Country Office Support Associate

Based in the UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Europe and Central Asia (RBEC) Istanbul Regional Hub (IRH) the RBEC Country Office Support Team (COST) works under the direct supervision of the RBEC Deputy Regional Director in support of the RBEC Regional Director. The team is mainly designated to: 

a) be the go-to unit for the country offices (COs) when these require support from the organization with primary focus on management solutions, policy issues, programme and project management, operational and compliance challenges, CO capacities etc.

b) inform the bureau management regarding the CO performance through regular monitoring and assurance exercises such as Integrated Work Planning, Results Oriented Annual Reporting, Country Office Scans, Strategy Notes, Integrated Budgeting, CO online and on-site visits etc.

c) contribute to the bureau’s organizational priorities when it comes to the implementation of regional and corporate actions related and not limited to policy development, regional and global projects and programmes, special actions such as crises responses, partnerships and resource mobilization and other directions of change under the UNDP Strategic Plan.

The COST team provides support to RBEC Country Offices in 19 countries/territories.

UNDP’s Istanbul Regional Hub established in 2014 provides policy and programmatic support, as well as CO business solutions in the Europe and CIS region. Throughout UNDP´s focus areas, it works towards increasing the impact of UNDP´s activities in the region by assisting Country Offices in developing country-level initiatives through advisory services and technical support and by implementing regional and global level programmes and projects in partnership with a wide range of partners. RBEC’s Regional Hub employs a multi-disciplinary team of specialists and advisors, project managers, operations and programme support staff.

The incumbent works under the overall supervision of the Chief of COST and directly supports the work of Country Programme Specialists in exercising their functions.

Summary of Key Functions 

Assistance to the team’s representation & coordination function;

Support to CO portfolio management support;

Assistance to CO planning, evaluation, monitoring and reporting activities; and contribution to the implementation of RBM policies and quality assurance standards;

Programme and administrative support. 
 

• Assists the team with its support function to COs, including managing communication, information flow and content. 
• Assists in the preparation of materials related to CO support, sub-regional and regional aspects. 
• Assists with organization of virtual and in-person events, including logistical, content and organizational support.
• Tracks and reports on resources.
• Synthesizes lessons learnt and best practices in programming.
• Makes sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice. 

2. Provides support to CO portfolio management

• Supports improved alignment of CO programmes with corporate and regional priorities by compiling information from other country programmes, evaluations, performance analytics, and other available sources of lessons learned.
• Supports in providing monitoring data on country programmes and project performance to inform management decisions.
• Assists in the preparation of planning, monitoring and quality assurance exercises. 
• Assists in the follow up on performance indicators/success criteria, targets and milestones, preparation of reports.
• Collects and organizes data for monitoring of COs financial performance against financial goals/indicators supported regularly collected and systematized.
• Collects detailed data on delivery, resource mobilization and other key financials maintained/updated.
• Updates comparative resource mobilization and delivery status tables

3.  Provides support to CO planning, evaluation, monitoring and reporting activities

• Supports the team in its CO programming function.
• Assists in sharing information with COs, regarding corporate programme cycle exercises.
• Helps monitor milestones and follows up on programme cycle exercises.
• Contributes to the implementation of RBM policies and quality assurance standards;
• Assists in consolidating all CO information to facilitate effective and efficient corporate oversight functions. 

4. Programme and administrative support to the team and to senior management in the IRH

• Maintains the DRD’s calendar, contacts with high-ranking visitors, arrangement of appointments and meetings, acting as an interpreter when required and/or taking minutes/notes and arranges for proper follow up; follows protocol and administrative procedures;
• Prepares briefing materials, including in PowerPoint, for appointments, meetings, missions;
• Prepares informal translations;
• Schedules regular staff meetings, management meetings, circulates agendas, prepares highlights/minutes;
• Maintains rosters of high-level partners, contact database;
• Drafts correspondence, directives, comments on behalf of the supervisor for his/her signature and ensures follow-up when required;
• Provides support for travel of DRD and the team; 
• Serves as back-up for the other support staff in the Regional Hub and the team when they are out of office on leave;
• Ensures proper control of the supporting documents for payments

Cross-Functional & Technical Competencies: 

Result-based Management: Ability to manage programmes and projects with a focus at improved performance and demonstrable results.

Communication: Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience

Customer satisfaction/Client management: Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers’ needs. Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy. Look for ways to add value beyond clients’ immediate requests. Ability to anticipate client’s upcoming needs and concerns.

Working with Evidence and Data: Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making.

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.

Data analysis: Ability to extract, analyze and visualize data (including Real-Time Data) to form meaningful insights and aid effective decision making

Effectiveness: RBM standards and practices for programming.