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.

Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides a strong and coherent leadership in supporting Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

In East and Southern Africa Regional, maintains a large presence in the region, covering 25 countries, with offices in 13 countries and is responsible for preparing and certifying Action Plans in SharePoint linked to partner audit recommendations. This involves defining the action plan to be established to resolve the audit points. At the level of the same platform, it is also a matter of providing evidence that the audit recommendation has been implemented or submitting supporting documents that had not been implemented at the time of the audit, or requesting reimbursement of ineligible sums, or, when it is not possible to resolve the audit point, request its clearance (write -off) by a request sent to head office.

Under the direct supervision of the Regional Operations Manager, the Finance & partner Audit Associate  will work with the Programme Officers and implementation partners of the East and Southern African Region offices, to implement recommendations from partner audits or their clearance (write-off); advise and train project and programme staff as well as the staff of the implementing partners in the application of the procedures for implementing audit recommendations. The Finance & partner audit Associate is responsible for the execution of financial services in the Regional Office, ensuring timeliness, efficiency and transparent use of financial resources and delivery of services in accordance with organizational financial rules, regulations, policies, procedures and approved allocations.

Key Functions and Accountabilities:

1.    Technical support in implementation of audit recommendations:

• Follow-up on the implementation of partner audit recommendations with priority focus on aged and outstanding audit findings and recommendations;
• Provide technical support to programme/project managers and partners on the implementation of audit recommendations.
• Closely coordinate with PSMU regarding partners audit actions plans,  follow-up on submission related to partners audit.
• Train partner staff on the respect of financial procedures in the execution of a project UN Women;
• Conduct / facilitate trainings aimed at reducing potential observations and findings during future audits.
• Ensure timely closure of IP audit financial findings in compliance with UN Women requirements;

2.    Implement financial strategies, in full compliance of UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and recording and reporting systems:

• Perform duties in full compliance with UN Women financial regulations and rules, policies and standard operating procedures, including internal controls;
• Review and verify financial transactions, activities, and documentation; taking corrective actions as needed and reporting any unusual activities;
• Monitor financial exceptions reports for unusual activities or transaction, investigate anomalies and report to the supervisor conclusions and/or present recommendations for actions/decisions.

3.    Facilitate knowledge building and knowledge sharing for program staff and partners on the implementation of audit recommendations:

• Conduct trainings of partner staff on UN Women procedures, obligations and process with project implementation procedures for UN Women projects execution;
• Support IPs on compliance with the UN Women financial Rules and Regulations;
• Contribute to financial business operational practices and management innovations;
• Collect and compile lessons learned and best practices in financial management and services. Disseminate to clients and stakeholders as appropriate to build capacity and knowledge.

4.    Provide finance support to the Programme and Operations team:

• Perform duties in full compliance with UN Women financial regulations and rules, policies and standard operating procedures, including internal controls;
• Review and verify financial transactions, activities, and documentation; taking corrective actions as needed and reporting any unusual activities;
• Monitor financial exceptions reports for unusual activities or transaction, investigate anomalies and report to the supervisor conclusions and/or present recommendations for actions/decisions;
• Prepare PO and non-PO invoices for development and management projects;
• Record and post transactions in Quantum, process payroll, travel claims, MPOs, and other entitlements;
• Provide inputs and take necessary actions to facilitate timely financial project closure;
• Support financial donor reporting and project closure by providing timely information and taking necessary actions as required by UN Women for financial donor reporting.

5.    The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

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:

• Strong knowledge of financial rules and regulations and accounting principles;
• Strong knowledge and application skills of IT tools and understanding of management systems;
• Strong knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages;
• Ability to provide input to business processes re-engineering, implementation of new systems;
• Ability to administer and execute financial and accounting processes and transactions

Recruitment Qualifications:

Education and Certification:

• Completion of secondary education is required;
• Specialized national or international certification in accounting and finance is an asset;
• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, auditing, Accounting or business administration is an asset;
• Successful completion of UN Women Accounting and Finance Test is required as part of the selection process.

Experience:

• At least 6 years of progressively responsible experience in finance, auditing, budget management is required;
• Experience in the development field in performing capacity assessment and financial monitoring of partner agreements is desirable;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required;
• Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable;
• Experience in the development context within the UN common system or in a comparable international organization is desirable.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

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.)

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements