Hunger

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the food aid branch of the United Nations,and the world's largest humanitarian organisation addressing hunger worldwide.

The United Nations WFP seeks to appoint a Project Manager, based in Johannesburg.

The African Risk Capacity (ARC) is a specialised agency of the African Union designed to improve current responses to drought food security emergencies and to build capacity within AU member states to manage drought risks. As an African-owned, continental index-based weather risk insurance pool and early response mechanism, ARC offers an African solution to one of the continent's most pressing challenges. By bringing together the concepts of insurance and contingency planning, ARC aims to create a new way of managing weather risk by transferring the burden away from African governments, and their vulnerable populations who depend on government assistance, to international financial markets that can handle the risk much better.  The ARC design and establishment phase is managed by the United Nations WFP on behalf of the African Union.
 
Establishing contingency funding, or monies that become available automatically if an extreme drought, flood or cyclone occurs in a vulnerable area, ensures a more timely, appropriate, objective and transparent response. Because extreme weather events do not happen in the same year all across the continent, pan-African solidarity in the creation of a disaster risk pool could be financially effective.  The facility will provide participating African Union Member States immediate cash in the event of an extreme weather event in order to implement prepared response plans to assist vulnerable populations as part of a national disaster risk management strategy.  At the country-level the ARC Project Team is supporting ARC in-country working groups on several technical and political work-streams as they progress towards making an informed decision on participating in the ARC risk pool.

Position Grade : NOC (fixed term).
 
Responsibilities:
 
Within delegated authority, and under the guidance of the ARC Director General, the Project Manager will:

• Coordinate all project management and administrative aspects of the Africa Risk Capacity (ARC) including project documents, budgeting, work planning, briefings, operational manuals, tenders, liaising with other stakeholders internally and externally including donors, other UN agencies, development partners and the private sector. The result of this should be a well-managed project with effective coordination between different parts of the project team and with internal and external partners;
• Act as staffing coordinator, facilitating recruitment, transfers, extensions and promotions;
• Oversee selection and recruitment and management of consultants, contractors and interns through liaising with ARC Senior Management, Admin staff and HR;
• Monitor contract end dates and ensure timely extension/reappointment/separation (in consultation with senior staff);
• Provide seasoned technical advice to managers and provide guidance, work direction and support to staff;
• Manage various multi-million dollar trust funds and liaise with donor relations, private sector fund raising, finance, contributions management, treasury and external donors on processing of donor contracts and programming of funds, maintaining correct levels of funding in various Internal Orders and ensure project documents and financial and narrative reports are correct and submitted to donors as per their individual deadlines and that all stakeholders receive updates as required;
• Provide guidance to staff on all matters relating to budget ensure that the project remains liquid and that various items are billed to the correct trust funds as per donor agreements, in order to achieve this, the Project Manger should advise administrative staff on which funds to bill various expenses to and create or advise on the creation of various Funds reservations as necessary;
• Monitor funds to ensure there are no unnecessary staff commitments or pre-commitments or unused purchase requisitions or funds reservations balances blocking funds;
• Create funds reservations for WAE Consultants and decrease these to release funds for payroll as timesheets are received;
• Ensure use of funds is prioritised according to funding validity dates;
• Coordinate with ARC Legal consultants, WFP Legal and ARC pro bono lawyers and HR (as required) on issues of intellectual property rights, donor contracts, trust fund decision memos, service agreements, and other legal issues and documentation;
• Act as the ARC’s IT focal point;
• Facilitate the maintenance and continued development of custom built Africa Risk view desktop and online applications as well as the ARC project informational web site, @WFP.org and africanriskcapacity.org email user accounts and Teamworks access in consultation with ARC management, contractors, consultants, VAM and WFP IT;
• Monitor the ARC’s evolving information systems requirements and translate these into detailed business specifications bearing in mind systems integration and intellectual property and liability issues;
• Monitor implementation of changes, error fixes and upgrades to the software, ensuring IT policy compliance;
• Ensure preparation of manuals, IT documentation and training materials;
• Oversee the roll-out and training of custom built Africa Risk view software (desktop and online version) as required;
• Monitor budgets and funding/reporting related deadlines and drafting work-plans and new budgets;
• Act as ARC’s budgetary, IT and HR focal point;
• Manage the delivery of ARC services at the WFP HQ, regional or country level  as required;
• Interface with partner agencies, governments, NGOs, donor partners, lead institutions in early warning, climate change and disaster risk management, and actors in the international risk markets and assist in the development of joint work-programmes and partnerships;
• Oversee and facilitate workshop planning and logistics as required;
• Contribute to, lead or participate in project team meetings, presentations, discussions and write ups;
• Outreach to partners both internally and externally as required;
• Represent the ARC Project at international meetings and conferences as necessary;
• Other duty travel, as necessary; and
• Perform other related duties as requested by the senior ARC staff.

