Project Coordination Officer with UNDP Cambodia
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Cambodia has the youngest population in Southeast Asia mainly due to a baby-boom generation resulting from the high fertility rate in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge period (from 1980s to 1990s). According to the 2019 Census, 55.8 percent of the total 15.6 million Cambodian population are below 30 years of age. The population is now beginning to age more rapidly. In 2019, 8.9 percent of the population were aged 60 years and above, which is an increase from 5.25 percent two decades ago; the figure is expected to increase to 21 percent by 2050. In fact, by 2030, older people will comprise 10 percent of the population, the point at which societies are usually recognized as ageing. The rapid growth of the older population is attributable to two main factors – a declining fertility rate and increasing life expectancy. On average, a woman had only 2.51 children in 2019, a twofold decrease from 1990 whereas average life expectancy is now 75.5 years old as opposed to 56 in 1998 from 54 years for males and 58 years for females in 1998, it increased to 74.3 years and 76.8 years respectively 2019. These trends imply that, over the next few decades, a potentially shrinking working age population will need to support an expanding elderly population. There is a need to develop policies in support of the challenges that will arise due to ageing and an increasing dependency ratio.
In 2018, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) endorsed the National Ageing Policy 2017-2030 with a vision to expand retirement schemes for workers, improve geriatric care in health centers, promote healthy lifestyles, enforce stricter regulations against elderly abuse, consider free health care for older people, and establish older people associations across district. Recently, the RGC adopted the Action Plan Phase II 2021-2025 for the implementation of the National Ageing Policy. This ambitious plan outlines multiple actions targeting nine priority areas. It also places particular emphasis on developing the institutions, infrastructure and systemic change necessary for the National Ageing Policy to have a lasting impact.
For these national initiatives to be successfully delivered, adequate capacity is required at a local level. Accordingly, UNDP in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY) has proposed a group of projects to support and enhance institutional capacity and operationalize Cambodia’s national ageing policy, including to draw on the resource of older people at local level through establishment of Older People’s Associations (OPA) and Pagoda-based groups, to develop new strategic mechanisms to better integrate local capacity with government services, particularly health care, to identify the best models and develop the resources needed to establish a national OPA program, and to rollout the OPA program in pilot sites and then nationally.
Duties and Responsibilities
The Project Coordination Officer (Social Protection) will work under the overall supervision of the Project Manager. The incumbent is expected to work closely with the Policy Analyst (Social and Economics), and other team members in UNDP.
The Project Coordination Officer (Social Protection) will be coordinating the Ageing Policy pilot and related social protection initiatives which is a two-year pilot project, noting also field delivery may be contracted to a third-party provider. The position may also be required to take on other projects/initiatives within the scope of TOR depending on workload at the time.
In this role the incumbent will be responsible for the following:
- Coordinating and overseeing the Ageing Policy initiatives and other related social protection initiatives;
- Managing relationships, partnerships, policy, and advocacy efforts;
- Coordinating monitoring and evaluation activities of the projects/initiatives under his/her portfolio; and
- Facilitating knowledge management and sharing.
Coordinating and overseeing the Ageing Policy initiatives and other related social protection initiatives:
- Develop annual work plan and budget and ensure that the proposed activities are aligned with overall project objectives, country programme and strategic plan;
- Coordinate the execution of the workplan to achieve the targets, including guiding the teams to achieve the targets;
- Monitor the implementation of the activities by partners and provide guidance to them as required;
- Coordinate the preparation of reports;
- Develop term of reference of all required consultants and staff and participate in the recruitment process;
- Coordinate with different team to develop Letter of Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding, Low Value Grants etc.;
- Support Policy Analyst in overseeing relevant team members and consultants and quality control their outputs and performance, where necessary;
- Contribute to the preparation of Board meetings and ensure that recommendations made by the Project Board are addressed;
- Coordinate the evaluation, audit, and spot-check as needed.
Managing relationships, partnerships, policy, and advocacy efforts:
- Provide policy and strategic advice relating to ageing policy and social protection to UNDP and the project team to strengthen and scale up the partnership with the key RGC counterparts, and foster/enhance collaboration with other relevant Government bodies by building synergies and complementarities with Government counterparts and national partners;
- Contribute to seek and identify additional partnership and funding opportunities, and prepare concept notes, funding proposals, donor briefing and presentations in support of resource mobilization to advance UNDP’s and the project goals;
- Mobilize, foster and strengthen strategic partnerships with private sectors, private foundations and other relevant multilateral and bilateral organizations to advance and support the projects’ objectives;
- Establishes strong ties to and with national programmes, and relevant sectoral strategies, priorities and plans;
- Lead the analytical and policy development work of the project team.
Coordinating monitoring and evaluation activities of the projects/initiatives under his/her portfolio:
- Ensure close financial and procurement oversight and monitoring of all activities of the projects;
- Set direction for monitoring and evaluation priorities in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations;
- Guide development of overall monitoring and evaluation systems for the projects and put mechanisms in place for proper and timely reporting;
- Lead quarterly review meetings and annual projects reviews by monitoring the progress of project implementation, assessing results and identifying areas of weaknesses to ensure the projects achieve the planned results in accordance with relevant plans;
- Monitor and manage any strategic risks/issues facing the project; submit new risks/issues to the Board for consideration and decision on possible actions if required; update the status of these risks/issues by maintaining the Project Risks/Issues Log;
- Evaluate all key project deliverables, as well as final product to ensure traceability of requirements, high quality and client acceptance.
Facilitating knowledge management and sharing:
- Ensure regular assessment of strategic, implementation, action plans identifying areas of emphasis to guide project improvements and future plans;
- Use sound judgment in all project communication and ensure that project communication meets needs of different audiences (government, private sector and so forth);
- Manage stakeholder expectations and participate in communication activities to inform stakeholders of progress and issues;
- Establish and maintain a friendly internal communication system to ensure smooth communication among and between the project partners;
- Lead the process of knowledge creation and dissemination related to national, regional and global know-how in the areas of project focus including sustainable urban development;
- Help build the knowledge base, data, and support analytics to deliver a socioeconomic and operational case to Government;
- Contribute to the development and maintenance of the programme knowledge networks and practices and development of knowledge products; and
- Represent the project with donors, governments and national and international forums.
Competencies
Core competencies:
- Achieve Results: LEVEL1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
- Think Innovatively: LEVEL1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements
- Learn Continuously: LEVEL1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
- Adapt with Agility: LEVEL1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible
- Act with Determination: LEVEL1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
- Engage and Partner: LEVEL1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
- Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination
Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:
Business Direction & Strategy
- Strategic Thinking: Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP’s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions; Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP
- Effective Decision Making: Ability to take decisions in a timely and efficient manner in line with one’s authority, area of expertise and resources
Business Management
- Results-based Management: Ability to manage programmes and projects with a focus at improved performance and demonstrable results
- Project Management: Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals
- Partnerships Management: Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies
- Monitoring : Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Master’s Degree in development studies, economics/ economic development, political science, sociology, or related fields;
- Bachelor’s degree in development studies, economics/ economic development, political science, sociology, or related fields, with additional years of experiences.
Experience:
- Zero year (for master’s degree) or two years (for bachelor’s degree) of professional experiences in project coordination and management ageing policy, social protection related initiatives;
- Solid experience in undertaking analysis, research and policy advocacy;
- Good understanding of Cambodia’s pension system and public health and social protection system is an advantage;
- Demonstrated ability to communicate and deal effectively with partners including government, academia, civil society, private sector, UN and other development donors to address relevant issue and to ensure the greater impact of the projects/ programmes;
- Experience working and coordinating multi-stakeholder development initiatives, government counterparts, UN and donor agencies would be an asset.
- Solid experiences in project management (design, implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of development projects), in coordination with multi-stakeholders and in establishing relationships among governments.
- Prior experience working with national and subnational government officials in the management of resources;
- Familiarity with procedure of UN and various donor agencies would be an asset.
Language requirement :
- Very good spoken and written Khmer and English
Note: This position is open for Cambodia nationals only
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