Finance Associate - NPSA 6
- Organisation: UN Women
- Location: Zanzibar, Tanzania
- Deadline: 6 November 2026
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.
In the United Republic of Tanzania, UN Women works with the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, United Nations agencies, development partners and civil society to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. In collaboration with the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar and with the support of the Delegation of the European Union, UN Women is implementing the project “Ending Violence against Women and Girls and Advancing Women’s Leadership in Public and Private Sectors in Zanzibar and Mainland”.
The project supports the United Republic of Tanzania to deliver on its commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE), including the roll-out of the National Plan of Action to End Violence against Women and Children (NPA-VAWC 2025 -2030), the Gender related National Development Plans commitments. Delivery in Zanzibar is carried out jointly with ministries, departments and agencies of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, local government authorities and civil society partners across Unguja and Pemba.
Under the overall guidance of the Operations Manager of the UN Women Tanzania Country Office and the day-to-day supervision of the Program Specialist, Ending Violence against Women and Girls (EVAWG) / Head of the Zanzibar Office, the Finance Associate is responsible for the execution of a wide range of financial services and administrative processes for the Zanzibar Office, ensuring timeliness, efficiency and the transparent use of financial resources and delivery of services in accordance with organizational financial rules, regulations, policies, procedures and approved allocations. The Finance Associate promotes a client-oriented approach consistent with UN Women rules and regulations, standard practices and guidelines.
The Finance Associate works in close collaboration with the Program and Operations Teams of the Tanzania Country Office, with implementing partners and responsible parties in Unguja and Pemba, and with the Operations and Program teams in the UN Women Regional Office and Headquarters for resolving complex finance-related issues and for information delivery.
Key Functions and Accountabilities
1. Implement financial strategies in full compliance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and recording and reporting systems:
• Perform duties in full compliance with UN Women financial regulations and rules, policies and standard operating procedures, including internal controls;
• Review and verify financial transactions, activities and documentation; take corrective action as needed and report any unusual activities;
• Perform an oversight function on financial transactions processed for the Zanzibar Office and the EVAWG portfolio, ensuring that supporting documents, Chart of Accounts (COA) combinations and all required accounting fields are complete and accurate before transactions are submitted for approval;
• Coordinate with program and project colleagues, the Country Office finance team, the Regional Office and the UN Women Global Service Centre on the resolution of accounting transaction issues;
• Review corporate finance and compliance dashboards and reports to monitor the status of financial indicators for the Zanzibar Office and the EVAWG portfolio, and flag deviations and bottlenecks to the Operations Manager for corrective action;
• Monitor financial exception reports for unusual activities or transactions, investigate anomalies, and report conclusions and/or present recommendations for action or decision to the supervisor;
• Draft reports on financial status, procedures, exchange rates, costs and expenditures;
• Follow up on audit recommendations to monitor the implementation of corrective actions;
• Collect, verify and present information and data for use in the planning of financial resources and in the formulation of work plans, budgets, proposals on implementation arrangements and execution modalities for the Zanzibar Office and the EVAWG portfolio;
• Provide assistance in Annual Work Plan entry in the Results Management System (RMS) as required;
• Provide advice and recommend solutions to a wide range of financial issues;
• Monitor the proper functioning of the financial resources management system for office and programmatic budgets and resources;
• Implement cost saving and reduction strategies.
2. Prepare and administer budgets in full compliance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and recording and reporting systems:
• Formulate budgets, control allotments, monitor expenditures and prepare revisions according to the needs of the Zanzibar Office and the EVAWG portfolio;
• Track the appropriate and timely use of financial resources;
• Prepare cost-recovery documents or bills for services provided by UN Women to other program or organizations;
• Coordinate with the Operations team on the collection of data on services provided to UN Women projects and to other UN agencies; ensure the timely generation of bills and follow up with projects and agencies on the settlement of bills and the correct recording of recovered costs;
• Support the application of direct project costing arrangements, including inputs to workload studies and the use of the universal price list, in line with Country Office guidance;
• Create projects in Quantum, prepare budget revisions, revise project awards and status, and determine unutilized funds;
• Implement and maintain control mechanisms for development projects through the monitoring of budget preparation, modifications and budgetary status;
• Maintain the internal expenditure control system;
• Undertake corrective action on un-posted vouchers, including vouchers with budget check errors, match exceptions and unapproved vouchers; respond to Regional Office and Headquarters requests to resolve financial data issues;
• Prepare VAT reimbursement claims with adequate supporting documentation and follow up with the relevant revenue authorities;
• Input data in Quantum and monitor status; keep stakeholders and clients informed for timely action and/or decisions;
• Manage the petty cash fund and cash imprest level.
3. Provide finance support to the Program and Operations teams:
• Review accounts receivable for UN Women projects and follow up with project managers and the finance section at the Regional Office and/or Headquarters on contributions, the creation of deposits in Quantum and their application to accounts receivable pending items;
• Prepare PO and non-PO vouchers for development projects;
• Record and post transactions in Quantum; process payroll, travel claims, MPOs and other entitlements;
• Monitor the setup of budgets in Quantum to ensure they are in accordance with budgets agreed with donors and are input at the detailed Activity ID level;
• Monitor over-expenditure of budgets each month and follow up with budget owners;
• Monitor transactions posted to projects, ensuring actual expenditure is recorded against the correct budget category and activity; take timely corrective action as required;
• Review implementing partner Funding Authorization and Certificate of Expenditure (FACE) forms, financial reports and supporting documentation in line with the Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfers (HACT); monitor advances and their timely liquidation; support micro-assessments, spot checks and other assurance activities together with program colleagues;
• Monitor aged accounts receivable and payable, open items, outstanding advances and unliquidated obligations; coordinate with budget owners, project colleagues and the Global Service Centre to clear them within corporate thresholds;
• Monitor the financial status and, under the guidance of the Operations Manager, implement control mechanisms for management and development projects;
• Monitor and follow up on all financial items in month-end and year-end closure instructions and, under the guidance of the Operations Manager, take corrective action as required; ensure that key financial closure milestones are achieved with quality and within corporate deadlines;
• Review restricted general ledger accounts on a regular basis, in particular expense, asset and liability accounts, rectify errors and mis-posted entries, and follow up on issues arising from corporate finance dashboards with project finance colleagues;
• Keep stakeholders and clients informed for timely action and decisions, and review status reports for quality control;
• Provide information inputs to financial reports for the Regional Office, Headquarters Finance and stakeholders;
• Associate revenue and expenditure in commitment control for non-core projects;
• Provide inputs and take the necessary actions to facilitate timely financial project closure;
• Support financial donor reporting, including for the European Union-funded EVAW program, by providing timely information and taking the necessary actions as required by the UN Women Virtual Global Service Centre;
• Provide financial arrangements for meetings, trainings, campaigns and field activities in Unguja and Pemba, including the processing of daily subsistence allowance (DSA), participant payments and travel claims.
4. Provide administrative support to resource mobilization:
• Compile and process information from donors, the Country Office and the program team as inputs to various databases and documents;
• Prepare drafts of cost-sharing and other agreements, including conditions of contributions, within resource mobilization efforts, adhering to standard agreements where possible; follow up on contributions within the Country Office resource mobilization efforts.