UNOPS South East Asia Multi-Country Office (EAPMCO)
The South East Asia and Pacific Multi Country Office (EAPMCO) supports, develops, and oversees the UNOPS portfolio of projects in South East Asia and the Pacific. EAPMCO was established in January 2023 following the merger of the Thailand Multi-Country Office, which covered 20 countries across North East Asia, South East Asia, and the Pacific, and the Cambodia Multi-Country Office, which covered 4 countries in South East Asia - 3 countries in the Mekong Sub-region (Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam) and the Philippines. EAPMCO currently covers 24 countries across North East Asia, South East Asia, and the Pacific. With its head office in Bangkok, the Multi-Country Office comprises nine business units: EAPMCO Thailand, EAPMCO Indonesia, EAPMCO Pacific Operations Cluster, EAPMCO Papua New Guinea, EAPMCO China, EAPMCO Mekong, and EAPMCO Philippines.
In 2024, the UNOPS EAPMCO implemented projects worth more than USD 80 million, in the areas of Energy Transition, Digital Transformations, Sustainable Environmental Management, Climate Change, Waste Management, Rule of Law and Access to Justice, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Post Conflict Reintegration, Emergency Relief, Post COVID19 Economic Transformations, and Health, through HR, procurement, construction, contract management, fund and program management services.
The Multi Country Office head office in Bangkok provides strategic direction, operational support, delivery oversight, and assurance of the excellence of business processes and quality standards across all of the entire Multi Country Office locations. It is also responsible for developing, delivering, and managing the portfolio of engagements in the country of the MCO location itself.
Background Information – Job Specific
EAPMCO Thailand is a UNOPS business unit under the South East Asia and Pacific Region. It was established to better support, develop, and oversee the UNOPS portfolio of projects in South East Asia and the Pacific.
The Human Resources Services Team (HRST) was established in 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand, and it delivers HR transactional services on behalf of UNOPS to major UN clients. Through this service provision stream, HRST enhances the operational capacity of UNOPS to serve partners with large-scale and high-volume HR services through need-driven corporate-level project services. In support of, and to best serve clients’ needs, HRST has developed and utilizes standardized and unified systems and processes born of extensive experience that ensure the highest quality of services and cost-effectiveness for partners.
Supplemental to the above, HRST also services partners on whose behalf it undertakes complete Project Implementation with in-house expertise spanning the whole of the Project Management Lifecycle (LEAD Generation, Costing and Budget Preparation, UNOPS internal systems management, through to Project Closure). With its extensive experience base in Project Management related services, including but not limited to Administration, Financial and Portfolio Management, Partner (client) Engagement and Management, Procurement as well as HR Transactional Services, HRST has a strong base upon which to lay the foundation for increasing its overall business acquisition.
The Portfolio Senior Assistant position will be based in Manila, Philippines, and is expected to work in the team of HR Transactional Portfolio led by the Project Manager based in Bangkok, Thailand.
Functional Responsibilities
Provision of HR Services and Project Management Support
Implementation of Operational Strategies and Procedures
Knowledge Building and Knowledge Sharing
1. Provision of HR Services and Project Management Support
Act as the communication focal point for assigned HR projects which deliver UNOPS HR Services to respective partner in full compliance with UNOPS rules, regulation and SOPs.
Assist with administration and regular monitoring of all budgetary, financial, procurement and routine aspects of project delivery.
Assist with the preparation and processing of budgets and required formats in compliance with UNOPS requirements for internal approval, review of budgets to confirm if funds are available; run budget reports including transactions details and exceptions; Monitor expenditures, verification for accuracy of expenditure requests (Certification of Payments, invoices, Travel/Expense Claims) and availability of funds, completeness of documentation submitted.
Create vendor details and approval follow-ups.
Assist with issuance of contracts and process payroll for partner personnel.
Monitoring of payments and follow up when problems arise; Review of payment vouchers and supporting documentation for completeness, accuracy, compliance with UNOPS FRRs and correctness of account code charges.
Analyze project finances including contributions, expenditure and UNOPS charges monthly, and prepare adjustments as required.
Extract partner financial reports for internal review and submission.
Prepare invoices and follow up with partner contributions.
Support administrative arrangements (e.g., logistics) for conferences/meetings.
Interact with colleagues, clients, and partners to exchange information on administrative issues and seek co-operation. Resolution of routine administrative and process problems, referring complex issues to the supervisor with recommendations for a course of action.
Create Requisitions and Purchase Orders (POs); performance of reconciliation activities such as closure and cancellation POs. Inquiries on PO details and activities. Generation of PO reports for expedition, status, and details information; and create receipts including information such as distributions, rejections, and cancellations.
Maintain procurement/contract-tracking plan to review sub-contractor invoices and supporting documentation and ensure that services provided and claims are in conformity with the terms of the contract.
Prepare routine project communications, documentation, reports, and contracts, checking documents for accuracy and compliance with UNOPS format and style.
Prepare briefing materials, as required for mission travel and/or discussion on project activities and status.
Prepare financial authorizations for project activities for approval of the Supervisor.
Maintain accurate records of all operational and financial transactions for easy reference and retrieval; efficient document management including file closures, archiving and monitoring due dates for project progress status reports and submission by UNOPS of substantive and financial/budget utilization reports to clients.
Process travel and expenses according to established procedures and practice.
Support Programme Manager in management, implementation, monitoring of HR, procurement and other related requests including monitoring tools.
Verify for the accuracy of requests/transactions and completeness of documentation. Initiate action and certification for approval at the higher level as required.
2. Implementation of Operational Strategies and Procedures:
Full compliance with operations with UNOPS rules, regulations, policies, and strategies.
Inputs to the content of internal Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in operations, in consultation with the direct supervisor and office management.
3. Knowledge Building and Knowledge Sharing:
Input and update accurate data and information to facilitate monitoring and evaluation of project activities, and to institutionalize and disseminate knowledge.
