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, UN Women lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action. It will provide strong and coherent leadership supporting Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

In the context of the strong ongoing partnership between the UN and the Nigerian Government to deliver crucial humanitarian and recovery assistance to those impacted by conflict in the Northeast, UN Women Nigeria established a Sub-Office in Maiduguri in 2018 to manage and oversee the implementation of targeted programs in the three most affected states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe. In addition to this targeted programming, the Sub-office ensures that gender considerations are integrated into all aspects of humanitarian response in the Northeast. This includes providing technical support to partners on gender mainstreaming, conducting gender assessments to identify specific needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls, and advocating for the inclusion of women’s voices in decision-making processes. Furthermore, the Sub-Office works closely with local women’s organizations and networks to strengthen their capacity to respond to the crisis and advocate for gender equality and women’s rights.

The Programme Finance Associate reports to the Programme Manager and Officer-in-Charge Maiduguri Sub-Office for guidance and supervision and is responsible for the execution of a wide range of financial services and administrative processes in the Sub-office, ensuring timeliness, efficiency, and transparent use of programme and other financial resources and delivery of services in accordance with organizational financial rules, regulations, policies, procedures, and approved allocations. Under the overall guidance of the Operations Manager and in close collaboration with the Operations and Programme teams in the Country Office, Abuja, Regional Office, and HQ, the Programme Finance Associate will promote a client-oriented approach consistent with UN Women rules and regulations, standard practices, and guidelines.

Duties and Responsibilities

Implement financial strategies in full compliance with 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; take corrective actions as needed and report any unusual activities;
• Monitor financial exceptions reports for unusual activities or transactions, investigate anomalies, and report to the supervisor conclusions and/or present recommendations for actions/decisions;
• Draft reports on financial status, procedures, exchange rates, costs, and expenditures.
• Assist with project audit and follow-up on audit recommendations to monitor implementation of corrective actions;
• Collect, verify, and present information and data for use in the planning of financial resources and the formulation of all Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction programme work plans, budgets, proposals on implementation arrangements, and execution modalities;
• Provide assistance in Annual Work Plan entry in the Results Management System (RMS) as required.
• Provide advice and recommend solutions to a wide range of financial issues;
• Monitor the proper functioning of the financial resources management system for office and programmatic budgets and resources.
• Implement cost-saving and reduction strategies.
• Provide administrative support in monitoring budget preparation and the finances of programmes/projects; including the finalization of FACE forms;
• Review financial reports and supporting documents from implementation partners;

Prepare, monitor and track Programme budgets in full compliance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and recording and reporting systems

• Formulate the budget, control allotments, monitor expenditures, and prepare revisions according to the needs
• Track the appropriate and timely use of financial resources;
• Create projects in QUANTUM, prepare budget revisions, revise project awards and status; and determine unutilized funds;
• Implement and maintain control mechanisms for development projects through monitoring budget preparation and modifications and budgetary status;
• Maintain internal expenditure control system;
• Undertake corrective actions on un-posted vouchers, including vouchers with budget check errors, match exceptions, and unapproved vouchers. Respond to RO /HQ requests to resolve financial data issues;
• Input data in QUANTUM and monitor status. Keep stakeholders and clients informed for timely action and/or decisions;

Provide finance support to the Programme and Operations team

• Prepare PO and non-PO vouchers for development projects;
• Record and post transactions in QUANTUM, process payroll, travel claims, MPOs, and other entitlements;
• Monitor the setup of budgets in QUANTUM to ensure they are in accordance with budgets agreed with donors and are input into QUATUM at the detailed Activity ID level;
• Monitor each month’s over-expenditure of budgets and follow up with the Budget Owner;
• Monitor transactions posted to projects, ensuring actual expenditure has been recorded against the correct budget category and activity, and take timely corrective actions as required;
• Monitor proper follow-up of advances to implementing partners review their financial reports together with project managers;
• Monitor the financial status and, under the guidance of the Operations Manager, implement control mechanisms for management/development projects;
• Keep stakeholders and clients informed for timely actions/decisions and review status reports for quality control;
• Provide information inputs to financial reports for the Regional Office, HQ Finance, and stakeholders;
• Associate revenue and expenditure in commitment control for non-core projects;
• Provide inputs and take necessary actions to facilitate timely financial project closure;
• Support financial donor reporting by providing timely information and taking necessary actions as required by the UN Women Virtual Global Service Centre for financial donor reporting.

Provide administrative support to Resource Mobilization, Formulation and Management of the Programme

• Compile and process information from donors, the Country Office, and programme team members as input to various databases and documents.
• Prepare drafts for cost-sharing agreements, including conditions of contributions within resource mobilization efforts, adhering to standard agreements where possible. Follow up on contributions within the CO resource mobilization efforts.
• Provide administrative support in the preparation of Programme work plans, budgets, and proposals on programme implementation arrangements;
• Provide technical guidance to the CO and executing agencies on routine delivery and reporting of programme supported activities and finances;
• Provide support to logistical, administrative, and financial arrangements for organizing meetings, workshops, events, and missions.

Facilitate knowledge-building and knowledge-sharing.

• Conduct training and/or help organize training events and activities and participate in training.
• 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.
• Contribute to financial business operational practices and management innovations.

Key Performance Indicator

• Timely, complete, and accurate financial transactions/activities/documentation
• Timely and accurate advice on UN Women financial rules and regulations
• Timely and accurate drafting of management financial reports
• Timely and accurate support to events, workshops, and missions.
• Timely and regular monitoring of financial resources management system and timely expenditure of financial resources
• Timely accurate support to budget formulation and controlling allotments
• Timely and accurate verification of financial documents;
• Timely and accurate tracking of data for CO management and donor purposes;
• Quality maintenance of internal systems.

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles:

• Integrity:

Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

• Professionalism:

Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

• Respect to Diversity:

Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Working in Teams
• Self-Management and Emotional intelligence
• Ethics and values

Functional Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of financial rules and regulations and accounting principles
• Strong knowledge and application of IT tools and understanding of management systems
• Good knowledge of programme management
• Strong financial and budgeting skills
• Ability to administer and execute administrative processes and transactions.
• Previous experience working in the North-East of Nigeria is an asset

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, Finance, Business management and other relevant field
• Specialized national or international certification in accounting and finance is an asset.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in finance, budget administration, and management.
• Financial and budgeting skills per his / her past assignments, including using Enterprise resource planning or Accounts Payable Software such as Quantum.
• Previous work experience with the UN, government institutions, and/or INGO, and managing grantees is highly desirable.

• Experience in using computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc) and spreadsheet and database packages; experience in handling web-based management systems.
• Knowledge of UN/UN Women procedures, rules, and regulations is desirable.
• Knowledge of accounting policies and principles is highly desirable

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English and Hausa languages is required.

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.

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 based on 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.)