Project Analyst/Business Development

Specific objectives (outputs):

Output 1.  Improved cross-river exchange of information, knowledge and experience on the export promotion mechanisms on the right bank, and awareness-raising on the opportunities provided by external trade agreements.

Output 2.  Enhanced competitiveness and joint exports of business communities from both riverbanks through improved companies’ exporting capacities and cluster and value chain development.

Output 3.  Enhanced capacities for policy formulation leading to a conducive business environment on both banks and reduction of barriers to trade and economic cooperation.

Output 4.  Expand the MSME sector in the Transnistrian region and security zone via support to new or emerging businesses, in particular women-led and with impact on the most vulnerable (migrants, young people including minorities representatives, elderly people etc.).

The Advanced Cross-river Capacities for Trade (AdTrade) Project (2019 – 2025), funded by the Swedish and British Governments and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) plans to improve living conditions by fostering cooperation between the residents of both banks of Nistru river. This goal will be achieved by providing the private sector of the left bank with access to opportunities within Moldova’s foreign trade agreements, thus contributing to an atmosphere of trust and cooperation between the two banks. The project provides for methodological and practical assistance in establishing long-term trade relations in promoting exports, as well as support for existing companies and conditions for the establishment of new enterprises, which will provide new jobs, especially for vulnerable groups.

The Project Analyst will be part of the Project Management Team (PMT) and will, under the overall supervision of the Project Manager, be responsible for managing the successful implementation of the project activities. The Project Analyst will interact closely with short-term experts. The incumbent will ensure the provision of development services and products (commensurate with the scope of the project) of the highest quality and standards to national counterparts and clients. More specifically, he/she will:

• Ensure practical coordination of assigned areas of project activities to meet expected results. Contribute to the annual activity and procurement work plans as well as budgets based on expected year end outputs. Ensure close monitoring of activities and disbursements.
• Design, plan and monitor project activities, under the supervision of the Project Manager. Ensure the high quality of the concept papers, terms of references, proposal outlines and agreements in close cooperation with service providers and/or grant recipients.
• Establish monitoring and evaluation systems. Establish a system of progress review with each of the implementing partners.
• Ensure timely submission of financial and activity reports by implementing partners and ensure harmonized reporting by recipients on key performance indicators.
• Advise service providers and/or grant recipients on strategies to facilitate results-based implementation of project activities, and ensure constant feedback on quality of their implementation, suggesting corrective measures as necessary.
• Support the selection, capacity assessment, contracting, monitoring, evaluation and audit of recipients, ensuring compliance with UNDP regulations.
• Contribute to the preparation of qualitative work plans and financial progress reports as may be required by the Project Manager. Provide close support for the preparation of procurement/contracting and financial delivery reports for UNDP management. Timely submit the above-mentioned deliverables.
• Provide regular reports to the Project manager and flag any deviations from the work plans immediately.
• Contribute to the wide dissemination and visibility of project achievements. Support mechanisms for exchange of information, experience and lessons learned at the local and national levels.
• Maintain close coordination with assigned project partners, helping at ensuring synergies and avoiding overlaps in project implementation.
• Apply UNDP programming tools and policies as explained in the Results Management Guide. Keep abreast of UNDP programming practices and maintain an optimum level of knowledge by continuous learning.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Competencies

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

Cross-Functional and Technical Competencies

• Entrepreneurial Thinking
  • Ability to create clarity around UNDP value proposition to beneficiaries and partners and to develop service offers responding to client needs based on UNDP’s organizational priorities and mandate
• 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
• Project Management
  • Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals
• Results-based Management
  • Ability to manage programmes and projects with a focus at improved performance and demonstrable results
• 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
• Design thinking
  • Solving problems by putting people at the center, visualizing ideas and making them tangible in order to improve them through and iterative process of developing and testing.
  • Strong empathy skills, being able to put yourself “in someone else’s shoes””, understand needs, abilities, preferences, motivations, (everyday) experiences from different perspectives as well as their cultural, social, economical and political contexts.
  • Ability to identify and challenge assumptions, (cognitive and social) biases and dominant mental models by generating new perspectives and frames that help redefine the problem, solution and opportunity space.
  • Being able to work with incomplete information, ambiguity and opposing views, needs and constraints and synthesize them into solutions that are viable, technically feasible and useful.
• Solutions mapping
  • Ability to engage and build rapport with vulnerable communities and get consent, facilitate participatory processes and navigate intricate power relations and cultural dynamics.
  • Having the sensitivity and ability to identify grassroots solutions, capacities, assets, coping strategies that impacted communities have developed or used to address (emerging) development challenges.
  • Being able to understand these solutions from a people’s perspective and learn about the conditions that enable or prevent communities from developing such grassroots solutions or coping mechanisms.
  • Understand how solutions and needs are paired, and how grassroots solutions can be used as an entry point to identify unaddressed or unmet development challenges and how to use these insights to inform policy design.
  • Ability to reverse engineer solutions, understanding what aspects (artefactual, principles, conditions, configuration) can be scaled and how, being able to assess their potential to be transferred to other domains, regions or contexts and build a case for that.
  • Ability to appreciate and integrate various sources of knowledge (academic, experiential, observational, traditional, indigenous) in problem solving processes. Set up structures and processes to collect ideas, solutions and facilitate matchmaking between supply and demand of solutions.

• Strong communication, strategic planning, and analytical skills;
• Excellent presentation/public speaking skills;
• Commitment to UNDP mission, vision, and values.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.), experience in handling of web-based Management systems
• A proactive approach to problem-solving.

Desired Skills:

• Experience of work in/with the Transnistrian region and a good understanding of related issues is a very strong advantage.
• Experience of Small and Medium Enterprise development is a strong asset.
• Experience in the public or private sector, development assistance and/or international organizations is a strong asset.
• Prior experience with UNDP Project management and/or implementation is an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English, Romanian and Russian is required.
• Working knowledge of one or more additional languages relevant for Moldova, including Bulgarian, Gagauzian, Romani, Ukrainian or sign language would be an asset.

Institutional Arrangement

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Project Manager, the Project Analyst/Business Development contributes to the effective and efficient implementation of the business development activities, through a range of actions contributing to the design, planning, management and monitoring of project activities. The incumbent applies and promotes the principles of results-based management (RBM), as well as a client-oriented approach consistent with UNDP rules and regulations.

The Project Analyst on Business Development works in close collaboration with the Project Team, and other project teams in the Country Office (CO) for effective achievement of results, anticipating and resolving complex programme/project-related issues and information delivery.

The incumbent is expected to exercise full compliance with UNDP programming, financial, procurement and administrative rules, regulations, policies and strategies, as well as implementation of the effective internal control systems.

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