Programme Analyst, Women, Peace and Security/Humanitarian Action

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; the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development; human rights; as well as humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations (UN) 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 Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women works to support women’s engagement in peace and security to promote improved implementation, and monitoring and reporting of global commitments on women and peace and security (WPS), including as set out in Beijing Platform for Action and in Security Council resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2122 (2013) and 2242 (2015), relevant Statements by the President of the Security Council, as well as related accountability frameworks established by the UN system. UN Women works to strengthen the capacity of actors engaged in inclusive peacebuilding and national dialogue processes to enhance women’s participation and influence and to secure gender-equality outcomes.

The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda is a significant international normative and policy framework because it addresses the gender-specific impacts of conflict, political crisis, displacement, disaster, violent extremism, and mass atrocities on women and girls. Two decades later, the WPS agenda continues to expand its footprint in global policymaking. UN Women’s work in humanitarian action is guided by global norms and standards. UN Women works to enhance the gender responsiveness and accountability of humanitarian coordination structures and systems including COVID-19 response and ensuring that the response of humanitarian partners guarantees the protection of all members of the affected population and contributes to addressing the needs and priorities of women, men, girls, and boys equitably and effectively.

At the regional level, UN Women works to drive forward the WPS Agenda in Europe and Central Asia (ECA). This includes support to regional bodies and civil society organizations, collaboration with UN agencies and support to UN Women’s field offices. Regional work includes support to the implementation of regional and National Action Plans on WPS, regional dialogue work on inclusive peace and mediation processes. Our interventions support projects that increase women’s participation and influence in decision-making to prevent and resolve conflicts, as well as engender humanitarian response. We promote gender perspectives in policy development and work to strengthen the protection of women affected by crisis and/or conflict. We also amplify calls for accountability and advance the status of women in post-conflict/crisis settings.

Under the project ‘Advisory support for Strengthening Gender Responsiveness of Humanitarian Actions and Refugee Response in Europe and Central Asian region’ funded by the Government of Iceland, UN Women has been working to strengthen the gender responsiveness of humanitarian action in the ECA region through advocacy, coordination, policy advice and through providing technical advisory support to country offices, in line with the Government of Iceland’s foreign policy and priorities. Icelandic funds enabled UN Women to strengthen gender equality in Peace, Security and Humanitarian efforts and response in the region, notably enhanced capacity, and partnerships with national and international institutions.

Additionally, under its regional WPS and Humanitarian Action (HA) portfolio, UN Women is working on two projects in Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan - with specific results relevant to each country’s context. The overall objective of the projects is to support States in Central Asia in the rehabilitation and reintegration of their citizens returned from conflict zones. The projects will increase advocacy and contribute to national efforts to effectively mainstream gender and human rights perspectives in policy frameworks, processes, and measures to address Screening, Prosecution, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (SPRR) at the national level. The projects will also leverage experience gained from work in the four participating countries to facilitate information exchange and dialogue on gender-sensitive recovery and rehabilitation measures with other Member States in the Central Asia region.

In 2022, a new project was added to the regional WPS/HA portfolio. The Germany funded regional programme ‘Enhancing Women’s Leadership for Sustainable Peace in Fragile Contexts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)’ with the Peace and Security section and the Regional Office for Arab States, was expanded to the ECA region under a new Afghanistan-related component. With this expansion, the ECA Regional Office launched a series of targeted initiatives to support the continued and increased participation of Afghan women human rights defenders, women peacebuilders, women leaders and women-led organizations essentially in the diaspora to protect the progress on gender equality and to ensure that women’s rights leaders have a voice in peace dialogues and processes.

Over the past twelve few months, the region has been marked by further instability (Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, as well as overall Central Asia due to the crisis in Afghanistan), requiring the Regional Office to strengthen its regional WPS portfolio response, coordination, management and oversight to better support Country Offices with the immediate peace and security challenges in the region. In light of the further instability and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, UN Women will reprogramme its ongoing interventions to better support the regional programming and country-level offices, with a specific focus on Ukraine and Moldova Country Offices as well as neighboring countries, with immediate peace and security challenges, requiring the Regional Office to strengthen its technical capacity to respond to the increased demands from those countries.

Reflective of the above, UN Women is seeking a Programme Analyst to provide advanced adiministrative, financial and logistical support. Programme Analyst will provide technical support and coordinate the financial management of the projects and programmes within WPS/HA Portfolio in Europe and Central Asia Region.

Under the overall guidance of the Women, Peace and Security Policy Advisor at ECA Regional Office, the Programme Analyst works with Regional Programme Coordinator on the day-to-day functions of the TORs and is responsible for providing assistance to country-level offices and Regional Office to ensure the effective programme implementation of WPS/HA Portfolio across the Region.

