Programme Specialist – Programme Management and Support (PMSU)

Job Posting Organization:
ONU Femmes, established in July 2010, is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. It was created as part of the UN reform agenda to consolidate resources and mandates for greater impact, merging the work of four previously distinct entities focused on gender equality and women's empowerment. ONU Femmes operates globally, advocating for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls, promoting women's empowerment, and ensuring gender equality as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action, peace, and security" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">security. The organization emphasizes diversity and inclusion, ensuring a respectful environment for all employees, regardless of race, religion, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Job Overview:
The Programme Specialist – PMSU plays a crucial role in providing advisory services and technical support for the development, implementation, monitoring, and quality assurance of programs and projects within the office. Reporting directly to the Country Representative, the specialist is responsible for enhancing results-based management, portfolio performance, partner management, programmatic compliance, and risk monitoring. This position requires close collaboration with program and operations teams, the regional office, and implementation partners. The role is primarily analytical, consultative, and monitoring in nature, ensuring that it does not replace the responsibilities of Project Managers or the transactional, financial, internal control, and approval responsibilities of Operations and competent authorities.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide advisory services and ensure quality management of programs and projects by offering technical advice on applicable policies, procedures, standards, and institutional tools. Ensure quality control of concept notes, project documents, results frameworks, work plans, and other programmatic documents before applicable review and approval stages. Ensure coherence between strategic priorities, results, indicators, activities, work plans, approved budgets, and available resources. Identify risks, anomalies, and bottlenecks in implementation, formulate recommendations, and follow up on corrective actions with relevant stakeholders. Advise teams on institutional quality assurance mechanisms at various stages of the program and project cycle.
• Monitor portfolio performance and budget alignment by conducting periodic analyses of programmatic and budget execution against results, work plans, deadlines, and approved budgets. Prepare dashboards and analytical notes highlighting progress, gaps, risks, delays, and required actions for decision-making. Monitor the portfolio and assist program managers in timely preparation of revisions, budget reallocations, extensions, and closures as needed. Periodically check the consistency and quality of information recorded in institutional systems and follow up on corrections with data owners. Contribute to periodic performance reviews of the office by providing data, analyses, and recommendations on program and project implementation.
• Strengthen partner management, monitoring, and assurance by providing technical support and quality assurance to partner selection processes, including verifying completeness of files, selection modalities, capacity assessments, and documentation of decisions. Maintain consolidated tracking of agreements, amendments, narrative and financial reports, outstanding advances, capacity assessments, and partner closures, reporting delays or risks to relevant stakeholders. Coordinate with Project Managers and Operations to ensure partners comply with agreements, work plans, approved budgets, reporting deadlines, and capacity-building measures. Consolidate tracking of audits and assurance activities of partners, including financial and non-financial findings, action plans, responsible parties, deadlines, and status of corrective measures. Support Project Managers in following up on audit recommendations with partners and bring to management's attention any blockages, delays, and high-risk findings.
• Enhance capacity and knowledge management by periodically assessing learning needs of staff and partners regarding program, project, and partner management, and contributing to the development of a capacity-building plan. Design and facilitate orientations, training, and targeted support sessions on procedures, institutional systems, management practices, and compliance requirements. Document and disseminate best practices, lessons learned, tools, and solutions developed in portfolio management. Provide targeted support to high-visibility or high-risk projects in coordination with office management and the regional office.
• Support reporting and internal coordination of the portfolio by coordinating the tracking of reporting deadlines and ensuring the quality of contributions prepared by program managers, verifying coherence between reported results, indicators, financial data, and available supporting documents. Facilitate information flow and functional coordination between program and operations teams, office management, and the regional office on portfolio management issues. Provide data and analyses on portfolio performance upon request that can inform reports, briefing notes, or proposals, without being responsible for resource mobilization or donor relations management. Perform any other related tasks as required by the supervisor.

Required Qualifications:

• Education and Certification: A Master's degree or equivalent in business administration, social sciences, international development, gender studies, international relations, program/project management, or a related field is required. A bachelor's degree combined with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of a master's degree. Certification in PRINCE2®, Project Management Professional (PMP®), Managing Successful Programmes (MSP®), or equivalent is an asset.
• Experience: At least five (5) years of progressively responsible professional experience in development, management, monitoring, performance analysis, or quality assurance of programs and projects is required. Demonstrated experience in preparing or reviewing project documents, results frameworks, work plans, reports, and high-quality analytical notes is required. Experience in results-based management, programmatic and budget monitoring, partner management, risk management, or monitoring audits and assurance activities is desirable. Experience in an international organization is required; prior experience within the United Nations system is an asset. Proficiency in office software, spreadsheets, databases, and web-based management systems is required. Experience with a modern web-based ERP, preferably Oracle Cloud/Quantum, as well as institutional program management systems is desirable.

Educational Background:
A Master's degree or equivalent in relevant fields such as business administration, social sciences, international development, gender studies, international relations, or program/project management is required. A bachelor's degree combined with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of a master's degree. Relevant certifications in project management methodologies such as PRINCE2® or PMP® are considered advantageous.

Experience:
The position requires at least five years of progressively responsible experience in relevant fields, including development, management, monitoring, and quality assurance of programs and projects. Candidates should have a proven track record in preparing and reviewing high-quality project documents and reports, as well as experience in results-based management and partner management. Experience in international organizations, particularly within the United Nations system, is highly valued.

Languages:
Fluency in French is required. Proficiency in English is also required due to interactions with the regional office, headquarters, and other UN Women units. Knowledge of another official UN language is considered an asset.

Additional Notes:
The position is based in Bangui, Central African Republic, and is under the direct supervision of the Country Representative of UN Women. The role does not involve direct supervisory responsibilities at this stage but requires functional coordination with program and operations teams on relevant processes. The job may involve working in a challenging environment, and candidates should be prepared for the unique circumstances of the region. The organization promotes a zero-tolerance policy towards behaviors incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination.