Programme Analyst

The Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS) consists of its presence across 16 Country Offices, the Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (PAPP), the Amman Regional Hub, and its Headquarters as RBAS New York. RBAS New York is responsible for the overall strategic vision and direction, strategic, substantive, and operational support to Country Offices, including partnerships and communications, and oversight of performance. The Bureau delivers on average $1 billion in development assistance through Country Offices and regional initiatives; it has a resource base of $900 million on average; and contributes to thought leadership through research, analysis, and publications. 

In that context, RBAS New York is responsible for the provision of executive leadership and executive representation, including in corporate leadership mechanisms (such as the Executive Group (EG) and the Organizational Performance Group (OPG). It provides strategic direction, vision, and priority setting for UNDP in the Arab States region. It provides guidance, strategic direction, and overall quality assurance related to country and regional level programming and operations, partnerships, advocacy, thought leadership, strategic initiatives, oversight, and accountability. It ensures quality and coherence of synergies across the Regional Bureau’s functions and geographic locations, including through internal communications. 

Under the overall guidance and supervision  of  the Regional Director  and  in close  coordination  with the Special Assistant to the Director, the Programme Analyst provides support to the Directorate on matters pertaining to the management of Economist network and various activities under purview of the Directorate. The Analyst ensures to apply administrative rules and regulations and establish internal operational procedures to enable the smooth functioning of the Bureau,  including management of  information flow  and  follow up  on  deadlines and  commitments  made. The Programme Analyst  works in close collaboration with the Operations, Management& Planning Team, the Partnerships & Communications Team, the Country Support &Oversight Team, and the Amman Regional Hub, as well as other units in UNDP. 

UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.

Coordinate effective planning,  engagements and implementation of the RBAS Economist Network 

• Coordinate planning process and ensure the work plan and a fully costed budget are prepared based on sound capacity assessments and in accordance with UNDP POPP/PPM Guidelines. 
• Coordinate / manage the day-to-day activities of the assigned portfolio and the overall implementation process, including monitoring and optimization of the use of resources and to ensure the successful achievement of objectives and results specified in the approved workplan. 
• Ensure implementation activities are in alignment with UNDP policy and programme management procedures and all project interventions integrate a gender equality perspective/gender equality mainstreaming to the extent local context allows.
• Assist the Directorate to ensure that all activities are prepared in a timely manner and implemented in accordance with stated outcomes and performance indicators;
• Assist the Directorate to prepare and timely submission of technical and progress reports to the donor, partners, and UNDP;
• Extend support to develop terms of reference and technical specifications of consultants and contractors requiring procurement;
• Ensure operational management of assigned portfolio including through timely procurement of goods, services and/or infrastructure (as relevant), effective management of human, technical and financial resources, etc. 

Facilitate knowledge and capacity building, knowledge sharing and advocacy relevant to the RBAS Economist Network. 

• Organize training, workshops, and capacity building activities in a consultative manner, involving technical experts and stakeholders that may include the government, private sector, NGOs, donors, and/or academia.
• Identify, synthesize and document best practices and lessons learned that are generated from the project and implementing partners.
• Participate in and ensure sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice on project related issues. Support establishment of knowledge platforms for the project, facilitate innovative mechanisms for dissemination of knowledge from the project, and develop knowledge resources and products to share with project partners and to support UNDP’s engagement in this area. 
• Promote advocacy on development trends and opportunities to collaborate in coordination with the project partners, stakeholders, and UNDP communications staff. 
• The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the RBAS directorate.

Institutional Arrangement

The Project Analyst works under the general supervision of the Regional Director and collaborates closely with the Special Assistant to the Regional Director.

 Core Competencies 

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements 
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination 

Technical and Cross-Functional Competencies:

• Business Direction & Strategy
  • 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 system
• Business Development:
  • Knowledge Facilitation: Ability to animate individuals and communities of contributors to participate and share, particularly externally
  • 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
  • Communication: 
    • Ability to 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 channels
  • 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
• Partnership 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 understanding