Project Expert

Contract

This is a SB-3 contract. This kind of contract is known as Service Board / Service Contract. It is normally only for nationals. More about SB-3 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, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women works on acceleration of progress towards the fulfillment of women’s 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.

In Kazakhstan UN Women cooperates with the National Commission for Women and Family Affaires and Demographic policy under the President of Kazakhstan, the Government of Kazakhstan, Civil Society Organisations and other partners to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women in the country in accordance with the Agenda for sustainable development until 2030 and Kazakhstan’s international commitments.

The project is aimed at providing a full-fledged support to the national partners in the effective implementation of the National Concept on Family and Gender Policy and gender-sensitive response and recovery from COVID-19 crisis.

The project includes comprehensive work on five components in the field of promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, through providing support for the effective implementation of the Concept on Family and Gender Policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2030; strengthening gender aspects in the education system; strengthening the capacity of representative legislative and executive bodies authorities for the development, approval and implementation of programs and projects taking into account gender aspects; expanding the economic opportunities of women from vulnerable groups of the population; strengthening the capacity of civil servants for gender assessment of draft laws, regulations for further improvement in terms of gender equality and raising awareness among the population in issues of gender equality.

The project is envisioned to be implanted in cooperation with the National Commission for Women and Family and Demographic Policy under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Senate and Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ombudswoman for Human Rights in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Information and Social Development, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, the Ministry National Economy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, local executive bodies, universities, schools, colleges, NPP Atameken, “Association of Women Entrepreneurs”, Councils of Business Women, United Nations Population Fund, UNESCO, experts on human rights and gender equality, non-governmental organizations, youth organizations, the media, the UN Volunteer Movement and other partners who They will also contribute to the effective implementation of the project.

The Project period is 2022-2024, the volume of funding provided by the Ministry of Information and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan is $1,155,000.00.

It is expected that the Project Specialist pro-actively contributes to work of the UN Women Country Office in accordance with the UN Women triple mandate (normative support, UN system coordination and operational activities for results), including providing inputs to reports and documents requested by UN Women Representative, UN Women HQ and Regional offices, contributing to the corporate tasks, organization of events, missions and initiatives.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Project Expert works with and provides support to the Project Manager in the daily 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 project’s implementation. S/he will ensure effective implementation of daily activities of the Project and compliance with appropriate UN Women policies and procedures. Project Expert works in close collaboration with UN agencies’ focal points (UNFPA, UNESCO) responsible for implementation of assigned components of the Project.

The Project Expert is expected to closely cooperate with project counterparts, including the Ministry of Information and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the National Commission for Women and Family Affairs and Demographic Policy under the President of Kazakhstan, the Ombudswoman for Human Rights in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Labor and Social protection of population, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of the National Economy, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Healthcare, the Senate and Parliament of Kazakhstan, the Committee on Statistics, national human rights institutions, media professionals, civil society organizations, UN agencies involved in project implementation, local authorities and other relevant parties.

Substantive Project Support:

• Provide operational support to the project and programme management;
• Support timely and quality delivery of project activities in line with budget workplans, and project document
• Provide logistical and administrative support and prepare background materials for use in workshops, seminars, training sessions, meetings, visiting missions, field trips, etc.;
• Establish and maintain accurate and up-to-date filing system for the documents, keeps information and reference material in a manner which allows easy retrieval;
• Contribute to the preparation of status and progress reports by collecting information, preparing tables and drafting selected sections;
• Draft formal and informal correspondence, notes, documents, reports, prepare required contracts, keep the necessary flow of correspondence;
• Communicate with partners concerning the projects, responding directly where appropriate;
• Prepare unofficial translations and acts as an interpreter.

Mission logistics and Workshop logistics:

• Assist in organizing meetings, workshops, conferences and missions.

Travel arrangements:

• Coordinate and assist in making travel arrangements for participants of events, projects staff in connection with their domestic and international project-related travels;
• Prepare Requests for Services and Payments in accordance with UN Women rules and procedures.

Communication support:

• Draft external correspondence with projects’ partners and stakeholders, maintain files and assist in the preparation of documentation in advance of and following meetings;

• Assist in acquisition of letters of co-financing and support from stakeholders.

  Procurement:

• Assist in procurement and recruitment processes; assist the project team in preparation of ToRs to be developed during project’s implementation;

• In accordance with the Work Plan arrange for procurement of equipment, supplies and services;

Other tasks:

• Perform all necessary secretarial services such as photocopying, collection and distribution of incoming mail, dispatching outgoing mail; locating files, etc.
• Perform other duties as may be required.
• Participate in initiatives for effective UN Women’s mandate implementation in the country.

Competencies

Core values: • demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards; • demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments,; • displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Core competencies: • excellent communication skills, including the ability to convey complex concepts and recommendations, both orally and in writing, in a clear and persuasive style tailored to match different audiences; • ability to, interact, establish and maintain effective working relations with a culturally diverse team, as a team member, to build trust, and to manage in a deliberate, transparent and predictable way; • ability to establish and maintain productive partnerships with national partners and stakeholders and pro activeness in identifying of beneficiaries and partners’ needs and matching them to appropriate solutions. • 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; • 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; • Ability to observe deadlines and achieving results.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, finance, business or public administration, international development, or a related field is required
• Specialized trainings/ certificates in the related fields is an asset.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant administrative or project management support experience at the national or international level;
• Experience working in an environment requiring liaison and collaboration with multiple actors including government representatives, donors and other stakeholders;
• Excellent inter-personal, communication and organizational skills;
• Ability to work to tight deadlines and to handle multiple concurrent project components;
• Excellent computer skills (especially Microsoft office applications) and ability to use information technology as a tool and resource.
• Experience in the area of gender equality and the empowerment of women is an asset;
• Knowledge of UN Standard Operational Procedures and Atlas is a strong asset;
• Experience with Enterprise Resource Planning tools is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in Russian and English is required
• Knowledge of Kazakh is an asset