UN WOMEN: BUDGET SPECIALIST

Background

The UN Women (UNW), 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 centre of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.   The Bureau of Management and Administration is responsible for the planning, allocation and management of financial, human and administrative resources including information communications and technology, the effective and efficient delivery of essential operations services in UN Women, continuous development and improvement in operations, policies, and methods to align with UN Women and stakeholders’ evolving business needs and advisory support to the Executive Director in the formulation and implementation of the UN Women overall mission, strategy and plans of actions.   The Budget Specialist reports to the Chief of Budget for guidance and supervision and is responsible for providing support in budget planning, preparation, allocation, management and monitoring to ensure the availability and effective/optimum utilization of UNW financial resources according to plans and approved allocation and compliance with UNW and UNDP financial regulations and rules, policies and procedures to meet UNW commitments, goals and objectives.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions: Support to planning, analysis and management; Budget monitoring, oversight and control; Management of specific financial and budget related projects; Advisory support and technical guidance; Knowledge management and capacity building; Driving change management processes; Training and development. Support to budget planning, analysis and management: Participate in the budget planning process by analyzing past/current financial operations, estimating revenues and expenditures, evaluating trends in patterns of resource allocations, analyzing records of present/past operations, analyzing budget proposals for budgetary objectives and presenting thoroughly researched information/conclusions/recommendations, including reports containing an analysis of the office’s financial situation (expenditures versus budget allocations) to facilitate budget preparation, planning and approval processes; Prepare financial forecast of core and non-core resources contributions for planning purposes; Clear proposals to ensure UNW regulations and rules are complied with and that budgets for UNW support costs are correctly reflected in project budgets and that correct chart fields are used. Approve budgets in ATLAS based on approved (and signed) project documents, budgets and expenditures. Budget monitoring, oversight and control: Identify operational and financial bottlenecks in budget management and approval and resolve problems and/or recommend solutions; Establish and implement control mechanisms for development projects and monitor budgetary status versus authorized spending limits and budget delivery results. Take appropriate and timely action to ensure compliance; Prepare and modify budgets for UNW management projects to ensure expenditures within authorized spending limits. Take action in cases of variances; Take action on Mandatory Budget Revisions to ensure unspent budget balance is “re-phased” into future year. Keep Atlas current on changes to budget information and keep stakeholders informed; Process year-end budget “re-phasal” to ensure estimated expenditures are reflected in the current year budget and unspent funds are re-phased to future year/s. Projects: Provide input and direction to specific budget related and ad-hoc projects in support of senior management requests; Identify areas for development and drive improvement; Support operational and Programme initiatives as required. Advisory support and technical guidance: Serve as technical resource person for Atlas Project/Budget Module; Provide advice to UNW staff on budget issues, processes and procedures; Collaborate with UNDP Atlas helpdesk and departments on corporate issues related to project/budget modules to ensure UNW needs and interests are taken into account in systems development and updates. Knowledge management and capacity building: Design and/or introduce, learning tools, best practices and innovations in budget business operational practices and management including drafting guidelines and policies; Establish and implement introduction and ongoing development of Results Based Budgeting framework; Contribute to the development of knowledge base in budget planning, preparation and management through capacity building and conducting and/or organizing training events and activities on budget panning principles, processes, policies, rules and procedures; Identify, participate in the development and/or recommend enhancement/updates/improvement in Atlas budget modules; Capture, synthesize and/or codify lessons learned and best practices in financial management and services; Disseminate to clients and stakeholders as appropriate to build capacity and knowledge. Impact of Results:   The key results have an impact on the effective and efficient budget planning, preparation and management of UNW regular and non-core resources. Sound policies and advice, proper oversight, control and monitoring of program and project resources, and timely and accurate budget oversight and control enhance the UNW reputation with governments, donors as a trusted partner and reliable custodian of funds and fosters a culture of accountability.

Competencies

Core values and Guiding principles:   Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct. Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity. Core Competencies: Ethics and Values: Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity. Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment. Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring: Self-development, initiative-taking. Building staff competencies. Working in Teams: Acting as a team player and facilitating team work. Communicating Information and Ideas: Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively. Self-management and Emotional intelligence: Creating synergies through self-control. Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements: Managing conflict. Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning: Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others. Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Informed and transparent decision making. Functional Competencies: Strong knowledge and expertise in results based budgeting, financial principles, planning and management; Solid knowledge of complex budget, financial rules and regulations (including IPSAS), preferably UN related; Demonstrated business acumen and judgment; Conceptual/strategic skills and success in implementing budget/financial re-engineering, management systems development, policy design, innovation and knowledge product development; Solid knowledge and experience in the application of complex financial systems and web based management systems (such as Atlas); Advance knowledge of office software packages, spreadsheet and database (MS Word, Excel).

Required Skills and Experience

Education: Advanced (Masters) University Degree in Finance/Accounting, Business, or Public Administration, or a professional accounting qualification from an internationally recognized institute of accountancy. Professionally qualified accountants from an internationally recognized institute of accountancy will have a distinct advantage. Experience: Minimum 7 years of progressively responsible experience in financial planning, financial management and operations, at least (3) years of which should be at the supervisory level, in a large international and/or corporate organization preferably in the UN system and its organizations; Experience of IPSAS or IFRS highly desirable. Language Requirements: Fluency in oral and written English is required; Proficiency in another UN working language is desirable. Application:  All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded fromhttp://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment; 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. UN Women Background: 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.