Regional Director Africa

Background Information - Job-specific

The Africa Regional Office oversees and enables efficient and effective delivery of support to partners in the Africa region in line with UNOPS’ corporate strategy. The region has nearly 700 UNOPS personnel who work in diverse and complex environments.

UNOPS portfolio in Africa consists of projects in more than 30 countries, with operational hubs based in Senegal, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tunisia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as projects in Somalia, South Sudan and Cote d’Ivoire, among others.

The Regional Director is responsible for providing the intellectual, conceptual, technical and managerial leadership for developing the strategies, priorities and implementation plans for results for Africa regional business development, and for determining the scope, structural relationships and geographical scope of the offices and hubs in the region.
This role will be instrumental in building and maintaining relationships with key regional partners to facilitate effective representation of UNOPS capabilities and deepening regional partnerships through in-depth understanding of partner needs.
The Regional Director provides overall supervisory guidance of UNOPS country offices to support their delivery results and targets.
The Regional Director reports to the Deputy Executive Director of UNOPS who provides broad supervision and guidance. The Regional Director serves as an advisor to the Executive Director, Deputy Executive Director and Senior Managers on corporate strategic planning, organizational development and management and regional business development strategic priorities, engagement and representation.

Functional Responsibilities

Summary of functions:

1. Corporate function and services
2. Regional leadership
3. Representation and inter-agency partnership
4. Knowledge management and innovation

1.Corporate function and services

• Contribute to the formulation of UNOPS overall strategies and policies through advisory services to the Executive Director and Deputy Executive Director and participation in senior management deliberation on current and future business operations and strategy development and planning.
• Keep abreast of organizational changes to align regional strategy and approaches to business development and management of regional project portfolio and delivery of sustainable results.
• Assess the performance and efficacy of the regional operations and take decisions and/or recommend to the Executive Director appropriate changes in operations to enhance/maximise results for regional portfolio delivery and regional business development.
• Collaborate with senior UNOPS colleagues and stakeholders, other Practice Groups, especially Communications Practice Group and the Partnership Practice Group to exchange ideas on strategies for communications and public relations to optimise strategic outreach and results for business development in the region.
• Represent UNOPS, at key global/regional events (including media and pubic relations events) and meetings to speak on regional or organizations goals, interests and competencies, build and maintain alliances and to promote/advocate UNOPS position as a partner of choice in sustainable development in the region.

2. Regional leadership

• Develop the regional strategy, establish priorities, and supervise the implementation of the annual business plan for the regional portfolio including business development initiatives/activities.
• Decide and/or recommend to the Executive Director the establishment of new management structure such as country-based Operations Centre.
• Establish the Regional Office annual work priorities in collaboration with the team and partners, set objectives, performance measurements, standards and results expected to ensure timely and partner oriented services.
• Monitor implementation, oversee progress toward annual objectives and take decisions to ensure the delivery of results as planned and according to partners’ expectation.
• Evaluate overall regional activities/initiatives to ensure alignment with organizational strategic plans, framework and standards of accountability, ethics and integrity and to ensure that portfolio delivery and business development are mutually reinforcing.
• Plan and allocate resources (human, financial and administrative) to achieve goals and ensure the cost effective and appropriate use of resources in accordance with UNOPS standards of ethics, integrity and accountability framework.
• Promote teamwork and collaboration by providing the team with clear direction, objectives and guidance to enable them to perform their duties responsibly, effectively and efficiently.
• Plan, recruit and develop a diverse and flexible regional workforce with the skills and competencies needed to ensure optimum performance, and ensure gender and geographical diversity.
• Foster a positive work environment, respectful of both men and women, and ensure that the highest standards of conduct are observed.
• Provide oversight on safety and security within the region of operation for UNOPS personnel.

3. Representation and inter-agency partnership

• Represent UNOPS in senior inter-agency and external meetings/bodies in the region to promote the organization, influence policy discussion and to identify potential areas for UNOPS partnership and engagement.
• Contribute to the regional assessment exercise for UN Resident Coordinators.
• Collaborate with internal and external partners, colleagues and stakeholders to keep abreast of evolving trends, advocate UNOPS services and build partnerships/alliances to maintain/enhance UNOPS visibility in project services in development cooperation.
• Build and maintain (regional) public/media relations to actively engage their interest/support in promoting and communicating UNOPS achievements, competencies and interest in global development.

4. Knowledge management and innovation

• Oversee the successful implementation of regional policies, standards and tools to effectively manage business development within the regional portfolio to enhance/maintain UNOPS competitive edge as a provider of effective project services for sustainable results.
• Drive knowledge sharing and strategic communication across the region and with corporate functions, ensuring collaboration and continuous feedback through the regional communications network and other channels, as appropriate.
• Lead the ongoing research, development and implementation of best practice and innovative approaches to maximise performance and sustain achievements.
• Lead the planning, implementation and organization of strategic capacity building of personnel, partners and stakeholders for strategic business development and engagement.

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