Background

UN Women is the United Nations organization dedicated to promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women. As a global advocate for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress in improving the lives of women and responding to the needs they face around the world.

UN Women supports United Nations Member States in setting international standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to formulate and enforce the laws, policies, programs and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and that they truly benefit women and girls around the world. It focuses on five priority areas:

• Increasing women's leadership and participation.
• Ending violence against women.
• Involving women in all aspects of peace and security processes.
• Improve women's economic empowerment.
• Make gender equality central to national planning and budgeting for development.

Economic empowerment of women is key to the realization of women's rights, gender equality and sustainable development goals.  It is an important pathway to reduce poverty, improve well-being, and help women realize their full potential and secure their rights. Ethiopia has shown strong political commitment to the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE). Among others, the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has accepted and domesticated various International and Regional commitments on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) including the Convention on the Elimination of all form of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Declaration, Platform for Action (BDPfA) and the SDGs. The GoE has also taken measures to incorporate GEWE into its national laws, policies, strategies and long-term plans. The 10 Years Development Plan (2020-2030) aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will guide the country’s development efforts for the next ten years and has included gender and social inclusion as one of its strategic pillars. The GoE has put in place institutional mechanisms to effectively address the rights, participation, benefits and responsibility of women.

Despite of all the efforts by the government and the development partners, women continue to face various barriers to unleash their full potential and uneven playing field in the overall socio-economic environment.  Women and female youths are still facing barriers to access productive resources, formal labor force participation and hardly benefiting from decent work. Besides, the roles of women in the Ethiopian economy are often unrecognized and limited economic decision-making power experienced by women remain unresolved. Women constitute 45 percent of the agricultural labor force, but they have limited access to productive resources including land, extension services, technologies, finances, etc., for various reasons. The socio-economic situation of the women and girls have worsened due to the global Pandemic (COVID 19) outbreak and the ongoing conflict in the country.

Aligned to UN Women Global and Regional initiatives, Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) Programme interventions of UN Women Ethiopia Office aims at creating opportunities for women and female youth living in rural and urban areas so they can have access to decent jobs, boost productivity and ensure that they are economically empowered and increasingly benefiting from development initiatives, programs and reforms in Ethiopia. To achieve these the programmme focuses on strategic interventions which include supporting women’s access and/or control over productive resources, access to information and useful market opportunities and know-how while promoting gender responsive socio-economic environment at all levels in partnership with government and CSO partners.

It is in this context that UN Women in Ethiopia is seeking to recruit a Programme Associate to support the WEE Programme Portfolio and members of the Programme Team in the effective development, implementation, monitoring and knowledge management tasks  in consistent with UN Women rules and regulations.  S/he contributes to research, financial management,and programme implementation, monitoring, reporting and communication by providing necessary operational, administrative and programmatic support.

Reporting to the WEE Programme Analyst the Programme Associate works with and provides support to the members of the WEE Programme. The Programme Associate works in close collaboration with the operations, other programme units and staff in the CO and UN Women Regional Office and HQs as required for resolving complex programmatic and finance-related issues and exchange of information.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide administrative and logistical support to the formulation and management of programmes and Partners Relations

• Provide administrative support in the preparation of programme work plans, budgets and proposals and programme implementation arrangements,
• Assist the programme team in the drafting of Terms of Reference (TOR) , call for proposals(CFP)  and Internal Memos  and related,
• Support the programme team in tracking use of financial resources, follow up with Implementing Partners (IPs) for timely reporting, review of reports from the same ,
• Prepare information for the audit of programme and support implementation of audit recommendations, 
• Follow up with the team on the regular update of the monthly and quarterly tracking tools,
• Closely work with programme and finance team in ensuring timely fund transfers as per the plans /agreements with Ips,
• Assist the the programme team in conducting trainings to key stakeholders and partners,
• Support and monitor UN Women’s internal procedures in creating agreements and keeping appropriate recordings and relations with IPs,
• Support and monitor the logistical and administrative execution of the WEE Programme activities.

Provide administrative support to the financial management of the Programme Unit

• Create projects in Atlas, prepare budget revisions, revise project awards and status; and determine unutilized funds and the operational and financial close of a project,
• Provide administrative support in monitoring budget preparation and the finances of programme/projects, including the finalization of FACE forms.
• Review financial reports and assist them technically if need may arise,
• prepare non-PO vouchers for development projects,
• Process payment for consultants,
• Maintain internal expenditures control system,
• Create requisitions in Atlas for development projects; register good receipts in Atlas and
• Assist in the preparation and follow up of cost-recovery bills in Atlas.

Provide administrative support to the Programme Unit

• Undertake all logistical, administrative and financial arrangements for organization for meetings, workshops, events, and missions,
• Make travel arrangements for the Programme Team, including travel requisitions and claims, 
• Prepare public information materials and briefing packets,
• Assemble briefing materials and prepare power-point and other presentations,
• Create requisitions (ERQ) for procurements and process payments for consultants,
• Receive correspondence and articulate the response with counterparts,
• Assist in drafting annual reports of the programme and uploading of cleared reports to RMS,
• Support the registration of new contracts and vendors and ensure expenditures are aligned with budget lines,
• Communicate and follow up with the operations team in facilaiting gender responsive procurement by sharing up to date WOB information and providing technical support to the team.

Provide administrative support to Resource Mobilization

• Prepare cost-sharing and other agreements,
•  follow up with programme  unit’s  resource mobilization efforts;
• Organize, compile and process information from donors, Regional and Country Office, and programme team, as inputs to various databases and documents.

Facilitate Knowledge Building and Knowledge Sharing

• Provide administrative support synthesis of lessons learnt and best practices related to programme management and finance.
• Provide administrative support to the organization of training for the office staff and partners on programme and operations related issues.
• Assist the team in holding regular Programme team meetings and take minutes of the meetings and follow-up with the team members on implementations agreed action points,  
• Identify sources and gather and compile data and information for the preparation of documents, guidelines, speeches and position papers.
• Assist in dissemination of knowledge products generated under WEE programme portfolio,
• Keep an updated physical and digital archive of all WEE Programme documentation/ knowledge products,
• Assist suppliers/service providers in the production of knowledge products, the editing and design activities,  
• Assist the team in internally designing and production of quality knowledge products and promotion materials and;
• Perform other job-related duties as assigned.

Key Performance Indicators

• Timely and accurate support to events, workshops, and missions,
• Full compliance of administrative activities with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures,
• Timely recording of overall programme unit finances,
• Timely and accurate tracking of data for CO management and donor purposes,
• Quality maintenance of internal systems,
• Maintain excellent relations with partners and stakeholders and .
• Proper management of WEE Programme knowledge products as required.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Good knowledge of programme management;
• Ability to administer and execute administrative processes and transactions;
• Ability to create, edit and present information in clear and presentable formats;
• Ability to manage data, documents, correspondence and reports information and workflow;
• Strong financial and budgeting skills;
• Strong IT skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification

• Completion of secondary education is required
• Bachelor’s Degree or Master’s  in Social Science field  is an asset.

Professional Experience

• At least 6 years of progressively responsible experience in administration or programme management/support.
• Experience in working in a computer environment using multiple office software packages;
• Experience in the use of ATLAS is an asset;
• Experience in supporting a team.

Language Requirements

• Fluency in English is required
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language and other local languages are an asset.
• Knowledge of Amharic is an asset

Please note that applications without a completed and signed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

UN Women Personal History form (P-11) can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment .

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need. 

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application. 

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)