Infrastructure and Project Management Specialist (Infrastructure Finance) - Strategic Initiatives (retainer)

Contract

This is a IICA-2 contract. This kind of contract is known as International Individual Contractor Agreements. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's an external contract. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education. More about IICA-2 contracts.

Background Information - UNOPS

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

Background information - Implementation Practices and Standards (IPS)

Within UNOPS, Implementation Practices and Standards (IPS) is responsible for the UNOPS delivery practices. IPS provides thought leadership, standards and oversight as support to the successful delivery of programmes and projects within UNOPS service lines (infrastructure, procurement, project management, human resources and financial management services).

IPS is comprised of the Infrastructure and Project Management Group (IPMG) and the Procurement Group (PG) which aims to reduce organizational risks, improve project performance, and promote excellence across UNOPS projects through the Standards Management Framework; and provides organisational oversight on the application of standards. These Groups also support the positioning of UNOPS in the UN system and development sector in Infrastructure, Project Management and Procurement. In addition, the Portfolio Support (PS) unit aims at building up and managing aspects of the organisational readiness of UNOPS. Last, the IPS is hosting the corporate Knowledge Management initiative.

Background Information – IPMG

UNOPS strategic focus places increased emphasis on national capacity development and sustainable approaches to project management, procurement and infrastructure services. A key objective is to be recognized as an organization that delivers world-class infrastructure and project management, which is both economically and socially sustainable, even in the most challenging environments. To achieve this goal, UNOPS has established the Infrastructure and Project Management Group (IPMG).

Within UNOPS, IPMG’s objectives are to serve the organization’s personnel and partners by broadening their infrastructure and project management capabilities, while disseminating best-practices in both of these areas. Through this work, the group helps facilitate the successful delivery of programmes and projects around the world.

To achieve its objectives, IPMG has established three interrelated and interdependent work streams, namely, Strategic Initiatives, Standards and Engagement Assurance. IPMG is managed overall by the Deputy Director of IPMG.

Background Information - Job-specific

The Strategic Initiatives (SI) team works to develop methodologies and tools to improve development outcomes, as well as assist in the positioning of UNOPS at the highest levels in related fields, including various global agenda focus areas, such as resilience and sustainability.

This is a home-based assignment that may involve travelling to various locations, including remote or post-conflict environments. This job description’s functions/responsibilities/key results are generic and may not always be applicable, nor be comprehensive, for all assignments or missions under this job title. The specific tasks and deliverables for each consultancy work (retainer assignment) may vary and will be detailed in the terms of reference developed for each assignment by IPMG.

All retainer assignments will be handled via the UNOPS online retainer management tool managed by Portfolio Support (PS), including the request for the retainer’s services and the provision of feedback for each assignment.

All UNOPS personnel are required to share a common understanding of UNOPS’ and the UN’s mandate, policies and activities. To this end, UNOPS Personnel must complete a set of mandatory courses. As a UNOPS ICA retainer, you are required to complete three (3) online courses upon signature of your contract and before commencing any retainer assignment related to Ethics and Integrity, the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Security awareness while on an official mission. These courses are available for free on the UNOPS learning platform and shall be completed within the first three months following the contract signature, at no cost for UNOPS.

Purpose and Scope of Assignment

Reporting to the Sustainable & Resilient Infrastructure Specialist, within the Strategic Initiatives team, the successful incumbent will be responsible for providing technical support to Strategic Initiatives activities that relate to the financing of sustainable infrastructure. This support will be focussed on UNOPS Sustainable Infrastructure Financing Tool (SIFT).

The Sustainable Infrastructure Financing Tool (SIFT) provides an intuitive and structured approach to identifying potential sources of finance and developing an evidence-based strategy for financing a national infrastructure pipeline. SIFT can help bridge the gap between governments and infrastructure financiers to accelerate the implementation of infrastructure projects for sustainable, resilient and inclusive development.

SIFT has been developed by UNOPS in collaboration with the University of Oxford, and is a component of the UNOPS global initiative Evidence based Infrastructure (EBI).

Functional Responsibilities

The Infrastructure and Project Management Specialist (Infrastructure Finance)’s responsibilities will include:

• Provide technical expertise to refine the existing SIFT tool and develop methodologies for its application.

• Conduct expert research, collect and analyse complex data..

• Through varied regions and contexts globally and in collaboration with government and financing partners:

  • Develop new or tailor existing guidance on the application of infrastructure financing assessments to advance attracting financing to sustainable infrastructure in practice.
  • Adapt standard training material to context and deliver training on the application of SIFT assessments .
  • Develop a time-bound activity plan to implement SIFT at scale .

• Draft content for and support the development of materials to publicise and communicate SIFT to a variety of internal and external partners, at the country, regional and global level.

Education/Experience/Language requirements

Education

● Candidates must hold a Master’s Degree or higher in one of the following: Economics, Finance, or other related subject;

● Candidates with degrees in civil engineering, infrastructure or the built environment AND a minimum of an additional 2 years experience in the application of infrastructure financing may apply;

● A first-level University degree (Bachelor's or equivalent) in combination with additional 2 years of experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Work Experience

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in infrastructure finance is required;
• The above must include at least 2 years of experience working with development finance institutions and government ministries/departments (requirement);
• Further experience working in infrastructure (for example, through consultancy, academic or government positions) is considered an asset;

● Experience working with the UN, including UNOPS, is an asset;

● Experience in data collection and analysis is considered an asset;

● Experience developing methodological frameworks is considered an asset;

● Experience developing software based tools is considered an asset;

• Experience in product development and taking ideas successfully to scale would be considered an asset;
• Experience with private sector investors is considered an asset.

