Background

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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 is mandated to lead and coordinate 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 national priorities and commitments, building effective partnerships with government, civil society and other relevant actors.

In Nepal, UN Women is currently implementing its 2014-17 Strategic Note and Annual Work Plan (country programme) which incorporates several thematic areas, including economic empowerment, governance and leadership, ending violence against women and girls, and peace and security and humanitarian action and DRR. Across all of its work, UN Women applies its normative and coordination mandates, and works through strategic partnerships and on generating knowledge and evidence.

Under the guidance and supervision of the Operations Manager, the Administrative Assistant provides support to office operations performing a variety of standard administrative processes ensuring high quality and accuracy of work. The Administrative Assistant promotes a client, quality and results-oriented approach.

The Administrative Assistant works in close collaboration with the Operations, Programme and projects staff in the CO and other UN agencies staff to exchange information and ensure consistent service delivery.

Duties and Responsibilities

Ensures implementation of operational strategies, focusing on achievement of the following results:

  • Full compliance of administrative activities with UN/UN-Women rules, regulations, policies and strategies;
  • Provision of inputs to the CO administrative business processes, logistics, office management and implementation of the internal standard operating procedures (SOPs);
  • Ensure implementation of cost saving measures through negotiation with travel service provider, arrangement of the most economic route and appropriate itinerary;
  • Provision of inputs to preparation of administrative team results-oriented work plans.

Provides administrative support to the Programme Unit focusing on achievement of  the following  results:

  • Preparation of non-PO vouchers for development projects;
  • Creation of requisitions in Atlas for development projects, register of goods receipt in Atlas;
  • Making budget check for requisitions, POs and vouchers;
  • Compilation and preparation of briefing and presentation materials, speeches, background information and documentation for meetings and missions;
  • Translation of simple correspondences, when needed.

Ensures effective administrative and logistical support, focusing on achievement of the following results:

  • Organization of shipments, customs clearance arrangements, preparation of documents for UN Women shipments (received/sent), Preparation of all necessary documentation, implementation of follow-up actions;
  • Administrative support to conferences, workshops, retreats;
  • Collection of information for DSA, travel agencies and other administrative surveys, support to organization of common services;
  • Arrangement of vehicle transportation, regular vehicle maintenance and insurance;
  • Checking and recording of vehicle daily log and gas consumption, update and maintenance of vehicle history report;
  • Custodian for management of office stationery supplies including maintenance of stock list of stationery, distribution of stationery as required by staff and keeping a log of distribution;
  • Maintenance of the filing system ensuring safekeeping of confidential materials;
  • Extraction of data from various sources;
  • Research and retrieval of statistical data from internal and external sources; preparation of statistical charts, tables and reports;
  • Follow up on deadlines, commitments made, actions taken and coordination of collection and submission of the reports to supervisor.

Supports travel management processes for CO focusing on achievement of the following results:

  • Processing of Purchase orders for travel in Atlas. Ensures availability of budget according to COA;
  • Follow-up with contracted travel agent to ensure provision of high quality professional service and most competitive price;
  • Arrangements of travel and hotel reservations, preparation of travel authorizations, processing requests for visas, identity cards and other documents;
  • Provision of information to the staff on travel including entitlements, travel route and hotel arrangement;
  • Arrangements for security clearance when required;
  • Processing travel authorization and travel claims in line with travel entitlements for staff, consultants, UN and visitors, ensuring that the travel arrangement follow the UN rules of most direct route and most competitive prices;
  • Processing requests for visas for all UN travelers, as well as requests for Resident/Work Permit;
  • Arrangement for airport pick-up of high-level officials and support to expediting of customs and immigration procedures, as necessary;
  • Processing of application and renewal of UNLP for UN staff;
  • Preparation of routine correspondence, faxes, memoranda and reports in accordance with CO SOP;
  • Reconciliation of settlements to be paid by the Finance Unit.

Provides support to office and equipment maintenance, focusing on achievement of the following results:

  • Maintenance of records on equipment, preparation of reports;
  • Maintenance of files and records relevant to office maintenance;
  • Provision of support to maintenance of common premises and common services.

Support knowledge building and knowledge sharing in the CO, focusing on achievement of the following results:

  • Participation in the training for the operations/projects staff on administration;
  • Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

Competencies

Core values / guiding principles

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.

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:

  • Analyzes general information and selects materials in support of partnership building initiatives;
  • Understands the main processes and methods of work regarding to the position;
  • Possesses basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks;
  • Strives to keep job knowledge up-to-date through self-directed study and other means of learning;
  • Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
  • Demonstrates ability to identify problems and proposes solutions;
  • Uses information/databases/other management systems;
  • Reports to internal and external clients in a timely and appropriate fashion;
  • Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines;
  • Creates, edits and presents information in clear and presentable formats, using appropriate IT functionality;
  • Ability to establish, build and sustain effective relationships with clients, demonstrating understanding of client's perspective; anticipates client needs and addresses them promptly;
  • Ability to manage data, documents, correspondence and reports information and workflow.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent. Certification in administration desirable.

Experience:

  • A minimum of 3 years of relevant experience in administration or programme support service;
  • Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc), experience in handling of web based management systems including ATLAS will be an added advantage.

Language:

  • Fluency in written and spoken English and Nepali is required.

 

UN Women is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous group and persons with disability are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with strictest confidence.

Interested applicants should apply online for the vacancy, using the “Personal History Form - P 11” which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. 

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Note:

In July 2010, the United nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.