Project Assistant United Nations Development Programme Experience: 3 to 5 Years Ankara, Turkey Apply By: 10-09-2024

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) positions itself as a development partner that brings global knowledge and expertise, through a multi-sectoral approach and concentrates its work on areas to support the implementation of Türkiye’s development agenda through project implementation and policy advice. These areas are: 1) Inclusive and Sustainable Growth; 2) Inclusive and Democratic Governance; and 3) Climate Change and Environment. In addition, UNDP also plays a key role in supporting the Government of Türkiye with the refugee response through its Syria Crisis Response and Resilience Programme relying on its experience in three major areas (i.e. livelihoods and facilitation of job creation, municipal service delivery, youth empowerment and protection/social cohesion).

The overall objective of UNDP’s work in Inclusive and Democratic Governance (IDG) aims to contribute to strengthening governance processes and institutions that are responsive to citizens’ demands and universal norms. The IDG Portfolio focuses on the fields of rule of law and human rights, responsive and accountable institutions (public administration reform) and border management, as well as women’s empowerment and gender equality as a cross cutting area. It contributes to strengthening the independence of institutions, particularly judicial actors and national human rights mechanisms. It addresses structural issues pertaining to the rule of law, access to justice and human rights including with respect to gender, participation, and accountability. Support is provided to the relevant institutions to enhance the implementation of local administration reforms and border management. Women’s empowerment is at the core of UNDP’s initiatives. Incorporation of gender mainstreaming to all interventions is a priority for the inclusive and democratic governance technical assistance. In addition, the IDG Portfolio is also contributing to the Syria Crisis Response, in line with the resilience approach within the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan, complementing the efforts of the Government in the areas of inclusion and social cohesion.

• Strengthened Civic Engagement for Enhanced Democratic Local Governance in Turkey Project is a key project funded by the EU Funds (IPA II funding) under IDG Portfolio of UNDP Türkiye. The main beneficiary of the Project is Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (UMT) and co-beneficiary is Ministry of Interior, Directorate General for Relations with Civil Society (DGRCS). The project is planned to be implemented nationwide and specifically in 7 pilot provinces, which are Manisa, Trabzon, Eskişehir, Elazığ, Çanakkale, Mersin and Gaziantep.
• As the long-term overall objective, the Project aims that civil society and public institutions at local level work in partnership through dialogue and cooperation – on the basis of willingness, trust and mutual acknowledgment, on common interests and policy making. As the intermediate overall objective, it targets to create an enabling and sustainable environment for volunteerism in Türkiye.

Specific objectives of the Project are:

• Establishing sustainable partnerships between CSOs and local authorities to increase awareness of civil society’s engagement in policy making processes, through innovative enhanced community-based initiatives and the promotion of volunteerism in Türkiye.
• Promoting volunteerism in Türkiye at local and national level, including an improved legal framework.

The project aims to achieve the below listed 4 results: 

• Civic Engagement Strategies and two-year Action Plans for CSO/local authorities’ partnership developed
• Local Authorities’ and CSOs’ capacities developed through training programmes and small grants programme
• Proposals on legislative regulations concerning volunteerism in Türkiye developed
• Capacities and awareness of UMT, DGRCS, CSOs and local authorities increased

Scope of Work:

• Under the supervision of the Chief Technical Advisor / Project Manager, Project Assistant will be responsible for the day to day Project support to the project team and administration. Project Assistant will be responsible for providing support to the required field and any administrative activities that Project management may require. S/he will be in close collaboration with project team.
• S/he will work in a close collaboration with the staff of the Project Services Centre (PSC) as well as Operational Units on HR, Procurement and Finance, to expedite project implementation and seek guidance and solve implementation bottlenecks.
• In line with the above-mentioned focus, Project Assistant will provide day-to- day project implementation services in Administrative, Financial and Procurement Actions to the relevant Project. Specifically, under each domain, s/he is expected to provide high-quality services, including but not limited to the following tasks:

Duties

Key Results Expected / MajorFunctional Activities

Administrative Duties

• Assist the Project team in the administration and implementation of the daily project activities
• Support in conducting desk and/or field research activities within the scope of the Project and its Components
• Provide administrative and logistical support for the organization of events, workshops and meetings and attend in person as required by PM.
• Assist the Project team, including consultants, in making the necessary project related travel arrangements (i.e. travel tickets, hotel reservations, DSAs, etc)
• Perform any other administrative and logistical duties as requested by the Project Team
• Organize and keep updated the files of the project on the cloud storage
• Accountable for the maintenance of all office equipment and maintenance inventory / supply records and their use and will be responsible from transfer of title equipment at the closure stage of the project.
• Taking care of project communication activities especially on design of invitations, creation of social media posts and etc
• Draft correspondence and documents; assist in finalization of administrative correspondence.
• Contribute to the project activity, progress and final reports with their annexes and prepare the official letters for hardcopy submission of the reports;
• Provide administrative support to the Component 2-CESGP when required by PM.

 Financial Duties

• Ensure financial operations of the project, such as payment processing, requisitions, purchase orders, project records, etc. through the corporate software (Quantum) of the UNDP
• Ensure the follow-up of payments made in due time by the UNDP Türkiye office
• Enters payments provided from Quantum to the EU funded projects-based reporting
• Certify expenditures for approval of payments and monitor/control budget expenditures
• Coordinates and acts as focal point for issues relating to finance. 

Procurement Duties

• Provide soft assistance to the Project team during procurement, processes as required and when necessary
• Contributing to the procurement actions with documentation, filing, reaching out potential vendors, etc.
• Follow up UNDP administrative procedures in terms of procurement and/or finance.

 Coordination of communication and visibility activities

• Translate documents from English to Turkish and vice versa
• Translate consecutively from English to Turkish or vice versa when needed
• Participate and develop initial drafts of technical and managerial meeting reports/minutes in Turkish and (if deemed necessary) in English
• Provide assistance to the Project team in filing related information, documentation and correspondences
• Facilitate continuous communication, cooperation and collaboration between all experts, project partners and UNDP
• Assist in telephone inquiries, mail and e-mail transmissions and co-ordination of appointments
• Support in preparation, review and editing of all written and visual materials, reports and presentations including publications within the scope of the Project and its Components
• Taking care of project communication activities especially on design of invitations, creation of social media posts and etc
• Support preparation of the content for the project’s web site and UNDP Türkiye CO’s social media accounts, ensuring consistency of project activities.

Source: https://estm.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1/requisitions/job/20375