Tiered Approach

In line with the commitment to safeguard capacity and support personnel already in the Organization, a majority of UNDP UNCDF/UNV vacancies are advertised using a tiered application process whereby:

Tier 0: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV IP staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments, whose posts will be abolished, or contracts will be terminated or not renewed during 2026.
Tier 1: Other UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments
Tier 2: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts, and Expert and Specialist UN Volunteers
Tier 3 or no tier indicated: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates

Please make note of the Tier(s) indicated in the vacancy title, if any, and ensure that you satisfy the eligibility to apply.

Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN's global development network, working in 170 countries and territories. In line with its 2026-2030 Country Programme, UNDP in Bosnia and Herzegovina focuses on inclusive green growth, human capital development and accountable institutions and social cohesion. UNDP is fully committed to supporting Bosnia and Herzegovina in achieving its Agenda 2030 commitments and advancing its European Union (EU) integration priorities. Across all areas of work, UNDP applies conflict-sensitive, integrated, and innovative approaches tailored to the country's development needs.

The Effective Governance Sector of UNDP in Bosnia and Herzegovina implements projects in the areas of democratic governance, accountable institutions and social cohesion, rule of law, security, access to justice, social protection, and human rights, geared towards reducing inequalities, strengthening accountable and responsive institutions, and ensuring that vulnerable groups have access to essential services and opportunities. All interventions are implemented in close collaboration with government institutions, civil society organizations, academia, development partners, and other UN agencies.

The Roma Assistance Programme is a Joint Programme (JP) led by UNDP and implemented in partnership with UNICEF, UNFPA and IOM in close coordination with the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office. It is funded under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III) for the years 2022 and 2024. The Programme draws resources from two complementary Action Documents, EU4PEOPLE (Employment and Social Protection) and EU4 Rule of Law and Equality (Justice, Roma Inclusion, Gender Equality), and integrates their respective objectives into a single, coherent programme support. This integrated design prevents fragmentation, eliminates duplication and ensures maximum coherence and complementarity between the social inclusion, housing governance and rights-based dimensions of Roma inclusion. The overall objective of the Programme is to strengthen the rule of law, democracy, the respect of human rights and gender equality in line with EU standards. This will be achieved through a comprehensive, area-based approach to Roma inclusion that addresses the interconnected barriers faced by Roma communities. The Programme will combine the formalisation and legalisation of Roma settlements, improvement of housing conditions and access to basic infrastructure with targeted measures to improve access to education, healthcare, employment opportunities, social protection, legal aid and protection from discrimination.

The Programme will be implemented in partnership with relevant institutions across multiple government levels, including up to 15 local governments and civil society organizations across the country.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Effective Governance Sector Leader the Joint Programme Manager will execute the duties and responsibilities outlined below in the following functional areas:

Ensures project management and supervision of the teams:

Coordinates and manages project activities under the relevant projects, in cooperation with JP UN agencies, donors, project partners and other stakeholders.
Manages and ensures achievement of the overall project objectives as stated in the project document including supervision of the project team.
Supports coordination of activities related to the incorporation of different approaches into project activities.
Applies programming tools and policies in line with the UN Result-Based Management Approach, prepares annual activity and procurement work plans, as well as budgets based on expected year-end outputs.
Builds, motivates, and leads a high-performing team consisting of personal, experts, service providers, and conducts performance assessments of team members, and ensures interagency coordination.
Reports to the Steering Committee(s) to assure the overall direction and integrity of the implementation.
Ensures full accountability, transparency, and the principle of competition in the allocation of resources, procurement of services, works and goods and selection of recipients.
Secures proper and efficient use of projects budget, as per the JP document and workplans; manages financial allocations and approves expenditures according to the authority delegated and ensures timely payments in accordance with UNDP rules and regulations.
Ensures that all UNDP project management quality standards are observed and applied in the implementation.
Complies with security and safety requirements and regulations and ensures the same are respected by the team members.

Provides policy advice and technical guidance:

Provides conceptual guidance and technical advice to the project team and projects counterparts on social protection reform, strengthening of Centers for Social Welfare, digital transformation, and development of community-based social services in line with EU standards and national reform priorities.
Identifies and analyse sources of information related to policy-driven issues and promote best practices, lessons learned, and innovative approaches relevant to project objectives.
Provides strategic leadership and steer policy formulation processes within the project in line with project documents, ensuring the application of EU standards.
Guides the design and implementation of technical assistance aimed at strengthening institutional, organizational, strategic, and financial capacities of partners;
Coordinates the development of policies, and reform measures related to support to Roma population.
Participates in project-level committees, policy and capacity-development working groups, and relevant events.
Ensures strategic synergies and coordination with other relevant interventions, partners, and stakeholders.
Provides technical support to the Sector Leader and contribute to project development, resource mobilization, reporting, communication, and knowledge management activities

Project monitoring, reporting and quality assurance of activities:

