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 towards 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 aManagingDirector, coordinates and mainstreams the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in itstechnicalcooperation, strategic, normative activities aiming at fostering the inclusive andsustainabledevelopment in the era of 4IR. The Directorate creates new and innovative technicalcooperationdeliverables in the areas of trade, investment, technology innovation and agro-industry andagri-business. The Directorate comprises the Department of Digitalization,Technology andInnovation (DTI) and the Department of Agri-Business (AGR).

The Department of Agri-Business (DTA/AGR) provides a range of technical cooperationservicesto assist developing countries add value to the output of their agricultural sector andgenerateemployment opportunities in off-farm activities for rural communities, therebycontributing toincreased food security and a sustainable reduction of poverty. The departmentprovides supportfor the development of agri-business corridors in developing countries incollaboration withInternational Financial Institutions. The Department drives the Organization’s mandates ofcreating shared prosperity and advancing economic competitiveness. It supportsinitiatives tobuild human capital and raise total factor productivity through focused vocationaltraining and industrial skills development activities. With its programmes, the Departmentaddresses the rootcauses of migration and helps alleviate migration pressures at the origin.

This position is located under the Sustainable Food Systems Division (DTA/AGR/SFS),whichpromotes ISID through the promotion of food systems that deliver food and nutritionsecuritywithout compromising economic, social, and environmental bases to generate foodsecurity andnutrition for future generations. The Division is responsible for identifying,developing andmanaging programmes to improve the competitiveness of the food andagribusiness sectorsthrough access to support services, finance, markets and tradeopportunities.

The Division contributes to the capacity-building of food systems support institutions andskilldevelopment 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-sizedenterprises’ (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 overallsustainability.

FUNCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

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

• Support the NPC in coordinating 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, where necessary, participate in the meetings, field visits, workshops and training activities organized under the project;
• Support the Project Manager and the NPC in the overall planning, reporting and management of the project;
• Support the Project Manager the NPC in identifying local resources such as potential project beneficiaries, consultants, cooperation partners, etc.;
• Perform tasks required for the project implementation such as administrative procedures, local and international procurement, local and international recruitment, Monitoring and Evaluation reporting etc., in coordination with the NPC;
• Elaborate documents such as Minutes of Meetings, reports, studies etc. and maintain a proper record keeping system for them;
• Support the Project Manager and the NPC in drafting project progress reports and other reports as required;
• Conduct other tasks as required by the Project Manager and the NPC.

MINIMUM ORGANIZATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Education: Completed higher secondary education (high school diploma or equivalent), is required. Formal administrative/secretarial/clerical training or equivalent, is desirable.

Credit towards total working experience may be considered on a year by-year- basis, up to maximum of four years, for a first university degree or equivalent diploma, in a relevant field.

Technical and Functional Experience:

• A minimum of eight (8) years of experience in the related fields of the post, is required.
• Experience using Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel), internet search engines, is required.
• Experience with office procedures and practices, preferably within the UN system or in a multicultural environment, is desirable.
• Experience in project administration, accounting and finance, providing support to managerial/professional staff and using secretarial/administrative skills to assist in the execution of project development and implementation of work, is desirable.
• Experience with SAP or similar ERP software is desirable.

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

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES

Core Values

WE LIVE AND ACT WITH INTEGRITY: work honestly, openly and impartially.

WE SHOW PROFESSIONALISM: work hard and competently in a committed and responsible manner.

WE RESPECT DIVERSITY: work together effectively, respectfully and inclusively, regardless of our differences in culture and perspective.

Key Competencies

WE FOCUS ON PEOPLE: cooperate to fully reach our potential –and this is true for our colleagues as well as our clients. Emotional intelligence and receptiveness are vital parts of our UNIDO identity.

WE FOCUS ON RESULTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES: focus on planning, organizing and managing our work effectively and efficiently. We are responsible and accountable for achieving our results and meeting our performance standards. This accountability does not end with our colleagues and supervisors, but we also owe it to those we serve and who have trusted us to contribute to a better, safer and healthier world.

WE COMMUNICATE AND EARN TRUST: communicate effectively with one another and build an environment of trust where we can all excel in our work.

WE THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX AND INNOVATE: To stay relevant, we continuously improve, support innovation, share our knowledge and skills, and learn from one another.