Project Associate

On October 21, 1974, the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of Barbados entered into an agreement to “support and supplement the national efforts of developing countries at solving the most important problems of their economic development and to promote social progress and better standards of life.”

Subsequently, similar agreements were entered with Governments of the ten countries and territories that the UNDP Multi-Country Office (MCO) for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean serves: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Strengthening Resilient Water Resource Management (W4R) in the Caribbean project will support the islands of Grenada, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines enhance water security in vulnerable communities and reduce technical, financial and institutional barriers to develop innovative and integrated water resource management approaches and solutions that empower communities and promotes women’s meaningful inclusion in water resource management. The project further seeks to increased gender-responsive access and use of community-driven, nature-friendly, resilient water systems and enhance ecosystem conservation for improved water resources management and enhanced biodiversity through a) Improving national and local capacities to deploy resilient local water systems; b)Supporting the enhancement of capacities for digitization of historical hydro-meteorological data to improve water monitoring, climate change modelling and adaptation planning; and access to climate finance and c) Supporting governments enhance national water resource management that advances community-driven solutions that consider gender equality, environmental rights and incorporate nature-based solutions to redress water scarcity and biodiversity.

The project has been designed so that community-driven Interventions help test, inform and drive national and sectoral policies on water harvesting and ecosystem restoration, providing best practices that can be replicated throughout the Eastern Caribbean. Substantively the project will work towards promoting women’s stewardship of nature by enhancing equality and fostering innovation as a complement to their participation in decision-making.

• Compile and summarize information and data for the formulation of project work plans, draft annual/quarterly budgets, proposals on implementation arrangements, and on other specific project related topics or issues. 
• Provide comprehensive support in all aspects of project implementation in accordance with the project documents, annual work plans and other agreements between UNDP and responsible partners. Ensure quality of delivery by consultants, beneficiaries, and contracted companies; and communicate findings to the supervisor. 
• Ensure compliance of project business processes with UNDP Project Operational Policies and Procedures (POPP) and UNDP Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). When necessary, provide guidance to project staff on business processes, administrative and other requirements and procedures. 
• Support mainstreaming gender equality in the project implementation, including in data collection and compilation. Prepare gender equality background materials for use in discussions, briefings, and correspondence.
• Provide administrative and logistical support to ensure successful project delivery that includes organizing/coordinating project events and selecting appropriate venues, coordinating project procurement procedures, maintaining project records and files, recruiting project team members, and supporting contracting activities.
• Support the financial management tasks including facilitating project payments, support initiation of project budgets and facilitate project revisions
• Facilitate administrative backstopping of project team members when necessary.

Support partnerships and resource mobilization. 

• Establish and maintain contacts and cooperation with the relevant UN Agencies, government institutions, NGOs, tertiary institutions, partners, and other relevant stakeholders. Provide support in updating the database of the relevant public and development partners, and other stakeholders who are counterparts for the project.
• Ensure regular communication and coordination with partners, project counterparts, stakeholders, and beneficiaries; and develop and maintain effective mechanisms for integrating and responding to their feedback and insight.
• Support creation of high quality information and visibility of the project activities among the stakeholders; and ensure careful selection of communication tools, in collaboration with the MCO communications team, and tailoring the messages to take into account the overall socio-political and development context in host countries.
• Undertake horizon scanning and explore opportunities for resource mobilization in consultation with the Project Coordinator. 

Provide support to the effective monitoring, evaluation, and reporting on progress of project implementation. 

• Support implementation of the project monitoring system in alignment with its Monitoring and Evaluation framework to ensure effective information sharing, provision of feedback, and elaboration of high-quality progress reports. 
• Collect, analyze and present information for monitoring and evaluation of project implementation against project targets as well as for audit purposes. Identify gaps in implementation and provide support in bridging those gaps in consultation with supervisor and partners.
• Assist in the organization of field and study visits, missions, workshops, roundtables, and conferences within the project.
• Assist in implementation of effective risk management for the project with a well-documented risk mitigation plan in place. Support monitoring of previously identified and emerging risks.
• Regularly monitor expenditures and commitments against the project budget and relevant plans, and provide finance-related information to support project implementation. When necessary, recommend corrective actions and draft various correspondence concerning finance, operations, and budgetary issues.
• Prepare and consolidate required project reports on a timely basis and in line with monitoring and reporting guidelines and donor requirements.
• Support related project audit and evaluation preparations as required.

Support knowledge building, knowledge sharing and capacity building relevant to the assigned project. 

• Participate in training and organize briefings on internal procedures for the project team. Provide support to other capacity building activities, including to the design and delivery of tools, materials for workshops, or platforms that tap into the collective intelligence of communities and mobilize action.
• Provide support in the dissemination and sharing of relevant data and lessons learned within the CO and regionally. Keep pulse on emerging best practices nationally, regionally, and internationally that relate to the work of the assigned project.
• Make sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice. Support compiling and systematizing project knowledge, products and tools as well as their wide distribution to partners.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization. 

1. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.
2. A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.
3. Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns, or other materials.

All applicants must be nationals of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines or have legal status to work in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines e.g., CARICOM Graduate/Skilled National Certificate (CSME)