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, the 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.

Albania has made important improvements in advancing the normative and policy framework for gender equality in recent years. Yet inequalities still exist, and currently, capacities, processes and procedures for EU-aligned and consistent gender mainstreaming are not in place, adding to the complexity of the EU accession process and posing a significant challenge to absorbing the EU Gender Equality acquis.^[1] In parallel, the country faces well-documented challenges in implementing gender equality legislation and policy, including the most recent CEDAW Concluding Observations for Albania (2023).^[2] Poverty is reportedly the highest in the Western Balkans^[3], increasingly jeopardizing the livelihoods of a significant share of the population. Women and girls are particularly impacted due to structural discrimination and the intersection of poverty, marginalization, and vulnerability. The economic situation of women residing in rural and disadvantaged areas is further challenged by the impact of climate change.

Prohibition of gender-based discrimination is one of the principles of the Albanian Constitution. International treaties – including those in the area of gender equality (e.g., CEDAW^[4], Istanbul Convention^[5]) – ratified by the Parliament are part of the national legal system and have priority over internal legislation that is not compatible with their provisions.^[6] The specific legal and policy framework for gender equality, the institutional mechanisms, political participation, and non-discrimination on the basis of gender include: the Law on Gender Equality in Society (LGE), the Law on Anti-Discrimination^[7], and the National Strategy on Gender Equality and its Action Plan (2021-2030)^[8]. Equality legislation has contributed to some progress, primarily in women’s representation in decision-making.^[9] Beyond women’s representation, weak implementation of gender legislation and policy and insufficient gender mainstreaming significantly impact on the country’s development outcomes, including limited alignment between laws and policies in key thematic areas including GBV with international standards. For example, the most recent CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations (2023) request the Government of Albania to prioritize the revisions of the Criminal Code to align it with the definitions of rape in the Istanbul Convention, which was adopted by Albania in 2011. Gender inequalities remain prominent in all spheres of public and private life, with women and girls representing the numerically largest systemically disadvantaged group, and disproportional negative effects on women’s socio-economic situation and their well-being.

To address these challenges, UN Women Albania is implementing the second phase of the intervention “EU for Gender Equality” funded by the European Union. The project aims to ensure that Albanian institutions more consistently apply gender responsive governance to strengthen equality and non-discrimination, promote women’s empowerment and human rights in line with the EU Gender Equality acquis.

About the Position and/or Portfolio

Reporting to the Project Management Specialist, and in day-to-day coordination with the Project Coordinator, the Project Assistant is responsible for supporting the implementation of portfolio activities, support financial reporting and planning, knowledge building and knowledge sharing and support gender mainstreaming.

Functions:

Provide administrative and logistical support to implementation of program portfolio activities, ensuring quality of business processes:

• Provide administrative support to the financial management:
• Provide administrative support in the preparation of programme work plans, budgets, and proposals on programme implementation arrangements, including tracking the delivery of funds;
• Provide administrative support to the executing agencies / responsible parties on routine delivery and reporting of programme supported activities and finances;
• Provide administrative support for the audit of programmes/ projects and support implementation of audit recommendations;
• Identify sources and gather and compile data and information for the preparation of documents, guidelines, speeches, and position papers, in collaboration with the Programme team.
• Support procurement procedures for the projects’ activities according to SOPs ;
• Assist in the organization of field visits, missions, workshops, training, roundtables and conferences within the project;
• Update all administrative and financial files and records related to the project in the electronic systems;
• Assist in the recruitment processes for program’s /portfolio consultants, including drafting of interview minutes and preparing the supporting documents attached to requests for contracts.
• Create projects in Quantum system, prepare budget revisions, revise project awards and status; and determine unutilized funds and the operational and financial close of a project;
• Provide administrative support in monitoring and preparation of budget and the finances of programmes/projects, and in the preparation of FACE forms;
• Prepare non-PO vouchers for development projects;
• Prepares all documents for the payment of consultants and other suppliers for project related activities and process payment, as delegated;
• Create requisitions in Quantum system for development projects;
• Supports periodic and ad-hoc financial reporting to UN Women and other parties, as needed.

Provide administrative support to project/programme planning and implementation:

• Collect, analyse and present information for monitoring, reporting and evaluation of project implementation against targets;
• Compile and design background information for formulation of project work plans, draft annual/quarterly budgets, proposals on implementation arrangements, draft of quarterly reports;
• Monitor the timeline of the submission of deliverables as stipulated in the contracts, by reminding the suppliers in a timely manner and ensuring that payments are processed within the payment schedule set in contracts.
• Maintains timetables for the Project Advisory Board meetings and provides support to organizing and holding the meetings, including the preparation and dissemination of information and follow-up.
• Undertake all logistical, administrative and financial arrangements for organization for meetings, workshops, events, and missions;
• Draft minutes in meetings, as delegated;
• Assemble briefing materials and prepare power-point and other presentations, in collaboration with the project team;
• Organize and coordinate filing of documents; maintain mailing lists.

Provide administrative support to resource mobilization:

• Organize, compile, and process documentation and information from donors, and programme team as inputs to various databases and documents.

Support to knowledge building and knowledge sharing

• Participate in the trainings for the operations/ programme personnel and briefings for the programme staff where necessary on new internal procedures;
• When necessary, provide inputs to programme personnel in business processes, administrative and other requirements and procedures;
• Contribute to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

Support in mainstreaming gender equality

• Support the Program Manager in effectively mainstreaming the gender equality throughout project activities, work plans, budgets, reports, research, analyses and, where specifically relevant, analyzed in detail;
• Ensure that all the data, when collecting and compiling inputs related to the project, are gender and age disaggregated and evaluated from the gender point of view.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to extract, interpret, analyze data and resolve programme/project implementation operational problems;
• Ability to create, edit and present information in clear and presentable formats;
• Ability to manage data, documents, correspondence and reports information and workflow;
• Good financial and budgeting skills;
• Strong IT skills and ability to apply it consistently in work tasks;
• Ability to support a team and team building skills;
• Good knowledge of administrative rules and regulations, organizational policies and procedures related to the position and ability to apply it consistently in work tasks;
• Focus on results and positive response to feedback;
• Good organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail and handle a large volume of work;
• Strong skills in organizing and prioritizing work schedule to meet partners and donors needs and deadlines; Responds to partners needs promptly. Reports to internal and external partners in a timely and appropriate fashion.
• Good skills in establishing, building and sustaining effective relationships within the work unit and with internal and external partners.
• Prior experience in supporting implementation of EU-funded projects would be an advantage.

Recruitment Qualifications:

Education and certification:

• University degree in Economics, Business or Public Administration, Social Sciences, or similar fields.

Experience:

• A minimum of 3 years of relevant experience in support to project implementation is required;
• Experience working with women rights issues and good understanding of public finance management and/or gender responsive budgeting will be considered an asset;
• Experience in working in a computer environment using multiple office software packages is required;
• Experience in the use of ERP systems, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable;
• Experience in supporting a team is required.
• Prior experience in supporting EU funded projects would be an advantage.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Albanian is required, both written and oral.

Statements :

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 on the basis of 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.)