Programme Management Advisor

Background Information - Job-specific

General background

UNOPS supports partners to build a better future by providing services that increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of peace building, humanitarian, and development projects. Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations.

New York Portfolios Office (NYPO) supports the United Nations Secretariat, as well as other New York-based United Nations organizations, bilateral and multilateral partners in the delivery of UNOPS mandate in project management, infrastructure management, and procurement management.

The Sustainable Development Cluster (SDC) supports diverse partners with their peacebuilding, humanitarian and development operations. It was formed by combining the following portfolios: Grants Management Services (GMS), UN Technology Support Services (UNTSS), Development and Special Initiatives Portfolio (DSIP) It provides Services to partners' programmes that are designed, structured, and managed with a global perspective and primarily serving partners that are headquartered in New York. The SDC has a footprint of approximately 125 countries.

UNOPS has signed an agreement with the United Nations/MPTFO to implement the project activities for Spotlight Initiative 2.0.

Spotlight Initiative 2.0

Spotlight Initiative was established by the UN Secretary-General as a flagship initiative to eliminate violence against women and girls (EVAWG). Spotlight Initiative proposed an unprecedented and innovative approach to delivering a comprehensive package of interventions to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls that places women and girls at the center of solutions, demonstrated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) acceleration and localization, and provided a platform for operationalization of the United Nations Development System reforms. The Initiative was launched in 2017 with initial 530+ million USD seed funding from the European Union, as well as complementary contributions from Portugal and Albania.

With the first generation of country and regional programmes having concluded implementation at the end of 2023, the Initiative has proven that a comprehensive theory of change and new way of working with a range of stakeholders, including the central role of civil society, through a coordinated, whole-of-society, whole-of-government, system-wide approach, can achieve transformative results to end violence against women and girls. Having demonstrated transformative impacts and acceleration across the SDGs and given its potential for further scale up, Spotlight Initiative was designated by the United Nations Secretary-General as a High-Impact Initiative during the 2023 SDG Summit–the only cross-cutting initiative.

In 2024, Spotlight Initiative entered its new phase, establishing the Spotlight Initiative 2.0 Fund and launching a new generation of programmes under the umbrella framework of Spotlight Initiative, applying lessons learned from its first 2017-2023 phase. With the ambition to raise an additional USD 1 billion over the next 5 years, “Spotlight Initiative 2.0” builds on lessons learned from the first generation of programmes and aims to diversify its donor and partnership base.

Spotlight Initiative 2.0 Fund is established as a multi-donor pooled funding instrument (Multi-Partner Trust Fund) and a UN Secretary-General’s fund, anchored in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General (EOSG) and the UN Development Coordination Office (UNDCO), and administered by the UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTFO) as the administrative agent of the Fund. This new generation of the Spotlight Initiative Fund is guided by the Spotlight Initiative 2.0 Fund Terms of Reference.

The Initiative presents a true multi-partner effort with built-in incentives for each partner to contribute to the development of the Fund’s vision and strategy. While the 2.0 Fund is constituted “anew”, it is a continuation of the first Spotlight Initiative 1.0 Fund in all key aspects, retaining the principles that made the Initiative a historic and unprecedented effort.

As Spotlight Initiative transitions from its first generation shaped by the initial investment from the European Union, the second iteration of the Fund sits within the broader Umbrella Framework guided by the leadership of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. This Spotlight Initiative Umbrella Framework brings together and connects different elements of the Spotlight Initiative effort under one coherent approach.

The updated Fund is designed to capitalize on the experience and lessons learned from the first phase of the Initiative, while opening up space for new partners and donors to join and build on achievements, in the spirit of scaling up impact and results. The Fund’s updated structure and design draw from a number of evaluations and assessments conducted during the first phase of the Spotlight Initiative. It introduces more flexibility, adaptability to allow even more contextualized and impactful programming.

The Fund set up will be complemented by the High-Impact Programme for Violence Elimination by 2030 (HIVE UN Joint Programme, 2024-2026) that will support in exploring partnerships with country-based donor funding. This will account for additional programming leveraged by the Initiative’s momentum and ensure a coherent approach to all associated components of Spotlight Initiative.

The Fund Secretariat Team is in charge of day-to-day management and operations of the Spotlight Initiative 2.0 Fund. The Fund Secretariat provides substantive technical and management support to the Deputy Secretary-General, the Advisory Board and the Operational Steering Committee (OSC). The Fund Secretariat implements the direction and decisions of the Deputy Secretary-General and the OSC. The Fund Secretariat codifies the fund’s policies and rules of procedure into a programme and operations manual, including a Fund Risk Management Strategy. The Fund Secretariat also provides strategic advice and quality control over the fund operations and coordinates the meetings. It facilitates collaboration and communication between the EOSG, DCO, the Recipient UN Organizations, and the Resident Coordinators regarding the Fund operations when necessary. The Fund Secretariat will be responsible for reporting progress of funded projects through periodic progress updates (which will include consolidated narrative reports) received from Recipient UN Organizations and present on overview of the progress to the governance structures of the Fund.

