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.  

Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is an essential element of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – the roadmap to a more equal, just, peaceful, and sustainable world. The Women’s Economic Empowerment Portfolio in India focusses on strengthening women’s economic rights and agency while creating an enabling environment for decent and safe employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for women in all their diversity. UN Women is implementing a donor funded WeEmpower India programme to advance women’s economic empowerment in India.  By promoting decent and safe economic opportunities, policy advocacy, and collaborative efforts including towards addressing discriminatory social norms, the project aims to create positive change for women and girls in all their diversity.

Reporting to Operations Manager and working in close coordination and guidance of Programme Manager, WEE the Programme Management Support Analyst supports the programme’s operations by performing a variety of standard administrative  and finance processes ensuring high quality and accuracy of work. The Programme Management Support Analyst promotes a client, quality and results-oriented approach. The Programme Management Support Analyst works in close collaboration with the Operations, Finance and Programme staff team to ensure consistent service delivery and to resolve complex administration  and finance related issues and information delivery. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Coordinate the financial planning, analysis, and provision of services to Programme in accordance with UN Women internal control framework, rules, regulations, policies and procedures:

• Recommend and/or implement cost saving and reduction strategies;
• Review and/or verify financial transactions/activities, recording/reporting system and audit reports. Co-ordinate with Finance Section HQ on suggestions for amendments;
• Review financial business processes and use of Quantum system 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 UN Women for management, monitoring and oversight purposes;
• Analyze and oversee all financial resources managed by the Programme and provide high-quality professional advice on financial issues to the Programme management, as necessary;
• Coordinate cash management processes, including liquidity management, recommend impress level, risk assessment, security for cash assets on site;
• Assist with financial risk assessment reviews for the Programme by identifying areas of risk and providing recommendations and action plans for addressing issues raised.

Coordinate the monitoring and oversight of financial systems in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures:

• Monitor financial systems and reports for unusual activities, transactions, investigate anomalies;
• Coordinate the Programme timely completion of their Month-end Instructions Checklist and Year-end Instructions Closure Checklist;
• Draft all financial reports in accordance with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and ensure continued compliance.  Monitor the Programme for compliance with IPSAS accounting standards by reviewing business processes and systems modules resulting in IPSAS compliant general ledger and financial statements;
• Review Implementing Partner advance procedures and test against UN Women policies to ensure compliance.  Investigate and follow up on any anomalies for timely action and resolution, as necessary;
• Review all contractual arrangements with suppliers of goods and services to ensure that the financial terms and conditions of all contracts are being adhered to by the suppliers of goods and services;
• Report to Operations Manager and Deputy Director for Financial Management any case of non-adherence for timely action and recommendations for actions/decisions, as necessary;
• Respond to questions and provide analysis as requested to the Finance Section HQ.

Coordinate financial reporting in the Programmes in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures:

• Draft timely and accurate automated interim financial reports to governments and donors as required under the donor agreements and other cost-sharing arrangements for submission to Virtual Global Service Centre Finance Specialists;
• Track and report contributions within the resource mobilization efforts, including pipeline, contracted and overdue and future milestones.  Review contributions receivables and provide information to Operations Manager for follow up, as necessary;
• Write ad hoc financial Donor and other reports as requested;
• Follow up and/or take prompt action to respond to audit and other findings on financial management.

Coordinate the audit process in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures:

• Coordinate the pre-audit preparations for financial management of the Programme to be audit ready and complete the pre-audit checklist.  Travel  as necessary to assist during CO audits;
• Contribute technically to the training in the Programme as part of the training plan or requirement of pre-audit preparations or as otherwise determined by Operations Manager or Deputy Director for Financial Management;
• Write responses to internal and external audit inquiries and other findings related to financial management for review/approval by Operations Manager and Deputy Director for Financial Managementand incorporate recommendations in development in policies, procedures and practices;
• Plan and track expenditures and performance audit of financial resources, including extra-budgetary income.

Coordinate programme/ project budgets in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures:

• Coordinate all financial resources of programmes/ projects through planning, guiding, monitoring and controlling of the resources;
• Prepare and monitor budgets of management projects;
• Analyze and report on the budget approvals and the delivery situation of management projects;
• Contribute to the proper mechanisms to eliminate deficiencies in budget management; 
• Submit financial information for timely preparation of donor reports;
• Prepare advance payments and direct payments for programme implementation and record them in Quantum;
• Provide assistance to offices in the region in relation to project closure and provide training on a regular basis, in conjunction with Virtual Global Service Centre Finance Specialists.

Coordinate general administration and operations functions of the Programme in compliance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and strategies:

• Prepare work plan for programme team;
• Coordinate and supervise travel arrangements;
• Coordinate and facilitate the organization of conferences, workshops, and retreats.

Coordinate financial training and communication for the Programme:

• Coordinate development projects to ensure effective finance and communication tools are in place and regularly monitored for improvements;
• Perform the Finance Helpdesk function  to ensure accurate and timely response to issues and advice requested in conjunction with HQ Finance Field Support Unit;
• Support in the implementation of the approved Training plans (specifically QUANTUM and IPSAS) in conjunction with HQ Finance Field Support Unit and Finance specialist in RO on a recurrent basis to ensure competency across all Finance Users
• Provide oversight for Finance staff  and monitor progress and provide guidance and direction to the staff as necessary to ensure goals and objectives are achieved.

Participate in knowledge management and capacity building:

• Identify, participate in the development and/or recommend enhancement/updates/improvement in Quantum financial modules for better business practices and controls in the Programmes
• Capture, synthesize and/or codify lessons learned and best practices and support and financial management and services. Disseminate to Finance Section HQ to share knowledge and build capacity;
• Contribute to the design of learning tools, best practices and innovations in financial business operational practices and management, promote transparency, ease of communications, hosting of financial documents, and all policies and procedures between all UN Women users of the data.

Financial tasks, approving and certifying function:

• Oversee that vouchers processed are matched and completed, transactions are correctly recorded and posted in Quantum; payrolls are duly prepared; travel claims and other entitlements are duly processed;
• Implement timely corrective actions on unposted vouchers, including the vouchers with budget check errors, matching exceptions, unapproved vouchers;
• Provide timely response to HQ requests to resolve financial data issues;
• Perform delegated approval function in Quantum on a timely basis;
• Review and provide financial clearance of all donor agreements as delegated for compliance with standard agreements on a timely basis.

Participate in inter-agency activities:

• Participate in inter-agency meetings and working groups to ensure UN Women’s interests are reflected in common system activities related to common services and premises, cost recovery and cost sharing arrangements, privileges and immunities, entitlements and salary surveys, security etc;
• Liaise with UNDP and other UN agencies on operational issues, activities, and collaboration.

Contribute to knowledge sharing between the CO and RO:

• Ensure knowledge is shared and adequately applied between the Country Office and other COs/MCOs in the region.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation. 

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies

• Good knowledge and expertise in financial planning and management;
• Good knowledge of complex financial rules and regulations, preferably UN/UN Women Financial Rules and regulations;
• Good conceptual/strategic skills and success in implementing financial re-engineering, management systems development, policy design, innovation and knowledge product development is an asset;
• Good knowledge and experience in the application of complex financial systems and modules (such as Quantum);
• Good knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages;
• Ability to provide advice and support;
• Demonstrated knowledge of IPSAS/IFRS;
• Good analytical skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree (or equivalent) in Finance/Accounting, or a Professional accounting qualification from an internationally recognized institute of accountancy, Chartered Accountant, or Certified Public Accountant is required.
• Successful completion of UN Women’s Accounting technical test, as part of the selection process.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A project/programme management certification would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 2 years’ experience in an accounting-specific role with in a large international organization preferably in the UN system is required.
• Demonstrated financial experience using an ERP financial system is required.
• Demonstrated experience in providing financial and budget support to programmes/projects; Demonstrated experience at developing detailed financial reports for senior management is required.
• Demonstrated experience in supporting more than one office simultaneously is desirable.
• Demonstrated financial experience of working in a regional or multi-country context is desirable.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required.
• Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable.

Application Information:

Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org

Application Information: Interested applicants should apply to this announcement through UNDP jobs site: jobs.undp.org

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/about-us/jobs
• 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;
• UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest.

Inclusion Statement:

• At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits employ, 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.)

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.