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 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: SEMCO Thailand, EAPMCO Indonesia,  EAPMCO Pacific Operations Cluster, EAPMCO Papua New Guinea, EAPMCO China, EAPMCO Vietnam, EAPMCO Lao PDR, EAPMCO Philippines, and EAPMCO Cambodia.

In 2022, the UNOPS EAPMCO implemented projects worth more than USD 95.7 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 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. 

UNOPS in the Philippines
Established in 2016, UNOPS Philippines provides expert support to ensure sustainable project management, procurement, and infrastructure activities in projects. With funds from the European Union (EU), UNOPS supports the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government under the Governance in Justice (GOJUST) Programme (GOJUST2) through procurement, logistics, and grants management to push forward the justice reform agenda of the Philippine government through innovations and interventions; as well as providing grants to civil society organizations to improve access to justice of marginalized groups. In Support to the Bangsamoro Transition (SUBATRA) Programme, UNOPS is working with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Government to strengthen the capacities of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches to ensure a smooth transition, also with funds from the EU. In the health sector, UNOPS works with the DOH / ADB in the HEAL project (Health System Enhancement to Address and Limit COVID-19).

UNOPS Philippines is in the process of expanding its area of engagement in cooperation with its development partners, focusing mainly on a portfolio of projects and programs in the infrastructure, logistics management, procurement in health, rule of law,  and governance sectors.

Project Background Information – GoJUST II 

The Governance in Justice Programme Phase II or GOJUST II is a program of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines with support  from the European Union. It builds on from its predecessor program and generally aims to  contribute to inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development through improved access  to justice for all. Specifically, it aims to develop more responsive and accountable justice  services. The justice system is composed of different actors. Reforms must be undertaken in a  coordinated and cohesive manner to ensure efficiency and sustainability. The center of any  justice sector reform program is the improvement of the lives of the people. In order to achieve  this, GOJUST II employs a four-pronged approach: justice sector strengthening, effective  justice institutions, access to justice and evidence-based research. 

Justice sector coordination is undertaken by the Justice Sector Coordinating Council (JSCC) co-chaired by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Secretary of Justice and the Secretary for the Department of Interior and  Local Government. GOJUST II will support the strengthening and institutionalization of the  JSCC as well as the strengthening of the individual justice sector institutions, to ensure  complementarity and compatibility of reform measures. Local sectoral coordination  mechanisms through the Justice Zones will allow GOJUST II to pilot reform measures at the  local level. GOJUST II will also support CSOs and law schools to increase access to justice for vulnerable groups. Finally, GOJUST II will promote evidence-based research that could  inform policy-making and future programming. 

Particularly on increased  access to the justice system for vulnerable groups, including women which is GOJUST II’s Key Result Area (KRA) 3, GOJUSTII established a grant facility which UNOPS manages in collaboration with the British Council which provides technical assistance to  the GOJUST II. 

GOJUST II’s KRA 3 will seek to empower women, poor and people living in vulnerable situations to  recognize their grievances and problems as legal issues and to seek effective remedies for  disputes. For people to be able to seek redress, they must know their rights and understand the  different pathways for seeking justice. To this end the project will work with media, legal service  NGOs, paralegals and other facilitators to create legal and rights awareness and provide direct  legal services on issues involving land rights, rights of women, including victims of sexual and  gender-based violence (GBV), rights of indigenous peoples, children, youth, prisoners, those  with disabilities and LGBTI people. The project will identify strategic collaborations with media,  arts and culture platforms for popular engagement on these issues. Based on the British  Council’s comparative experience in the use of arts and culture for peacebuilding, interventions  will be conflict sensitive and locally led, focusing on tangible outcomes such as confidence building and self-expression as part of legal empowerment.

Aside from grant management and administration, UNOPS is responsible for the provision of logistical and administrative support, which may include the organization and facilitation of training, workshops, seminars and study tours; procurement of goods and services; small works; and, communication and visibility. 

Role Specific
As of January 2024, which is already midway in the implementation of the programme, GOJUST has already committed the grant funds to 29 organizations who are implementing 32 grants, and it is expected that there will be no more new grants that will be issued till the end of the project. The main focus of the work from now till the end of the program period will be monitoring, evaluation, coaching, and capacity building for the grantees currently on board. 

This position of  M&E Senior Officer for Access to Justice and Grants Management will be reporting directly to the Senior Project Manager of GoJUST II, and to the GoJUST2 Senior Adviser for Access to Justice of the partner organization, the British Council, for strategic advice and over-all cohesion with the results framework and the robust implementation of Result Three in relation to the three other result areas. The ME Senior Officer will also coordinate with the GoJUST2 Programme's Lead on MEL.

The position requires traveling to various locations where the grantees are implementing their activities, in all the island groups of the country, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.