Outcome APA_O_4

Improved management of financial and human resources in pursuit of results

2021 was a year of transition in the team of operations of ROAP. A new Regional Operations Manager took over the position that was vacant since December 2020. The procurement team was also renewed during the year. During this transition, the team was able to continue to provide qualified technical support to ROAP’s teams as well as to programme presence offices and country offices of the region, also exercising, as expected, the required oversight. ROAP operations team successfully completed the transition of China office to become a full-fledged Country Office and could also continuously collaborate to the negotiations for the establishment of a new office in South Korea. Close support was provided to the teams of Afghanistan and Myanmar during period of crisis when evacuation/relocations happened. During the pick of COVID19 pandemic due to the closure of international borders and the cancellation of almost all commercial flights, ROAP administrative team collaborated to facilitate, monitor, and book flights for Asia route Hub of 27 cases ensuring safety of our personal and the continuity of activities. The project of moving all the ROAP to a single joint area was implemented and the office was moved by mid-year to the 14 th floor of the UN Building and a SLA for ICT services provided by ESCAP was put in place. The Regional PAC counted with the support of the operations team for the analysis of the 20 cases presented during 2021. Operations continue to represent UN Women’s interests through the participation on OMT and BOS meetings. On the financial side, the joint work of the operations teams made it possible, for the 3 rd consecutive year, to direct cost services to noncore projects DPCing USD208,5K during the year. Close support was provided by the Finance team to Cambodia enhancing their cost effectiveness and efficiency through the set up a threshold for VAT claim for that office and also on the management of assets. To be better positioned for the implementation of the new ERP corporate system, the region succeed on the creation of Finance Analyst TA position and the person is already on board. Throughout the year, each team of operations dedicated continuous effort to build capacities through training sessions for all offices in AP region and to ROAPs team. Depending on the necessity different approaches were implemented, like new staff orientation, one-on-one coaching, specific sessions from requested office and webinars jointly organized and conducted with HQs sections. Teambuilding sessions were implemented during Q4 2021. ROAP OPS teams invested time on training sessions to strength capacities of Philippines renewed team to ensure quality of process. On the procurement side, the demand increased, and the total amount of transaction was 32% higher than 2020. More than 900 purchase orders and more than 260 new vendors were processed by ROAP’s buyers, and 65 cases were reviewed by the Regional Procurement Review Committee (R-PRC). To cope with the demand, 12 capacity building sessions were delivered during 2021. Collaborating with the corporate goals, the team led the organization of Gender Responsive Procurement trainings to the region so programme and project managers could be more aware on how to apply the GRP principles with their programmatic works. Although the team understand that the management of procurement, hiring, events, travel plans improved in 2021, there is still a good space for improvement – a challenge for all PMs, CO managers and technical teams. ROAP operations team successfully completed the transition of China office to become a full-fledged Country Office and could also continuously collaborate to the negotiations for the establishment of a new office in South Korea. Close support was provided to the teams of Afghanistan and Myanmar during period of crisis when evacuation/relocations happened. During the pick of COVID19 pandemic due to the closure of international borders and the cancellation of almost all commercial flights, ROAP administrative team collaborated to facilitate, monitor, and book flights for Asia route Hub of 27 cases ensuring safety of our personal and the continuity of activities. The project of moving all the ROAP to a single joint area was implemented and the office was moved by mid-year to the 14 th floor of the UN Building and an SLA for ICT services provided by ESCAP was put in place. The Regional PAC counted with the support of the operations team for the analysis of the 20 cases presented during 2021. Operations continue to represent UN Women’s interests through the participation on OMT and BOS.

Improved management of financial and human resources in pursuit of results

W e made some progress towards human resources management. RO introduced simplified SC interview report and this helped to fasten the write up of interview report and subsequently, fasten the recruitment process. ROAP HR allowed COs to piggyback the consultancy contract for longlisting applications. So far, Afghanistan, Pakistan and PNG has been using this consultant. We plan to increase the number of consultants on retainer basis so other COs can use the service. This has reduced some of the workload of HR colleagues and therefore improve lead time in recruitment process.