UN Women: Programme Assistant, Ankara, Turkiye, PPSA, NPSA5

UN News; Turkey; On-site; TRY 400,000 - 660,000; Full time

Job summary

UN Women Türkiye seeks an experienced Programme Assistant to provide comprehensive administrative, logistical, and financial support for programme activities. The role includes budgeting, reporting, coordination of meetings, travel arrangements, and the preparation of briefing materials.

You will work with the Programme Team to ensure timely implementation in line with UN Women rules, with emphasis on gender equality and empowerment objectives in Türkiye.

Qualifications

• Fluency in English is required.
• Fluency in Turkish is required.
• Experience with programme management support is advantageous.
• Proficiency with common office software and ERP systems is expected.

Responsibilities

• Provide administrative support to formulation and management of programmes.
• Prepare budgets, revisions, and reports for programme activities.
• Support financial monitoring and FACE forms for the UNIT.
• Organize meetings, trainings, events, and missions and arrange travel.
• Draft minutes and assemble briefing materials for the team.
• Support knowledge sharing and reporting across the office.

Skills

Fluency in English

Turkish

Communication skills

IT skills

Programme management knowledge

Education

Secondary education

Bachelor’s degree in business or public administration

Tools

Oracle Cloud

Job description

Organizational Context:

UN Women exists to advance women’s rights, gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. As the lead UN entity on gender equality and secretariat of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, UN Women shift laws, institutions, social behaviours and services to close the gender gap and build an equal world. UN Women’s partnerships with governments, women’s movements and the private sector coupled with its coordination of the broader United Nations translate progress into lasting changes.In Türkiye, UN Women works in line with its Global Strategic Plan 2026-2029Country Strategic Note (2026-2029)andUN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Türkiye (UNSDCF) (2026-2030).

UN Women works towards the overarching goal of “achieving gender equality, the empowerment of all women and girls, and the full enjoyment of their human rights where institutions deliver, civil society thrives, and women lead in Türkiye. Within this framework, UN Women works in four thematic areas: (i) women’s leadership and decision making; (ii) women’s economic empowerment; (iii) ending violence against women and girls; and (iv) women, peace and security, and humanitarian action. Towards these impact areas, UN Women support countries to set gender equality norms and standards, collaborate with partners to translate norms into concrete action, aiming to advance gender equality, improve women’s access to opportunities, rights, and services in political, social, and economic life, and combat gender stereotypes, discrimination, and violence, as required by international and national legal and policy commitments. And in line with its coordination mandate, UN Women promotes coordination and coherence across the UN system, including through joint programmatic and advocacy actions and initiatives, standardized tools and guidance and services to strengthen the relevant capacities of the UN system.

UN Women collaborates with numerous partners, government and public institutions, civil society organizations, including women’s organizations and platforms, academia, private sector companies, strategic advocates and influencers and other UN agencies. It commits itself to the Leave No One Behind principle, by supporting targeted actions to remove the obstacles that marginalized and vulnerable groups of women face in accessing their rights and to promote them as agents of change.

UN Women Türkiye has been at the forefront of support for Türkiye’s continuous commitment to implement international norms and standards on women’s rights, and the enhancement and implementation of relevant national legal and policy frameworks.

Towards these goals, UN Women promotes gender responsive budgeting (GRB) as a key approach to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment by ensuring that public policies, planning and budgeting respond to the different needs and priorities of women and men while improving the effectiveness, transparency and accountability of public spending. In Türkiye, significant progress has been made in institutionalizing gender-responsive planning and budgeting at both central and local levels through strengthened policy frameworks, institutional capacities and inter-institutional cooperation. Key milestones include the integration of GRB into the 12th National Development Plan (2024–2028), the adoption of Türkiye’s first Gender-Responsive Budgeting Strategy and Action Plan, the incorporation of gender-responsive tools into national planning and budgeting guidelines, and extensive capacity development for public institutions. Building on these achievements, UN Women continues to support the further institutionalization and scaling up of gender responsive planning and budgeting across all levels of government as a key area of work.

Reporting to Programme Specialist, the Programme Assistant works with and provides support to the members of the Programme Team in the development and implementation of effective programmes consistent with UN Women rules and regulations. The Programme Assistant provides programme, administrative, and logistical assistance to the team for the smooth programme implementation.

Scope of Work:

1. Provide administrative and logistical support to the formulation and management of programmes

• 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 partners/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;and
• 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.

2. Provide administrative support to the financial management of the Programme Unit:

• 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;
• Process payment for consultants, as delegated;and
• Create requisitions in Quantum system for development projects; register good receipts in Quantum system.

3. Provide administrative support to the Programme Unit:

• Undertake all logistical, administrative and financial arrangements for organization for meetings, workshops, events, and missions;
• Make travel arrangements for the Programme Team, including travel requisitions and claims;
• Draft minutes in meetings, as delegated;
• Assemble briefing materials and prepare powerpoint and other presentations, in collaboration with the Programme team;and
• Organize and coordinate filing of documents; maintain mailing lists.

4. 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.

5. Facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing:

• Provide administrative support to the organization of trainings for the office personnel and partners on programme and operations related issues.

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

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:

N/A

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:

• Knowledge of programme management;
• Ability to create, edit and present information in clear and presentable formats;
• Ability to manage data, documents, correspondence and reports information and workflow;
• Ability to organize and complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities;
• Ability to extract, interpret, analyze and resolve operational issues;
• Ability to support a team and team building skills;
• Good financial and budgeting skills;
• Good IT skills.

Minimum Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Completion of secondary education is required.
• Bachelor’s degree in business or public administration is desirable.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experiencein administrative or programme management/support with secondary education, or 2 years with a bachelor's degree, is required.
• Experience in working in a computer environment using multiple office software packages is required.
• Knowledge of and professional experience in gender equality and women's empowerment is a strong asset
• Previous experience in providing administrative support to EU or UN projects is a strong asset
• Experience in organizing events and trainings is an asset
• Experience in working with different partners (Governmental organizations, donors, CSOs) is an asset
• Experience in the use of ERP systems, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.
• Experience in supporting a team is desirable.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Fluency in Turkish is required.

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 toUN Women’spoliciesand proceduresandthestandardsof conduct expected of UN Women personneland 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