National Technical Manager at United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Malawi is highly vulnerable to climate hazards ranging from floods, cyclones, and droughts, resulting in significant loss of lives and livelihood assets in urban and rural areas. In the recent past, urban areas have been hit by high-intensity disasters, including floods, heavy rains, and strong winds. Close to 80% of the urban population in Malawi resides in Lilongwe, Blantyre, Zomba and Mzuzu (NSO, 2009), and frequent disasters result in loss of property and life. Flood is a recurrent disaster that affects thousands of people every year. Between 2015 and 2019, Malawi declared three national disasters with cumulative losses estimated at $929 million, reconstruction costs at approximately $1.4 billion and cumulatively affecting the food security of 30 million people (MVAC, 2021). To date, disaster management efforts in Malawi have predominantly focused on rural areas, with urban areas receiving less attention and funding. 17.4% of Malawians live in urban areas, and the urban population is projected to double by 2050, it is, therefore, critical to strengthening disaster risk management arrangements in the urban areas.

UNDP, in collaboration with UN-Habitat and the Department of Disaster Management Affairs, with support from DG ECHO, is implementing a two year project called ’Strengthening all-inclusive Disaster preparedness and linking Early Warning to Early Action in Mzuzu, Blantyre, Lilongwe, and Zomba City Councils” which aims at enhancing the city council’s capacity to prepare for and respond to disasters. The project will target 376,811 beneficiaries in four prioritized wards in targeted cities. The principal objective of the project is to protect livelihoods through enhanced all-inclusive disaster preparedness in urban centres of Blantyre, Zomba, Lilongwe and Mzuzu in Malawi enabled by context-specific interventions at community, city and national levels and establishment of early warning systems for early action. Specifically, the project aims to “contribute to the reduction of risk of injuries, deaths and property loss/damage from disasters suffered by the population of Blantyre, Zomba, Lilongwe and Mzuzu cities by 2024.”

In UNDP, the activities of the project fall directly under the Resilience and Sustainable Growth (RSG) portfolio.  To align the Malawi Country Office structure to the UNDP Strategic Plan, as well as respond to the integrated priorities outlined in Malawi’s Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS III), and recently the Malawi Vision 2063, a portfolio approach has been in use over the last ten years to drive programmatic coherence, efficiency, and value for money.  The Resilience and Sustainable Growth (RSG) portfolio is one of three programmatic portfolios in the Malawi country office and is aligned to the Responsive Institutions and Citizen Engagement (RICE) portfolio as well as the Development Impact and Advisory Team (DIAT), all of which are supported by an Operations Team.

Under the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for Malawi, the RSG portfolio aligns directly with Pillar 3: Inclusive and Resilience Growth while contributing to Pillar 2: Peace, Inclusion and Effective Institutions.

Position Purpose:

Reporting to the Portfolio Manager and in consultations with the UNDP Program Analyst responsible for DRM and Climate Change, the National Technical Manager is responsible for coordinating the project “Strengthening all-inclusive Disaster preparedness and linking Early Warning to Early Action in Mzuzu, Blantyre, Lilongwe, and Zomba City Councils”, which includes providing technical support to the management of the project including managing the finance and personnel of the project, strengthening partnerships with relevant stakeholders, project outreach and communications and monitoring and reporting.

The National Technical Manager will perform the following tasks:

Project Management Leadership

• Develop multi-year implementation plans and budgets;
• Ensure that technical activities and administrative requirements are managed and executed in a timely and appropriate manner, including within the planned budget  and within UNDP and donor rules and regulations;
• Participate in recruitment processes for consultants as appropriate;
• Support the work of the project’s Steering/Advisory Committee;
• Ensure timely identification of risks in implementation at the national level and communication to the DRM team and Advisory/Steering Committee;
• Act as principal technical contact for the project regarding all questions and issues arising during national implementation;
• Organize regular meetings with the project technical team and the RSG team;
• Lead project monitoring, reporting and evaluation at the national level. Prepare progress reports for submission to donors, UNDP and project partners;
• Establish and maintain links with other national and international programmes and projects, including UNDP-Climate Change and DRM projects;
• Lead the capturing and documenting lessons from project implementation and make recommendations to the National Steering/Advisory Committee for more effective implementation of activities.

Project Outreach and Communication

• Oversee the identification, selection and supervision of national consultants and experts in close collaboration with the UNDP Country Office;
• Engage national stakeholders and strongly position the project’s objectives and processes towards relevant government departments and partner institutions to catalyse transformational outcomes;
• Work with national and international counterparts, NGOs and other groups to ensure effective coordination and communication of project objectives, and activities;
• Lead an extensive stakeholder consultation/engagement process for the development of all deliverables, involving actors from the public and private sectors, civil society and academia.

Reporting /M&E

• Work with the UNDP communication department to develop briefing notes, case studies, press releases, web articles and other media products as required;
• Lead project monitoring, reporting and evaluation at the national level, drafting quarterly and yearly reports;
• Ensures provision of top-quality advisory services and facilitation of  knowledge-building and management.

Partnerships

• Lead the creation of strategic partnerships for the successful implementation of the project;
• Organize regular meetings/engagements with all partners.

Institutional Arrangement

The National Technical Manager reports to the RSG Portfolio Manager and the Program Analyst responsible for DRM.  S/he will collaborate with the Department of Disaster Management Affairs, the Department of Water Resources and the department of urban development.

People Management Competencies

Motivate and Direct

• Create and communicate a compelling vision and purpose;
• Align people and resources with organizational vision, strategy, objectives;
• Understand and proactively builds the team/organization culture

Manage Performance and Ensure Accountability

• Ensure regular conversations with people about work;
• Provide positive and constructive feedback;
• Discuss poor performance in a timely manner;
• Provide praise and recognition, as well as ensure accountability.

Lead with Humility

• Be authentic and transparent, act with integrity;
• Be accessible and available to team members they lead;
• Encourages debate and discussion, creating a culture where people are comfortable to challenge senior leaders and feel listened too;
• Be modest, giving credit for success to others and admit own shortcomings.

Cross Functional & Technical Competencies

Business Direction & Strategy: Strategic Thinking

• Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP’s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions;
• Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP.

Business Direction & Strategy: Effective Decision Making

• Ability to take decisions in a timely and efficient manner in line with one’s authority area of expertise and resources

Business Management: Project Management

• Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals

Business Management: Risk Management

• Ability to identify and organize action around mitigating and proactively managing risks

Business Management: Partnerships Management

• Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies

2030 Agenda: Planet  Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery: Disaster Risk Reduction

2030 Agenda: Planet  Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery: Early Warning and Preparedness

Language Requirements

• Fluency in English and Chichewa.