Programme Management Office (prmo) - Senior Officer

Job Highlight
Strengthen project delivery across West Africa, enhancing portfolio performance and advancing sustainable development.
Role Purpose
The role of the PMO - Senior Officer is to support the Head of PMO, the Head of Programme and the Senior Management to exercise Governance over the MCO Portfolio. S/he provides Oversight, Advisory and decision-enabling functions to assigned portfolios in the Multi-Country Office. The PMO - Senior Officer supports the facilitation of the successful and consistent delivery of projects in their assigned portfolios while facilitating a balanced MCO-wide Outlook of the portfolio.
S/he guides the projects and Project Managers in applying best practice in order to capitalize on the model of excellence of UNOPS. The successful candidate provides continuous guidance and limited support to Project Teams, while ensuring that the entire portfolio team is knowledgeable and works collectively towards the organization’s strategic goals and commitments to our partners.
Functions / Key Results Expected

• Development & Planning
  

Provide support to project management teams in facilitating the implementation of appropriate standards and best practices in line with UNOPS policies and procedures
Assist in coordinating the development, consolidation and tracking progress of other Units’ plans
Support PMs and PMSOs with the establishment, monitoring and delivery of business and programme level strategies, plans, targets, indicators and work plans, verifying budgets against forecasts, ensure this is done properly
Ensure projects in the development of Gender Action Plan; and monitor that the plans are followed through
Develop and establish resource tracking systems for use within the PMO, complementary to UNOPS' online tools, to ensure effective planning, forecasting and tracking of delivery across the Country Office.
Ensure the project team to identify and anticipate potential risks and issues in a timely manner, and escalate to the HoP and management team as necessary
Work closely and support the project team in project setup, implementation and closure activities
Establish standards and monitor the use of configuration management systems in the Country Office
Monitor and ensure that projects have project implementation plan, HR plan, procurement plan, quality management plans, stakeholder engagement plan, and the plans are properly followed through.

• Monitoring, Evaluation & Reporting
  

Ensure regular project and corporate reports are issued in accordance with client, donor and corporate guidelines and standards
Facilitate implementation of corporate standards, initiatives and requirements across the Country Office in coordination with the WAMCO PMO team lead
Regularly review project status and monitor progress through output tracking tables, assist and advise PMs for any irregularities observed
Assess projects’ health against key performance indicators (scope, cost, schedule, quality and risk); and escalate issues in a timely manner
Monitor project documentations are complete and up to date including plans and progress reports are maintained as required by UNOPS standard procedures
Ensure timely UNOPS internal reporting requirements
Coordinate the effective preparation and organization of office, portfolio and project level quarterly assurance,
Assist in the coordination of organizational risks and issues management at the business unit level and advise Country Office management on mitigating and remedial actions. Provide risk and issue management support to programs and project teams
Provide routine oversight and analysis of delivery and project closure data, supporting the PMO team lead in the development of quarterly and periodic analysis, as well as tracking of business unit, operational, and project level
issues, risks and lessons learned within the dashboard and other UNOPS systems, as required
Ensure that all projects have a result framework and dashboard for monitoring outputs and activities
Within the context of monitoring and evaluation, ensure all projects submit and regularly update specific milestones and targets for the duration of projects' life-cycles, and track progress
Monitor the Health, Safety, Social and Environmental (HSSE) country focal has prepared HSSE plans and reported periodically
Monitor and review project’s monthly progress reports; and identify cross-cutting issues that require action and follow up.

• Stakeholder Engagement
  

Ensure that all projects has a dedicated stakeholder management and communication plan
Assist the PM in the stakeholder profiles and facilitate the formulation of stakeholder engagement strategies
Enable the formulation of programme and project communications plans
Coordinate stakeholder engagement and communication, ensuring effective timing and interdependency management of communications across programmes and projects
Coordinate internal programme/project communications
Monitor the effectiveness of programme/project communications.

• Quality Assurance
  

Work with internal audit and finance to ensure the programme complies with audit requirements
Support the operations units and personnel to ensure alignment with programme and project needs/requirements
Contribute towards full compliance with UNOPS standards for corporate/ programme/ project management
Coordinate quality reviews of programme/project documents, plans and reports. Provide quality control for management products (project documents, reports, etc.) as and where required
Assist the Project Manager, Project Coordinator and PMO team lead in supporting key stakeholders to continuously identify and improve operational processes relevant to project implementation
Assist knowledge management efforts through documentation of best practices, regularly organizing and facilitating lessons learnt and closure workshops
Implement capacity building activities for the project team on identified gaps.

• Knowledge and innovation Management
  

Support the Country Office and WAMCO Programme Leadership Team in improving local hub working practices particularly in the areas of:
Planning & Schedule Management
Performance Monitoring through enhanced Project Control Metric Regime and Performance Management Interventions to facilitate enhanced project and programme levels of service
Contract & Risk Assurance.
Ensure routine and effective capacity building activities are conducted in order to build the long-term and sustainable capacity of national staff
Participate in, and advocate PMs' participation in, relevant Communities of Practice
Actively interact with PMs and the wider PM community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices in the Knowledge System
Provides feedback to Practice Leads on policy and supporting guidance working to achieve continuous improvement of UNOPS policies
Contributes to the oversight of lessons learned procedures, ensuring that lessons learnt are shared in a timely and appropriate manner.
The Project Management Office (PMO) - Senior Officer directly impacts on achievement of project results by assisting the Head of Programme to implement effective project management methods and strategies, reduce risks, cut costs and improve success rates.
This consequently reinforces the visibility and image of the UNOPS as an effective service provider in project services and management and strengthens its competitive position as a partner of choice in sustainable development and project services.
Education Requirements
Required
Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Project Management with 4 years of relevant experience OR
Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Project Management with 2 years of relevant experience is required.
Desired
PRINCE2 Practitioner certification is highly desirable.
Required
Experience Requirements
Relevant experience is work in project management.
Desired

• Experience of working in multicultural environments or UN system organizations in a developing country is desired.
• Experience in development or humanitarian contexts is desired
• Experience with data analysis, management reporting and project management tools and information management systems is a strong advantage
• Experience working in developing countries (especially Africa) is a strong advantage Experience working in an international environment is highly desired
• Experience dealing with government officials is an advantage
• Experience working on infrastructure project is an advantage

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