Jobs - 25285- UN Women: Finance Consultant

UN Women: Finance Consultant

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Sep-2011

Application Deadline :

24-Aug-11 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

4 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

4 months

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The Fund for Gender Equality is a new $68 million, multi-donor initiative designed to advance innovative, high-impact programmes that focus on women's economic and political empowerment at local and national levels, in line with national development plans and priorities. Launched in December 2008 with an initial contribution of EUR 50 million (US$65 million) from the Government of Spain, and subsequently joined by the government of Norway, the Fund for Gender Equality provides grants on a competitive basis to civil society and governmental partners in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, the Arab States, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Fund is unique in its focus on supporting partners to turn local and national laws and policies into tangible gains for women's rights.

The Fund provides two types of support: Catalytic Grants, designed to foster strategic partnerships to catalyze the development of gender equality plans and policies. Implementation Grants are designed specifically to advance the implementation of agreed-upon gender equality laws and policies.

The Fund for Gender Equality is managed by UN WOMEN, and is guided by a Steering Committee composed of donor, UN and other multilateral agencies and civil society organizations' representatives. A Technical Committee, composed of experts in women's economic and political empowerment from every region of the world, reviews proposals and makes recommendations for funding to the Steering Committee. Knowledge management, communication, monitoring and evaluation aspects of the Fund are central to its operations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Deputy Director of the Fund for Gender Equality the Finance Consultant will be responsible for oversight, and management for the Fund for Gender Equality and overseeing grant distribution for FGE from September 1st - to December 31st 201. The candidate must have experience with Atlas to successfully fulfill this position. Specific deliverables will have to be submitted (as follows):

Grant distribution:

Updated document on allocation of grants/disbursements.
Update Budget and Audit Guidelines for Grantees.
40 feedbacack prepared regarding 40 grantees financial quarterly reports.
4 New grantee reporting templates elaborated to ensure alignment with UN procedures.
Preparation of two contract extension for Implementation grantees and up to 15 contract extension to Catalytic Grantees.
Two Financial Analysis Reports based on aggregated data of grantees quarterly reports.

Implementation of operational strategies:

Report on updated tracking system on financial resources of FGE to ensure adherence to delivery rates and utilization of resources to meet agreed upon targets and results.
Prepare a full report on financial exception for unusual activities, transactions, and investigates anomalies or unusual transactions.
Contribution to FGE Annual report and other and UN reports where appropriate.

Budget management:

Updated FGE budget to ensure that the donor requirements are adhered to.
Prepare Budget analysis for 2009, 2010 & 2011; prepare financial information for Donor Reports and Steering Committee Reports.
Report on accounts activities in Atlas (three reports in total).

FINAL REPORT SUMMARIZING ALL PRODUCTS

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards.
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women.
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
Knowledge Management and Learning.
Promotes knowledge management in UN Women and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example.
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skill.
Ability to communicate with colleagues in a efficient way and conduct training.
Development and Operational Effectiveness.
Demonstrated ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting.
Strong skills in formulating and managing resources and budgets, conduct financial analysis.
Adequate experience in designing and implementing new financial accounting systems.
Sound ability to work with staff behavioral/ attitudinal change resulting from above new systems.

Management and Leadership:

Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback.
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
Demonstrates very strong oral and written communication skills.
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards.
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women.
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Completion of Secondary education with specialized training in finance and accounting. University degree in Business or Public Administration would be an asset.

Experience:

Experience with UN/UN Women finance/budget systems including ATLAS.
Minimum 7 years of relevant experience at the national or international level
Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, Atlas, etc) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.
Experience in international grantmaking and grants management is an asset

Language Requirements:

Fluency in written and spoken English is required; Fluency in Spanish, French, Arabic, or Russian will be an asset.

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.
All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women 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. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.