On October 21, 1974, the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of Barbados entered into an agreement to “support and supplement the national efforts of developing countries at solving the most important problems of their economic development and to promote social progress and better standards of life.”

 Subsequently, similar agreements were entered with Governments of the ten countries and territories that the UNDP Multi-Country Office (MCO) for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean serves: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

 As part of UNDP Barbados MCO support to the Commonwealth of Dominica, a Project Office was established in 2017 to assist government with immediate response, recovery, and reconstruction post Hurricane Maria.  This included strengthening national recovery frameworks, disaster preparedness and climate and community resilience, as well as empowering women to take a more proactive role in emergencies.  Since 2017, the Dominica Project Office has evolved its portfolio to include climate resilience, economic recovery, and sustainable development initiatives.  

 Under the overall guidance of the Project Analyst, the Project Associate will be responsible project, administrative and monitoring support for the implementation of two (2) projects.

1)      The first project “Enhancing Smart Sustainable Agriculture and Agro-Processing for Climate Resilience in Dominica: Phase 1”, aims to deliver a comprehensive initiative that addresses critical challenges faced by Dominica's agricultural sector. The project seeks during this 1st phase to develop effective gender responsive mitigation and adaptation measures, by enhancing resilience to climate change in supporting sustainable agriculture and strengthening agro-processing.

 The project aims to support the sustainable and integrated management of resources, in particular water. The project offers gender responsive capacity-strengthening programs in climate-smart agriculture to empower vegetable farmers in the Morne Prosper community, enabling them to tackle climate-related challenges and improve food and water security. Gender sensitive stakeholder engagement is a core component, ensuring that the project aligns with local needs and priorities.

 In parallel, the project includes the retrofitting of an irrigation distribution system in Morne Prosper to ensure climate resilience and support sustainable agriculture. The project will also establish the first of four Agro-Processing Technology Centers (APTEC) that will improve product quality and promote small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with a focus on gender-responsive economic growth and resilience, reduced unemployment, and poverty alleviation, especially among women and vulnerable groups.

 2)      The second project “Strengthening Community Resilience within Kalinago Territory”, aims to deliver an integrated package of support to boost agricultural production and sustainable agricultural practices; design and implement community reforestation programmes to augment livelihoods and protect critical water catchment areas; develop a comprehensive Kalinago tourism strategy and brand that generates new income opportunities for the territory, and; strengthen institutional capacities of the Kalinago Council for improved participative and inclusive decision making and planning. 

2. Scope of Work

The Project Associate (PA) will be primarily responsible for providing high quality project and administrative, coordination and monitoring support for the implementation of the projects. S/he will work with the Project Analyst to maintain key strategic and monitoring functions with the UNDP (Barbados) in line with the objective and outcomes of the projects.

Summary of key functions:

Support the project team to ensure effective project planning and implementation.

• Compile and summarize information and data for the formulation of project work plans, draft annual/quarterly budgets, proposals on implementation arrangements, and on other specific project related topics or issues.
• Provide comprehensive support in all aspects of project implementation in accordance with the project documents, annual work plans and other agreements between UNDP and responsible partners. Ensure quality of delivery by consultants, beneficiaries, and contracted companies; and communicate findings to the supervisor.
• Ensure compliance of project business processes with UNDP Project Operational Policies and Procedures (POPP) and UNDP Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). When necessary, provide guidance to project staff on business processes, administrative and other requirements and procedures.
• Support mainstreaming gender equality in the project implementation, including in data collection and compilation. Prepare gender equality background materials for use in discussions, briefings, and correspondence.
• Provide administrative and logistical support to ensure successful project delivery that includes organizing/coordinating project events and selecting appropriate venues, coordinating project procurement procedures, maintaining project records and files, recruiting project team members, and supporting contracting activities.

 Support partnerships and resource mobilization.

• Establish and maintain contacts and cooperation with the relevant UN Agencies, government institutions, NGOs, tertiary institutions, partners, and other relevant stakeholders. Provide support in updating the database of the relevant public and development partners, and other stakeholders who are counterparts for the project.

• Ensure regular communication and coordination with partners, project counterparts, stakeholders, and beneficiaries; and develop and maintain effective mechanisms for integrating and responding to their feedback and insight.
• Support creation of high-quality information and visibility of the project activities among the   stakeholders; and ensure careful selection of communication tools and tailoring the messages to take into account the overall socio-political and development context in host countries.

• Undertake horizon scanning and explore opportunities for resource mobilization in consultation with direct supervisor.

• Provide support to the effective monitoring, evaluation and reporting on progress of project implementation.
• Support implementation of the project monitoring system in alignment with its Monitoring and Evaluation framework to ensure effective information sharing, provision of feedback, and elaboration of high-quality progress reports.
• Collect, analyze and present information for monitoring and evaluation of project implementation against project targets as well as for audit purposes. Identify gaps in implementation and provide support in bridging those gaps in consultation with supervisor and partners.
• Assist in the organization of field and study visits, missions, workshops, roundtables, and conferences within the project.
• Assist in implementation of effective risk management for the project with a well-documented risk mitigation plan in place. Support monitoring of previously identified and emerging risks.

• Regularly monitor expenditures and commitments against the project budget and relevant plans and provide finance-related information to support project implementation. When necessary, recommend corrective actions and draft various correspondence concerning finance, operations, and budgetary issues.
• Prepare and consolidate required project reports on a timely basis and in line with monitoring and reporting guidelines and donor requirements.

Support knowledge building, knowledge sharing and capacity building relevant to the assigned project.

• Participate in training and organize briefings on internal procedures for the project staff. Provide support to other capacity building activities, including the design and delivery of tools, materials for workshops, or platforms that tap into the collective intelligence of communities and mobilize action.

• Provide support in the dissemination and sharing of relevant data and lessons learned within the CO and regionally. Keep pulse on emerging best practices nationally, regionally, and internationally that relate to the work of the assigned project.

• Make sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice. Support compiling and systematizing project knowledge, products and tools as well as their wide distribution to partners.

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

 Institutional Arrangement

 The Project Associate works under the general supervision of the Project Analyst.

4.  Competencies

Please refer to the competency framework site for the entire list of competencies and further explanations.

5.  Minimum Qualifications of the Successful NPSA