They work to promote advocacy for volunteerism, and support the documentation of the contribution of volunteerism to peace and development and will target national development fora, governments and parliaments with a view to influencing national policies, legislation, statutory frameworks and budget in order to promote volunteerism for peace and development.

Both Divisions focus on both “Development” and “Peace” issues and areas. However, the Development Division oversees the “predominantly development” countries, and the Peace Division oversees the “predominantly peace countries.

The Development Division supports UNV Programme activities in priority and strategic countries, which are predominantly in development phase, and more specifically in the following focus areas:

- Strengthening local governance
- Primary health care and HIV/AIDs
- Non-formal education
- Disaster risk reduction
- Early recovery including livelihoods
- Local conflict resolution/reconciliation/human rights
- Community-based natural resource management and sustainable biodiversity conservation
- Community-based adaptation to climate change
- Food security through sustainable livelihoods

The Portfolio Team within the Peace and Development Divisions is responsible for the implementation of the UNV programme strategy, including volunteer management, at global, regional and local levels.

Duties and Responsibilities

Reporting to the Deputy Chief, Development Divisions, the Portfolio Manager is responsible for effective strategic planning and programming in the large and complex programme portfolios of countries covering UNV priority and conflict countries based on the UNV programme strategy, building and maintaining relationships with main partners, effective coordination between HQ and Field Units (FU), monitoring of the programme implementation and providing substantive inputs to corporate initiatives related to programming and volunteer management. The Portfolio Manager leads and supervises a team of professional and support staff in his/her portfolio including professional field managers and UNV programme officers operating in development priority and conflict/post conflict settings.

In addition the Portfolio Manager acts as a focal point for a strategic area of thematic focus for UNV providing substantive programme and policy advice on all matters related to that focus area. (S)He is expected to have and/or develop the knowledge, competencies, skills and networks necessary to support UNV HQ and field offices on all substantive issues and queries related to that focus area.

Specific duties

• Perform strategic planning and programming based on the UNV programme strategy, focusing on achieving the following results:

- Keep abreast of development challenges and priorities in countries under portfolio to identify relevant entry points for UNV programming and mobilization of volunteers;
- Keep abreast of and provide substantive guidance or strategic direction on volunteerism in specific focused areas and appropriate programming approaches;
- Perform strategic planning for groups of country portfolios in regions with common development challenges and/or opportunities;
- Initiate, formulate and manage projects and programmes in in complex development contexts and conflict countries contributing to the programme strategy;
- Develop innovative programmes and projects to demonstrate the added value of volunteerism in specific thematic/focus areas in consultation with the knowledge management section; this includes the provision of guidance and support to other Portfolio Teams in further developing similar initiatives, all of which can be piloted and if successful replicated by other Portfolio Teams in other geographical settings;
- Forecast demand for UN volunteer assignment;
- Provide guidance and support to resource mobilization at the local level;
- Monitor compliance with periodic volunteer reporting (VRRS) with view to extract data for analysis and use in making improvements of portfolio operations and use in corporate documents, advocacy and learning;
- Maintain substantive documentation regarding country portfolio, including country profiles and statistics / fact sheets.

• Build and strengthen relationships with main partners within the UN system and external partners on the operational and programmatic issues , focusing on achieving the following results:

- Build and strengthen relationships with the UN partners on programmatic matters;
- Build and strengthen relationships with VSOs, CSOs, NGOs, universities, community organizations and other partners;
- Ensure strategic use of UN volunteers modalities in support of programme strategy;
- Promote the work of UNV Programme and volunteer participation in public events, IVD and corporate events;
- Assist the Chief and Deputy Chief in building partnerships with UN organizations including Peace Keeping mission offices, regional entities and field based organizations to identify programme opportunities and promote UNV;
- Plan, negotiate and monitor EOL and budget in line with agreements with partners;
- Provide advisory support on UNV programme and mandate to different stakeholders;
- Oversee and manage strategic regional projects and engage with relevant partners and stakeholders on substantive, programmatic and operational issues to ensure smooth implementation of the programme.

• Ensure effective coordination between HQ and FU for quality programming and volunteer management , focusing on achieving the following results:

- Provide guidance to FUs on volunteer management;
- Coordinate the recruitment process of selected candidates up to date of arrival in the country of assignment;
- Implement different volunteer modalities as per prevailing provision under each scheme and modalities;
- Implements volunteer management tools;
- Ensure timely and accurate processing of UNV contracts and entitlements;
- Reviews and approves TORs;
- Provides guidance to FU on programme design and integration, results based management;
- Based on programmatic and operational requirements and priorities, organize capacity building events (e.g. regional, local meetings, conference and workshops, etc.

