UN Women: Risk Manager

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.

The Division of Strategy, Planning, Resources and Effectiveness (SPRED), under the direct supervision of the Assistant Secretary General (ASG)/Deputy Executive Director Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships, drives the areas of corporate strategy, planning, resource allocation and management, enterprise risk management, organizational performance management and governance.  These elements function to strengthen of the organization’s Second Line of Defense and Governance, Risk and Compliance efforts to support UN Women’s work towards achieving the goal of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) in line with the 2030 Agenda and the UN Women Strategic Plan.

The UN Women Risk Management Framework was developed as part of a corporate wide initiative to proactively support the organization’s goals and protect its reputation through the identification, mitigation and management of risks at all levels.  Risk Management provides a framework for identifying events or circumstances relevant to the organization's objectives (risks and opportunities), assessing them in terms of their likelihood and impact, determining a response strategy, and monitoring progress. By identifying and proactively addressing risks and opportunities, the organization is able create and sustain value for its  stakeholders.

Under the direct guidance and supervision of the Director of the Strategy Planning, Resources & Effectiveness Division, the Risk Manager will lead corporate efforts to embed risk management practices across the organization while providing technical and functional support to \ Risk Focal Points for risk management processes. The Risk Manager will also effectively represent and communicate UN Women’s strategy and position on risk management and assist Risk Owners and Risk Focal Points with aligning risk management efforts to planning and decision making, placing risk management at the center of goal setting and achievement.

The Risk Manager will independently support management in effective risk management and compliance, thereby improving the risk culture and integrity within UN Women. This will be carried out by reviewing the adequacy of the current risk management framework and capacities across the organization, making use of recommendations made for strengthening the institutionalization of risk management. The Risk Manager will work closely with Business Process Owners and with the Risk Management Committee to ensure that a coherent approach to identifying systematic and thematic risks and root causes that require a requiring a corporate-level response.

Duties and Responsibilities

Manage and oversee the implementation of UN Women management practices:

• Advise and technically support the Regional Offices, Business Process Owners and HQ Divisional Heads on risk management matters, while working with Risk Owners and Risk Focal Points towards discharging relevant responsibilities and accountabilities to manage risks collaboratively in compliance with agreed upon policies and procedures;
• Design, develop and monitor a risk management and oversight mechanism Points enhancing visibility of field offices ‘at risk’ prompting targeted support to strengthen controls and mitigate potential key risks, in close collaboration with regional risk management focal points;
• Provide technical guidance in the formulation and implementation of the organization’s risk appetite statement and risk tolerance indicators suitable to UN Women’s business model and needs, creating mechanisms for streamlining escalation protocols where key risks exceed the organization’s/entity’s agreed upon risk appetite.
• Formulate a Risk management Assurance Framework and related reporting mechanism that includes risk management indicators and targets as a basis for achieving the desired organizational risk maturity level.

Oversee and manage initiatives to enhance risk governance, accountability and transparency:

• Work with Regional offices and HQ focal points ensure that risk registers are validated, updated on a regular basis in collaboration with regional and HQ risk management focal points;
• Develop and monitor risk treatment and response plan in collaboration with regional and HQ risk management focal points;
• Facilitate and/or participate in risk assessments for all key business processes, high risk initiatives and large programs as requested;
• Provide technical support required to be able to adequately identify, evaluate, mitigate, and monitor the organization's operational and strategic risks;
• Lead the organization’s fraud risk management and implementation plan across the organization to enhance awareness of fraud risks and ensure that fraud risk assessments are completed on a cyclical basis by relevant risk entities.

Validate data quality for reporting purposes and lessons learned:

• Revise the current Management Information System (ERM One App) design to support the identification, assessment, evaluation and reporting of risks to ensure that this is effectively and seamlessly aligned to planning and performance measurement platforms.
• Lead efforts to ensure that risk data and information clearly represents the risk profiles of risk entities, and that escalation protocols of key risks are triggered when necessary;
• Consolidate, disaggregate and report on risk data across all field offices and HQ offices by undertaking corporate qualitative and quantitative analysis of risks in order to review and determine a risk profile for the organization and to prepare risk management reports at various levels as required;

Develop and implement knowledge management tools and mechanisms to strengthen risk management capacity:

• Develop and roll out of guidance and knowledge management products to Risk Owners, Risk Focal Points and other relevant personnel to support the risk management approach, in collaboration with risk management focal points;
• Identify and implement consistent and effective approaches to risk governance and control-based activities in collaboration with other teams;
• Build internal capabilities and competencies related to risk management;
• Lead and co-ordinate UN Women’s efforts on risk management to ensure that the organization’s interests, internal functions, external entities and networks are adequately represented.

Key Performance Indicators: 

• Development and roll out of Risk Governance and Oversight Strategy for Regional Offices coupled with adequate training and awareness.
• Embedded cyclical Fraud Risk Assessment cycle to align with the enterprise risk management framework.
• Streamlined risk escalation protocols to and from the Risk Management Committee.
• Timely and quality implementation Risk Assurance Framework and Reporting.
• Design and roll out functional risk assessments for Business Process Owners and risk assessment processes for all high-risk initiatives and large programs.
• Completed design of enhancement of risk management systems and applications to align to key planning and reporting systems.
• Defined organizational risk appetite statement supported by defined risk tolerance levels for business processes. 
• Completed design of mandatory risk management training for Risk Owners and Risk Focal Points, with a plan to increase coverage in future years.

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: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies:

• Affinity with UN Women mandate of gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Strong knowledge of risk management frameworks, particularly within the UN system;
• Strong conceptual and analytical abilities; Ability to efficiently and effectively analyze complex information and to abstract general conditions from specific information;
• Strong communication, presentation and facilitation skills, communicating effectively through speech and written work. ability to present issues and ideas in response to the needs of external and internal stakeholders through reports, procedures, instructions and guidance;
• Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of variables in situations where only limited standardization exists;
• Ability to set and work towards defined goals, work well during transition, and able to help others adjust to change;
• Ability to develop and conduct organizational training and awareness with a diverse audience.
• Excellent organizational skills, sound judgment and attention to detail;
• Strong sense of initiative and ability to prioritize and work independently.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: 

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Accounting, Finance, Economics or Business management or related areas; a first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience: 

• At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience in organizational risk management, governance, compliance or related area.
• Proven ability to develop and conduct organizational training and awareness with a diverse audience.
• Experience in the development, design and enhancement of Management Information Systems
• Experience with working across functions in a multi-cultural environment in order to achieve common organizational objectives.
• Experience in risk and organizational change management, particularly business process review, in a non-profitable international organization is preferred.

Languages: 

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset.

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558. 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.

Note:

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.