INTERREG IVB North-West Europe

JOB VACANCY AT THE JOINT TECHNICAL SECRETARIAT

PROJECT UNIT COORDINATOR

APPLICATION PACK

Content:

The INTERREG IVB NWE Programme2

The role of the JTS3

Job description4-5

General information6

THE INTERREG IVB NWE PROGRAMME

INTERREG IVB NWE is a financial instrument of the European Union’s Cohesion Policy focusing on the North-West Europe area. Its purpose is to meet the European Territorial Cooperation Objective by means of funding transnational projects.

The North-West Europe (NWE) Programme, also known as “INTERREG IVB NWE”, supports organisations of all layers of governance who wish to work together. The NWE area consists of 8 countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, UK and Switzerland. The aim is to find innovative options to make the best use of available territorial assets to address common challenges.

Transnational cooperation is about looking beyond local issues and national or regional borders, meeting people, exchanging experiences, sharing knowledge, developing a new culture, and achieving better results together rather than alone. The “raison d’être” of the Programme is to bring Europe together to create a more cohesive EU society!

The IVB Programme is a follow up of the INTERREG IIIB NWE Programme (2000-2006), under which 99 transnational cooperation projects were approved to a total of €330 million ERDF (European Regional Development Fund). But IVB is a follow-up with the clear ambition to build and capitalise on the IIIB experience and to progress from there. In practice this means more investments, even stronger partnerships and even more concrete results than before.

The goal of the IVB Programme is to make the NWE area more competitive, environmentally friendly and cohesive. IVB aims to capitalise on this ambition by improving employment opportunities, enhancing the environmental qualities, improving accessibility through intelligent transport solutions and ensuring that our cities and rural areas are attractive and sustainable. All of that needs to be done by using the existing territorial assets as much as possible, thus delivering the maximum result with the highest leverage.

These themes for cooperation are translated into four Programme Priorities which are explained in detail in the Operational Programme, the reference document for NWE:

1 - Capitalising on innovation

2 - Managing resources and risks

3 - Improving connectivity

4 - Strengthening communities

Between 2007 and 2013, the Programme will allocate more than €355 million ERDF to the most innovative and ambitious projects. Calls for Proposals will be launched every year, twice in the first years of implementation.

Further information:

THE ROLE OF THE JOINT TECHNICAL SECRETARIAT

The Managing Authority of the INTERREG IVB Programme NWE is the Region Nord-Pas de Calais in Lille (France).

The Managing Authority has created an international legal body to host 3 INTERREG Programmes in Lille called GEIE-GECOTTI. This legal body under private law is the legal employer of the members of the JTS Staff.

Pursuant to Article 14.1 of the ERDF Regulation, a Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) based in Lille will assist the Managing Authority, the Audit Authority, the Group of Auditors, the Monitoring Committee and the Steering Committee in the implementation of their tasks and responsibilities.

JTS Tasks and responsibilities

The Joint Technical Secretariat undertakes the day-to-day implementation of the Programme on behalf of the Managing Authority and is responsible for:

  • Implementing and following up all Monitoring and Steering Committee decisions
  • Preparing and providing all necessary information to the Managing Authority and Certifying Authority to allow the fulfilment of their responsibilities
  • Coordination of and liaising with the Contact Points in their work to develop project ideas and promote the Programme
  • Facilitating and proactively initiating the development of transnational projects
  • Ongoing monitoring of project outputs and analyses with reference to the
  • Programme objectives/strategy. Proactive support of capitalisation of projects/the Programme
  • Assisting candidates in the development of projects, including technical and financial advice
  • Assisting Lead Partners and project co-ordinators during project implementation
  • Implementing the publicity strategy approved by the Monitoring Committee
  • Informing the Steering Committee of projects' closure

PROJECT UNIT COORDINATOR JOB DESCRIPTION

Reporting to: Programme Director

1. General Management

•Implementation of JTS Mission, emphasis on content.

•Participation with the Programme Manager and the Finance Coordinator in the general management of the JTS

•Coordination of the Project Officers, allocation of tasks, planning, day-to-day guidance of the work carried out by the Project Officers.

•Coordination of recruitment and tasks of the trainees for project development in coordination with the MA

•Coordination of activities with Contact Point (CP) network;

•In case of absence of the Programme Manager signing content-related matters

2. Programme

2.1. Programme Implementation

•Together with Finance coordinator answer the question whether the Programme ‘gets what it pays for’ (the outputs and results justify the expenditure).

•Analysis of progressive Programme implementation and Programme evaluation

•Liaison with the European Commission regarding implementation and evaluation, DGRegio and other DGs.

