United Nations Industrial Development Organization Job Vacancy for National Investment Promotion Country Coordinator

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. The mission of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), as described in the Lima Declaration adopted at the fifteenth session of the UNIDO General Conference in 2013, is to promote and accelerate inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) in Member States. The relevance of ISID as an integrated approach to all three pillars of sustainable development is recognized by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will frame United Nations and country efforts towards sustainable development in the next fifteen years. UNIDOs mandate is fully recognized in SDG-9, which calls to Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. The relevance of ISID, however, applies in greater or lesser extent to all SDGs. Accordingly, the Organizations programmatic focus is structured in four strategic priorities: Creating shared prosperity; Advancing economic competitiveness; Safeguarding the environment; and Strengthening knowledge and institutions.

Each of these programmatic fields of activity contains a number of individual programmes, which are implemented in a holistic manner to achieve effective outcomes and impacts through UNIDOs four enabling functions: (i) technical cooperation; (ii) analytical and research functions and policy advisory services; (iii) normative functions and standards and quality-related activities; and (iv) convening and partnerships for knowledge transfer, networking and industrial cooperation. Such core functions are carried out in Departments/Offices in its Headquarters, Regional Offices and Hubs and Country Offices.

The Directorate of Programme Development and Technical Cooperation (PTC) is responsible for providing technical cooperation services on technological and economic issues and is organized in the following departments: Department of Partnerships and Results Monitoring, Department of Agri-Business Development, Department of Trade, Investment and Innovation, Department of Energy and Department of Environment. Furthermore, PTC has a close cooperation with other field based Centers and Offices, such as the Investment and Technology Promotion Offices, forming the extended field network of UNIDO.

The Department of Trade, Investment and Innovation (TII) of UNIDO supports countries in their efforts to develop through trade, investment and innovation as drivers of socio-economic progress in the framework of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More specifically, the Investment Promotion Division (PTC/TII/INV) of TII supports countries in improving their investment and business climate and, to this end, the Division assists governments and institutions at the national and regional levels to provide better investment-related services for increasing the quality and quantity of domestic and foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. Furthermore, the Division strives to enhance the impact of domestic and foreign direct investments and to increase the rate of innovation and technology transfer emanating from these investments. The Division maintains international platforms and provides direct support for investment and technology promotion and networking in the context of its Networks of Investment and Technology Promotion Offices (ITPOs) as well as th Network of Subcontracting and Partnership Exchange (SPX) Centres.

PROJECT CONTEXT

The Project (No. 170049) represents the meso-level component of a larger Programme Supporting business-friendly and inclusive national and regional policies, and strengthening productive capabilities and value chains. The meso-level will be implemented by UNIDO in close synergy and coordination with two other implementing partners, the World Bank Group and the International Trade Centre (ITC). The World Bank Group will address the policy and investment climate reform dimensions of the Programme (the macro-level) whereas ITC will work at the micro-level to upgrade small-call private sector actors in defined value chains. The meso-level component will both feed into and receive information from the macro and the micro-levels thereby augmenting the overall impact of the intervention compared to a stand-alone intervention.

At the meso-level, the Project focuses on institutional capacity building of investment promotion institutions (IPAs) and, more specifically, national-level Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs). Capacity building will aim at strengthening investment promotion capabilities, business support programmes, marketing, monitoring, and partnerships for better coordinated and more encompassing investment promotion efforts. Based on a robust empirical foundation of foreign direct investment (FDI) firm-level investor data, which will be collected/updated through the Project, IPIs will be able to better monitor FDI and its various impact channels necessary to achieve country- and regional-level Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Investment project profiles will be collected for global dissemination to potential foreign direct investors leveraging UNIDOs Networks such as the Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) Networks and the Network of Subcontracting and Partnership Exchange (SPX) Centres.

The Project Document can be found under: https://open.unido.org/projects/C6/projects/170049.

Duty Station: Accra, Ghana
Approximate Duration: 12 months (with 3 months probation)

Main Functions

The general tasks of the National Investment Promotion Country Coordinator will be as follows:

– coordinate local counterparts and ensure that the roles and responsibilities as defined in existing work programmes, job descriptions, agreements are adhered to in a timely manner and with sufficient focus on output quality;
– he/she will hold frequent meetings with the implementing partners and project beneficiaries at the country level;
– he/she will interact frequently with EU Delegation in countries, with other focal points of the micro & macro-level component and ACP country-level focal points;
– he/she supports the CTA in the planning and organizing of capacity building interventions, workshops and conferences;
– he/she ensures constant and timely reporting to UNIDO HQs.

