Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Under the guidance and oversight of the supervisor, the Project Support Associate supports project implementation by performing a variety of standard project operational processes ensuring high quality and accuracy of work. The Project Support Associate promotes a client, quality and results-oriented approach.  S/he works in close collaboration with the Operations, Programme and projects staff team to ensure consistent service delivery and to resolve complex administration and operations related issues and information delivery.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

• Implementation of the operational processes in support of development projects.
• Organization of procurement processes.
• Logistical and general administration support.
• Supports knowledge building and knowledge sharing.

Implementation of the operational processes in support of development projects

• Facilitates full compliance of administrative activities with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and strategies;
• Provide inputs to the RO operational business processes mapping and implementation of the internal standard operating procedures (SOPs);
• Provide inputs to the preparation and implementation of the Operations team results-oriented work plans.

Organization of procurement processes

• Contribute to the preparation of procurement plans for the projects and their implementation monitoring;
• Generates procurement related reports; researches and drafts responses to enquiries for clearance by the Operation Manager and respective project managers;
• In coordination with the Procurement Associate, reviews procurement requests and initiates procurement procedures for office and project equipment, supplies and services in a transparent and cost effective manner;
• In coordination with the Procurement Associate, organizes procurement activities and processes, including preparation and conduct of RFQs, ITBs or RFPs,opening and evaluation of tenders, coordinate contract negotiations (as required), prepare request for award of contract for the review and approval of relevant authorities, in full compliance with UN Women regulations and rules;
• Prepares Purchase orders and contracts in and outside Atlas including preparation of Recurring Purchase orders for contracting of services, and create vendor profiles in Atlas;
• Conducts and supports reviews of procurement processes for development projects; submissions to the Regional Acquisition Management Review Committee (RAMRC), and Acquisition Management Review Committee (AMRC);
• Collection of documentation for raising contracts and documentation for vendor creation.  Maintain a filing system for the procurement processes handled;
• Facilitates implementation of the internal control system, and prepares and dispatches Purchase Orders. Timely corrective actions on POs with errors (e.g. POs with budget errors, match exceptions, unapproved POs etc.), and provide timely information and response to relevant department to resolve the issues.

Logistical and general administration support

• Support organization of project shipments, customs clearance arrangements, preparation of documents for UN Women shipments (received/sent);
• Perform a Buyer role in Atlas and preparation of POs for travel activities;
• Make travel arrangements including preparation of travel authorizations, hotel arrangement, processing requests for visas, identity cards and other documents;
• Provide administrative support to conferences, workshops, retreats;
• Support collection of information for DSA, travel agencies and other administrative surveys, support to organization of common services.

Supports Knowledge building and knowledge sharing

• Provide administrative support in the organization of trainings for the operations/ projects staff on administrative related matters.
• Compilation of lessons learnt and best practices in Procurement;
• Make sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

Competencies

Core Values:

Integrity

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff;
• Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values

• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Development and Innovation

• Take charge of self-development and take initiative.

Work in teams

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing

• Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication;
• Good communication and report writing skills.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence

• Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management

• Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing

• Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making

• Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to administer and execute administrative processes and transactions;
• Ability to extract, interpret, analyze data and resolve operational problems;
• Ability to perform work of confidential nature and handle a large volume of work ;
• Ability to support a team and team building skills;
• Good knowledge of administrative rules and regulations;
• Strong IT skills;
• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Ability to handle web-based management systems;
• Attention to detail;
• Excellent knowledge of office software packages;
• Strong organizational and planning skills;
• Strong focus on client service; ensuring impact and results for client;
• Produces quality outputs in a timely manner;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Ability to work well under pressure, and to meet deadlines.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Undergraduate degree in Business Administration or related fields.

Experience:

• 4 years of relevant experience in project administration, procurement, HR, or logistic support service;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.).

Language:

• Fluency in English and Arabic is required;
• Knowledge of other UN official languages are highly desirable but not required.