•Liaison with INTERACT, ESPON, other INTERREG programmes and relevant bodies regarding synergies and exchanges

•Co-ordination and organisation of the Programme Steering Committee (PSC) meetings.

•Drafting of relevant parts of documentation for PSC.

•Follow-up of PSC decisions

•Coordination and drafting of relevant part of Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC) meetings’ documents (content)

•Coordination of the Strategic Initiatives

•Update and dissemination to Programme bodies of INTERREG and EU regional policy developments

•Coordination and input of the preparation of the Annual Report

•Overall guidance on individual operations such as content related taskforces

2.2. Programme Promotion

•Create aggregated content for the story to communicate and put this story in the right context.

•Contribution to the project development and publicity of the Programme.

•Participation in events to promote the Programme

2.3. Programme Closure and new period.

•Responsible for closure of Programme (content)

•Responsible for the JTS input (content) to the discussion in case of a next generation of the NWE Programme.

3. Project

3.1. Project Development

•Organisation of the project process or cycle (from project idea to project closure);

•Advice on overall balance of projects - geographical, type of projects, type of partners and quality and any necessary actions e.g. adjustment of promotion and project development work, adjustment between measures;

•Participation in relevant project events;

•Co-ordination and supervision of the assistance given to individual applicants in the development of their project on content of the project ideas and projects and on administrative, management and financial matters (via guidelines, meetings, seminars, etc).

3.2. Project Assessment

•Participation in the project assessment procedure: review of all project applications received, discussion with the assessors of each project's merits, coherent ranking list, etc.

•Coordinating the overall assessment (communication, finance and content) for the Member States

3.3. Project Implementation

•Advise and issue guidance to Project Officers with a view to harmonising the standards applied to projects.

•Organisation of the project implementation process (processing of activity reports) and application of the formal procedures.

•Reviewing the progress report assessment report on individual projects.

•Analysis of project modifications: budget line modifications, extensions, content modifications.

•Continuous monitoring of smooth project implementation, N+2 meetings, solution to practical problems.

•Participation in meetings with problematic projects.

•Contacts relating to project implementation issues with the Steering Committee delegations, the European Commission, and the project lead partners.

•Organisation of the inputs for tailored events (such as lead Partner seminars).

•Report back to Director and the team of important implementation issues.

4. Requirements

•A Master degree in a relevant field of education or demonstrated experience on that level;

•A minimum of 5 years demonstrated experience in relevant EU policies, preferably in implementation of EU territorial development / planning systems;

•A minimum of 2years demonstrated experience in management, preferably of an international and multi-functional team;

•Knowledge of EU institutions and policies, in particular Cohesion Policy;

•Knowledge of the current European policies and strategies (EU2020, Territorial Agenda of the EU);

•Knowledge of the European Structural Funds Regulations;

•Good sense of working in a strongly political environment

•Service oriented, looking for solutions, high sense of responsibility and ability to delegate;

•Creative mind, able to translate strategies into actions and communicate them clearly;

•Strong leadership capacities binding the Project development unit to the whole JTS team;

•Strong analytical skills bridging the policy level to the action level;

•Good communication and drafting skills;

•Flexible approach to work; prepared to travel and work irregular hours.

•High level of proficiency and fluency in English and at least a basic knowledge of one other NWE official languages (French, Dutch, German);

•Computer literacy;

GENERAL INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS

Please read carefully

  • Applications should reach the Joint Technical Secretariatbefore Wednesday 22 June 2011 at midnight. We will not consider any application sent beyond that deadline.
  • The application formshould be filled in without any changes to the lay-out and should be emailed in Word format along with your CV to the following address :
  • Interviews and tests will take place in our office located in Lille, France, on Monday 4 July 2011
  • An individual email will be sent to all short-listed candidatesby Thursday 30 June 2011 at the latest. Candidates will be expected to confirm their participation to tests and interview by email return. They will then receive full information package (location, room hire, expense claims conditions, etc…)
  • No information regarding tests form/content will be revealed beforehand.

Confidentiality

Candidates are reminded that the selection is confidential and that all requests for information in relation to the selection should be addressed by email to:

Ms Marie-Josée Laurent

Administrative Officer

Equal opportunities

Equal opportunities policy without distinction on the grounds of gender, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation will be applied.

Terms and Conditions for employment

  • The working place is located at the JTS offices based in Lille, France
  • Working with the JTS should start as soon as possible but no later than 5 September 2011.
  • The position is full-time and is foreseen on the basis of a long-term contract
  • The contract will be under French labour law
  • The missions will be carried out in close co-operation and supervised by the Programme Director
  • The jobholder will be offered a gross monthly salary starting from € 4.530 to € 4862 Gross; €3496 to € 3748 Net before income tax, depending on previous professional experience and responsibilities.

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