UN Women (the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of 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.

In Turkey, in line with the overall UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework and with  the UN Women Country Strategic Note (2019-2022), UN Women works towards three overarching goals:  1) Women lead, participate in, and benefit equally from governance systems;  2) All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence; 3) Women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in building sustainable peace and resilience and benefit equally from the prevention of natural disasters and conflicts and humanitarian action. In line with the first goal of the Country Strategic Note, UN Women supports the application of gender responsive budgeting at the central and local level. 

Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is a well-recognized strategy and powerful tool to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment. It enables governments to effectively reduce gender inequalities through policies, plans and budgets that address equally the specific needs and priorities of women and men, including the most excluded.  It improves the effectiveness of public spending and strengthens accountability by urging for the creation of transparent budgets. UN Women has spearheaded and supported GRB interventions in more than 75 countries and has recognized global, regional and country-level technical expertise in this area.

In Turkey, in the past years, UN Women has partnered with the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) on GRB to integrate gender equality into the strategic plan, budget processes and ultimately to the budget of the TGNA. In addition, UN Women has supported the development of a pool of trainers on gender equality to increase the institutional capacity of the TGNA on gender equality as well as to increase the sustainability of the efforts on gender equality and GRB. At the local level, jointly with UNDP, it has supported the integration of gender perspective into strategic plans and budgets in selected municipalities and the establishment of specific units dedicated to the advancement of women’s rights.

Building on these initiatives, UN Women will embark on a new three-year project “Implementing Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting in Turkey” as of December 2020, funded by the European Union and the main beneficiary of which is the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services (MoFLSS) - General Directorate on the Status of Women (GDSW) whereas the co-beneficiary is Presidency of Turkey - Presidency of Strategy and Budget (PSB). The project aims to increase financing for GEWE through strategic partnerships, providing tailored technical assistance and guidance, and building institutional capacity and knowledge. It is designed to support selected line Ministries as well as four selected pilot municipalities (Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, Eskisehir Metropolitan Municipality, Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, Edirne Municipality). The project will benefit from international expertise and close linkages with UN Women’s Regional Programme “Transformative Financing for Gender Equality in the Western Balkans” as well as other relevant initiatives.

In this regard, UN Women is looking for an Programme Assistant who will provide general administrative and logistical support to the Implementing Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting in Turkey Project in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and strategies.

Reporting to Programme Specialist, the Programme Assistant 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 Assistant provides programme, administrative, and logistical assistance to the team for the smooth programme implementation. The Programme Assistant promotes a client, quality and results-oriented approach. The Programme Assistant works in close collaboration with the project staff and the Operations team to ensure consistent service delivery.

1.       Provide administrative and logistical support to the formulation and management of Implementing Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting in Turkey Project

• Provide administrative support in the preparation of programme work plans, budgets, and proposals on programme implementation arrangements, including tracking the delivery of funds;
• Provide administrative support to the executing agencies / responsible parties on routine delivery and reporting of programme supported activities and finances;
• Provide administrative support for the audit of programmes/ projects and support implementation of audit recommendations; 
• Identify sources, and gather and compile data and information for the preparation of documents, guidelines, speeches and position papers, in collaboration with the Programme team.

 2.       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 and preparation of budget and the finances of programmes/projects, and in the preparation of FACE forms;
• Prepare non-PO vouchers for development projects;
• Process payment for consultants, as deleaged;
• Create requisitions in Atlas for development projects; register good receipts in Atlas. 

3.       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;
• Draft minutes in meetings, as delegated;
• Assemble briefing materials and prepare power-point and other presentations, in collaboration with the Programme team;
• Organize and coordinate filing of documents; maintain mailing lists.

4.       Provide administrative support to resource mobilization

• Organize, compile, and process documentation and information from donors, and programme team as inputs to various databases and documents.

5.       Facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing

• Provide administrative support to the organization of training for the office staff and partners on programme and operations related issues.

Key Performance Indicators

• Timely and accurate administrative and logistical support to events, workshops, and missions;
• Full compliance of administrative activities with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures;
• Timely and accurate tracking of data for Turkey Office management and donor purposes;
• Quality maintenance of internal systems and files;
• Quality and timely support to programme team.

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

• Knowledge of programme management;
• Ability to create, edit and present information in clear and presentable formats;
• Ability to manage data, documents, correspondence and reports information and workflow;
• Good financial and budgeting skills;
• Good IT skills.

Application Procedure:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment.

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.  

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.