Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality, enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination and violence 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.

Having an explicit mandate to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women, UN Women, including in Kosovo, has worked in Kosovo since 1999 to foster gender equality and women’s empowerment and promote gender equality as central to the work of other UN agencies. UN Women contributed to the existing legislation on gender equality and women’s empowerment and to the establishment of gender mechanisms at local and central levels, as well as on Women Peace and Security, Women Economic Empowerment, Ending Violence Against Women. As such, UN Women possesses the expertise to address and combat all forms of violence against women and girls. Also possesses the global and local expertise to address and combat GBV in Kosovo. In addition, as part of UN Women’s comprehensive approach, they work with local partners to enhance data collection and analysis to provide a better understanding of the nature, magnitude, and consequences of violence against women and girls: data collection and analysis helps UN Women and other stakeholders understand what works and doesn’t work to address this GBV.

The empowerment of women in rural areas is essential in Kosovo, where a significant portion of the population depends on agriculture. Despite women’s significant contributions to family farming, they face persistent gender inequalities, limited access to resources, and fewer opportunities for livelihood. Rural women contributing to smallholder farms as unpaid/informal workers are among the most left behind. Those risks are further exacerbated when rural women are single mothers, domestic violence survivors, have disabilities or belong to non – majority communities. To address these challenges and promote gender equality, it is crucial to prioritize the economic empowerment of rural women in agriculture, enabling equal access of diverse rural women to resources and opportunities.

The project aims to remove structural barriers and address harmful gender norms, limited ownership of resources in agricultural and related sectors, introduce time and labor-saving technologies and provide innovative financing sources. It builds upon the findings and recommendations of the Kosovo Gender Profile on Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods. By implementing gender-responsive approaches and community mobilization, the intervention seeks to create a positive trajectory towards gender equality, economic empowerment, and sustainable rural development in Kosovo.

In this regard, UN Women and FAO through the project “Promoting Rural Women’s Empowerment in Kosovo” Project funded by Austrian Development Agency (ADA) plans to join efforts toward sustainable rural development of Kosovo municipalities and will closely coordinate the implementation of these interventions that require gender expertise towards strengthening gender responsiveness of humanitarian actions, prevention, recovery, and resilience.

Over the next 30 months, a comprehensive set of activities will be implemented to empower rural women, address their specific needs and constraints, and promote sustainable development.

To ensure effective implementation and timely reporting on the above-mentioned results and their planned activities, the UN Women Office in Kosovo seeks to recruit a Project Assistant. Under the overall supervision of the Head of Office, Project Coordinator and in close collaboration with the project team and the Operations team, the Project Assistant will ensure the effective management, monitoring and reporting of all operational obligations pertaining to the timely implementation of project work-plans, and the appropriate application of systems and procedures. She/he will be responsible for providing substantive support in the areas of administration, financial, budgetary, and accounting management; procurement requests; and calculating and monitoring of delivery. In addition, the Project Assistant will support and facilitate achievement of project objectives by performing a variety of standard administrative processes ensuring high quality and accuracy of work, by promoting a consistent results-oriented approach.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

Under the overall supervision of the Head of Office and the Project Coordinator, the Project Assistant will:

• Ensure day-to-day administrative work related to the smooth running of the Project.
• Support the work of Project Coordinator on planning, implementation, and coordination of project activities as well as resources (human, financial, material assets etc.) so to meet expected project results.
• Provide administrative support and assist on organizing events / conferences, workshops, retreats, the organization of field visits, missions, workshops, trainings, roundtables, conferences, and similar, organized in the framework of the project.
• Jointly with Project Coordinator undertake project visits as necessary, monitor activities, and ensure compliance with UN Women rules and regulations.
• Support the overall implementation of the project in the areas of finance, budgeting, procurement, administrative and logistics matters.
• Properly control the supporting documents for payments of contractors and beneficiaries, including operational expenditures. Ensure spending of allocated amounts as planned.
• Managing budgets for all events and work closely with Project Coordinator to find effective ways to arrange/reduce costs as per project needs.
• Prepare and process all project-related financial transactions in Global Quantum System, such as vouchers, requisitions, purchase orders, customer/vendor information updates, and support project budget revisions.
• Creates and manages the filing system for the project office. Keeps and updates annual leave and absence monitoring records.
• Manages electronic/manual registry of all correspondence shared and received, ensures correct distribution, monitors, and tracks correspondence to ensure responsiveness.
• Assist in preparing activity reports, monthly reports, and quarterly reports, including support of UN Women Project office in preparation of relevant reports/other documents, provision of inputs concerning the work and activities on request.
• Support translation, drafting, and editing of project documents and their dissemination and ensure proper filing,
• Performing other tasks as assigned by the Project Coordinator and UN Women Head of Office, Kosovo
• Liaise with UN Women Operations and assist team members, experts, and consultants, on financial and operational matters.
• Monitor inputs provided by consultants, beneficiaries, and contracted parties and communicate findings to the supervisor.
• Manages logistics and travel related to consultancy missions, in-country field trips and monitoring visits undertaken by staff, and travel of team members; arrange travel and hotel reservations, prepare travel authorizations, process requests for visas, identity cards and other documents, collect information for DSA.

Impact of Results

In reaching the impact, first, rural women will have better access to opportunities to increase their knowledge and skills and access resources for income-generation through sustainable agriculture. Secondly, the institutional environment and community engagement will be improved, enabling the implementation of gender-responsive actions.

Competencies

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Secondary education is required.
• University Degree in Business or Public Administration, or closely related fields is an asset

Experience:

• A minimum of five (5) years with secondary education or 2 years with bachelor’s degree of progressively responsible experience in project assistance, accounting and operational management, and the application of complex financial rules and regulations in international and/or corporate organizations.
• Experience in administration, procurement, and/or logistic support service is required.
• Advanced expertise in the usage of office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.), spreadsheet and database packages, and web-based management systems and ERP financial systems.
• Proven experience in working in the UN system and its organizations, Public International Development Organizations is considered an advantage.
• Previous engagement in international projects related to gender equality, human rights and is considered an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in Albanian and English, is required.
• Knowledge of Serbian is considered an asset.

Application Instructions:

All interested candidates must complete a PERSONAL HISTORY FORM (P-11). Failure to disclose prior employment or making false representations on this form will be grounds for withdrawal of further consideration of his/her application or termination, where the appointment or contract has been issued.

• P11 including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form-en.doc
• Click on the “Apply now” button.
• Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. You can type in, or paste your short Resume into the last box.
• Upon completion of the first page, please hit “submit application” tab at the end of the page. On the next page, you will be asked to upload your Resume. Instead of uploading your Resume, please submit a fully completed and signed Personal History Form (P-11).
• System will only allow one attachment. All docs (P11, academic qualifications/diploma) should be included as one attachment.