• Monitor the implementation of programming and volunteer management at the field level, focusing on achieving the following results:

- Ensure VRS compliance and manage data in terms of programming and volunteer assignment in portfolio countries;
- Monitor the implementation of joint and non UNV implemented projects, extracts and analyses financial reports and conduct regular reporting on expenditure and budget balance as required;
- Assess project progress and ensure quality of project reporting;
- Perform project management in Atlas for UNV implemented projects, extracts and analyses financial reports and conduct regular reporting on expenditure and budget balance as required.

• Provide substantive focus area inputs and support to cross-unit and corporate initiatives related to programming and volunteer management activities, focusing on achieving the following results:

- Support development and implementation of UNV’s corporate policy and programme, in assigned focus area;
- Build network and partnerships for substantive and operational cooperation on volunteerism in assigned focus area;
- Oversee the implementation of corporate (global) projects in assigned focus area;
- Support Knowledge management and UNV staff capacity building in assigned focus area;
- Act as focal point on assigned focus area and provide inputs to project development in the assignedarea;
- Coordinate and consolidate inputs from projects and programmes in the assigned focus area for SG and other reports;
- Represent UNV in global meetings and with main Agencies working on assigned focus areas.

• Lead and manage a cluster of and/or complex portfolios and supervise professional staff to ensure strategic and substantive/guidance to portfolio teams and FUs with the following results:

- Establish annual workplan for the Portfolio Team to support group level and corporate planning targets;
- Manage portfolio staff including supervision and guidance of FU field staff (PMs, POs, PAs) participating in their recruitment, performance assessments, and capacity development activities in close collaboration with UNDP COs and UN offices.

• Other related duties that may be assigned.

Competencies

Functional Competencies

• Advocacy/Advancing A Policy-Oriented Agenda

- Contributes to the elaboration of advocacy strategies by identifying and prioritizing audiences and communication means
- Performs analysis of political situations and scenarios, and contributes to the formulation of institutional responses

Results-Based Programme Development and Management

• Identifies country needs and strategies using a fact-based approach
• Sets performance standards, monitors progress and intervenes at an early stage to ensure results are in accordance with agreed-upon quality and timeframes and reports on it
• Ensures the programme implementation and Financial Resources to obtain results

Building Strategic Partnerships

• Effectively networks with partners seizing opportunities to build alliances
• Takes responsibility for achieving agreed outputs within set deadlines and strives until successful outputs are achieved

Innovation and Marketing New Approaches

• Seeks a broad range of perspectives in developing project proposals
• Generates for regional and innovative ideas and effective solutions to problems
• Identifies new approaches and promotes their use in other situations

Resource Mobilization (HQ)

• Develops detailed knowledge and understanding of key donors, their priorities and areas of interest and adapts content and approach of resource mobilization activities to their requirements
• Uses knowledge of donors and successful programmes and projects to contribute to fund raising and resource mobilization strategies

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing

• Makes the case for innovative ideas documenting successes and building them into the design of new approaches
• Identifies new approaches and strategies that promote the use of tools and mechanisms

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise

• Understands more advanced aspects of primary area of specialization as well as the fundamental concepts of related disciplines (programme management)
• Continues to seeks new and improved methods and systems for accomplishing the work of the unit
• Keeps abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself professionally
• Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments
• Demonstrates comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the current guidelines and project management tools and utilizes these regularly in work assignments

Client Orientation

• Anticipates client needs
• Works towards creating an enabling environment for a smooth relationship between the clients and service provider
• Demonstrates understanding of client’s perspective

Core Competencies

• Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents
• Building support and political acumen
• Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation
• Building and promoting effective teams
• Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication
• Creating an emotionally intelligent organization
• Leveraging conflict in the interests of UNDP & setting standards
• Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning
• Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Masters degree in social sciences, political science, public or business administration, economics or related fields

Experience

• 7 years of relevant professional experience and proven track record in managing and implementing development programmes, preferably in the field
• 3-4 years of experience should be in an international organization, preferably UNDP/UNV
• Experience in managing volunteer programmes and/or in a development context involving volunteers is highly desirable

Language Requirements

• Fluency in English and Spanish; proficiency in an additional UN language is desirable.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

The successful candidate will hold a UNDP letter of appointment.