Background

The UN Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women (“UN Trust Fund”) was established by General Assembly Resolution 50/166, with UN Women as the Fund’s Administrator on behalf of the UN system. The UN Trust Fund is a leading multi-lateral grant-making mechanism providing support for non-governmental organizations working to address the global pandemic of violence against women and girls. To date, the UN Trust Fund has awarded $175 million and 572 grants to organizations in 140 countries and territories. In 2019, the UN Trust Fund portfolio included 125 projects. During the annual Call for Proposals, the UN Trust Fund receives an enormous amount of applications a year, exceeding 1000 applications in response to most calls.

The UN Trust Fund, through its annual Call for Proposals process, identifies and selects the most noteworthy projects to fund each year. The application selection process is rigorous and extensive, requiring coordination across a wide range of stakeholders, including applicants, external experts, UN Women offices and other UN agencies. The UN Trust Fund utilizes an online Grants Management System (GMS), available in English, French and Spanish, for both the grantee selection process as well for managing grantee reporting obligations including vital results data management and analysis. The accurate and seamless collection of business information is essential for the UN Trust Fund to successfully meet its results reporting, advocacy and communications obligations, and to raise more funds for our cause.

The UN Trust Fund is in the process of developing a new online Grants Managements System (which will be based on the existing system’s structure), in collaboration with a vendor and the UN Women Information Systems and Telecommunications (IST) Section. The current online platform is articulated around 2 main sections: 1) the Call for Proposals (CFP) section is highly visited and can receive +2,000 users simultaneously (applicants and reviewers) during each Call for Proposals; and 2) Grants Management section, which enables online financial and narrative reporting, through which 100+ active grantees submit their bi-annual progress reports and receive feedback from Fund users. 

We need a dedicated technical, information systems specialist to primarily manage the development of the new Grants Management System, in collaboration with the Trust Fund team and IST.  The project is currently half-way through implementation and therefore a heavy focus of the role will be on User Acceptance Testing, ensuring the system meets business requirements and planning for a smooth transition from the old to the new system including development of user guidance and training materials to prepare for the launch of the system in mid- 2020.

This is an exciting opportunity for a technical, information systems specialist to work with a high performing team on a vital human and women’s rights issue

You will have the opportunity to learn about project and grants management and contribute to improving the way we work, for the ultimate benefit of women and girls around the world.

The position is open on a remote-working or on location subject to visa eligibility.

You can explore our Grants Management System here: https://grants.unwomen.org/

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions:

  1. Coordinate the final stages of development and implementation of a new Grants Management System (GMS) for the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women  (coordinate and manage the systems development project with the vendor, in collaboration with IST and the UNTF team);
  2. Provide technical expertise on the smooth transition from the old (current) Grants Management System to the new system, including effective roll-out, training and guidance development for UN Trust Fund staff and grantees.

 

  1. Coordinate the final stages of development and implementation of a new Grants Management System (GMS) for the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women
  • Serve as the Project lead in the UN Trust Fund to coordinate the information systems development project to redesign and build a new Grants Management System in 2020.
  • This includes performing a holistic review of the modules developed to date against the original functional specifications and requirements to identify any gaps to be addressed.
  • Review each module developed against the FSD and ensure all missing information (instructions, questions, etc.) is provided by the various team members so the system is fully populated prior to final system-wide review.
  • Conduct exhaustive User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for all modules in English, French and Spanish (and possibly additional languages). 
  • Report bugs as well as layout/design/edit-related issues/glitches in a systematic and organized manner. Once these issues are fixed by the vendor, verify the fix in the server and liaise with relevant stakeholders/users. 
  • Document all decisions taken by UNTF staff and ensure minutes are circulated to team members as well as the vendor in a timely manner. Ensure all documentation is properly saved in the UNTF’s shared drives.
  • Develop, implement and monitor the GMS project’s work plan to ensure that tasks are being completed in a timely and effective manner by all the parties, including key deliverables by the vendor – to include coordinating with UN Trust fund staff to make sure tasks are completed on time, as per the work plan.
  • Ensure the day-to-day effective communication and coordination with the vendor and UNW Women ICT regarding the deployment of releases to the training and production servers.

2.            Provide technical expertise and planning for the smooth transition from the old (current) Grants Management System to the new system, including effective roll-out, training and guidance development for UN Trust Fund staff and grantees.

 

  • Develop GMS user guides and training materials (including online webinars) for grantees and fund users and lead on implementation and roll out of both.
  • Provide technical expertise and backstopping support on the maintenance of the current GMS system (as needed) to inform a phased transition to the new system.
  • Plan a smooth and effective transition from the current GMS to the new system for all stakeholders/users, including data transfer and integration of the two systems.
  • Act as liaison between the maintenance teams from both systems’ vendors and UN Women IST Team, including day-to-day communication and coordination through meetings, email, Skype calls and telephones on the transition phase.  
  • Provide other support as needed to the team on both the old and new GMS as requested.

Competencies

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise

  • Demonstrated proficiency to have analytical ability and thorough understanding of software development life cycle processes 
  • Experience developing technology platforms for web-based database / information systems 
  • Actively seeks to apply current expertise and new ideas on how to optimize use of technology to streamline workloads.

Client Orientation 

  • Able to identify and analyze clients' needs and develop appropriate technology solutions to meet business requirements; desire to organize and improve processes.

Planning and Organization

  • Ability to pay attention to details in a very organized manner.
  • Ability to establish priorities and to plan and monitor own work in a very systematic manner. 
  • Ability to review each page of the online system, report issues and verification of each fix in a very systematic and organized manner.
  • Proven ability to work under pressure and produce deliverable that is accurate, timely and of high quality.
  • Ability to manage conflicting priorities. 
  • Strong attention to detail.

Communications

  • Able to speak and write clearly and effectively, including to: advise and train users on the use of complex systems/applications and related matters; 
  • Prepare specifications and other written reports/documentation in a clear and concise style.

Teamwork

Good interpersonal skills; ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations with people in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for  diversity.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Qualifications

  • Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Computer or Information Systems, Public Administration, Development, Social Sciences, Business Administration or related field. 
  • A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. 

Experience:

  • Minimum two (2) years of relevant professional experience in information systems technology, particularly in systems development (from a business user perspective), requirements gathering, analyzing, documenting and testing of online systems (or 4 years in lieu of an advanced degree). 
  • Experience in developing online platforms an asset.
  • Experience in conducting quality assurance-related work and/or testing of new online products/services an asset. 
  • Experience in conducting trainings and webinars for a wide range of users an asset. 
  • Experience in working in a multi-cultural setting with people from different cultural backgrounds an asset. 
  • Additional certification related to project management is desirable.

Languages

  • Fluency in English (oral and written) is required. 
  • Fluency in Spanish and/or French is an asset.