Languages

● Fluency in English required;

● Fluency in French and/or Spanish is desirable.

Competencies

Develops and implements sustainable business strategies, thinks long term and externally in order to positively shape the organization. Anticipates and perceives the impact and implications of future decisions and activities on other parts of the organization.(for levels IICA-2, IICA-3, LICA Specialist- 10, LICA Specialist-11, NOC, NOD, P3, P4 and above) Treats all individuals with respect; responds sensitively to differences and encourages others to do the same. Upholds organizational and ethical norms. Maintains high standards of trustworthiness. Role model for diversity and inclusion.

Acts as a positive role model contributing to the team spirit. Collaborates and supports the development of others. For people managers only: Acts as positive leadership role model, motivates, directs and inspires others to succeed, utilizing appropriate leadership styles. Demonstrates understanding of the impact of own role on all partners and always puts the end beneficiary first. Builds and maintains strong external relationships and is a competent partner for others (if relevant to the role). Efficiently establishes an appropriate course of action for self and/or others to accomplish a goal. Actions lead to total task accomplishment through concern for quality in all areas. Sees opportunities and takes the initiative to act on them. Understands that responsible use of resources maximizes our impact on our beneficiaries. Open to change and flexible in a fast paced environment. Effectively adapts own approach to suit changing circumstances or requirements. Reflects on experiences and modifies own behavior. Performance is consistent, even under pressure. Always pursues continuous improvements. Evaluates data and courses of action to reach logical, pragmatic decisions. Takes an unbiased, rational approach with calculated risks. Applies innovation and creativity to problem-solving. Expresses ideas or facts in a clear, concise and open manner. Communication indicates a consideration for the feelings and needs of others. Actively listens and proactively shares knowledge. Handles conflict effectively, by overcoming differences of opinion and finding common ground.

Additional Considerations

• A retainer Individual Contractor Agreement (ICA) is issued for a period of time during which the services of the individual contractor may be required intermittently.
• A retainer ICA will specify a unit price (e.g. amount per day actually worked). For budgetary purposes, a monetary limit will be specified at the time the ICA is awarded and issued.
• UNOPS shall have no obligation to obtain any minimum quantity of Services from the Individual Contractor during the duration of the retainer ICA.
• Payment will be made only after completion of work (if any) or reaching agreed milestones.
• A retainer ICA does not accord any exclusivity to the Individual Contractor with respect to the Services listed in the job description. UNOPS shall have no limitation on its right to obtain Services of the same kind from any other source at any time.
• UNOPS Individual Contractors must comply with the standards of conduct required of a UN civil servant, when carrying out their official UNOPS responsibilities and also all other times. This includes the standards of conduct set forth in the UN Secretary-General’s Bulletin of 9 October 2003 entitled “Special Measures for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse” (ST/SGB/2003/13) and the UN Secretary-General’s Bulletin of 18 June 2002 entitled "Regulations Governing the Status, Basic Rights and Duties of Officials other than Secretariat Officials, and Experts on Mission" (ST/SGB/2002/9) as they may be amended from time to time.
• UNOPS Individual Contractors must comply with all applicable UNOPS policies and instructions. This includes the obligation to declare any outside activity that could result in an actual or perceived conflict with the interests of the UN; as well as to refrain from using information gained through the UNOPS Individual Contractor Agreement contract for the Individual Contractor’s own purposes or to help a third party (unless the information is already in the public domain), in particular but not only in relation to procurement of works, goods and services.
• UNOPS Individual Contractors must abide by UN safety and security policies, instructions, directives, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.
• The standard terms and conditions of the UNOPS ICA as of the present date can be found at https://content.unops.org/HR-Documents/ICA_contract/Annex-A-ENGLISH.pdf

Work environment:

IPS offers a unique work environment in UNOPS headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, located in the UN City building, one of Copenhagen’s landmarks. UNOPS HQ offers a safe, family-friendly environment with multiple opportunities for networking and an active lifestyle in a city known for its excellent urban design and planning.

The IPS team is a diverse team in terms of age, nationalities and family situations. The team is inclusive and values social and athletic activities like team breakfast, Friday evening networking or sports such as sailing, climbing, running and squash. IPS is very dynamic and welcomes agility, autonomy and self-drive. The work of IPS is oriented towards exciting opportunities which have a corporate, global impact and is in touch with the whole of UNOPS. UNOPS has a hosting agreement with the Government of Denmark under which both national and international candidates are eligible for HQ-based positions. UNOPS officials are exempt from Danish taxes on UN incomes. EU citizens in particular may opt to be registered with the Danish State Administration as an EU migrant worker, and keep the rights associated with that status, or register through UNOPS with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. EU citizens may apply for the free public Danish health insurance or special health card depending on their choice of registration. Non-EU citizens will be registered by UNOPS under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and must purchase their own private health insurance.

IPS is very respectful of the UNOPS approach to work-life balance, including flexible working hours and remote working arrangements. IPS is keen on improving diversity in the team with a current focus on gender equality and equal representation.

Contract type, level and duration

Contract type: International ICA Contract level: IICA-2 Contract duration: 1 year

For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link:

https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx