Background

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women is mandated to lead and coordinate United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of national priorities and commitments, building effective partnerships with government, civil society and other relevant actors.

In Nepal, UN Women is currently implementing its 2014-17 Strategic Note and Annual Workplan (country programme) which incorporates several thematic areas, including economic empowerment, governance and leadership, ending violence against women and girls, and peace and security. Across all of its work, UN Women applies its normative and coordination mandates, and works through strategic partnerships and on generating knowledge and evidence. UN Women is also engaged in the humanitarian response following the tragic earthquakes of 2015.

Under the overall guidance of the Representative and direct supervision of Operations Manager, the Executive Assistant ensures effective and efficient functioning of the office of the Head of UN Women Nepal Country Office, full confidentiality in all aspects of assignment, maintenance of protocol procedures, management of information flow and follow-up on deadlines and commitments made. The Executive Assistant also provides telephone communication and general reception and information services ensuring high quality and accuracy of work.

The Executive Assistant works in close collaboration with Programme and Operations teams, UN Agencies and national authorities to ensure efficient flow of information, actions on instructions, agenda items etc.

Duties and Responsibilities

Ensures effective and efficient functioning of the office of HOA of the NCO focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Management of the layout of the HOA’s office, ensuring an environment of professionalism and teamwork at all times;
• Efficient and discreet management of the HOA’s schedules;
• Prepare brief bio of persons or organizations for the scheduled meetings;
• Organization of regular and ad-hoc meetings; preparation of minutes and summaries of actions to be taken; tracking of progress on planned issues; follow-up with the concerned persons on behalf of the HOA;
• Screening of all incoming communications, filter outgoing correspondence for supervisor’s signature, clearance and further action by other staff; wherever possible;
• Adherence to appropriate protocol and correspondence guidelines by CO team when communicating with Government and other external partners;
• Use of other office management system e.g common calendar of events, alerting about emergency priorities, flow of information and coordination for approval of different documents.

Ensures provision of effective communications and administrative support to the UN Women Nepal Country office focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Maintenance of the filing system of all official correspondence ensuring safekeeping of confidential materials. Use of professional filing system both in hard copies and e-copies;
• Coordination of the information flow in the office and dissemination of corporate and interoffice communication to staff as required;
• Facilitation of information sharing with Programme and Operations Teams;
• Follow up on deadlines, commitments made, actions taken and coordination of collection and submission of the reports and other documents to the HOA;
• Draft routine correspondence, interoffice circulars, general briefing notes and minutes of meetings when requested, brief translations when required;
• Administration of travel, meetings, appointments and briefings of HOA including drafting of background notes;
• Support to organization of programme events as required.

Ensures the provision of front-desk service, telephone communication services and general administrative support services focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Monitoring of all visitors to the office; assistance to visitors by providing directions and accurate information related to UN/UN-Women;
• Operation and management of the telephone switchboard in accordance with appropriate protocol;
• Management and planning of the front desk coverage;
• Collection of information and update of the UN telephone list and UN Directory, Addresses of the Government, International Organizations, Embassies, and Civil Society Organisations ( CSOs) and other important contacts;
• Assist in the planning and preparation of meetings, conferences and conference telephone calls;
• Issuance of gate passes, taking care of registry/incoming & outgoing mail, documents;
• Perform general clerical duties to include but not limited to: photocopying, faxing, mailing preparing bills related to office work.

Support to knowledge building and knowledge sharing in the CO, focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Participation in training for the operations/projects staff on administration;
• Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

Competencies

Core values / guiding principles

Integrity:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies

Ethics and Values:

• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Development and Innovation:

• Take charge of self-development and take initiative.

Work in teams:

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing:

• Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

• Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management:

• Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

• Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Functional Competencies:

• Analyzes general information and selects materials in support of partnership building initiatives;
• Understands the main processes and methods of work regarding to the position;
• Possesses basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks;
• Strives to keep job knowledge up-to-date through self-directed study and other means of learning;
• Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
• Demonstrates ability to identify problems and proposes solutions;
• Uses information/databases/other management systems;
• Reports to internal and external clients in a timely and appropriate fashion;
• Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines;
• Creates, edits and presents information in clear and presentable formats, using appropriate IT functionality;
• Ability to establish, build and sustain effective relationships with clients, demonstrating understanding of client's perspective; anticipates client needs and addresses them promptly;
• Ability to manage data, documents, correspondence and reports information and workflow.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent and having specialized secretarial or office management would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• A minimum of 3 years of secretarial, administrative, programme experience is required at the national or international level;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc), experience in handling of web based management systems will be an added advantage.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English and Nepali is required.

UN Women is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous group and persons with disability are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with strictest confidence.

Interested applicants should apply online for the vacancy, using the “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. 

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

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.