Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) is a global partnership with the goal of enabling 120 million more women and girls to access and use contraceptives by 2020. FP2020 supports the rights of women and girls to decide, freely and for themselves, whether, when and how many children they want to have. FP2020 provides a platform to enhance information-sharing and to support the coordination of efforts across the larger FP2020 community to advance access to family planning information, services, and contraceptives under the guiding principles of rights, quality, equity, and voluntarism. The FP2020 Secretariat is hosted by the United Nations Foundation.
The Associate is responsible for providing programmatic and administrative support to FP2020’s Country Support team – namely, the Asia Regional Manager, Rapid Response Mechanism Portfolio Manager and Country Support Director.
More specifically, the Associate provides informed recommendations and support to the Asia Regional Manager on country level progress and challenges, and helps to cultivate relationships with Country Focal Points and wider stakeholders at country level, to advance the goal of FP2020. The Associate liaises with the Asia Regional Manager and the Rapid Response Mechanism Portfolio Manager to identify programs that meet RRM criteria and collaborating with in-country experts as appropriate.
Programmatic, Strategic, and Administrative Support for the Asia Regional portfolio (70%):
- Work closely with the Manager, the 11 FP2020 commitment-making countries, and partners to support countries in reaching their FP2020 commitments, specifically through the execution of their FP2020 country action plans and the development/execution of the countries’ Costed Implementation Plans.
- In collaboration with the Postpartum Family Planning Manager and Associate, ensure postpartum and post-abortion family planning (PPFP/PAFP) are incorporated within Country Action Plans for countries where these areas have been identified as a high priority and support focal points’ execution of those priorities.
- Support effective and substantial information sharing and collaboration among Country Focal Points and a broad range of country and global stakeholders.
- Organize, conduct and lead regular communication with Country Focal Points to share progress on country action plan execution; monitor progress through the Country Action Plan tracker.
- Support the participation of commitment-making countries in FP2020 events.
- Review and provide feedback on country plans and strategies, as requested by the Country Focal Points.
- Arrange meetings and events with Country Focal Points and partners, most notably the Asia Regional Focal Point Workshop. Manage logistics for such events and contribute to the agenda design and development.
- Provide information to other countries in this region about the FP2020 commitment-making process, support the country teams in developing commitments and incorporate them into the FP2020 partnership.
- In collaboration with the Communications team, identify country stories that can be featured in the FP2020 newsletter and/or annual progress report; share updated country information with the Communications team to post on the FP2020 website’s country pages.
Programmatic, Strategic, and Administrative Support for the RRM Portfolio (10%):
- Coordinate with relevant FP2020 Secretariat staff and partners to investigate grant requests and develop funding recommendations in line with the team’s programmatic priorities and budget, as well as priorities outlined in Country Action Plans.
- Contribute to the reporting process to RRM donors (periodic progress reports and presentations).
- Collaborate with FP2020’s Communications team to identify opportunities to highlight RRM achievements through FP2020’s dissemination channels.
- Support the organization of country visits by Secretariat staff to document RRM grantees’ achievements. Participate in these visits as needed.
- Support broader projects related to the RRM as needed.
Other (20%)
- Provide administrative support to develop grant agreements, contracts, no-cost extensions, payment requests and grant closure documents, in collaboration with UNF’s BSBR and Finance Departments.
- Maintain strong relationships with a group of RRM grantees to ensure adequate project implementation, timely reporting, and effective budget execution.
- Stay current and inform the team of rules and regulations of RRM donors, and continually ensure that RRM grantees adhere to these requirements during project implementation.
- Support the collaboration and coordination within the Country Support team and within the Secretariat, as well as with grantees, partners, and implementers.
- Provide editorial support for relevant sections of FP2020’s quarterly reports to UNF and DFID, the annual report to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the annual FP2020 Progress Report.
- Represent FP2020 at relevant meetings, conferences, workshops, and other events, as needed.
- Contribute to FP2020’s strategic thinking, planning and organizational development, as needed.
- Three to five years’ work experience related to human and reproductive rights, public health, international affairs, or development.
- Proven project management skills - ability to move projects forward from inception to implementation to completion.
- Strong communications skills (speaking, writing, editing, and listening); research accuracy and attention to detail.
- Ability to develop, maintain and enjoy effective working relationships with people, internally; across the UN Foundation; and externally from a wide variety of types of organizations, cultural backgrounds and with a wide variety of functional expertise.
- Ability to prioritize and juggle many projects at once is a must.
- Ability to represent the organization with professionalism, diplomacy, and aplomb
- Flexibility; self-starter; openness to new challenges; team player; ability to thrive under stress and prioritize competing demands.
- Must be fluent in English; additional language fluency a plus.
- Prior experience working in developing countries is a plus, especially in any of the 11 countries in the Asia regional portfolio.
- Sense of humor.
- Continuous learning skills and the ability to synthesize information.
- Willing to travel (approximately 2-3 trips per year) and represent the organization with professionalism, diplomacy, and aplomb.
- Multi-cultural experience and sensitivity.
- Ability to meet regular attendance/tardiness policy.
For full-time, benefit eligible employees, UNF offers an excellent range of benefits, including:
- A choice of two health plans through CareFirst (PPO or HDHP with HSA),
- dental insurance,
- vision discounts,
- flexible spending accounts,
- 403b retirement savings plan with a generous matching contribution,
- group term and supplemental life insurance,
- short-term disability,
- long-term disability,
- health club discounts,
- commuter benefits, and
- employee assistance program.
Additionally, all benefit eligible employees have 12 paid holidays, 20 vacation days, 10 sick days, 3 personal days, and 8 weeks of parental leave.