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.

UN Women maintains a large presence throughout Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region, covering 12 countries, with programme presence in Kosovo*[1], Serbia, Tajikistan and North Macedonia; and country offices in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine.

UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (the “ECARO”) has positioned GRB as an important service offering to the countries of the region and an area in which the ECARO has unique technical expertise grounded in the combined technical skills that has been cultivated with respect to budgetary processes including GRB and the overarching expertise and credibility the Office has with respect to GEWE. Furthermore, this work is in line with global Strategic Plan 2018–2021 under Outcome 2: Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems.

Over the past years, through the technical and financial support UN Women have been carried out different initiatives in Western Balkans’ countries with the goal of strengthening democratic governance and advance women’s rights aiming at mainstreaming gender in policy planning and budgeting. As result, gender responsive budgeting has increasingly been recognized as important tool for advancing de facto gender equality, support the SDGs, the 2030 Agenda and other global goals as well as contribute to the achievements of the commitments of the Western Balkans under the Gender Action Plan in the EU External Relations 2016-2020.

In order to deepen the work previously done, initiate new initiatives and ensure sustainability of the interventions on GRB, UN Women initiated a regional programme with participation of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Serbia and North Macedonia “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality towards more Transparent, Inclusive and Accountable Governance in the Western Balkans” (2020-2024). The main programme approach will be transformative financing as an enabler factor for policy and financing actions to accelerate implementation of existing national and international commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the in Western Balkans.

The programme is structured around two outcomes:

• By 2024, national and local governments apply gender responsive budgeting to integrate gender equality principles in public financing processes

• By 2024 public oversight bodies[2] CSOs, women including the disadvantaged, demand transparency and accountability of public policies and budgets to gender equality processes

The programme includes activities focused on enhancing the institutionalization of GRB at central level and local level.

At central level, the programme will apply strategies focused on mainstreaming gender in the public finance management systems and/or reforms to promote more inclusive and transparent governance, accountable to the needs and interests of women and men, including the most excluded and most left behind.

The programme will support strengthening of national gender mechanisms across Western Balkans countries, which take the lead in ensuring that policies and laws fully embed gender equality principles, gender is mainstreamed in sectoral programmes and reform processes of state institutions and line ministries, and contributes to more effective implementation of innovative intersectional and/or regional approaches.

At local level, the programme interventions will focus on policies that directly influence the improvement of the life of women and men from the most excluded groups, particularly by upscaling proven approaches and good practices identified in previous GRB interventions.

Work on the increased oversight and accountability on budget allocation and expenditure of the government including support to both oversight bodies as well as CSO is another area of intervention spelled out in the programme. Parliamentary involvement will be very important, while CSOs networking and advocacy efforts will be supported to enable structured and continued oversight and analysis of budgetary spending from gender perspective, as well as to generate missing evidence and expert policy recommendations.

Furthermore, the programme will offer a platform for networking between participating countries for purposes of sharing best experiences and lessons learned in using GRB as tool for transformative financing. Additionally, the programme will facilitate regional exchange of know-how for public officials, civil society organizations, Members of Parliaments, gender advocates and experts, with the aim of replication of proven practices and approaches across the countries on GRB. Finally, the programme will connect countries together through GRB experiences to design GE interventions and implement them across Western Balkans.

Reporting to Programme Specialist, Gender Responsive Budgeting, the Programme Associate works with and provides support to the members of the Programme Team in the development and implementation of effective programmes consistent with UN Women rules and regulations. The Programme Associate contributes to research, financial management, and programme implementation including providing necessary operational, administrative and programmatic support. The Programme Associate works in close collaboration with the operations, programme and programme’ staff in the RO and UN Women HQs as required for resolving complex finance-related issues and exchange of information.

[1] References to Kosovo* shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).

[2] Parliament, Ombudsperson, Court of Audit, Commissioner for Protection Against Discrimination

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide advanced administrative and logistical support to the formulation and management of programmes

• Provide advanced administrative support and inputs in the preparation of programme work plans, budgets, and proposals on programme implementation arrangements;
• Provide technical guidance to the country offices and executing agencies on routine delivery and reporting of programme supported activities and finances;
• Coordinate the collection of information for the audit of programmes and support implementation of audit recommendations; 
• Contribute to the development or update of standard operating procedures, guidelines, checklists, templates and business processes in programme and programme management;
• Review programme data from programmes for CO/PP/RO website;
• Identify sources, and gather and compile data and information for documents, guidelines, speeches and position papers.

2. Provide advanced administrative support to the financial management of the Programme Unit

• Create projects in Quantum, prepare budget revisions, revise project awards and status; and determine unutilized funds and the operational and financial close of a project;
• Monitor budget preparation and the finances of programmes; prepare periodic reports; finalize FACE forms;
• Review financial reports; prepare non-PO vouchers for development programme;
• Maintain internal expenditures control system; post transactions in Quantum;
• Create requisitions in Quantum for development projects; register good receipts in Quantum;
• Prepare and follow up of cost-recovery bills in Quantum

3. Provide advanced administrative support to the Programme Unit

• Oversee all logistical, administrative and financial arrangements for organization for meetings, workshops, events, and missions;
• Oversee travel arrangements for the Programme Team, including travel requisitions and claims;
• Prepare public information materials and briefing packets;
• Liaise with high level officials on administrative issues;
• Prepare and assemble briefing materials and prepare power-point and other presentations; contribute inputs to the materials;
• Provide guidance and training to Programme Assistants and the Programme Associate in BiH.

4. Provide administrative support to Resource Mobilization

• Prepare cost-sharing and other agreements; follow up on contributions within the CO/PP/RO resource mobilization efforts;
• Organize, compile and process information from donors, Country Office/ Programme Presence/ Regional Office, and programme team, as inputs to various databases and documents.

5. Facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing

• Support synthesis of lessons learnt, and best practices related to programme management and finance;
• Coordinate the organization of training for the office staff and partners on programme and operations related issues.

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/PP/RO management and donor purposes;
• Quality maintenance of internal systems;
• Quality background and presentation materials.

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:

• Strong knowledge of programme management;  
• Ability to create, edit, synthesize and present information in clear and presentable formats;
• Ability to administer and execute administrative processes and transactions;
• Ability to provide input to business process re-engineering, elaboration and implementation of new data management systems;
• Ability to manage data, documents, correspondence and reports information and workflow;
• Excellent financial and budgeting skills;
• Excellent IT skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Completion of secondary education required.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business , Public Administration or relevant field is an asset.

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years (with Secondary education) or 4 years (with Bachelor´s degree) of progressively responsible experience in administration or programme management/support;
• Experience in working in a computer environment using multiple office software packages and ERP systems;
• Experience in the use of ATLAS/Quantum is an asset;
• Experience in supporting a team.
• Experience in UN will be considered an advantage.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Turkish is required
• Working knowledge in another official UN language is an asset

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.)