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.

Afghanistan is one of the world’s most complex emergencies and the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Afghan people are grappling with the impact of conflict, poverty, economic decline, and natural disasters. In this context, Afghan women and girls face unique vulnerabilities and require urgent support as gender inequality is interwoven with conflict dynamics and humanitarian needs. It is essential that Afghan women and girls can continue to shape the development of their country, and that their gains are protected. UN Women remains fully committed to supporting Afghan women and girls and to putting them at the centre of the global response to the crisis in Afghanistan.

UN Women has been in Afghanistan for two decades. UN Women’s programming approach is informed by analysis of the political, economic, and humanitarian situation, risks to and capacities of partner organisations, and needs of Afghan women and girls. UN Women Afghanistan currently has four key programme priorities: (1) Gender in Humanitarian Action, (2) Ending Violence Against Women, (3) Women’s Economic Empowerment, and (4) Women, Peace, and Security.

In this context UN Women ACO is shifting from its “Stay and Deliver” approach of 2021-22, to a longer-term approach that focuses on building resilience, addressing basic human needs, and sustaining livelihoods as well as responding to the ongoing humanitarian crisis – all within a framework of promoting gender equality and women’s rights. The BWP therefore includes a diverse portfolio addressing basic human needs and humanitarian response: from cash-based interventions in humanitarian crises, to investment in longer term livelihoods opportunities, and support to women-led and women’s rights CSOs (as the bedrock of the women’s movement). Lessons learned from 2022 show that programming needs to be coupled with high-level advocacy and ongoing investment in UN Women’s coordination mandate on gender equality in Afghanistan. Engagement with the de facto authorities is driven by UNAMA, OCHA and the UNCT through collective efforts. UN Women must work within – but also influence - this structure to ensure women’s rights remain a top priority. Restrictions on humanitarian access, the operations of CSOs/NGOs and the ability for Afghan women to freely move and work, cannot be solved by UN Women alone and seriously hamper delivery.

UN Women ACO has been able to attract significant resources to scale up programming from existing and new donors, more than tripling the resources available for the next three years. Lessons show that to absorb and deliver on these commitments UN Women ACO must focus on rapid recruitment and retention of staff; attention to staff wellbeing and security (especially for national staff); improvements in internal business processes to speed up delivery and respond more quickly to crisis; capacity development and training for partners and staff to comply with UN Women policies and procedures; and continued, effective work with ROAP and HQ to make policies and procedures more suitable and/or adaptable for the Afghan context.

In this connection, UN Women Afghanistan Country Office is looking to hire an international consultant – Financial Management Advisor who has strong knowledge in Financial Management or Accounting with familarity in UN Women rules and regulation to establish internal control system, develop business workflow process – in financial management areas, and ensure compliances with UN Women Rules and Regulations.

The consultant will work under supervision of Deputy Country Representative - Operations of UN Women Afghanistan in close collaboration with Regional and HQ Finance team to ensure delivery of following tasks;

1. To provide advisory on financial planning, analysis, and provision of services to the ACO in accordance with UN Women internal control framework, rules, regulations, policies and procedures:

• Recommend and/or implement cost saving and reduction strategies;
• Review, recommend and implement and/or verify financial transactions/activities, recording/reporting system and audit reports. Co-ordinate with Finance Section in Regional Office and HQ on suggestions for amendments;
• Review, recommend and oversee the financial business processes and use of ERP system and other corporate financial systems to ensure accurate and complete reporting of financial transactions by UN Women staff in accordance with the Internal Control Framework and Delegation of Authority and the timely flow of financial information in UNW for management, monitoring and oversight purposes;
• Analyze and oversee all financial resources managed by the ACO and provide high-quality professional advice on financial issues to management;
• Organize and oversee resources management processes, including liquidity management, recommend impress level, risk assessment, security for cash assets on site;
• Identify areas of risk and providing recommendations and action plans for addressing issues raised as part of the financial risk assessment reviews;
• Participate and provide guidance to Programme Managers, Senior Management in broader planning processes;
• Provide guidance and advisory on anticipate needs, solutions and actions to achieve financial targets.

2. To provide support to senior management on monitoring and oversight of financial systems in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures:

• Review and monitor financial systems and reports for unusual activities, transactions, investigate anomalies;
• Review financial reports in accordance with accounting standards through the review of business processes and systems modules resulting general ledger and financial statements and provide recommendations for improvement.
• Review Implementing/Responsible Partner advance procedures and test against UN Women policies to ensure compliance.  Investigate and follow up on any anomalies for timely action and resolution; 
• Report to Deputy Country Representative - Operations any case of non-adherence for timely action and recommendations for actions/decisions;

3. To provide support to senior management on monitoring and oversight of financial systems in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures:

• Review and provide guidance to Finance team on the production of financial reports to SMT, governments and donors as required under the donor agreements and other cost-sharing arrangements; in collaboration with Finance Section HQ;
• Review and clear the tracking report on resource mobilization, contributions receivables and provide guidance to Deputy Country Representative - Operations for follow up and action;
• Provide advice and guidance to Operations and Programme team in dealing with audits including response on finding and financial management;
• Provide recommendations to Deputy Country Representative - Operations for improvements to existing reports and development of new reports.

4. Provide advisory on management of programme/ project budgets in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedure

Advise Programme Manager and Senior Management on financial resources of programmes/ projects through planning, guiding, monitoring and controlling of the resources;

• Provide technical support and guidance in planning and set-up of the budgets under UN Women Management/ Development Results Framework;
• Review financial analysis reports related to budget, delivery and financial donor reporting before sending for approvals;
• Develop proper mechanisms to eliminate deficiencies in budget management ensuring quality and accuracy of information; 

5. Provide advisory and guidance to HR Focal Point, and Senior Management on functional analysis in financial related positions in both Programme and Operations, and propose financial workflow in complaint with UN Women Rules and Regulations vis a vis funding scale, human resources and capacity.

• Review functional analysis in financial related position and provide recommendations that includes post establishment and capacity development plan
• Propose systematic and effective workflow process in the areas of financial transactions between Operations and Programme units

• DELIVERABLES, TIMELINE AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENT

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:

• Very strong knowledge and expertise in accounting and financial management
• Very strong knowledge of complex financial rules and a regulations, preferably UN/UN Women Financial Rules and regulations
• Demonstrated business acumen and judgment
• Strong conceptual/strategic skills and success in implementing financial re-engineering, management systems development, policy design, innovation and knowledge product development
• Very strong knowledge and experience in the application of complex financial systems and modules
• Advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages
• Ability to provide advice and support
• Strong communication skills and personable approach is required
• Strong analytical skills

Education:

• Advanced (Masters) University Degree in Finance/Accounting is required
• Professionally qualified accountants from an internationally recognized institute of accountancy will have a distinct advantage.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum 15 years of extensive and progressively responsible experience in accounting, financial management and at least (10) years of which should be at the supervisory level, in a large international and/or corporate organization preferably in the UN system and its organizations.
• Experience of IPSAS or IFRS is required
• Experience in the usage of office software packages (MS Word, Excel, Cloud, etc)
• Experience in web-based management systems and ERP financial systems
• Completion of UN Women Accountancy & Finance Test required

Language:

• Fluency in English is required

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis:

• Technical qualification (100 points); weight: (70%)
• Financial proposal (100 points): weight (30%)

A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared.

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically-qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.

The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION

Submission package includes: 

• Most update CV
• UN Women Personal History Form (P-11)

Financial proposal which shall specify a total lump sum amount, breaking down the daily professional fee with proposed number of working days

UNW Statement on Diversity and Inclusion

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.)