Background

With the launch of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), UNDP Africa has committed to leveraging its presence in 46 African countries, to play its part in facilitating regional integration and intra-African Trade. Through it’s Africa Promise, UNDP Africa recognizes that increasing intra-African trade will accelerate opportunities to empower youth and women creating alternative livelihood options for young people in particular, who account for three-quarters of the African population. UNDP will therefore, work with African countries and institutions to turn this demographic dividend into a driving force for economic change, including through entrepreneurship, employment, and economic empowerment.

The Enhancing Capacities of Young Women and Youth-Led Enterprises for Regional Trade (ECoWYERT) project builds on this commitment, and is aimed at building resilience and alleviating poverty by enhancing capacities of women and youth-led MSMEs to leverage AfCFTA opportunities. The project seeks to unlock the challenge of income generation and job creation by building the entrepreneurship, innovation, financial, and market-readiness capacities of youth - especially young women - in enterprise. These interventions will be in the form of access to finance, business development support, digital inclusion, and market access, along with enhancement of the policy, regulatory and collaborative environment while amplifying the youth voice. 

Interventions seek to increase the productivity of women and youth-led businesses, helping them tap into regional value chains while facilitating provision of youth-friendly financial and ecosystem services particularly targeted at young women. Funded by the Mastercard Foundation and coordinated by UNDP, the project will be co-implemented by UNDP, the International Trade Centre (ITC), the COMESA Federation of Women in Business (COMFWB), and the Trade and Development Bank (TDB) in six countries – Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe with a Project Implementation Unit (PIU), based in Lusaka, Zambia.

UNDP Zambia is therefore, seeking the services of a Project Specialist. Reporting to the Project Manager, the Project Specialist will support project implementation, monitoring and reporting. The duty station for the Project Specialist will be the project base, Lusaka, Zambia.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide strategic leadership for effective project planning and implementation.

• Lead strategic planning for the project, including formulation of annual project work plan (AWP) as well as plans for budget, HR, procurement, and overall project implementation;
• Provide quality and timely management of the project life cycle, including meeting programmatic and financial deliverables in adherence to project documents and applicable UNDP policy and programme management procedures and Government standards, rules, and regulations. Act as a senior advisor on issues related to project activities;
• Provide direction, guidance and direct supervision to UNDP project personnel, including technical experts, to ensure activities are implemented in a timely manner as planned;
• Undertake technical review of project documents produced by the project team and partners, and ensure high technical standards are met;
• Ensure all project interventions integrate a gender equality perspective/gender equality mainstreaming to the extent local context allows;
• Ensure proper execution of all administrative activities associated with project implementation that includes building and sustaining effective liaison with the CO’s functional areas and units (i.e., programme, M&E, finance, HR, procurement, and supply management);
• Identify opportunities for synergies with other projects within UNDP and beyond to advance the key objectives and grow its focus.

2. Build and maintain UNDP’s strategic partnerships.

• Substantively contribute to the harnessing of effective partnerships and lead the identification and onboarding process for implementing partners;
• Cultivate and maintain strong relationships and strategic linkages with implementing and development partners, government officials, businesses, NGOs, other national and regional stakeholders, and beneficiaries to support and ensure accurate interpretation of key objectives, and to promote inclusive project implementation;
• Communicate relevant and critical information with key implementing partners and members of project governing bodies, and substantively contribute to project visibility efforts. Make recommendations to the CO management team on activities with potential for scale-up, replicability and synergies;
• Provide technical support to the implementing partners and act as a liaison between UNDP and the partners;
• Support resource mobilization efforts and project development.

3. Monitor and report on progress in implementing project activities and achieving the targets set:

• Provide leadership and technical advice to the project in developing baselines and indicators for project monitoring and evaluation, and coordinate the finalization of detailed results framework. Ensure strategies, processes, systems, and mechanisms are in place to effectively fulfill programme and financial monitoring, evaluation, quality assurance and reporting requirements;
• Lead implementation of the monitoring, evaluation, and results framework to identify plan deviations, under-performance, and other problems. Support diagnosing problems and ensure accountability for corrective actions within agreed upon tolerances to achieve results. Conduct field visits as required to verify project activities relative to stated targets and provide regular field updates to UNDP/CO management;
• Proactively perform risk assessments to identify and document risks related to the project, including operational, financial, legal, contractual, social, environmental, reputation and safety risks. Design mitigation measures and keep appropriate project governing bodies informed. Develop and complete regular reviews of risk management matrix for the project;
• Coordinate the preparation of corporate, donor and government reports in line with the reporting schedule and UNDP and donor requirements. Ensure provision of ad hoc reports and information requested by relevant entities;
• Ensure proper operational and financial closure of the project.

4. Lead knowledge and capacity building, knowledge sharing, and advocacy relevant to the assigned thematic area(s) and UNDP.

• Identify capacity building needs and opportunities. Ensure appropriate training and other relevant capacity building activities are organized and implemented in a consultative manner, involving technical experts and stakeholders that may include the government, private sector, NGOs, donors, and/or academia. Lead workshops with senior level officials and stakeholders;
• Proactively identify and pursue opportunities for the documentation and communication of best practices, programme results, and lessons learned under the project;
• Actively participate in and make substantive contributions to external networks and communities of practice to promote advocacy for UNDP’s work and opportunities for collaboration in addressing development trends. Participate in relevant technical meetings and working groups under the direction of CO management;
• Support establishment of knowledge platforms and innovative mechanisms for capturing and disseminating knowledge from the project; and ensure development of knowledge resources and products to share with project partners and to support UNDP’s engagement in this area.

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

Institutional Arrangement

The Project Specialist will report to the Project Manager and will be responsible for supporting project implementation, monitoring, and reporting. The duty station for the Project Specialist will be the project base, Lusaka, Zambia.

Competencies

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Economics, Trade, Business Administration, Development Studies, or related fields is required.
• A first-level university degree (bachelor´s degree) in Economics, Trade, Business Administration, Development Studies, or related fields in combination with additional 2 years of qualifying experience, will be given due consideration in lieu of Master´s degree.

Experience:

• Minimum seven (7)  years (with master´s degree) or nine (9) years (with bachelor´s degree) of relevant professional experience related to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development, women and youth economic empowerment, rural livelihoods, and policy development.

Required skills:

• Experience in trade-related development projects and policy;
• Experience in MSME support, financial inclusion and digitalization; 
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite.

Desired additional skills:

• Experience of regional policy activities and interventions;
• Demonstrable knowledge of regional value chains;
• Experience working for an international organization or in an international setting;
• Experience in managing multi-stakeholder partnerships;
• Work experience with economic empowerment in Africa;
• Proven experience in supporting project inception phases;
• Previous experience in supporting complex project activities and concurrent implementation by multiple stakeholders.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

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