Project Associate – Women’s Economic Resilience (Peshawar)

In the next phase, UN Women Pakistan will be implementing the Project titled Women’s Empowerment for Economic Resilience in Pakistan supported by the Japan Supplementary Budget (JSB) for the year 2023. UN Women’s support is specifically targeting women and girls in the most affected districts through innovative and sustainable approaches in the form of in-kind support psycho-social support to women and protection for women in girls in the camps and hosting communities. The support will cater to, protection, needs of the targeted communities for residual needs and recovery. The project will be adopting a gender transformative approach towards increased engagement of men and boys towards supporting women in all the initiatives proposed under the current project.

UN Women seeks to engage Project Associates at the provincial level (one each for Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), to support the Women’s Economic Resilience program initiatives and implementation.

Under the administrative supervision of the Project Coordinator, Women’s Economic Resilience and with technical guidance from the Portfolio Manager WEE, the Project Associates will provide support and management in execution of services in the Provincial Sub Offices, support the design, planning and management by managing data and facilitating project implementation. The Project Associate is envisioned to promote a partner-oriented approach, consistent with UN Women rules and regulations.

The Project Associate will works in close collaboration with the sub-office team, as well as the Operations Unit, and Communications Team, and other programme units in the Islamabad office to ensure smooth implementation of the project activities, budget tracking, managing information and data collection overseeing contracts/ payments for vendors and consultants, and resolving complex project-related issues under the guidance of Project Coordinator, Women’s Economic Resilience.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

Provides effective support to Project Coordinator, Women’s Economic Resilience and Head of Sub-Office at the provincial level and Project Coordinator at National level.
Provides administrative & Logistics support to the sub-office.
Ensures facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing in the sub- office.
Maintains Regular coordination under the Women’s Economic Resilience and Operations Teams in Islamabad office.

1. Provides effective support to the Project Coordinator, Women’s Economic Resilience and Head of Sub-office and project team at the sub-office level focusing on the achievement of the following results:

Communicate and coordinate with Islamabad Office and other UN Women Provincial Offices for smooth project implementation, monitoring and reporting and expedite requests to the Country Office.
Assist the project team in reviewing and preparing documentation for the procurement of goods and services, and support contract tracking.
Prepare and compile information, such as meeting notes, notes to file, and notes for record regarding project activities.
Maintain an up-to-date database of relevant stakeholders at the provincial level including government departments, CSOs, donors and UN agencies working on Women Economic resilience. Support communications with partners on project activities.
Draft non-substantive correspondence.
Support Head of Sub-Office and project team in setting up and preparing for coordination/ meetings with UN, government and other partners
Undertake regular analysis of the situation in project, identification of operational and administrative problems, development of solutions.

2. Provides administrative & Logistics support to the sub-office focusing on achievement of the following results:

Provide administrative and logistic support to the team in the organization of events, meetings, consultations, workshops, etc.
Create requisitions in Atlas for provincial sub-offices to make arrangements and prepare documentation for missions/ meetings/ events/ consultations.
Make travel arrangements and liaise with the project team and event participants, including preparation of travel authorizations, requisitions and claims with all supporting documentation.
Maintain Mission and Leave plans for team members.
Liaise with Operations Team internally, as well as external vendors/ service providers as needed to ensure that procurement processes are completed smoothly and efficiently.
Create and maintain files of correspondence/ documents and electronically received information and ensure up-to-date filing. Maintain both hard copies and electronic copies of the office records and reference files on various subjects.
Support the supervisor in achieving the targets against project workplans.

3. Ensures facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing in the Provincial Sub Office, focusing on achievement of the following results:

Identify sources and compile data and information for the preparation of documents, guidelines, and other material as required. Contribute to briefing materials, meeting notes, notes for file, PowerPoint presentations and other documents for the sub-office project team and keep all papers ready for meetings.
Support the development of the Unit’s knowledge products, including review, editing/ proofreading, translating and design for printing.
Contribute to preparation of internal and external reports, as per requirements.
Assist in creating requisitions and liaise with vendors for the designing and printing of project documents, including policy briefs, reports, publications, materials for meeting/ events, IEC material, etc.
Support the sharing and dissemination of knowledge products with UN Women team and external stakeholders and partners.
Document lessons learnt and best practices from past experience and comparative initiatives; incorporate learnings into the ongoing work and suggest ways to improve the processes of the Gender Parity program based on this review.
Perform any other duties assigned by the supervisor.

Competencies

CORPORATE COMPETENCIES:

Demonstrates commitment to UN Women’s mission, vision and values.
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

Knowledge Management and Learning

Shares knowledge and experience

Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills

Project Development, Management and Monitoring

Understanding of project cycle management, including monitoring and evaluation.
Effective communication skills for partnership management

Development and Operational Effectiveness

Ability to perform a variety of specialized tasks related to Project Management, including design, planning, implementation and reporting of project
Good knowledge of Results Based Management
Ability to support in reporting, for a variety of audiences/ partners

Leadership and Self-Management

Focuses on results and responds positively to feedback
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude

Remains calm and in control even under pressure
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities

DESIRED QUALITIES

Good communication and presentation skills
Excellent Team work
Understanding and capacity to integrate and implement gender and interfaith approaches in the work
Highly motivated to work with grassroots organizations with cross cultural and interfaith sensitivity
Ready to travel to remote areas for extended periods as well as travel domestically or internationally upon short notice
Dedication to work with the marginalized population and people who seek justice

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Bachelors Degree in Social Sciences, Gender/ Women’s Studies, Law or Development Studies.

Experience:

6 years of progressively responsible administrative or programme/project experience for Economic Resilience is required at the national or international level.

Experience in the use of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc) and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling

Language Requirement:

Fluency in English and Urdu, knowledge of local languages will be an asset.