National Consultant-Financial Management and Reporting

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 centre of all its efforts, 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. UN Women 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 in Bangladesh supports the government to implement commitments to international normative standards on gender equality and women’s human rights. The UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2022-2026, launched in 2021, and the corresponding UN Women Bangladesh Strategic Note (2022-2026), defines UN Women’s strategic engagement in Bangladesh. The country strategy focuses on strengthening the national structures and mechanisms for gender mainstreaming in policies, plans, and budgets; supporting efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women; promoting women’s access to decent and safe work; promoting policies and government investment in women’s empowerment and resilience building in the context of climate change, humanitarian crisis as well as other threats to peace and security. UN Women works with a range of stakeholders in Bangladesh, including the government, civil society, women’s organisations, youth, UN agencies, and donors, to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Since 2019, UN Women Bangladesh has been implementing the “Making Every Bangladeshi Woman and Girl Count” programme (Women Count) in partnership with the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). The programme aims to effect a radical shift in the production, availability, accessibility, and use of quality data and statistics on key aspects of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Building on the achievements of Women Count Phase I (2019-2021), Phase II aims to support BBS in regularly collecting gender statistics to reduce gender data gaps for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicators. This partnership also aims to strengthen BBS’s institutional capacity to produce gender statistics to meet the requirements of SDGs.

To this end, UN Women is seeking a National Consultant to support BBS on a wide range of financial management and administrative processes, including meeting reporting deadlines in the project office as established in the partnership agreement and in accordance with organizational rules, policies and procedures.

II. Objective:

The objective of this assignment is to support BBS with its day-to-day financial management as well as extend administrative support for the timely implementation and reporting of the Women Count II project, in line with the partnership agreement.

Duties and Responsibilities

III. Scope of Work/Duties and Responsibilities:

Under the overall guidance of UN Women’s Deputy Representative and the direct supervision of the Programme Analyst-Gender Statistics, and working in close collaboration with the UN Women Operations Unit and the National Project Director and relevant officials of the BBS, the consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Assist the National Project Director (BBS) in implementing project activities following GoB rules and regulations.
• Maintain all project-related financial, procurement and administrative documents (accounting book-keeping systems such as cash and ledger books).
• Support with the preparation of financial reports in full compliance with GoB, UN Women financial regulations and rules, policies, and standard operating procedures, including internal controls, as stipulated in the partnership agreement.

• Review and verify financial transactions, activities, and documentation (such as bills and vouchers) complying with the GoB and UN Women financial rules and policies.
• Monitor and track expenditures and prepare revisions according to the needs of the project to ensure appropriate and timely use of financial resources. 
• Prepare VAT reimbursements with adequate documentation support.
• Support the National Project Director (BBS) to prepare and provide inputs to BBS’s narrative progress reporting adhering to results-based management.
• Support the National Project Director in carrying out regular administrative tasks such as record-keeping, drafting request letters for procurement/approval purposes and so on.

IV. Duration of the assignment:

The assignment will commence in January 2025 and be completed by June 2025. The total duration of the work would be 6 months/120 days.

V. Deliverables:

VI. Supervision & Performance evaluation:

The consultant’s performance will be evaluated based on timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the services delivered. The contract performance shall be evaluated and monitored by the Programme Analyst-Gender Statistics.

VII.  Duty Station(s): Dhaka 

VIII Travel and DSA: No DSA will be paid at the duty station(s) – For this consultancy, the duty station is considered Dhaka. If unforeseen travel outside the duty station not required by the Terms of Reference is requested by UN Women, and upon prior agreement/approval, such travel shall be UN Women’s expenses, and the individual contractor shall receive a per-diem not to exceed United Nations daily subsistence allowance rate in such other location(s).

Competencies

VIII. Core Values

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

IX. Core Competencies:

• Communication – Facilitates and encourages open and effective communication.
• Inclusive Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement – Demonstrates ability to collaborate and work effectively with stakeholders of different backgrounds.
• Accountability – Takes ownership of all responsibilities and delivers outputs in accordance with agreed time, costs, and quality standards.
• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues – Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability.

X. Functional Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of GoB’s financial and procurement rules and regulations and accounting principles
• Strong understanding and working knowledge of UN’s financial and procurement rules and regulations and accounting principles
• Working knowledge of and ability to draft progress reports using results-based management
• Strong knowledge and application skills of IT tools and understanding of management systems; 
• Strong knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages
• Ability to administer and execute financial, procurement and accounting processes and transactions.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master's degree or equivalent in finance, accounting or similar fields.

Experience:

• At least 3 years of progressively responsible experience in finance, accounting and procurement, in particular, in the government and the United Nations financial and procurement system;
• Advanced degree in financial management, such as CA and ACCA, is preferable;
• Certified professional experience in tax and VAT is preferable;
• At least 2 years of demonstrated technical knowledge in the field of gender equality;
• Proven experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages; experience in handling web-based management systems;
• Experience in the use of ERP/Quantum and results-based management will be an asset;
• Previous experience working with the United Nations will be an asset;

Evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on the following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Criteria 01 : Educational qualifications and an advanced degree in financial management, such as CA and ACCA.  Max- 15

Criteria 02 : Experience in finance, accounting and procurement, particularly in the government and the United Nations financial and procurement system and certified professional experience in tax and VAT. Max- 20

Criteria 03 : Number of years of work experience and demonstrated technical knowledge in the field of gender equality. Max- 10

Criteria 04 : Proven experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages; experience in handling web-based management systems Max- 15

Criteria 05 : Experience working in the United Nations will be an asset. Max- 10

Criteria 06 : Interview Max- 30

Language:

Fluency in English and Bangla.

Interested Individual Consultants will submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications.

The following documents should be submitted as part of the application:

• Personal CV and  P11 (P11 can be downloaded from: )
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) 

How to Submit the Application:

• Download and complete the UN Women Personal History Form (P11)
• Merge your UN Women Personal History Form (P11), CV and Cover Letter into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded;
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement);
• Click 'Apply Now' button, fill in the necessary information on the first page, and then click 'Submit Application’;
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above);
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

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, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All recruitment/procurement 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.