Project Assistant

Contract

This is a SB-2 contract. This kind of contract is known as Service Board / Service Contract. It is normally only for nationals. More about SB-2 contracts.

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. UN Women was created to accelerate progress towards the fulfillment of their rights around the world. UN Women assists UN member states in setting international norms and standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to develop laws, policies, programs, and services needed to implement these standards.

UN Women Country Office (CO) is based in Astana, Kazakhstan aims to support to the Government and civil society organizations in the development and implementation of innovative approaches aimed at achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment, specifically targeting increasing women’s political participation and leadership, securing women’s economic rights, strengthening women's involvement in peace building, ending violence against women and making government budgets and policies more responsive to women's needs. In 2023, UN Women CO Kazakhstan continues to implement its new projects funded by the Government of Kazakhstan to support the Government of Kazakhstan and Civil Society Organisations in their active participation in Global Action Coalitions to address Gender-Based Violence and advance Economic Justice and Rights and promote the Virtual Community of Practice in the area of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment for Central Asia.

The Project Assistant works with and provides support to the UN Women Project Manager in the implementation, monitoring and reporting for projects and in strategic partnership building and coordination functions in line with UN Women rules and regulations. S/he provides programmatic and administrative assistance for the smooth projects implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

The key results have an impact on the efficiency and success in implementation of UN Women programming in Kazakhstan. Accurate data entry and presentation of information ensure proper programme implementation.

• Contribution to Project Management;
• Support to the Finance Management;
• Assistance in Strategic Partnership Building and Coordination Support;
• Administrative Support.

Project Management Support

• Assistance in provision programmatic and administrative support to the UN Women Project Manager in the preparation of projects implementation/work plans, budgets, and proposals on projects implementation arrangements;
• Under the guidance of the supervisor, assemble briefing materials and prepare power-point and take minutes at project related meetings and events;
• Assist in identifying sources, and gathering and compiling data and information for the preparation of documents, guidelines, speeches and concept notes and project proposals;
• Assist in preparing schedule for various types of meetings that are organized by Project Manager;
• Contribute to the programme/project related reporting, including quarterly and annual reporting and the projects’ specific donor reporting as well as other reports and work plans, prepared by the Country Office;
• Assist the Project Manager in the audit of projects and support implementation of audit recommendations;
• Contribute to the monitoring and evaluation of project performance and recommend actions to be taken, if relevant;
• Assist the Project Manager in monitoring and evaluation of the projects impact and recommend actions, if relevant;
• Support the Project Manager in providing guidance to the executing agencies on routine implementation of programmatic project activities and tracking use of financial resources;
• Perform other tasks as required.

Financial Management Support

• Assist in creating projects in UN Women financial system, prepare required budget revisions, revision of project award and project status, determination of unutilized funds, operational and financial close of a project;
• Assist in creating requisitions and non-PO vouchers for development projects registers of goods receipt;
• Assist in making payments to the vendors ;
• Assist in filling out of the Travel Request Forms for participants of project activities;
• Create vendors;
• Support the Project Manager in the financial management of projects;
• Update the budget table on a regular basis;
• Organize, compile and process information from donors, and the programme team, as inputs to various databases and documents;
• Support the Project Manager in the tracking and reporting on mobilized resources.

Assistance in Strategic Partnership Building and Coordination Support

• Draft letters and assist in collection and compilation of necessary information and analytical and resource materials to support the CO’s partnership building and resources mobilization efforts within the areas where UN Women is engaged in Kazakhstan;
• Assist in organizing meetings and events with other UN Agencies, government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, private sector, civil society, etc. in the thematic areas for the ongoing and planned projects in Kazakhstan;
• Assist in collection information and elaboration of analytical and regular progress reports on UN Women’s programme experiences in support of inter-agency coordination role;
• Provide other assistance on inter-agency partnership and coordination related activities as requested.

Administrative support

• Provide administrative and logistical support in the organization of events, meetings, press events, trainings and workshops, etc.
• Make travel arrangements for the Project Manager and partners including preparation of travel requisitions and claim;
• Draft correspondence such as letters, notifications, notes to the files, etc.;
• Translate and assist with translation and proofreading the documents related to project activities and publications;
• Maintain and organize up to date hard and electronic files;
• Prepare communications products related to the projects, including but not limited to photos, videos, social media posts and human interest stories in close partnership with the Communications Analyst. Come up with ideas how to raise the visibility of results achieved by the projects;
• Prepare presentation material/slides in Power-point for presentations for the meetings/workshops and keep all papers ready for meetings.

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

• Ability to perform a broad range of specialized activities aimed at effective and efficient functioning of the project team including logistical support;
• Ability to provide input to business process re-engineering, elaboration and implementation of new data management systems;
• Creates, edits and presents information in clear and presentable formats, using appropriate IT functionality;
• Ability to organize and complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities;
• Ability to handle a large volume of work possibly under time constraints;
• 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 administer and execute financial processes and transactions;

Ability to manage data, documents, correspondence and reports information and workflow.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Completion of secondary education is required.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/women's studies, international development, communications, public or business administration, international affairs, or a related field is required

Experience:

• At least 4 years of administrative or project support experience preferably in a large or international corporation or organization;
• Excellent computer skills (especially Microsoft office applications) and ability to use information technology as a tool and resource;
• Knowledge of ERP systems is an asset;
• Experience with the UN or other international organization is an asset.

Language Requirements:- Fluency in Russian/ Kazakh and English with proven drafting and presentation skills; - Knowledge of other UN language is an asset

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.

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.)