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.
UN Women aims to make its procurement practices a cornerstone of its competitive advantage as a preferred development partner. This involves strategic integration of procurement from the project design phase, encouraging innovation, and embracing sustainable practices that align with its development goals. Sustainable procurement focuses on minimizing environmental impact and maximizing social benefits. To achieve these priorities, Business Units (BU) will adopt flexible procurement strategies for efficient, high-value, low-risk delivery, catering to client and stakeholder needs.
Under the overall guidance of the Chief of Procurement and Travel Services, the direct supervision of the Operations Manager, with secondary reporting to the Regional Procurement Analyst/Specialist, the Procurement Associate supports procurement services in the Business Unit ensuring high quality and accuracy of work. They deliver support services through a client-centric approach focused on quality and measurable outcomes. The incumbent follows established procedures and refers non-routine, complex, or policy-related matters to the supervisor.
The Procurement Associate works in close collaboration with Operations, Programme and Project teams in the Business Unit and UN Women Procurement and Travel Services to exchange information and support consistent delivery of procurement services.
UN Women embraces a programmatic approach that facilitates adaptation to changing business needs and maximizes synergies across various initiatives to achieve its strategic goals. Consequently, it is anticipated that UN Women staff will engage in cross-unit and cross-functional collaboration. This approach is designed to amplify and facilitate cross-disciplinary teamwork, supporting the organization's overarching mission and goals.
Key Functions and Accountability:
1. Support the implementation of procurement strategies and policies aligned with principles of fairness, integrity and transparency to achieve best value for money.
- Support compliance of procurement activities with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and strategies.
- Assist in the elaboration of internal procurement Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and map BU procurement business processes in consultation with direct supervisor and office management.
- Work in close collaboration with Regional Procurement Advisor (Specialist or Analyst) to support coherent application of procurement policies, alignment with strategic guidance, and timely support on complex or high-value procurement cases.
2. Organize procurement processes for BU and projects.
- Provide input and support to the project team on procurement plans for the Business Unit and projects.
- Prepare and conduct RFQ, ITB or RFP, and assist in evaluating quotations, bids or proposals.
- Prepare Purchase orders and contracts according to the applicable policies and procedures.
- Prepare submissions for procurement review committees (HQ-PRC/R-PRC/L-PRC).
- Prepare reports on procurements in BU.
3. Support the implementation of sourcing strategies to find the best value in the marketplace, in line with project and BU goals.
- Maintain and update rosters of suppliers.
- Keep abreast of other UN agencies' developments in procurement strategy, Long-Term Agreements (LTAs), and other available resources, particularly in UNGM. Collaborate with other agencies as needed, subject to supervisor approval.
4. Support procurement knowledge building and knowledge sharing in Business Unit.
- Support the organization and delivery of procurement training for operations and project personnel.
- Support the organization and delivery of procurement training for suppliers on e-procurement modules.
- Compile lessons learned and best practices in procurement.
- Make sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.
5. 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:
- Sourcing: Ability to find, evaluate and engage suppliers of goods and services.
- Financial Analysis: Knowledge of evaluating businesses, projects, budgets, and other finance related transactions to determine their performance and suitability.
- Data Management: Knowledge of processing, storing and validating procurement data.
- Procurement Management: Ability to acquire goods, services or works from an external source.
- Stakeholder Management: Ability to work with incomplete information and balance competing interests to create value for all stakeholders.
- Client Management: Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfill and understand the real customers' needs.
- Ability to anticipate client’s upcoming needs and concerns.
- Risk Management: Ability to identify and organize action around mitigating and proactively managing risks.
- Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner, both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience.
- Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.
- Working with Evidence and Data: Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making.
Recruitment Qualifications:
Education and Certification:
- Secondary education is required.
- A first-level university degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, Finance, Economics or equivalent will be given due consideration, but it is not a requirement.
- Procurement Certification from an internationally recognized provider such as CIPS (level 3) is an asset.
Experience:
- A minimum of 6 years (with a high school diploma) or 4 years (with a bachelor’s degree) of relevant progressive experience in procurement is required.
- Experience in public sector procurement of goods and services at international level or in UN Agencies is an asse.
- Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required.
- Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.
Languages:
- Fluency in the language of the duty station is required.
- Fluency in English is required/desirable.
- Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).
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.)
Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.