Background
UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.
UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet. Learn more at undp.org
UNDP in Papua New Guinea is prioritizing environmental protection and climate change adaptation under Outcome 4 of its 2024-2028 Country Programme. The initiative aims to strengthen climate resilience, protect biodiversity, and promote sustainable natural resource management. It also supports PNG in meeting its commitments under international climate agreements, such as the Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework. Additionally, UNDP works on advancing natural capital accounting to better recognize the economic value of ecosystems, ensuring their long-term protection and sustainable use.
The UNDP environment and climate change portfolio in Papua New Guinea (PNG) plays a crucial role in advancing sustainable resource management and climate resilience. Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), several key projects contribute to this mission. The Sustainable Financing of Papua New Guineaโs Protected Area Network (GEF 6) focuses on ensuring long-term financial support for protected areas, enhancing conservation efforts, and promoting biodiversity protection. Meanwhile, the Integrated Land Management, Restoration of Degraded Landscapes, and Natural Capital Assessment in the Mountains of Papua New Guinea (GEF 7) aims to restore degraded ecosystems and implement sustainable land-use practices, particularly in mountainous regions, to protect vital ecosystems and mitigate climate change impacts.
Building on these initiatives, the Accelerating PNGโs Sustainable Blue Economy through Strengthened Governance and Investment in Marine Areas (GEF 8) addresses sustainable marine resource management. This project strengthens governance frameworks and promotes investment in marine conservation, supporting PNGโs efforts to develop a resilient blue economy. Together, these projects form a comprehensive strategy for the sustainable use of PNGโs natural resources, integrating land and marine conservation, climate adaptation, and economic development. Through these efforts, UNDP and its partners aim to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability, ensuring long-term benefits for both people and nature.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) is home to one of the world's most diverse marine ecosystems, featuring vast coral reefs, mangrove forests, and seagrass meadows. These ecosystems provide critical services, including food security, climate resilience, and livelihoods for coastal communities. However, unsustainable resource use, habitat degradation, climate change, and weak governance threaten the long-term viability of these ecosystems.
The project, Accelerating PNGโs Sustainable Blue Economy through Strengthened Governance and Investment in Marine Areas, is a six-year initiative implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and executed by the Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (CEPA). With financing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF-8) and co-financing partners, the project aims to strengthen marine conservation, enhance governance, and promote sustainable economic activities in key coastal and marine areas of PNG.
The project will focus on three key geographic areas: New Ireland Province, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB), and Port Moresbyโs Bootless Bay. These regions are biodiversity hotspots facing significant environmental pressures, including illegal fishing, pollution, and deforestation of coastal habitats.
To address these challenges, the project will implement four major components: (1) integrating natural capital accounting into fiscal policies and economic planning, (2) strengthening marine spatial planning and governance, (3) promoting nature-based solutions (NbS) through public-private-community partnerships, and (4) facilitating knowledge sharing and capacity building.
The project is expected to improve 3.9 million hectares of marine areas, restore 20,000 hectares of mangroves, and enhance sustainable fisheries while creating lasting environmental and socio-economic benefits for PNGโs coastal communities and contributing to global climate and biodiversity goals.
The Project Manager will be responsible for the overall management of the project, including the mobilization of all project inputs, supervision over project staff, consultants and sub-contractors.ย
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Duties and Responsibilities
The Project Manager/Coordinator works under the general supervision of Chief Technical Specialist and collaborates closely with the project teamย
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.ย 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.ย 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 COโs 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.Build and maintain UNDPโs 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.ย Support resource mobilization efforts and project development.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.ย Lead implementation of the monitoring, evaluation, and results framework to identify plan deviations, underperformance, 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.ย 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.ย Ensure proper operational and financial closure of the project.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 UNDPโs work and opportunities for collaboration in addressing development trends. Represent UNDP in relevant technical meetings and working groups under the direction of CO management.ย 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 UNDPโs 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.
Competencies
Core Competencies:
Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impactย Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problemsย Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demandsย Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivityPeople Management:
UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.
Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:
Business Direction & Strategy
Strategic Thinking: Develop effective strategies and prioritised plans in line with UNDPโs mission and objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, opportunities and potential risks; link the general vision to reality on the ground to create tangible targeted solutions; learn from a variety of sources to anticipate and effectively respond to both current and future trends; demonstrate foresight. System Thinking: Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the systemBusiness Development
Knowledge Facilitation: Ability to animate individuals and groups, internally and externally, and to design and facilitate activities, to share and exchange knowledge, information and ideas. Knowledge of tools and approaches to stimulate active participation, contribution, and exchange.Business Management
Project Management: Ability to plan, organize, prioritize, and control resources, procedures, and protocols to achieve specific goals.ย Communication: 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. Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media, and other appropriate channelsPartnership Management
Relationship Management: Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust, and mutual understandingย
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
Advanced university degree (master's degree or equivalent) in Business Administration, Public Administration, Economics, Political Sciences, Social Sciences, or related field is required, orย A first-level university degree (bachelorโs degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.Experience:
Minimum of 7 years (with masterโs degree) or 9 years (with bachelorโs degree) of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in project management, quality assurance, management advisory services, monitoring and evaluation of development projects, and partnership management in marine biodiversity conservation, MPA management and/or sustainable fisheries management in PNG.ย Experience in the use of computers, office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and web-based management systems, and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages. Experience in marine biodiversity conservation, MPA management and/or sustainable fisheries managementย Experience in project planning, change processes, results-based management and reporting. Experience in coordinating and supervising multiple parties in their implementation of technical activities in partnership with a variety of stakeholder groups, including government, civil society, private sector, academic and research institutes, the broader donor community, and local beneficiaries. Experience in Gender-sensitive approach/mainstreaming Experience in working, liaising, and collaborating with UN agencies, governments, NGOs, civil society organizations, and public international organizations. Knowledge of capacity building theory and capacity building/assessment methodologies. Ability to work independently and in teamsย Excellent collaborative work styleRequired Languages:
Fluency in English and Tok Pisin is required.ย
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.ย
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.ย
Right to select multiple candidates
UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.ย 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.
Scam alert
UNDP does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process. For further information, please see www.undp.org/scam-alert.
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