Background

Cambodia's landmine contamination is the result of a protracted sequence of internal and regional conflicts that affected the country from the mid-1960s until the end of 1998. The north western regions bordering Thailand have some of the highest concentrations of anti-personnel (AP) mines in the world. Other areas of the country, mainly in the east, have been impacted primarily by the presence of explosive remnants of war (ERW), including cluster munitions. More than 64,700 human casualties can be attributed to mines and ERW in Cambodia since 1979.

Together with the international community, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has made great efforts over the past 26 years to remove landmines and ERW throughout the country. In 2000, the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) was established under the Royal Decree No. 177 to better plan, regulate, coordinate and monitor the mine action sector and responsibly contribute to the priorities stipulated in the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP).

Since 2006, the Clearing for Results (CfR) project, financially and technically supported by Australia, Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada, and UNDP has worked in partnership with the CMAA to clear 228 km2 of land for use by communities for livelihoods and service provision, representing 13 per cent of the sector’s achievements. The project has targeted the most mine-affected provinces of Battambang, Banteay Meanchey and Pailin. These provinces collectively account for 39% of all reported casualties in Cambodia since 1996. However, mines and ERW are still present across 2,000 km2 of Cambodia and continue to hinder country development and constrain the livelihood activities of rural communities. UNDP remains committed to supporting CMAA and the Royal Government of Cambodia achieve its goal of a mine free Cambodia by 2025. Cambodia has made this their 18th Sustainable Development Goal.

The government, and in particular CMAA, have the necessary planning, procurement, quality assurance and monitoring capacities to manage and coordinate the land release process as a result of capacity development efforts made through the three phases of the CfR project. This has included a better understanding of the remaining landmine and ERW problem, improvements in land release methodology (technical and non-technical surveys), a national performance monitoring system (PMS), and better operational efficiency. Together, these activities have improved the efficiency and accountability of clearance activities. With the approval of the National Mine Action Strategy 2018-2025 in December 2017, CMAA has requested support for resource mobilization, sector coordination, monitoring of land use, improving gender mainstreaming in planning and land release, as well as monitoring the environmental impact of land release and land use. Capacities in other government agencies to deal with any residual mine action challenges beyond 2025 need to be addressed.

The continuing prevalence of mines in the three predominantly rural, agricultural provinces perpetuates poverty and impedes local development. This requires a more hands-on approach in linking land release to rural development programmes to support sustainable economic development in the target regions which align with the RGC’s long-term vision for the country. To date, the ‘human development’ aspect of the CfR project has been the development of the PMS for improved data management and understanding of land use prior to and after clearance. Land use is an inadequate indicator of land productivity and household incomes, upon which anecdotal evidence from the CfRIII Mid-term review suggests that rural households are incurring more debt as they invest in agriculture operations that may not be economically viable. Without this perspective, land released through the project is at risk of being safe but ineffective in reducing poverty and improving overall development outcomes.

This phase four of the Clearing for Results project (CfRIV) was developed at the request of the Royal Government of Cambodia and builds on the partnership that CMAA, UNDP and the development partner community have formed since 2006. It presents the final phase of the CfR project, serving as a transition strategy from the mine action sector by consolidating results to date and linking those results to the longer-term development vision of Cambodia.

The CfRIV project has the following three outputs:

• The prioritized mine-impacted villages in the provinces of Battambang, Bantaey Meachey and Pailin are deemed mine-free;
• Mine-action activities are aligned to national, sub-national, and sectoral policies and planning strategies;
• The mine action sector management is strengthened and broader national capacities to address residual threats are established.

The CfRIV project is nationally implemented by CMAA with technical support from UNDP. The project is currently funded by Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia’s national budget, and UNDP. Additional funding is being sought from other donors, including from the Republic of Korea.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

The Project Coordination Specialist will perform under the overall guidance of UNDP Deputy Resident Representative and Assistant Resident Representative, in charge of Programme Unit. In close collaboration with UNDP Programme Analyst in charge of the project, the Project Coordination Specialist is expected to provide project coordination, management, monitoring, and knowledge management support and guidance to CfRIV Project Director and Manager, both of them are appointed by CMAA. Specifically, the Project Coordination Specialist will provide technical and management support and advice to the National Project Manager in the following areas:

• Management of the CfRIV project, including planning and execution of the activities to ensure that the project delivers outputs in a timely and efficient manner;
• Monitoring and evaluation, and reporting;
• Stakeholders coordination, resource mobilization and partnership building and management with Government agencies, operators, CSOs, UN agencies, development partners, and private sector;
• Knowledge management, advocacy, and communication of results;

Management of the CfRIV project, including planning and execution of the activities to ensure that the project delivers outputs in a timely and efficient manner:

• Coordinate with the CMAA’s relevant departments and with UNDP Cambodia to develop detailed annual workplan (AWP) in line with Project Document, Board’s decision, and based on discussion with and inputs from relevant colleagues and to ensure that the workplan allocates sufficient budget for gender related activities identified by the team;
• Coordinate with the CMAA’s relevant departments and with UNDP Cambodia to develop recruitment and procurement plan;
• Facilitate the organization of Project Board meeting as per Project Document and Board’s decision;
• Provide technical and management support and advice to CMAA to ensure that all activities are implemented in a coordinated and timely manner, and that results are delivered as planned to fulfil the expected outputs and in accordance with rules and procedures applied to the project
• Ensure that activities are implemented following sound financial management and in accordance with rules and procedure;
• Provide technical support to CMAA to procure clearance services, to monitor and oversee the operators’ activities, including their financial management of the fund received from the project;
• Keep abreast of relevant development dynamics especially in key related institutional frameworks and national policies, which will impact the delivery of the CFRIV.

Monitoring and evaluation, and reporting responsibilities:

• Provide technical expertise to and work with CMAA’s relevant department to develop project M&E plan, including annual joint CMAA/UNDP/donors field visit and technical level field monitoring;
• Work with CMAA to develop detailed results framework (log-frame) in line with Project Document, including indicator, baseline, and targets where needed and with an emphasis on higher level of results, e.g. outcome and impact that the project has made over the past decades (from phase 1) to the development of Cambodia and safety of the people;
• Analyze gender related issues in mine action and mainstream gender in the workplan, M&E tools and in project results frameworks to ensure that the project not only addresses gender issues in mine action but contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment and that gender sensitive results can be captured and reported;
• Develop M&E guideline and tools and build capacity of CMAA and other relevant stakeholders at local level to use the tools, to collect and to analyze data;
• Coordinate with CMAA to collect data, to conduct field monitoring and to analyze data;
• Facilitate external review and evaluation of the project and mine action sector where relevant;
• Provide technical support to CMAA to improve the Performance Monitoring System (PMS) and mine sector monitoring and reporting;
• Produce timely reports - both internal and external - following relevant requirements and established procedures;
• Ensure the reports required are submitted on time in accordance with the required standards and format (internal report, report to donors, and other reports as required); specifically, work with CMAA to ensure that the report is gender sensitive and that results related to gender related activities are captured;
• Coordinate and quality check the preparation and submission of the Project Quarterly and Annual Reports, both narrative and financial;

Stakeholders coordination, resource mobilization and partnership building and management with Government agencies, operators, CSOs, UN agencies, development partners, and private sector

• Promote information sharing and coordinate programme activities with other UNDP initiatives as well as with other United Nations agencies and donors, to develop inter-agency synergies
• Build and maintain partnership through networking with stakeholders to generate their interest in the area related to the project and in contributing to the resource mobilization effort;
• Support the development and maintenance of a donor database for mine action in Cambodia, including strategies and priorities of various donors and private businesses both globally and in Cambodia;
• Contribute to the development and enhancement of a communications plan and resource mobilization strategy;
• Prepare necessary reports and documents in support of future resource mobilization efforts, if required.
• Raise visibility of the programme strategies through knowledge sharing and well-developed communication materials
• Support effective and timely resource mobilization in close collaboration with CMAA and UNDP country office, including providing advice and support to CMAA to mobilize resources from private sector;
• Oversee and coordinate the development of concept notes and full project proposals;
• Ensure that experiences and lessons learned from project implementation are adequately recorded and disseminated.

Knowledge management, advocacy, and communication of results:

• Lead and facilitate knowledge production, including identification and documentation of case studies, lessons learned;
• Develop and work with CMAA to implement the communication strategy for the project and for CMAA for mine action sector;
• Ensure that knowledge products are gender sensitive;
• Promote knowledge within and outside Cambodia through publication, workshop, exchange and experiences sharing, etc.
• Ensure that lessons learned, case studies etc. are captured in the reports that are made available to the public;

Required Skills and Experience

• Advanced university degree in Development Studies, Social Sciences, Management, or other relevant disciplines;
• At least 5 years of progressive experience in project management, coordination and in monitoring, evaluation, and reporting in mine action sector;
• Solid experiences in providing management and coordination advice to the government and other stakeholders in project implementation, design, coordination and monitoring and evaluation;
• Proven track record of capacity building support to national counterpart;
• Solid knowledge and experiences in advocacy, partnership building, resource mobilization, and M&E;
• Experiences in and ability to coordinate at professional level with high level Government representative, donors, UN agencies, CSOs, and private sector;
• Sound knowledge and experiences in gender mainstreaming, including in mine action sector;
• Experience with UN organizations and other international development agencies;
• Proven knowledge and experience of working in the context of mine action in Cambodia is a strong asset.
• Fluency in English (both spoken and written).
• Fluency in Khmer will be considered an asset.

Source:https://jobs.partneragencies.net/erecruitjobs.html?JobOpeningId=31886&HRS_JO_PST_SEQ=1&hrs_site_id=2