National Project Coordinator - United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. The mission of UNIDO, as described in the Lima Declaration adopted at the fifteenth session of the UNIDO General Conference in 2013 as well as the Abu Dhabi Declaration adopted at the eighteenth session of UNIDO General Conference in 2019, is to promote and accelerate inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) in Member States.

The relevance of ISID as an integrated approach to all three pillars of sustainable development is recognized by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will frame United Nations and country efforts toward sustainable development. UNIDO’s mandate is fully recognized in SDG-9, which calls to “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”.

The relevance of ISID, however, applies in greater or lesser extent to all SDGs. Accordingly, the Organization’s programmatic focus is structured in four strategic priorities: Creating shared prosperity; Advancing economic competitiveness; Safeguarding the environment; and Strengthening knowledge and institutions.

Each of these programmatic fields of activity contains a number of individual programmes, which are implemented in a holistic manner to achieve effective outcomes and impacts through UNIDO’s four enabling functions: (i) technical cooperation; (ii) analytical and research functions and policy advisory services; (iii) normative functions and standards and quality-related activities; and (iv) convening and partnerships for knowledge transfer, networking and industrial cooperation. Such core functions are carried out in Departments/Offices in its Headquarters, Regional Offices and Hubs and Country Offices.

The Directorate of Digitalization, Technology and Agri-Business (DTA), headed by a Managing Director, coordinates and mainstreams the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in its technical cooperation, strategic, normative activities aiming at fostering the inclusive and sustainable development in the era of 4IR. The Directorate creates new and innovative technical cooperation deliverables in the areas of trade, investment, technology innovation and agro-industry and agri-business. The Directorate comprises the Department of Digitalization, Technology and Innovation (DTI) and the Department of Agri-Business (AGR).

The Department of Agri-Business (DTA/AGR) provides a range of technical cooperation services to assist developing countries add value to the output of their agricultural sector and generate employment opportunities in off-farm activities for rural communities, thereby contributing to increased food security and a sustainable reduction of poverty. The department provides support for the development of agri-business corridors in developing countries in collaboration with International Financial Institutions.

The Department drives the Organization’s mandates of creating shared prosperity and advancing economic competitiveness. It supports initiatives to build human capital and raise total factor productivity through focused vocational training and industrial skills development activities. With its programmes, the Department addresses the root causes of migration and helps alleviate migration pressures at the origin.

This position is located under the Sustainable Food Systems Division (DTA/AGR/SFS), which promotes ISID through the promotion of food systems that deliver food and nutrition security without compromising economic, social, and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations. The Division is responsible for identifying, developing and managing programmes to improve the competitiveness of the food and agribusiness sectors through access to support services, finance, markets and trade opportunities.
The Division contributes to the capacity-building of food systems support institutions and skill development agencies through its advisory and convening activities.

PROJECT CONTEXT

The project for Expanding the Kaizen Initiative through Enhancing Sustainable Agri-business.

The government of Ghana has long tackled to enhance micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises’ (MSMEs’) sustainable performance improvement for economic development and job creation. The country has introduced Kaizen – a Japanese methodology and philosophy for continuous quality and productivity improvement at shop floor level – over the last decades to achieve its goals.

The Ghanaian government’s responsible institution for MSME promotion is Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA). GEA has been working on Kaizen dissemination for more than a decade, with support of international donors including Japan. To date, GEA and its field offices (Business Advisory Centers, BAC) have received Kaizen training and provided Kaizen services to numerous Ghanaian enterprises across the country. On the other hand, however, the impact of Kaizen at the industry level is still limited and many MSMEs continue to struggle to improve their enterprise performance at the basic level. Public systems to disseminate Kaizen to MSMEs are also still under development, due to the limited financial and human resources as well as lack of accumulation of institutional knowledge.

In response to the request of the Government of Ghana, UNIDO will support the scaling up of its national Kaizen initiatives. In the context of Ghana, given the country’s relatively higher capacity and capability in the region, UNIDO will introduce the approach “Smart and Sustainable Agri-Business” (SSAB). SSAB approach addresses not only the productivity aspects but also resource efficiency (including environmental sustainability), food safety and compliance, and social welfare aspects, thereby enabling the enterprises to maximize their performance while minimizing the cost and environmental load. SSAB will be conducted by measuring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the aspects mentioned above from the workplace, visualizing them on SSAB Digital Dashboard, and identifying the rooms for improvement.

Since SSAB collects and measure the KPIs in a digital manner, it allows the enterprises to conduct Kaizen activities in a sustainable manner. This will also enable the government to centrally manage the industry’s Kaizen effort and thereby measure SSAB’s impacts at the industry level.

The overall objective of the project is that the competitiveness of Ghanaian MSMEs and agri-business enterprises are strengthened through enhanced productivity and sustainability. The project is designed to ensure the achievement of the following three main outputs:

Output 1: GEA’s technical and managerial capacity enhanced to better support MSME’s sustainable performance improvement.

Output 2: National Kaizen initiative scaled up focusing on food and agri-business enterprises.

Output 3: SSAB introduced to Ghanaian food and agri-business enterprises to enhance overall sustainability.

FUNCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

The National Project Coordinator (NPC) will be working under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, and in close coordination with the project team and relevant counterparts. The NPC is expected to perform the following duties:

• Coordinate all project related activities as per the project action plans, including, but not limited to, missions of international experts, meetings, field visits, training and workshops, recruitment and procurement plans and activities;
• Communicate with the counterpart and other stakeholders and participate in the meetings, field visits, workshops and training activities organized under the project and lead discussions when so indicated by the Project Manager;
• Provide technical inputs on project activities and support the Project Manager in the overall planning, reporting and management of the project;
• Support the Project Manager in identifying local resources such as potential project beneficiaries, consultants, cooperation partners, etc.;
• Supervise and coach the project team members as well as short-term consultants and manage their outputs including administrative tasks, local and international procurement, local and international recruitment, Monitoring and Evaluation reporting, surveys, needs assessments, etc. Provide technical guidance, support and training to the project team as needed;
• Elaborate documents such as Minutes of Meetings, reports, studies etc. and maintain a proper record keeping system for them;
• Support the Project Manager in drafting project progress reports and other reports as required;
• Conduct other tasks as required by the Project Manager.

MINIMUM ORGANIZATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Education: Advanced university degree in economics, business management, agri-business management, engineering or any other relevant field with a specialization in private sector development is required.

Technical and Functional Experience:

• A minimum of five (5) years of practical experience in project management and/or coordination in the field of MSME’s performance improvement is required.
• Experience in management and/or coordination of UN and/or donor-funded projects is required.
• Exposure to evaluating and analysing the needs, conditions and problems of the country or a similar country in the region is required.
• Experience in project coordination with public and private decision-makers is desirable.

Languages: Fluency in written and spoken English is required. Fluency and/or working knowledge of another official UN language, is desirable.