Business Emergency Unit Manager at UNDP Ethiopia 

UNDP

Position: Business Emergency Unit Manager 

Application Deadline: June, 29/2023 

Background

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP: we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing the representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories. 

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

MSMEs have long been considered as engines for the social and economic well-being of nations. They play a pivotal role in reducing poverty by creating massive employment opportunities, and socio-cultural integration, and add value for GDP growth and addressing the issue of inclusiveness by bringing more women and youth to the socio-economic frontier. The recent crisis both from COVID-19 and the conflict in northern Ethiopia's effect on MSMEs has been severe, particularly because of the disproportionate vulnerability of urban areas (where most SMEs operate) and the lower resilience of smaller firms to external shocks.

Ethiopia is faced with various challenges despite the government’s commitment and progress on economic and social development. The challenges for the country are rooted in structural issues like poverty, unemployment, gender inequities, and the impacts of multiple crisis (continuous conflict, the impact of climate change and the unforeseen challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic) that add to the gravity of issues the country needs to tackle. There exists a youth bulge with large number of young people entering the job market every year. In the absence of public sector jobs, and inadequate support for MSMEs and entrepreneurship, Ethiopia is struggling to harness its demographic dividend – which if adequately invested in can fast-track the country’s development.

The government and various international and national organizations, including the UNDP have been steadily investing in developing the capacity of the private sector – but lasting change takes time, effort and resources over a medium to long duration. Despite various improvements and support mechanisms, there is limited capacity for national coordination to assess the needs of MSMEs and provide responsive services to them – these include technical and financial assistance, as well as mentorship and market access pathways.

MSMEs struggle to sustain and to grow as the access to finance is not flexible and inclusive. Women and youth employed in MSMEs or owning MSMEs are impacted even more due to these limitations. Digital mechanisms for supporting MSMEs and strengthening policy environment, processes and enabling access to markets have not been explored or exploited. Overall institutional capacity is weak and there can be improvements in building multi-stakeholder partnerships or providing fora for dialogue between MSMEs and government entities that aim to support them.

Therefore, there are layers of challenges, inextricably linked to one other that need to be addressed by flexible and innovative approaches to programming. Years of experience has proven that issues cannot be dealt with in silos – and therefore UNDP Ethiopia, in consultation with GIZ is proposing a multi-pronged programme that will address the above-stated issues in systemic but innovative ways. It will also mainstream cross-cutting themes like gender equality, youth, green job, environmental awareness etc. The programme will be rooted in multi-stakeholder partnerships and will ensure that the progress made through it can be picked up by the relevant government departments and carried on for stronger and ongoing impact.

The programme will support targeted beneficiaries (businesses, entrepreneurs, employees) afloat during the multiple crisis that Ethiopia is facing; while collaborating with the private sector MSMEs to promote self-reliance and safeguard its resilience and viability in order to preserve and advance the SDGs, while focusing in particular on women and youth. The programme will support the private sector in driving growth, job creation and resilience building. Broadening the base for job creation will help create more and better jobs, as well as help overcome uneven spatial distribution of jobs across the country. It will help protect viable MSMEs from sliding back and help them grow and create more jobs and support economic recovery through access to finance and direct capacity building and creating an enabling environment.

The project has the following pillars:

- Pillar I: Ensure continuity of critical support functions and businesses at risk of collapse in crisis-affected areas

- Pillar II. Business recovery and resilience building through pre-and post-investment support to most impacted MSMEs

- Pillar III. Direct support to crises-affected entrepreneurs/start-ups

The Business Emergency Unit (BEU) - embedded under MOLS structures- will be used as an instrument to coordinate this project basing the proven experience of such arrangements under the COVID-19 programme. The core functions of the BEU, particular to this project would be Managerial/coordination functions, provisions of technical support and partnership building towards implementation of agreed outputs under the Supporting MSMEs Affected by Multiple Crises in Ethiopia project.

Hence, this recruitment is to deploy the lead of the BEU to oversee, coordinate and serve as a liaison between MoLS and UNDP in the implementation of the agreed interventions. The job holder will be stationed at the MoLS and directly engages with the relevant government officials on a day-to-day basis. The BEU Manager will be responsible for strengthening the BEU team and will also support other MoLS Business Emergency response and recovery programmes.

Duties and Responsibilities

a) Project management and managerial functions to coordinate the interventions under Supporting MSMEs Affected by Multiple crises in Ethiopia and promoting innovative startups towards restarting and recovery of the private sector project

• Manage activities of BEU including budget management, monitoring and evaluation, and providing risk mitigation solutions.

• Help map and research the relevant information, knowledge, and background as part of BEU project, such as regulations, guidelines, standards, and manuals related to BEU and other related projects in Ethiopia.

