United Nations,Director, sub-regional office for east africa

The Director, Sub-Regional Office for East Africa, will be located in Kigali,
Rwanda, and reports directly to the Deputy Executive Secretary for Knowledge
Delivery. The position is under the oversight of the Knowledge Delivery Pillar
of the ECA, comprising of the following Offices: Public Information and
Knowledge Management Division (PIKMD); Capacity Development Division (CDD),
Division of Administration (DoA), ECA five Sub-Regional Offices (SROs) and the
African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP).

Mandate of the Sub-Regional Office for East Africa:
The mandate of the Sub Regional Office is to strengthen the capacity of member
states to formulate evidence-based plans and policies in support of economic
and social transformation in North Africa by contributing to and promoting the
results of ECA’s policy-oriented research and facilitating linkages and
information exchange between development actors in the region. Particular
emphasis is placed on the analysis of economic and social development, with a
focus on gender and youth issues; regional integration dynamics; sustainable
development and sustainable management of natural resources; climate change
impact and food security; industrialization as leverage of economic
transformation, and innovation and knowledge management. The Sub-Regional
Office for East Africa serves the following countries: Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya,
Tanzania, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia,
Eritrea, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, and Madagascar.

Leadership:
• Leads the implementation of ECA’s vision and strategy to support Africa
social and economic transformation with a particular focus on the sub-region
priorities and context. The director leads the alignment of the office
capacities and resources to ECA priorities, programme of work and business
plan. The Director communicates and translates the vision in a clear
programmatic and operational framework enabling all staff to effectively
contribute to the sub-regional development priorities in line with ECA mandate;

• Coordinates the efforts to transform the sub-regional office (SRO) into a
data center of excellence to support member States to formulate evidence-based
plans and policies in support of economic and social transformation in Northern
Africa;
• Provides strategic leadership and guide the formulation of country and
sub-regional profiles for Northern Africa and other relevant publications;
• Provides the intellectual and substantive leadership in critical areas of
work of ECA in East Africa.

Strategic planning and coordination:
• The Director is an active participant to the ECA strategic planning process
and leads the programmatic and operational planning of the sub-regional office.
The Director oversees the management of activities undertaken by the SRO;
ensures that programmed activities are carried out in a timely fashion and
adequate resources are allocated for the completion of outputs of the
substantive programme of work of the SRO ; He/She co-ordinates work in the
different areas both within the SRO and ECA and with other organizations of the
United Nations System, as appropriate;
• Co-ordinates and oversees the preparation of reports for presentation to
intergovernmental bodies such as the Inter-governmental Committee of Experts
and the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic
Development and other policy-making organs, as appropriate;
• Reports to intergovernmental bodies on budget/programme performance or on
programmatic/ substantive issues, as appropriate, particularly those presented
in biannual and/or annual reports.
• Ensures that the research outputs produced by the SRO maintain high quality
standards; that reports are clear, objective and based on comprehensive data.
Ensures that all outputs produced by the Sections under his/her supervision
meet required standards before completion to ensure they comply with the
relevant mandates and are disseminated to policy makers in the sub-region;
• Leads and supervises the organization of meetings, seminars, etc. on
substantive issues, and coordinates the substantive preparation and
organization of such meetings or seminars;
• Coordinates technical support and advisory services to member states and
regional economic communities in the region in collaboration with relevant
divisions of ECA.

Operational management of the office:
• Undertakes or oversees the programmatic/administrative tasks necessary for
the functioning of the sub-regional office , including mobilization of
resources and capacities, preparation and timely execution of budgets,
reporting on budget/programme performance, preparation of inputs for ECA wide results-based
budgeting;
• Ensures that the office meets performance standards of ECA performance
dashboard;
• Recruits, interviews and evaluates candidates for job openings, taking due
account of geographical and gender balance;
• Manages, guides, develops and train staff under his/her supervision, and
evaluate staff performance;
• Fosters teamwork and communication among staff in the SRO and across
organizational boundaries;
• Ensures that management and accountability systems are in place to manage
office resources in a transparent and efficient manner,

