Programme Officer

The Programme Officer supports UNIDO's Regional Bureau Latin America and the Caribbean by coordinating field representation and interventions, developing cooperation strategies, and managing programmes aligned with sustainable industrial development and the 2030 Agenda. The role involves project development, stakeholder collaboration, and monitoring of regional programmes to promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization.

Responsibilities

• Backstop the assigned countries of coverage, providing support to relevant UNIDO field offices.
• Provide regular communications with the network of UNIDO field offices in the region to ensure a coordinated approach to addressing requests from national and regional counterparts.
• Maintain a regular exchange of information, prepare background and briefing notes for bilateral meetings with partners and counterparts of UNIDO.
• Conceptualize and formulate effective and innovative cooperation strategies for the development of a coherent programme of technical assistance for the countries of the region.
• Undertake project and programme development work including identification, formulation, implementation, and monitoring of projects and programmes at national and sub-regional levels.
• Ensure development of innovative and cost effective projects and programmes from all sources of financing.
• Contribute to initiating and developing country, regional and partnership strategies and programmes linked to national development priorities, donor priorities and the UNIDO mandate.
• Provide backstopping and monitoring support to the Chief on the workplan of the Bureau and ensure programmatic coherence of UNIDO’s technical cooperation and service delivery.
• Establish close linkages with the extended network of UNIDO institutions in the field.
• Collaborate with national and regional counterparts and partner institutions to enable a constant flow of information on UNIDO’s field operations and regional activities.
• Collaborate with other relevant organizational units of UNIDO on the organization of conferences and global forum activities to share knowledge and build partnerships.
• Provide monitoring support of the country programme portfolio and project implementation at the country level, including according to UNIDO’s Results Based Management of the LAC Regional Programme 2026-2030.
• Provide substantive inputs and backstopping support in facilitating and/or organizing missions of the Director General to the Region.
• Act as a Team Member in relevant UNIDO programmes in the region and participate in missions to promote UNIDO services and encourage resource mobilization.
• Support the implementation of UNIDO’s SDG9 Accelerator including its online platform and South-south and triangular cooperation Mechanism.
• Contribute to the preparation of results-based reporting ensuring accuracy and evidence-based analysis.
• Perform other related duties and assignments as required.

Requirements

• First-level university degree (bachelor’s or equivalent) in economics, development studies, business administration, international relations, public administration or relevant field is required.
• An advanced university degree (master’s or equivalent) or Doctorate in the same fields are accepted with a reduced requirement for years of professional experience.
• A minimum of professional experience aligned with the educational level is required: at least 8 years of relevant professional experience with a Bachelor’s degree, at least 5 years with a Master’s degree, or at least 3 years with a Doctorate.
• Progressively responsible relevant professional experience, including some at the international level in economic development, programme management, involving technical cooperation in developing countries is required.
• Experience in all phases of the Project Cycle is required.
• Exposure to the needs, conditions and problems affecting the Latin America and the Caribbean region is desirable.
• Experience in programme/project monitoring, reporting, and evaluation within a development or UN context.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to collect, synthesize and interpret complex data from multiple sources to support evidence-based decision-making.
• Ability to identify key trends, issues and risks, and translate them into clear findings and actionable recommendations.
• Ability to collaborate across units and with external stakeholders (e.g. field offices, UN partners).
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Spanish is required.
• Fluency in or working knowledge of Portuguese, or of another United Nations language, is desirable.

Skills

• Economic Development
• Programme Management
• Project Cycle Management
• Technical Cooperation
• Programme Monitoring
• Project Reporting
• Project Evaluation
• Data Analysis
• Evidence-Based Decision Making
• Stakeholder Collaboration
• International Development
• Regional Development Policies
• Sustainable Industrial Development
• Cooperation Strategy Development
• Risk Analysis
• Trend Identification
• English
• Spanish

Languages

English, Spanish, Portuguese