National Consultant to Support the Financial Inclusion Programme

Open for Egyptian Nationals and Residents Only

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 Centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts and builds effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Financial inclusion has been identified in Egypt as a valuable tool in fostering women’s economic empowerment, increasing their capacity to face risk and unexpected expenses, and to contribute formally to the country’s sustainable economic growth. Egypt’s National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030 and within this its pillar on Women’s Economic Empowerment lists women’s access to economic resources through increased access to financial services as an important objective. In recent years, and in partnership with UN Women Egypt Country Office, the European Union Delegation to Egypt and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Government of Egypt under the Central Bank and the National Council for Women has rolled out nation-wide “The National Financial Inclusion Programme: Digital Village Savings and Loans Associations (Tahweesha)”.

Under the national Tahweesha programme, and through the partnership with the Government of Egypt, the EU and the Netherlands, UN Women supports a) the formation and expansion of Savings Groups (SGs) utilizing digital financial services to increase women’s access to quality and affordable financial services such as savings and credit; and b) supporting savings-group related women-led enterprises and/or women-led clusters through provision of in-kind grants and non-financial services, including skills development, as well as their integration into value chains and markets.

Objective of the Assignment

Under the overall supervision of the Financial Inclusion Programme Analyst, the consultant will support the implementation of the UN Women business processes under the programme. The consultant will temporarily provide the programme team with support in the development and implementation of effective programmes consistent with UN Women rules and regulations. The consultant is to contribute to providing administrative and programmatic support. The consultant will work in close collaboration with the UN Women Egypt Country Office operations and programme staff as required.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide administrative and logistical support:

Provide administrative support to the programme team in the organization of events, meetings, and workshops, etc.;
Maintain and organize up-to-date hard and electronic files for easy access and retrieval as per UN Women regulations;
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;
Prepare presentation material/slides in Power-point for presentations for the meetings/workshops and keep all documents ready for meetings.

Provide administrative financial management support:

Support the programme team in the financial management of the project and ensure timely disbursement as per UNW regulations;
Keep record and up-to-date filing of all financial transactions related to the project for reporting and audit purposes in accordance with NCW and UN Women regulations;
Support in financial reporting in accordance with UN Women standards and regulations, working in coordination UN Women financial officers.

Provide administrative planning, monitoring, and reporting support:

Follow up on implementing activities, including the monitoring of workplans and activities;
Closely work with programme teams to facilitate the preparations and implementation of field activities, events, and assessments;
Liaise with NCW staff to ensure timely progress of field activities;
Support the programme team with reporting under UN Women standards and regulations;
Follow up on operations in the field and delivery of activities;
Provide timely data collection for reporting purposes in accordance with UN Women regulations.

Competencies

Core Values:

Respect for Diversity;
Integrity;
Professionalism.

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 Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

Field Competency: Ability to work in the field and communicate efficiently with government, civil society and women beneficiaries in the field;
Continuous Learning and knowledge Sharing: Encourage learning and sharing knowledge. Willingness and readiness to quickly learn the UN financial management system (Quantum) on which most transactions will happen;
Gender Issues: Demonstrated analytical skills on issues related to gender, the economy and poverty reduction;
Soft Skills: Excellent communication, presentation and writing skills in Arabic and English.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Public Administration, Economics, Political Sciences, Social Sciences or any related field is required;

Experience

3 years’ work experience at the national or international level, is required;
Experience in women’s economic empowerment and financial inclusion, required;
Experience working within or coordinating with government institutions, civil society and grassroots partners is an asset;
Experience in the use of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc), required;
UN experience is an asset.

Language Requirements

Fluency in written and spoken English and Arabic is required.