Reviews on a regular basis schedules, deliverables and budget as articulated in the Annual Work Plan - AWP (evidence of progress towards expected outputs, according to schedule, within budget) with the projects staff.
Ensures close monitoring of activities in line with the monitoring plans, guiding the design and regular use of adequate monitoring tools and systems, enabling evidence-based tracking of progress, achievements, and results, against the logical framework indicators.
Monitors budgets, verifies the availability of funds, obtains necessary approvals and updates budget-related information.
Ensures that all projects-related issues and risks are identified and reported in a timely manner and suggests corrective measures.
Ensures timely submission of narrative progress and financial reports, and other reports as may be required by UNDP, Project Boards or the donors.
Carries regular, announced and unannounced performance monitoring of the team, as well as conducts field visits and quality checks of project events, sites and activities.
Ensures data and information inputs, as necessary, to the regular Country Office programme monitoring and reporting processes.
Ensures the existence of successful overall quality assurance of the programme for financial, procurement and administrative processes

Promotes gender equality, mainstreaming and knowledge management:

Ensures gender mainstreaming throughout the project activities, work plans, budgets, reports, research, analyses and, where specifically relevant, analyse it in detail.
Supports continuous learning by the team and contributes to the UNDP in-house thematic knowledge and practitioners’ networks.
Prepares analytical reviews and systematically captures lessons learnt from the implementation, identifying follow-up actions, and submits them for consideration to the Steering Committee.
Establishes connections of exchange and learning with national and regional local development networks and resource persons.
Ensures all project products and heritage are duly stored and made available to the broader programme.

Establish partnership and undertakes advocacy:

Establishes and maintains good working relations with relevant government institution, social protection actors, at state, entity, cantonal, and local levels to advance programme objectives and support sustainable social protection system.
Arranges, prepares and follows up on meetings with direct stakeholders such as public officials, service providers, civil society, regional/international professional networks, and others that consolidate wider support to the JP objectives and expand its outreach.
Promotes inclusive participation and meaningful engagement of stakeholders throughout programme implementation, strengthening national ownership, accountability, and sustainability.
Builds and nurtures effective working relationships with institutional counterparts and partners, ensuring programme activities are responsive to beneficiary needs and aligned with national priorities.
Ensures wide dissemination and visibility of achievements.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the functioning of the Project and the Organization.

The Joint Programme Manager will be based in the UNDP office in Sarajevo, with frequent field travel to the joint project target area.

Institutional Arrangement

The Joint Programme Manager will lead a project team and provide technical advice and coordinate the implementation of the different project activities to ensure coherence with the project framework. The Joint Programme Manager will contribute to the efficient monitoring of the use of funds and the procurement of services and goods executed by UNDP. S/he will coordinate the Project activities on a day-to-day basis on behalf of UNDP and in close consultations and under the guidance and direct supervision of the Sector Leader ensuring that the project produces the required outputs.

Competencies

Core 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 comfort zone, learn from others, and support their learning.
Adapt with Agility - LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in 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, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships.
Enable Diversity and Inclusion - LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making.

People Management Competencies:

UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.

Cross Functional & Technical Competencies:

Partnership management

Resource mobilization
- Ability to identify funding sources, match funding needs (programmes/projects/initiatives) with funding opportunities, and establish a plan to meet funding requirements.
Relationship management
- Ability to engage with a wide range of public and private partners, build, sustain and/or strengthen working relations, trust and mutual understanding.

Business Development

Partnership Management
- Build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and public sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies.

Business Management

Results-based Management
- Ability to manage the implementation of strategies, programmes and projects with a focus at improved performance and demonstrable results. Knowledge and understanding of relevant theories, concepts, methodologies, instruments, and tools.
Communication
- Communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience. Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.

Business Direction & Strategy

Entrepreneurial Thinking
- Identify and seize opportunities to service and add value to clients, create clarity around UNDP value proposition to beneficiaries and partners and develop clear service offers responding to client needs based on UNDP’s organizational priorities and mandate.
System Thinking
- Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact other parts of the system.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Civil Engineering, Architecture, Law, or Economics or any other related field is required, OR
A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above, in combination with an additional two years of qualifying work experience, will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

Minimum two years (with master´s degree) or four years (with Bachelor´s degree) of proven project management experience is required.

Required knowledge and skills:

Experience in designing, managing, and coordinating programmes and projects focused on social inclusion, local governance, and public sector reform.
Extensive experience in supporting institutional strengthening, capacity development, and modernization of public sector institutions, particularly in social protection, service delivery systems and public administration.

Desired knowledge and skills:

Proven experience in supervising the implementation of complex civil engineering projects.
Experience identifying funding opportunities, preparing donor reports, and supporting donor engagement.
Proven experience engaging with government institutions, civil society organizations, and international partners, supported by strong communication, coordination, and facilitation.
Experience integrating gender equality, inclusion, and diversity principles into project design and implementation.
Demonstrated experience working with UNDP or other United Nations entities.

Languages:

Fluency in English and any of official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian/Croatian or Serbian) is required.

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination.

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles.

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Use of AI by candidates

Applicants are invited to read UNDP’s guidance for candidates on using AI responsibly in UNDP recruitment and selection

Scam alert

UNDP does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process. For further information, please see www.undp.org/scam-alert.

Joint Programme Manager [Open to internal and external applicants]