Under the leadership of the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General and in accordance with the guidance received from the Spotlight Initiative’s Governance Mechanisms, the day-to-day management of the Spotlight Initiative is led by a Secretariat, housed within the Development Coordination Office (DCO) with a reporting line to the Executive Office of the Secretary General and servicing the whole UN System.

To ensure operational agility the Fund Secretariat is led by a Global Coordinator of Spotlight Initiative, who leads the Spotlight Initiative Global Team overall, with discretion to act and respond quickly to fund-specific needs. The Global Coordinator is supervised by EOSG, and the entire team is strategically hosted in the UN Development Coordination Office (DCO) on behalf of EOSG. The Fund Secretariat Team is administratively hosted by UNOPS.

The incumbent of this position will be a staff member of UNOPS, under its full responsibility.

Under the supervision of the Senior Trust Fund Manager, the Programme Management Advisor acts as the focal point for Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams on all matters related to programme design, implementation and closure of programmes on ending violence against women and girls. The Programme Management Advisor is responsible to ensure sound programme management and the delivery of strategic, technical and operational assistance to Resident Coordinators’ Offices and UN Country Teams in line with the Spotlight Initiative model, leveraging the expertise of other Spotlight Initiative Secretariat colleagues, as well as of the Initiative’s partners (UN Agencies, DCO, MPTFO and others as relevant). The Programme Management Advisor will also ensure the adaptation of the Spotlight Initiative model to country contexts/typologies and to the funding environment of the Fund.

1) Coordinate the development of strategic, programmatic and operational guidance aimed at Resident Coordinators’ Offices, UN Country Teams and Recipient UN Organizations on all aspects related to the holistic management and coordination of comprehensive programmes to end violence against women and girls.

Establish mechanisms for bi-directional communications between the Spotlight Initiative Secretariat, Resident Coordinators, UNCTs and programmes’ Governance Mechanism.

Develop mechanisms, protocols and standard operating procedures for coordinating the mobilization of Spotlight Initiative Secretariat’s units as well as UN partners (UN Agencies, DCO, MPTFO and others as relevant) in the provision of delivery of strategic, technical and operational assistance.

Coordinate the ‘Agency Focal-Points system’ in close collaboration with the Spotlight Initiative’s implementing agencies, to increase collaboration, ensure appropriate information and coordinate programme support.

2) Coordinate Country support team to provide client oriented direct services to Resident Coordinators’ Offices and UN Country Teams on all aspects related to programme ideation, development, management and closure programmes to end violence against women and girls.

Act as first port-of-call for Resident Coordinators’ Offices and UN Country Teams in designing, implementing and/or closing comprehensive programmes on ending violence against women and girls, in line with the Spotlight Initiative model.

Undertake duty-travel visits to countries engaged in the development and implementation of comprehensive programmes on ending violence against women and girls in line with the Spotlight Initiative model, at the request of Resident Coordinators’ offices.

Oversee the recruitment and supervision of consultants supporting RCOs and UNCTs in programme design effort, as directed by the Global Coordinator and upon request of RCs.

Provide guidance to support the contextualization/localization of the Spotlight Initiative model of programming to local contexts and specific country strategies.

Advise and support country and regional teams in negotiations with partners, including but not limited to national and local governments, development partners, civil society and private sector actors.

As requested by the Head of Partnerships at Spotlight Initiative, provide targeted and strategic guidance to specific country and regional teams to support locally tailored partnership strategies and initiatives.

Support capacity strengthening of country and regional teams’ efforts on programme design, implementation and closure in line with the Spotlight Initiative model, in coordination with Spotlight Initiative Secretariat’s units as well as UN partners (UN Agencies, DCO, MPTFO and others as relevant).

Liaise with Agency HQs and Brussels liaison office as needed to ensure trouble shooting and the provision of timely solutions throughout the programme cycle.

Ensure overall compliance with the Programme and Operations Manual provisions for programme implementation and Fund Terms of Reference requirements, particularly related to governance, accountability and programme budget management.

Ensure adequate cash flow management at fund level to optimize programme implementation flow.

Liaise with Fund Secretariat sub-teams on monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management, civil society liaison, communications and partnerships to ensure a well coordinated and coherent delivery of support to programme implementation teams.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: The Programme Managerment Advisor is expected to have supervisory/managerial responsibilities of staff and /or consultants.

Spotlight Initiative 2.0 Fund’s programme portfolio is developed in high-quality through contextualized engagement with UN Country Teams.

Capacities of UN Country Teams and UN Agency structures at regional and global level on comprehensive programming to end violence against women are further strengthened in line with the Spotlight Initiative model.

Spotlight Initiative’s programming model to end violence against women and girls is further advanced and evolved, also by accommodating humanitarian-development nexus considerations as well as emerging issues such as digital violence, or impacts of climate change and environmental degradation on violence against women and girls.

Required experience:

Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce.

Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process. If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types.

This position is stationed in New York, USA which is a family duty station.

Terms and Conditions

For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post.

For retainer contracts, you must complete a few mandatory courses ( they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. Refreshers or new mandatory courses may be required during your contract. Please note that you will not receive any compensation for taking courses and refreshers. For more information on a retainer contract here.

All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.