Duties and Responsibilities

Coordinate the financial planning, analysis, provision and reporting of the Regional WPS/HA Portfolio in accordance with UN Women internal control framework, rules, regulations, policies and procedures

• Recommend and/or implement cost-saving and reduction strategies;
• Review and/or verify financial transactions/activities, recording/reporting system, and audit reports. Co-ordinate with regional WPS/HA team on suggestions for amendments;
• Review financial business processes and use of Atlas system to ensure accurate and complete reporting of financial transactions in accordance with the Internal Control Framework and Delegation of Authority and the timely flow of financial information in UN Women for management, monitoring and oversight purposes;
• Analyze and oversee all financial resources within WPS/HA portfolio and provide high-quality professional advice on financial issues to the WPS/HA Programme Team and Regional Office management, as necessary;
• Assist with risk assessment reviews for the Regional WPS/HA portfolio, by identifying areas of risk and providing recommendations and action plans for addressing issues raised;
• Draft timely and accurate automated interim financial reports to donors as required under the donor agreements and other cost-sharing arrangements for submission to Virtual Global Service Centre Finance Specialists;
• Write ad hoc financial Donor and other reports as requested.

Coordinate the monitoring and oversight of the projects/programmes financial management in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures

• Draft all financial reports in accordance with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and ensure continued compliance;
• Monitor the Regional WPS/HA Portfolio for compliance with IPSAS accounting standards by reviewing business processes and systems modules resulting in IPSAS compliant general ledger and financial statements;
• Review Responsible Party advance procedures and test against UN Women policies to ensure compliance.  Investigate and follow up on any anomalies for timely action and resolution, as necessary;
• Review all contractual arrangements with suppliers of goods and services to ensure that the financial terms and conditions of all contracts are being adhered to by the suppliers of goods and services;
• Report to Regional Peace and Security Adviser and Operations Manager any case of non-adherence for timely action and recommendations for actions/decisions, as necessary;
• Respond to questions and provide analysis as requested to the Finance Section.

Coordinate the audit process in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures

• Coordinate the pre-audit preparations for the Regional WPS/HA Portfolio and complete the pre-audit checklist. 
• Write responses to internal and external audit inquiries and other findings related to financial management for review/approval by Operations Manager and incorporate recommendations in the development in policies, procedures and practices;
• Follow up and/or take prompt action to respond to audit and other findings;
• Plan and track expenditures and performance audit of financial resources

Coordinate programme/ project budgets in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and procedures

• Coordinate all financial resources of programmes/ projects through planning, guiding, monitoring and controlling of the resources;
• Prepare and monitor budgets of management projects;
• Analyze and report on the budget approvals and the delivery situation of management projects;
• Contribute to the proper mechanisms to eliminate deficiencies in budget management; 
• Submit financial information for timely preparation of donor reports;
• Prepare advance payments and direct payments for programme implementation and record them in SharePoint;

Participate in knowledge management and capacity building

• Collect and compile lessons learned and best practices in project management in terms of financial management;
• Store, manage and track programmatic, financial and other documents in SharePoint database for knowledge sharing purposes;
• Contribute to business operational practices and management innovations.

Competencies

Key Performance Indicators

• Financial activities/transactions and documentation are implemented/processed according to UN Women rules and regulations, policies and procedures;
• Programme team receives timely support in relation to financial management, budgeting and planning of the projects/programmes;
• Timely and accurate professional advice on project/programme management provided to the management of the regional RPS/HA portfolio.

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

• Good knowledge and expertise in project/programme management;
• Good knowledge of complex financial rules and regulations, preferably UN/UN Women Financial Rules and regulations;
• Good knowledge and experience in UN Women corporate tools;
• Good knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages;
• Ability to provide advice and support;

• Demonstrated knowledge of IPSAS/IFRS.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration or a related field is required;
• 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:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible work experience in an project/programme management related role at the national or international level, preferably in the UN system;
• Demonstrated experience in providing financial and budget support to programmes and projects;
• Demonstrated experience using ERP financial systems (ATLAS, Oracle or similar);
• Demonstrated experience in preparing project/programme reports and status updates for internal and external use;
• Proven knowledge and experience in Europe and Central Region;
• Experience working in the UN Women is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Working knowledge of Russian is an asset.

Applications should be submitted on line and include fully completed UN Women Personal History Form as attachment instead of CV/resume.  https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc

Failure to disclose prior employment or making false representations on this form will be grounds for withdrawal of further consideration of his/her application or termination, where the appointment or contract has been issued.

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.)