Requirements:

• Advanced university degree or university degree with experience and/or advanced courses/training in the one or more of the following disciplines: business administration, finance, computer science, international development or a field relevant to international development assistance;
• Minimum of five years postgraduate progressively responsible professional experience in public sector management, development projects, emergency assistance, and/or operational aspects of national, bilateral or multilateral food aid or commercial transactions;
• Experience in project management;
• Working knowledge (proficiency/level C) of English and limited knowledge (intermediate/level B) of another UN official language or WFP’s working language, Portuguese;
• Computer skills, including at least intermediate skills in windows based word processing, spreadsheet, database and other standard WFP software packages and systems;
• Working knowledge of basic statistics and data collection, treatment, and manipulation techniques typically associated with it;
• Knowledge of UN system policies, rules and regulations and procedures governing administration;
• Communication, organisation and teamwork skills;
• Demonstrated effectiveness in developing projects and bringing new strategic thinking into the project context;
• Understanding of the international humanitarian aid, donor and development communities, particularly WFP policies, procedures and operations;
• Experience working in an international organisation or multicultural environment, particularly experience with WFP in the field and/or Headquarters;
• WINGS experience – funds management and transactions related to budget and position management;
• Knowledge (level C) of a second official language, preferably French. Experience in a developing country, preferably in the area of food aid or development, contingency planning and disaster preparedness;
• Experience in financial commodity risk management and alternative risk transfer;
• Experience in natural disaster (preferably weather) risk management in developing countries and working knowledge of risk modelling techniques and approaches; and
• Quantitative experience in the fields of finance, risk management or agricultural commodities. 

Salary: As per UN salary scale.

To apply, submit a CV, motivation letter and/or a United Nations Personal History Form (P.11) to HR.Johannesburg@wfp.org, quoting Announcement No: OMJ/VA 011/2013.

Please quote the source of this advertisement in your application - NGO Pulse Portal.

No other documents will be reviewed at this stage.

Only short-listed candidates shall be contacted.                                                  

For more about the World Food Programme, refer to www.wfp.org.

For other vacancies in the NGO sector, refer to www.ngopulse.org/vacancies.

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The World Food Programme (WFP) is the food aid branch of the United Nations, and the world's largest humanitarian organisation addressing hunger worldwide.
 
The UN WFP OMJ seeks to appoint a suitably qualified candidate as Programme Assistant in support of the Regional Bureau for Southern Africa, based in Johannesburg.

This position is open to both male and female candidates. Qualified female candidates are particularly encouraged to apply.
 
Responsibilities:

Under the direct supervision of the Chief of Government Affairs and Policy, the Programme Assistant will be responsible for the following duties: 

• Prepare projections of budget requirements based on incoming data from country offices and regional programme officers and input data into the WFP Information Systems;
• Monitor budgetary requirements and initiate remittance action through the WFP Information Systems;

• Draft correspondence pertaining to programmatic support to Governments and country offices;
• Maintain a selected number of administrative control records, such as for commitments and expenditures, travel, insurance, procurement and other;
• Analyse and process requests for a variety of data; Input, review for accuracy and file a variety of data from computer files, records, reports or from other sources for external use;
• Make computations, calculations and estimates and prepare reports including forms, tables, charts and other;
• Design and update charts and tables utilizing graphic software, design hard copy and computer resident forms; initiate, update and track computer assisted processing of administrative actions;
• Review and reconcile a variety of financial and operational reports;

• Using WFP’s Information Systems, enter new and revised data such as fund reservations, purchase requisitions and cost information;
• Monitor on-going government partnerships, cost sharing arrangements, fund reservations and other data;

• Initiate and process administrative actions such as those found in human resources, travel, procurement and disbursement;
• Review supporting documentation, verify claims for action and conformance with administrative rules and regulations and liaise with other offices as appropriate;
• Respond to queries from a variety of sources by providing available information and provide advice and guidance on rules and regulations related to area of work or direct to the most appropriate source;
• Arrange meetings such as workshops and seminars;
• Make travel arrangements in line with administrative rules and procedures;
• Liaise with other units to resolve issues and clarify or obtain additional information;
• Assist in conducting training of field staff on programme and budget management, as necessary;
• Draft correspondence relating to the area of responsibility;
• Set up, classify and maintain accurate records and files within the field of work;
• Initiate and modify automated transactions;
• Perform other related duties, as required.

Results expected:

• Processing of work and related follow up done under general supervision. Use of own discretion to address unforeseen situations seeking advice from and/or reporting to supervisor as applicable. Produces organised, accurate and well documented records conforming to required format with well analysed data.

Requirements:  

• Completion of secondary school education (Grade 12 or equivalent), preferably supplemented by courses in a field related to WFP programmatic activities;
• Minimum of four years experience of progressively responsible support or secretarial work experience including at least two years in the field of accounting, transport, insurance, statistics, operations or other related field. At least one year at G4 level or equivalent;
• Experience utilizing computers including word processing, spreadsheet and other standard WFP software packages and systems;
• General knowledge of UN systems policies, rules, regulations and procedures governing human resources administration;
• Ability to spell and write correctly in English;
• Ability to communicate moderately complex matters clearly and concisely;
• Ability to maintain accurate and precise records and to interpret and analyse a variety of data and resolve discrepancies;
• Ability to work accurately and systematically to identify and resolve data discrepancies and operational problems;
• Ability to perform detailed work and to handle a large volume of work quickly and accurately under time constraints;
• Courtesy, tact and the ability to work effectively with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Fluency in both written and oral English;
• Proficiency in French and/or Portuguese;
• Formal training in administration;
• Knowledge of WFP administrative manual in the area of finance, budget, human resources, transport, procurement and travel;
• Experience with WINGS.

Salary: As per UN salary scale.

To apply, submit a CV, motivation letter and/or a United Nations Personal History Form (P.11), via email to: HR.Johannesburg@wfp.org, quoting Announcement No: 009/2013.  Please note that no other documents will be reviewed at this stage.

Please quote the source of this advertisement in your application - NGO Pulse Portal.

No other documents will be reviewed at this stage.

Only shortlisted candidate will be contacted.

For more about the World Food Programme, refer to www.wfp.org.

For other vacancies in the NGO sector, refer to www.ngopulse.org/vacancies.

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