Project Manager

Contract

This is a NPSA-11 contract. This kind of contract is known as National Personnel Services Agreement. It is normally only for nationals. It usually requires 7 years of experience, depending on education. More about NPSA-11 contracts.

Background

Within the context of SDG Financing, UNDP has launched the Finance Sector Hub, which is a finance and innovation platform that draws on a critical mass of UNDP expertise, initiatives, and partnerships to support the mobilization and leveraging of resources for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and lead the implementation of the new UNDP private sector strategy. As part of UNDP’s Finance Sector Hub, development finance has a central role to play in delivering support to the UN member-countries, in leveraging new sources of capital, offsetting high debt burdens, and in innovating for long term solutions to challenges around climate change, disaster resilience, and fragile ecosystems.

The Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development (IICPSD) is the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Global Policy Center mandated to leverage the role of the private sector in development. The IICPSD was established in Istanbul, Turkey on the basis of the Partnership Framework Agreement signed between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the United Nations Development Program in March 2011. The Center is one of the six global thematic centers of UNDP, advocating and facilitating the contribution of the private sector to human development and inclusive growth through the following thematic priority areas:

• Inclusive Business Models

• Role of the Private Sector in Skills Development

• Impact Investment

• Private Sector Resilience and Crisis Response.

Furthermore, the Center supports the UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) by leading UNDP’s strategic offer to partner and work with the private sector.

Under its impact investment thematic area, IICPSD and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) established the Global Islamic Finance and Impact Investing Platform (GIFIIP) in 2016 to position Islamic finance and impact investing as leading enablers of SDG implementation around the world. Bringing together the private sector, governments and key stakeholders operating in the Islamic finance and impact investing markets, the platform aims to promote market-based solutions to sustainable development challenges. It focuses on enabling the private sector, using Islamic finance in tandem with impact investing to achieve SDGs on a global scale.

As part of GIFIIP and the broader Islamic finance portfolio, the Center designs and implements activities to support the Country Offices, partners and stakeholders from both public and private sector. The activities include, but not limited to, developing Islamic finance backed innovative financing mechanisms such as microfinancing, credit guarantee funds, Green Sukuk products as well as designing capacity building activities such as training programmes and awareness raising activities.

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Center’s Deputy Director, the Project Manager will lead and be responsible for the activities and projects ongoing and planned under the Islamic finance portfolio of the Center including overall management and coordination of GIFIIP’s workplan and activities. The Project Manager will also provide substantive and administrative support in the design and implementation of knowledge management activities of IICPSD in the Islamic finance area, which includes research, toolkit and training development for initiatives of the center, cooperation, technical advisory and implementation assistance offered to other UNDP units, including Country Offices and Regional Bureaus. The Project Manager will promote organization’s capacity as a reliable partner with national as well as international counterparts, ensure coordination of sectoral activities with broader country/regional/global programmes and advocate on behalf of organization’s goals.

For more information on IICPSD and GIFIIP activities, please visit https://www.iicpsd.undp.org/content/istanbul/en/home.html and http://www.gifiip.org/.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance of and reporting directly to the UNDP IICPSD Deputy Director, the Project Manager will be responsible for, but not limited to, the following key functions:

Effective implementation and coordination of the GIFIIP workplan as well as Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) platform:

• Coordinate and follow up on the whole process of GIFIIP work plan.
• Coordinate strategic consultations and discussions with partners.
• Supervise consultancy works and review and assess products/services provided by consultants and expert counterparts and notify/advise the Deputy Director on quality and recommend appropriate actions for results improvement.
• Draft terms of reference for local short-term and long-term consultants and support the related recruitment and procurement processes as may be required.
• Coordinate the development of the content for MOOC including curriculums, presentations, multiple-choice exam questions and storylines for recording per module.
• Ensure maintenance and continuous development of the course content.

Coordinating formulation, management and evaluation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing activities of IICPSD in the Islamic finance field:

• Conduct thorough analysis and research of the role of private sector in Islamic finance focusing on good practices and lessons learned that enhance inclusive growth.
• Coordinate preparation of high-quality policy and programme guidance materials for fields such as innovative Islamic financing mechanisms and the Islamic finance ecosystem.
• Update IICPSD and GIFIIP websites and social media accounts on a regular basis with relevant material, highlighting key events and achievements.
• Analyze and synthesize proposals on the areas for support and interventions within the Islamic finance area.
• Conduct the necessary internal procedures related to editing, design, clearance of documents and advocacy materials.
• Lead the preparation of annual, ad-hoc project reports, submission, presentation to contributors, and other relevant stakeholders, with a special view to capturing lessons learned and best practices for improving the performance of the Islamic finance portfolio.

Development of strategic partnerships and implementation of the outreach and resource mobilization strategy:

• Develop communication materials including press releases, speeches, briefs, and blogposts.
• Organize a launch event at either FfD Forum and/or Annual Meeting of IsDB or another global event to promote MOOC.
• Organize and coordinate roundtable discussions, press conferences, briefing sessions, conferences, workshops, retreats, national and international events.
• Design and formulate IICPSD activities within the area of responsibility, translating IICPSD’s priorities into local and international interventions and partnerships.
• Apply conceptual models in support of partnership and intervention design.
• Analyze and research information on donors, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for initiation of new projects.
• Initiate and maintain partnerships with development partners, government institutions, private sector, civil society and other stakeholders to contribute to the achievement of the IICPSD’s objectives.
• Identify related ongoing activities within other institutions and encourage collaboration and synergies.
• Prepare any follow-on project proposals as per the needs identified by UNDP/donor.
• Lead communication, advocacy, and outreach activities for smooth implementation in line with the respective guidelines of UNDP.
• Represent UNDP as requested in relevant national/regional/global seminars, meetings of work groups and panels, and meetings in this thematic area.

Provision of top-quality advisory services to the relevant stakeholders and facilitation of knowledge building and management:

• Provide inputs to preparation of the team results-oriented workplans.
• Manage the archive of briefings, meeting minutes and PPT presentations, update them regularly and guide internal partners towards the most appropriate advice.
• Contribute to knowledge networks and communities of practice.
• Serve as the entry point from UNDP Country Offices into IICPSD for Islamic finance.

Institutional Arrangement

The Project Manager will work under the direct supervision of the IICPSD Deputy Director and in close collaboration with the other IICPSD and FSH team members.

Competencies

• Proven experience and knowledge in the design and development of educatory and research content for Islamic finance, preferably with a perspective on sustainable development or social finance is a requirement.
• Proven experience in research and analysis of the Islamic finance ecosystem and financial tools as well as their relevance to the sustainable development is a requirement.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) is required.
• Experience in organization of events, conferences etc. is an asset.
• Experience of working with international organizations and managing multi-stakeholder partnership projects is an asset.
• Knowledge on visibility standards and rules of UNDP is desirable.
• Knowledge of the UN system would be an asset.
• Experience in handling of web-based management systems is an advantage.

Required Skills and Experience

• Master's degree in finance, Islamic finance, economics, development finance, business, or a related area. PHD in the related area is an asset.
• Minimum seven (7) years of progressively responsible working experience in Islamic finance, project/program coordination, analysis or closely related area is required.
• Proficiency in English and Turkish is required.
• Working knowledge of other UN language desirable.