Project Manager (ISCB)

BACKGROUND

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the UN agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.

The project “Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building Program for Urban Development in Vietnam (ISCBP)” is financed by Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs-SECO. The main goal of this project is to strengthen capacities of national and local institutions to promote, plan and implement innovative and participatory solutions for sustainable urban development in Vietnam. The project will be implemented over a period of five years (2020-2025) by UN-Habitat and consists of four interlinked components:

Component 1: Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building

a) Support sustainable setup of the Institute for Urban Development Management

b) Improve institutional capacity of national and local government agencies

Component 2: Strengthening of national urban legislation

Component 3: Support the implementation of the Planning Law

Component 4: Piloting

OBJECTIVES

The Project Manager will work under the direct management of the Habitat Program Manager (HPM) and the technical supervision of the Senior Urban Expert (SUE, the chief advisor of the project). She/he will provide support to the project planning, management, oversight, management of fund flow and executing partners’ delivery to ensure compliance with the UN-Habitat’s mandate and the agreement with SECO and ensure close collaboration between the project and co-implementing partners and other relevant stakeholders in the pilot sites. The incumbent will coordinate/provide necessary information in consultation with HPM and SUE to regional office and units in Head Quarters on request.

The incumbent will also support the coordination with other UN agencies, national and international institutes and organizations to align the project with the UN’s priorities in Vietnam and global approach on urban integrated development, contributing to the development of Habitat Country Programme in Vietnam.

RESPONSABILITIES AND EXPECTED OUTPUTS:

1. Management of ISCB project

Support HPM, SUE and UN-Habitat team to mobilize the internal and external resources (e.g., expertise, knowledge, funds) to help achieve the project’s expected outputs and outcomes.
Provide technical inputs to as well as monitoring progress of the project implementation
Daily manage all project activities:

- Develop project’s annual workplans, implementation plan and/or approach of each activity.

- Work closely with implementing partners (IUDM, UDA, DPM and 3 pilot cities) and consultants/experts to implement the project’s activities as per project’s framework and agreed schedule (e.g., trainings, consultations, technical meetings, reports, workshops etc.), ensuring their high commitment and productive cooperation.

- Lead the ISCB project team to plan and implement activities in components 3 and 4 which will be implemented by UN-Habitat.

- Lead the ISCB project team to manage the project budget, procurements and financial authorization, actual disbursement report to SECO, HQ and ROAP.

- Being responsible to set up the result-based monitoring framework of the project implementation and substantive quality control of activities and expected outputs.

- Prepare project reports to submit to Regional Office for Asia and Pacific (ROAP)/Headquarter (HQ) and directly to SECO.

- Work closely with the project team to supervise and provide the comments/inputs to relevant technical reports/studies/plans prepared by consultants and implementing partners.

- Ensure gender mainstreaming in project activities.

- Ensure the quality and accuracy of communication messages, studies’ findings, documentation, and publication as well as in consistence with roles and mission of UN-Habitat and the UN system.

- Be responsible to coordinate and promote the project’s visibility in accordance to donor’s and UNHabitat’s requirement.

2. Contribution to UN-Habitat country programme development

- Ensure the quality of project’s implementation and accomplishment; Contribute to develop the country program in line with UN-Habitat’s strategic direction and long-term planning.

- Ensure the linkage between ISCB project with other projects/programmes of UN-Habitat, UN agencies and other strategic development agencies as well as HQ/ROAP.

- Actively participate in and provide inputs to developing new concept notes/proposals and program strategies to mobilize potential resources.

- Build and maintain effective partnerships and networks with relevant technical groups, civil society groups, NGOs, and UN agencies for effective implementation and scalability of the project.

- Regularly coordinate and collaborate with other sector/thematic teams to strengthen programmatic synergies and impact.

- Assist HPM and SUE to ensure the effective coordination of policy dialogues, advocacy, and other international and domestic events with relevant stakeholders.

3. Other tasks

The job duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the post holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience, including adjustment on job description, and in cases of any humanitarian emergency.

REQUIRED SKILLS:

Professionalism: Knowledge and understanding of theories, concepts and approaches relevant to climate change, urban planning, and design. Strong analysis of urban climate and eco-systems, underlying social, legal, and financial mechanisms and the political context. Ability to observe deadlines and achieve set goals. Ability to work and deliver under pressure.
Communication: Excellent written and oral presentation skills in English. Good presentation skills. Ability to communicate complex interventions in a clear language and convincing narratives.
Teamwork: Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues to achieve agreed goals.
Planning and Organizing: Ability to prioritize activities and assignments and to easily switch between different projects.
Creativity: Strong conceptual thinking. Is not bound by current thinking or traditional approaches, takes calculated risks on new and unusual ideas; thinks “outside the box”, and offers new and different options to solve problems or meet client needs. Can easily develop clear plans in contexts with limited information and datasets.
Management: Ability to manage smaller project teams, divide workload and sustain efficiency

QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Minimum advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in urban management, urban development planning, land use and housing, environment, laws, economic development, development studies or relevant fields to urban and social policy in developing countries. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Work Experience: Minimum 3 years of relevant work experience in project management, project development and implementation, preferably in areas related to capacity building and institutional strengthening in urban areas in developing countries, especially Viet Nam; with experience and exposure to ODA projects. A combination of academic and public sector experience would be considered an asset. Working experiences with MOC and UN system are preferable.

Technical Knowledge:

Project development and management related to capacity building, policy advocacy and development in urban sector in developing countries.
Research and analytical skills combined with good communication skills, including drafting skills and writing skills, in English and possibly another UN language.
Able to work independently and as part of team and deliver on time under pressure

Language Skills

For this consultancy, fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of other languages (using in the UN) will be an advantage.

Submission of Applications:

The application should comprise:

Completed UN Personal History Form (P11). Please download the form (MS-Word) from UNHabitat/ROAP-vacancy website:
A Statement of Interest and suitability (a cover letter) for the position

All applications should be submitted to:

UN-Habitat Vietnam Office

To: hr@unhabitatvietnam.org

Please indicate the Post Title: “Project Manager (ISCB)” in your e-mail subject.

Deadline for applications: 22 March 2022

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