• Coordinate with internal and external experts as well as relevant stakeholders towards meeting the objective of the project  

• Manage technical and administrative work for specific initiatives and activities, and coordinate the evaluation of results/outcomes

• Building strong relationships with external stakeholders: government organizations, service providers (including banks and MFIs) and development partners

b) Service-delivery functions which include processing businesses application and delivering services through different channels (government, financial institutions, or BDS providers). This includes maintaining a major national portal providing information on support available from the GoE, an application window for support, a central database for delivery management and a reporting and visualization tool on the use of funds.

c) Provide evidence-based policy and strategic support to MoLS in line with the CO’s MSME ecosystem development initiative 

• Understanding the Ethiopian Crises on businesses (through conducting assessment and mapping) and development response and Recovery programs, mapping of the opportunities, challenges, and barriers for MSMEs recovery, revival and development under the BEU framework

• Serve as a liaison between MoLS and UNDP CO in providing strategic advisory support and technical expertise in effective implementation, and coordination of the BEU tasks

• Support the MOLS in assessing challenges in the implementation of response and recovery tasks under the BEU

• Support the government in obtaining integrative advice to combine best practices in MSMEs response and recovery practices

d) Support partnership building and resource mobilization, focusing on the achievement of the following results:

• Support in the analysis of information on donors involved in Business emergency response and recovery.

• Identify links between MOLS and UNDP crisis and recovery-related projects and programmes 

• Assist in the preparation of GIZ grant report, tracking resources and fund balances 

• Provide support in the preparation of communication products used for resource mobilization efforts.

• Mapping of actors and development partners in Ethiopia working on the recovery of businesses and facilities to have platforms for stakeholders’ coordination and collaboration 

e) Constitute knowledge management on MSME ecosystem development initiatives

• Analyze social, economic, and environmental data and trends that impact MSMEs and advise the Government in developing capacities and establishing systems that ensure the continuing use and application of knowledge and data for evidence-based policymaking.

• Participate in technical meetings; prepare and edit reports, manuals, guidelines, and other specialized publications in support of achieving these objectives. 

Institutional Arrangement

a. MOLS will directly supervise the Business Emergency Unit Manager- seconded UNDP recruited NPSA staff. The Manager will deliver monthly and quarterly performance delivery reports to UNDP. MoLS will send an approval letter attaching the progress reports monthly to UNDP CO for payment. 

b. The progress report to be submitted Monthly should entail planned activities, tasks accomplished as per the plan, additional tasks accomplished, reasons for lagging from the plan if any, problems encountered, solutions recommended and next period plan. 

c. The BEU Manager is expected to liaise/interact/collaborate/meet with relevant government stakeholders and potential donors 

d. MOLS will provide office facilities and necessary support for the efficient delivery of the tasks.

e. Secretarial services and Local transport services for work-related activities will be arranged by MoLS

Competencies

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work

• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking

• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 2: Go outside your comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning

• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in the change process

• Act with Determination: LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously

• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, brings people together, builds/maintain coalitions/partnerships

• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, consider in decision making 

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 Development - Knowledge generation: Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context or responsive to a stated need  

• Digital & Innovation Data analysis Ability to extract, analyze and visualize data (including Real-Time Data) to form meaningful insights and aid effective decision making

• Digital & Innovation - Innovation ecosystem curation: Ability to identify key players in an ecosystem, engage with them and mobilize them to build a community and over time a movement around a common mission that can bring about changes at the system level. 

• Ability to give a sense of purpose and build trust, develop programmes of activities and platforms to build and strengthen relationships

• Information management and Technology - Data management and analytics: Knowledge in data management, data sciences, ability to structure data, develop dashboards and visualization. Design data warehouses, data lakes or data platforms concepts.

Job requirements

Education:

• MBA, MSc or MA in economics, economic policy analysis, Development economics, Project Management, development studies, business administration, public administration, international business, or related fields

Experience:

• Minimum of 2 years with MA and 4 years with BA of relevant work experience in project/programme management and advisory services.  

• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc) and knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems

Required skills:

• Practical and working knowledge of GoEs policies and strategies in general and the current effort on crises response and recovery endeavor on MSMEs

• Good understanding of the Ethiopian private sector development ecosystem

• Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section   

• Demonstrated experience in MSME ecosystem development, enterprise development policies and public sector capacity development related to the thematic sector 

• Deep understanding of the Ethiopian crisis context and effects on small businesses

• Direct working level experience with enterprises including handling enterprise vetting and conducting due diligence

• Strong background in Project Cycle Management and Results-Based Management tools

Language:

• Fluency in English and local language of the duty station

How to Apply

Register using this LINK