UN WOMEN Jobs - 85185- Project Assistant

Project Assistant

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Bishkek, KYRGYZSTAN

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

24-Jun-2019

Application Deadline :

27-May-19 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

SC-5

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months (with extension subject to performance and funds availability)

Languages Required :

English Russian

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

UN Women was established by GA resolution 64/289 of 2 July 2010 on system-wide coherence, with a mandate to assist Member States and the UN system to progress more effectively and efficiently towards the goal of achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women. Since 2001, UN Women (previously as UNIFEM) in Kyrgyzstan has implemented catalytic initiatives on promoting women’s economic, political and social rights. In 2012, a full Country Office was established.

UN Women Kyrgyzstan office plans to contract a Project Assistant who will provide programme and administrative/finance support ensuring high quality of work, and accurate, timely and properly recorded/documented service delivery. The Project Assistant promotes a client-oriented approach consistent with UN Women rules and regulations and commits to high standards of quality, productivity and timeliness in the delivery of tasks. The Project Assistant will meet and apply the highest standards of integrity and impartiality.

The position is in support of several UN Women Country Office’s initiatives. As part of a global initiative involving seven countries, launched by the Executive Heads of UN Women, FAO, IFAD, and WFP in October 2012, the joint programme “Acceleration of Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment” (JP RWEE) focuses on rural women’s economic empowerment in the Kyrgyz Republic. The Programme uses a Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) modality to ensure transparency, accountability and efficiency. This partnership between UN Women, FAO, and WFP is expected to generate synergies that capitalize on each agency’s mandate, comparative advantage and institutional strength to generate more lasting and wider scale results.

Starting from July 2018, Kyrgyzstan has been selected as a non-pathfinder country under UN Women Regional Programme on gender statistics “Making Every Woman and Girl Count” (MEWGC). The programme aims to stimulate a radical shift in the way quality data and statistics on key aspects of gender equality and women’s empowerment are produced and used. The programme country-level activities mostly focus on: (1) enabling supportive policy environment to ensure gender-responsive localization and effective monitoring of the SDGs; (2) production of quality, comparable and regular gender statistics to address national data gaps and meet policy and reporting commitments under the SDGs, CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action; (3) enhancing accessibility of gender statistics to all users and strengthening data users’ analysis capacities to inform research, advocacy, policies and programmes and promote accountability.

Scope of work

Under the general guidance of the UN Women National Programme Officer but under direct supervision of the UN Women JP RWEE Programme Manager and UN Women EIDHR Project Specialist and in day to day collaboration with staff and personnel of the UN Women Country Office, the Project Assistant will provide programme, administrative and finance support for the implementation of the JP RWEE and MEWGC programmes. The position is physically based in the UN Women Kyrgyz Republic Country Office in Bishkek.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

Programme support
Administrative and finance support

More specifically the Project Assistant will perform the following tasks:Provide effective programme support in implementation of the Programme, focusing on achievement of the following results:
Assist in ensuring that all programmatic inputs under the project are available on time and in full compliance with the respective UN Women rules and regulations;
Assist in collecting information from project stakeholders and draft reports;
Maintain filing system, reports or other documentation related to the project in hard and electronic formats;
Support the monitoring and evaluations functions;
Assist in drafting communication materials for the programme, present information on programme activities, as well as ensure dissemination to broader public for the visibility of the programme;
Draft general briefing notes, official letters, documents, and minutes of meetings when requested;
Provide written and oral translation between the languages of English, Russian and Kyrgyz;
Create, edit and present information in clear formats (tables, forms, briefing notes/books and reports) using advanced word processing and presentation tools and basic database and spreadsheet software (MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, etc.);
Engage in reciprocal support and backstopping with team colleagues;
Perform any other relevant tasks required for the smooth running and success of the programme.

2. Provide effective administrative and finance support in implementation of the programme, focusing on achievement of the following results:

Administrative and logistical support in organizing conferences, workshops, trainings and other project events;
Arrangement of travel and hotel reservations, preparation of travel authorizations;
Support to organization of procurement processes including preparation of RFQs, ITBs or RFPs documents, receipt of quotations, bids or proposals, their preliminary evaluation;
Creation of requisitions in the financial management system Atlas, registration of goods receipt in Atlas, budget check for requisitions;
Certifying availability of funds and ensuring that the activities are in line with the approved workplan and budget levels;
Monitoring regularly the programme budget, provision of timely advice to the programme Manager on fund limitations;
Provision of information for reports on financial status, procedures, exchange rates, costs and expenditures and potential funding problems;
Assistance in proper control of the supporting documents for payments and financial reports for the programme; payment execution and monitoring payment status;
Processing of financial documentation (vouchers, supporting documents, etc.) and maintaining internal expenditures control system by ensuring that vouchers processed are matched and completed, transactions are correctly recorded and posted in Atlas; travel claims, monthly payment orders (MPOs) and other entitlements are duly processed;
Preparation and handling the routine correspondence related to general administration, procurement, financial matters; faxes; memoranda and reports in accordance with UN Women rules and procedures;
Maintenance of files related to finance, procurement, administrative, logistical, programme matters;
Performance of other duties as and when required.

Competencies

Corporate:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standard;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional:

Ability to perform a broad range of specialized activities aimed at effective and efficient functioning of the Project including logistical support;
Creates, edits and presents information in clear and presentable formats, using appropriate IT functionality;
Ability to organize and complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities;
Ability to handle a large volume of work under time constraints;
Ability to establish, build and sustain effective relationships with project partners and stakeholders;
Ability to administer financial processes and transactions;
Ability to manage data, documents, correspondence and reports information and workflow;
Ability to perform a variety of specialized tasks related to Results Management, including support to data management and reporting.
Maintenance of files and records relevant to office maintenance.

Required Skills and Experience

University degree in economics or other social sciences;
Two full years of relevant administrative and accounting/financial experience;
Proven skills to work with data and quantitative information;
Strong interpersonal, communication and presentation skills;
Competent in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.);
Fluency in English, Russian and Kyrgyz language;
Previous work experience with UN Agencies, government agencies and/or international development partners highly desirable;