The consultant will report to and regularly interact with the Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) of the Programme who oversees the work of the Programme Management Unit (PMU) at UNIDO HQs in Vienna, Austria. On issues of strategic importance, he/she may, under certain circumstances, also report to or work directly with the Lead Project Manager based at UNIDO HQs. He/she also works under the supervision of the UNIDO representative office in the country and is thus expected to seek continuous alignment of his/her work with the pertinent UNIDO work streams at the country level.

The Consultant is expected to become acquainted with the overall project document framework including the project objectives, workstreams, activities and sub-activities, expected outputs and the broader and country-level work plan. He/she is required to send weekly and monthly reports about the performed and ongoing work. Besides, the Consultant is expected to provide inputs when country-level reports must be integrated into overall project wide progress reports.

The specific tasks will include the following:

– Support the CTA and Lead Project Manager in the overall country planning, reporting and management of the project, including the development of the country work plan and its periodic monitoring to determine the achieved progress;

– Facilitate all aspects of the project inception and implementation phases, including the collection of information and relevant data about the subject matter, the undertaking of desk research on matters pertaining to investment promotion and investment mobilization activity in the country and undertaking the required direct liaising with investment promotion stakeholders in the country;

– Where and as applicable, identify and engage with investment promotion institutions (IPIs) in the country, enabling an effective stakeholder mapping and engagement to support the projects investment promotion coordinated actions. In addition, he/she is expected to support the identification of investment opportunities emanating from existing IPIs as well as directly from private domestic enterprises in selected sectors;

– Support and manage investment promotion capacity building activities in the country including the sensitization of IPIs about said events, fulfilling the required organizational role in event preparation and implementation as well as ensure adequate follow-up linked to the delivery of project related activities. Linked to the follow-up of capacity building, actively support IPIs in their delivery of project service-subcontract commitments and facilitate UNIDO HQ and national counterparts linkages related to the same;

– Facilitate the work of other Individual Service Agreement (ISA) holders and subcontractors assigned for the activities of the project and provide technical review and inputs to reports thus ensuring the compliance with the needs of beneficiaries;

– Contribute to the preparation of promotional material (brochures, newsletter, advertisements, press releases, presentations, etc.) as per EUs Visibility and Communication Requirements in order to create awareness, visibility, and publicize project results; prepare/compile background materials or data from different sources (Internet, Intranet or other publications) as required for missions, meetings and preparation of reports of the Programme.

– Undertake other reporting and ad-hoc assignments, including:

– Provide inputs to technical reports and assessments undertaken on implemented investment promotion work linked to the project objectives and activities;

– Support the CTA and the Lead Project Manager in the design and drafting of the country level sections of progress reports and other ad hoc reporting requirements, based on the gathering of relevant data and information pertaining to ongoing and/or upcoming project activities implemented directly by UNIDO or by various project stakeholders;

– Support the CTA, PMU members and UNIDO HQ in general, in the development of draft documents, presentations, official correspondence and press releases etc. as required during the course of the project implementation. Similarly, support the preparation of ad-hoc programme reports upon request of UNIDO, the Donor, and any other project counterpart;

– Fulfill any other assignment requested by the CTA or LPM dealing with other project related tasks including those linked to UNIDO Country programmatic frameworks and any other task assigned by the UNIDO Country Representatives in agreement with the Lead Project Manager;

– Facilitate and support project technical missions to the country undertaken by the Lead Project Manager, the CTA and other UNIDO Experts.

Core Competencies

WE LIVE AND ACT WITH INTEGRITY: work honestly, openly and impartially.
WE SHOW PROFESSIONALISM: work hard and competently in a committed and responsible manner.
WE RESPECT DIVERSITY: work together effectively, respectfully and inclusively, regardless of our differences in culture and perspective.
WE FOCUS ON PEOPLE: cooperate to fully reach our potential and this is true for our colleagues as well as our clients. Emotional intelligence and receptiveness are vital parts of our UNIDO identity.
WE FOCUS ON RESULTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES: focus on planning, organizing and managing our work effectively and efficiently. We are responsible and accountable for achieving our results and meeting our performance standards. This accountability does not end with our colleagues and supervisors, but we also owe it to those we serve and who have trusted us to contribute to a better, safer and healthier world.
WE COMMUNICATE AND EARN TRUST: communicate effectively with one another and build an environment of trust where we can all excel in our work.
WE THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX AND INNOVATE: to stay relevant, we continuously improve, support innovation, share our knowledge and skills, and learn from one another.

Minimum Requirements

Education

Languages