Strategic partnership, resource mobilization, communication and advocacy :
• Develop, establish and sustain strategic partnership with Member states in
the region, regional economic communities and key national and international
partners ( bi-lateral and multilateral partners, UN development system, Think
Tank organizations, Academic Institutions civil society organizations);
• Lead outreach campaigns and efforts to disseminate the sub-region products
and ECA flagship publications, and organize country and sub-regional policy
dialogues on development issues with a focus on structural transformation and
regional integration;
• Support the implementation of the ECA Knowledge Management and communication
Strategies including the establishment of relevant knowledge networks and
thematic workspaces for communities of practice.
• In line with the ECA Capacity Development Strategy, identify sub-regional
priority issues of interest to member States, Regional Economic Communities
(RECs) and Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) and other stakeholders and
lead the conceptualization and implementation of relevant strategic initiatives
and the provision of advisory services and capacity building for East Africa
member States, regional economic communities and inter-governmental
organizations;
• Leverage system-wide coherence and synergies through the UN system to support
structural transformation in East Africa and promote greater programme
alignment, coherence, coordination and impact in the delivery of services to
member States, RECs and IGOs in the sub-region;
• Provide strategic leadership to ensure the smooth functioning of the UN
Sub-regional Coordination Mechanism and linkages to regional coordination
mechanism.
.
Representation:
•Represents the SRO and ECA at international, regional or national meetings or
high level fora and provides substantive expertise on development issues
relevant to ECA’s mandate and work;
•Perform other special assignments as directed by the Executive Secretary or
the Deputy Executive Secretary- Knowledge Delivery.

Planning and Organizing:
– Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies;
– identifies priority activities and assignments;
– adjusts priorities as required;
– allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work;
– foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning;
– monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary;
– uses time efficiently.

Accountability:
– Takes ownership of all responsibilities and honours commitments;
– delivers outputs for which one has responsibility within prescribed time,
cost and quality standards;
– operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules;
– supports subordinates, provides oversight and takes responsibility for
delegated assignments;
– takes personal responsibility for his/her own shortcomings and those of the
work unit, where applicable.

Leadership:
– Serves as a role model that other people want to follow:
– empowers others to translate vision into results;
– is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives;
– establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to
understand needs and gain support;
– anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions;
– drives for change and improvements; does not accept the status quo;
– shows the courage to take unpopular stands.
– provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender
perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas
of work;
– demonstrates knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender
balance in staffing.

Managing Performance:
– Delegates the appropriate responsibility, accountability and decision-making
authority;
– makes sure that roles, responsibilities and reporting lines are clear to each
staff member;
– accurately judges the amount of time and resources needed to accomplish a
task and matches task to skills;
– monitors progress against milestones and deadlines;
– regularly discusses performance and provides feedback and coaching to staff;
– encourages risk-taking and supports creativity and initiative;
– actively supports the development and career aspirations of staff;
– appraises performance fairly.

Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a
geographical basis as possible. The United Nations places no restrictions on
the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under
conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. The United
Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment.

Applicants are urged to follow carefully all instructions available in the
online recruitment platform, inspira. For more detailed guidance, applicants
may refer to the At-a-Glance on “The Application Process” and the
Instructional Manual for the Applicants, which can be accessed by clicking on
“Manuals” hyper-link on the upper right side of the inspira account-holder
homepage.

The screening and evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of
the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation
criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the
United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the
General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and
guidelines. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information
pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications, including but not
limited to, their education, work experience, and language skills, according to
the instructions provided on inspira. Applicants will be disqualified from
consideration if they do not demonstrate in their application that they meet
the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal
legislations of the United Nations. Applicants are solely responsible for
providing complete and accurate information at the time of application: no
amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to
applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration
for selection will be subject to a reference-checking process to verify the
information provided in the application.

Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at midnight (New
York time) on the deadline date.