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.
Women and girls are the majority of those affected disproportionally by the ten-year war. They experience higher rates of poverty and displacement than men, worsening inequalities, many have lost their homes and jobs lack access to basic social services, and are facing protection concerns, including gender-based violence, conflict-related sexual violence, and human trafficking. Among the 14.6 million needing humanitarian assistance, women and girls constitute the vast majority. Women make up 56% of the estimated 3.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine and constitute 93% of the 4.6 million people returning to Ukraine.
Despite the ongoing war, Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction provide significant opportunities to build back better, more inclusive, and more equal, to strengthen good governance, the rule of law, gender equality, sustainable socio-economic development, and human rights.
To achieve gender equality and women's empowerment in Ukraine, the CO will contribute to the UN Cooperation Framework 2025 – 2029 and the Humanitarian Program Cycle. The CO will leverage its triple mandate to promote UN system-wide coherence, results, and accountability. It will address early recovery needs through a nexus approach and the longer-term policy reform priorities of the Government of Ukraine. The UN Women Ukraine Strategic Note 2025-2029 will focus on Gender responsive recovery, reconstruction, and development programs achieving the three outcome areas:
- Governance, Women Peace, and Security
- Women's Economic Empowerment
- Humanitarian Actions
Reporting to Country Representative, and under the general supervision of the Country Representative, the Executive coordinates and manages the full scope of executive support to the UN Women Country Representative and Senior Management Team maintaining full confidentiality in all aspects of assignment and, in close coordination with the Country Office (CO) office management and staff, for managing the efficient flow of information and communications to ensure expeditious dissemination of information, timely action and compliance with established deadlines.
Key Functions and Accountabilities
Provide executive support to the UN Women Country Representative and Senior Management Team:
- Manage the UN Women Country Representative’s calendar, and schedule of appointments and meetings, ensuring effective prioritization aligned with strategic priorities and emerging needs;
- Handle Country Representative and Senior Management Team missions and official travel within the country and abroad, including creating travel requests, arranging logistics (transportation, accommodation), preparing briefing folders, providing communication support, and ensuring timely submission of required forms after the trip in accordance with policies and procedures.
- Maintain and regularly update roster of CO contacts; update electronic mailing lists;
- Screen, prioritize, and manage sensitive communications with discretion and confidentiality, ensuring timely action and alignment with office priorities;
- Manage administrative files on the Country Representative’s and Senior Management Team mission travel and mission reports;
- Independently research, compile, and synthesize information to meet the Country Representative/ Senior Management Team requests.
Provide administrative and coordination support to the UN Women Country Representative/Senior Management Team:
- Lead logistical, administrative, and financial arrangements for high-level meetings, conferences, and missions;
- Organize and document meetings; prepare minutes and follow-up matrices and systematic tracking of management actions and commitments on behalf of the Country Representative;
- Prepare and assemble briefing materials and PowerPoint presentations for the Country Representative/ Senior Management Team incorporating analytical inputs and relevant contextual information for meetings, missions and other key events;
- Organize and monitor the office filing system;
- Follow up with the Country Representative on deadlines and commitments.
Provide effective communication and information management support to the CO:
- Monitor deadlines, commitments, and implementation of management decisions, proactively following up with relevant stakeholders.
- Facilitate flow of information and communication between the UN Women Country Representative and other units within or outside of UN Women;
- Review, analyze, prioritize, and route correspondence; recommend actions where appropriate;
- Respond to and/or direct inquiries to appropriate units for timely action/response;
- Draft official correspondence, notes verbales, and internal communications; review documents and reports to ensure spelling, punctuation and format are correct;
- Maintain and organize up to date hard and electronic files for easy access and retrieval; ensure safekeeping of confidential materials;
- Coordinate and finalize informal translations; serve as interpreter as required, Coordinate protocol and all logistical arrangements related to high-level visits, ensuring compliance with UN diplomatic standards.
Provide support to the Country Representative’s external relations activities:
- Facilitate the Country Representative’s interaction with various external partners through written, verbal and electronic communication, and through collaborative and proactive relationships with counterparts and colleagues in partner offices;
- Receive and greet high ranking officials/visitors;
- Coordinate protocol and all logistical arrangements related to high-level visits, ensuring compliance with UN diplomatic standards.
Contribute to knowledge building and knowledge sharing:
- Coordinate knowledge management and information-sharing practices within the office and with other offices/HQ, ensuring timely access to relevant resources;
- Document and disseminate best practices in executive and administrative support, contributing to continuous improvement of office operations.
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: Not applicable.
Competencies :
Core Values:
- Integrity;
- Professionalism;
- Respect for Diversity.
Core Competencies:
- Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
- Accountability;
- Creative Problem Solving;
- Effective Communication;
- Inclusive Collaboration;
- Stakeholder Engagement;
- Leading by Example.
Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:
Functional Competencies:
- Ability to manage data/schedule, documents, correspondence, reports, and maintain protocol and information flow;
- Good knowledge of administrative rules and regulations;
- Ability to perform work of confidential nature;
- Ability to create, edit and present information in clear format, using appropriate IT functionality;
- Ability to administer administrative processes
Recruitment Qualifications
Education and Certification:
- Completion of secondary education is required.
- Bachelor’s degree in business administration or public administration is an asset.
Experience:
- At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience with administrative, secretarial, or programme experience;
- Experience with the UN system or other international organization is required.
- Demonstrated experience in drafting official correspondence, meeting minutes and internal communications is required.
- Experience in the use of computer applications and software packages such as Microsoft Office, and web-based management systems; is required
- Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.
Languages:
- Fluency in English and Ukrainian is required.
- Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).
Statements :
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.
Diversity and inclusion:
At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.
If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.
UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)
Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.