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.

By the end of 2018, 3.622.366 Syrian refugees were registered under Temporary Protection (SuTP) in Turkey. Only around 143.452 have been hosted in temporary centers or around 4% of all SuTP. Syrian women and girls in Turkey continue to face large-scale barriers to meet their basic needs and participate in Turkey’s social and economic life.

In 2018 UN Women published a comprehensive needs assessment of Syrian women and girls in Turkey, which revealed that many live below the poverty and hunger thresholds, isolated from their host community, and unable to engage in economic and social life, due to family burdens, lack of knowledge of Turkish, and basic and vocational skills. The study found that 70% of Syrian women do not speak any Turkish, blocking their access to rights and services and about 15% of women work in income-generating jobs (regular and irregular). Almost half of all widowed women have monthly incomes around $140 (700 TRY), as do 36% of divorced women and 32% of single women. Only 28% of women reported to leave their houses daily and 36% of women interviewed described their housing as bad or very bad.

UN Women in Turkey is working to strengthen refugee women and girls and their access to opportunities, rights and services, as required by international treaties and national legislation. In the context of its Refugee Response Programme (RRP) UN Women implements projects aiming to: (i) increase women and girls’ access to safe and sustainable life, through economic recovery and livelihood opportunities, protection, psycho-social support, and referrals for violence against women, (ii) create platforms for social cohesion, dialogue and co-existence women and girls from refugee and host communities.

Since September 2017, UN Women has been addressing the challenges faced by Syrian women and girls through the SADA Women´s Empowerment and Solidarity Centre in Gaziantep run in partnership with Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), providing protection and livelihood support to refugee and host community women. UN Women’s programmatic interventions also include strengthening gender responsive refugee response and services of municipalities, local authorities, government and civil society organizations and foster social cohesion and solidarity among the refugee and host communities through community level activities and strengthen the capacities of civil society organizations working with refugee women, women’s groups and platforms. UN Women’s response, together with partners’, aims to promote women’s leadership and participation of women to influence and equally benefit from resilience and recovery efforts.

UN Women plans to extend its operations to other cities, including Izmir, Sanliurfa, Adiyaman, Batman and other cities in the south-eastern region of Turkey, through strengthening the existing mechanisms of the local authorities, municipalities and civil society organizations with regards the women-only and gender-responsive outreach, protection, referral, 

livelihoods services, and establish safe spaces accessible to women and girls. The efforts to strengthen the capacities of the first-line responders and civil society organizations will also continue in additional cities.

Reporting to the Programme Management 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.  S/he provides programme, administrative, and logistical assistance to the team for the smooth programme implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

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

• 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 delegated;
• 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.

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

• 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.

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.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

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

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in administrative or programme management/support;
• Experience in working in a computer environment using multiple office software packages;
• Experience in the use of ATLAS is an asset;
• Experience in supporting a team is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Turkish is required;
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset.