Procurement Associate (re-advertised)

Background

UN Women (UNW), 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, 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. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women’s triple mandate, along with its global network and deep policy and programming expertise, continues to endow the Entity with a unique capacity to: (i) support Member States to strengthen global norms and standards for gender equality and women’s empowerment, and mainstream gender perspectives in other thematic areas; (ii) promote coordination and coherence across the UN system to enhance accountability and results for gender equality and women’s empowerment; and (iii) undertake operational activities to support Member States, upon their request, in translating global norms and standards into legislation, policies and strategies at country level.

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997 (as UNIFEM). In line with the national priorities, the work of UN Women for the period 2023-2025 is aligned with three of the Palestine United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework’s (UNSDCF) outcomes:

• Palestinians have greater access to economic opportunities that are inclusive, resilient, and sustainable, including decent employment and livelihoods opportunities in an empowered private sector.
• Palestinians, including the most vulnerable, have equal access to sustainable, inclusive, gender responsive and quality social services, social protection, and affordable utilities.
• Palestinian governance institutions, processes, and mechanisms at all levels are more democratic, rights-based, inclusive, and accountable.

Its three-year Strategic Note supports the efforts to achieve measurable results in country in terms of four UN Women global Strategic Plan impacts (2022-2025): (SP Impact 1). Governance and participation in public life; (SP Impact 2). Women’s Economic Empowerment; (SP Impact 3). Ending Violence Against Women and Girls and; SP Impact 4. Women peace and security, Humanitarian & Disaster Risk Reduction.

Under the overall guidance of the oPt Special Representative and the direct supervision of the Operations Managers, with matrix reporting to and functional oversight from the Regional Procurement Specialist, the Procurement Associate assists in the overall management of various administrative services, administers, and executes all administrative processes and transactions related to procurement of goods and services, assets management, human resources, and knowledge building ensuring high quality and accuracy of work.   

The Procurement Associate promotes a client, quality and results-oriented approach.   The Procurement Associate works in close collaboration with the Operations, Programme and projects teams in Palestine, with UN Women Regional Office and HQ teams to implement project activities and resolve bottlenecks, complex operational issues and information delivery, and with sister UN agencies in Palestine to exchange information and ensure consistent service delivery.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Implement procurement strategies in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and strategies

• Provide substantive inputs to procurement related reports and analyses; research and draft responses to enquiries for clearance by the Operations Manager;
• Provide substantive inputs to the implementation of procurement management policies and strategies on cost saving and reduction;
• Follow up with internal and external audits;
• Contribute to the development of sourcing strategies.

2. Ensures implementation of operational strategies, focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Provide support in preparation of information for annual workplan (AWP) exercise ensuring timely results.
• Provide support in the preparation of annual office budget, and tracking operational spending on core and non-core budgets.
• Participate in the UN Admin meetings, and other UN admin subgroups as delegated by the Operations Manager.
• May act as lead on administrative and logistics personnel.
• Review and supervise the preparation of the weekly cars schedule. Resolve bottlenecks as needed.
• Support in collecting information for internal/ external audit exercises of UN Women Palestine office and projects; support the implementation of audit recommendations.
• Support in the collection and provision of security information to fulfill corporate and country security requirements and reporting.
• Perform other administrative tasks as assigned by supervisor.

3. Organize procurement activities in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies and strategies

• Support preparation of procurement plans for programmes and projects.
• Review procurement requests and initiate procurement processes for office and projects equipment, supplies and services.
• Initiate procurement processes including the preparation of Request for Quotations (RFQs), Invitation to Bids (ITBs) or Request for Proposals (RFPs) documents, receipt of quotations, bids or proposals;
• Perform Case Manager role in ERP system..
• Prepare/close Purchase Orders (POs) and contracts in and outside ERP system as needed;
• Coordination and facilitation of the provision of reliable and quality procurement and contracting activities, and close oversight of all procurement transactions
• Monthly follow-up on month-end procurement actions as per corporate guidance

4. Facilitate knowledge building and knowledge sharing:

• Provide substantive input and support to the development of training materials, webinars and other education materials;
• Organize trainings for the operations/projects staff on Procurement;
• Synthesize lessons learnt and best practices.

5. Other:

• Perform any other related duty assigned by the supervisor.
• Ensure the implementation of the filing system for Operations Unit.

Impact of results:

The key results have an impact on the efficiency of the unit. Accurate analysis and presentation of information strengthens the capacity of the office and promotes the image of UN WOMEN as an effective contributor to the development of the country, facilitates subsequent action by a supervisor. Incumbent’s own initiative is decisive in results of work and timely finalization.

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

Functional Competencies

• Good knowledge of procurement process, systems; administrative rules and regulations;
• Good knowledge in the use of spreadsheets and database packages;
• Ability to work well under pressure and meet deadlines;
• Ability to extract and interpret data;
• Ability to administer and execute administrative processes and transactions;
• Ability to perform work of confidential nature and handle a large volume of work;
• Strong IT and web based management skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:	Completion of secondary education is required; Specialized training in Procurement; or a Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Business Administration or related field is an asset; Procurement Certification from an internationally recognized provider such as CIPS (level 2) is an asset; Willingness to take UN Women internal procurement certifications is required.
Experience:	At least 6 years of progressively responsible experience in procurement, administration or related fields at the national or international level; Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc); Experience in handling of web-based management systems, such as Qunatum  is an asset UN experience is considered an asset
Language Requirements:	English and Arabic is required. Knowledge of Hebrew is considered an asset.

 

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from: . Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.