Project Associate [open To Internal And External Applicants]

Organizational Context

This role is within a UNDP project in Uzbekistan, focused on empowering women entrepreneurs. The project addresses gender-specific barriers by improving access to resources, capacity building, mentorship, and advocating for systemic change. It aims to enhance women-led SMEs' performance and growth, fostering a gender-responsive entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Project Associate provides administrative, financial, and operational support to this initiative.

Job Purpose

The Project Associate's primary purpose is to provide comprehensive administrative, financial, and operational support to ensure the effective and efficient execution of a project empowering women entrepreneurs in Uzbekistan. This role is crucial for facilitating the project's objectives, which include enhancing women's access to resources, building their business capacity, and advocating for policy reforms to create a gender-responsive entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Associate contributes by managing daily financial transactions, supporting procurement, assisting in financial reporting, and ensuring strict compliance with UNDP's operational and financial guidelines. By working closely with the Project Specialist and team, the Associate helps track budgets, coordinate administration, and maintain high standards of accuracy and consistency. This support directly enables the project to deliver tailored business acceleration programs, robust mentorship, and evidence-based policy advocacy, ultimately strengthening women-led SMEs and fostering their leadership in the economy.

Responsibilities

The Project Associate provides comprehensive administrative, financial, and operational support for project planning and implementation. Key duties include managing logistics, travel, and staff hiring, ensuring compliance with UNDP rules for procurement and financial processes. This involves preparing all financial and administrative documents, budgeting costs, preparing quarterly and annual budget plans, and maintaining financial statements and monitoring systems for expenses and payments. The Associate assists project personnel with financial costs, advance payments, and payment authorizations, prepares detailed cost estimates, and participates in budget analysis and forecasting. They are responsible for processing and recording intangible assets, managing project cash flow, and ensuring full compliance of all administrative and financial processes with UNDP requirements. Additionally, the Associate supports knowledge building and sharing by participating in and organizing staff training, disseminating relevant data and lessons learned, and contributing to knowledge networks. They also provide support for effective monitoring, evaluation, and reporting, including tracking employee leave, collecting and analyzing information for M&E and audit purposes, identifying implementation gaps, and assisting in organizing project events like workshops and conferences.

Work Experience

A minimum of 7 years of relevant work experience is required with a high school diploma, or 4 years with a bachelor's degree, preferably in project administration. Essential experience includes financial management, administration, or accounting, ideally within an international organization or development project environment.

Skills

Core: Results orientation, innovative thinking, continuous learning, adaptability, determination, engagement, diversity and inclusion. Technical: Business acumen, knowledge facilitation, client management, budget management, contract management. Desired: Budget and procurement management, financial policy compliance, stakeholder liaison, report preparation, MS Excel proficiency, ICT and web-based management systems experience.

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