Chief of Section – Finance & Budget Job – UN Jobs

United Nations Jobs, UN-Habitat Jobs, UN Jobs,

• Job Opening ID: 252985
• Job Network : Management and Administration
• Job Family : Finance
• Category and Level : Professional and Higher Categories, P-5
• Duty Station : NAIROBI
• Department/Office : United Nations Human Settlements Programme
• Date Posted : Feb 21, 2025
• Deadline : Mar 22, 2025

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Org. Setting and Reporting

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. UN-Habitat helps the urban poor by transforming cities into safer, healthier, greener places with better opportunities where everyone can live with dignity. It works with organizations at every level, including all spheres of government, civil society and the private sector to help build, manage, plan and finance sustainable urban development.

The position is located in the Finance and Budget Section of the Management Advisory and Compliance Service (MACS) at the UN-Habitat Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya The Management Advisory and Compliance Service is responsible to advise on and coordinate administrative and programming support related to the implementation of UN-Habitat’s work programme, either directly or through the engagement of third-party service providers.

Under the direct supervision of the Director of Management Advisory Compliance Service, the incumbent will be responsible for the following duties:

Responsibilities

Medium-term plan:

• Supports planning, organizing and managing the preparation of the medium-term plan and its revisions on the basis of departmental submissions, taking into account recommendations and decisions of specialized intergovernmental bodies.
• Proactively supports relevant intergovernmental and expert bodies in the review of the medium-term plan and its revisions including securing approval from the General Assembly and the UN-Habitat Assembly/Executive Board.
• Ensures legislative mandates are accurately translated into programme budgets.

Budget preparation:

• Plans and co-ordinates review of budget submissions comprising of both assessed and extrabudgetary resources.
• Reviews, analyses and finalizes cost estimates and budget proposals, in terms of staff and non-staff requirements from Divisions/Offices at Headquarters and in the field, including programmatic aspects; ensures compliance with the medium-term plan and other legislative mandates.
• Co-ordinates the preparation of budget submissions from managers.
• Reviews, analyses and finalizes programme budget/financial implications to the General Assembly, with the support of Office of Programme Planning and Budget Division (OPPBD), and the Executive Board in light of additional mandates.
• Provides substantive support and guidance to relevant intergovernmental and expert bodies in their budget review; secures approval from the General Assembly and the UN-Habitat Assembly/Executive Board.

Budget administration:

• Manages/issues allotments, authorizes sub-allotments, including redeployment of funds when necessary, ensuring appropriate expenditures.
• Monitors expenditures to ensure that they remain within authorized levels.
• Administers and monitors extra-budgetary resources, including review of agreements and cost plans, ensuring compliance with regulations and rules and established policies and procedures.
• Oversees the review and finalization of budget performance reports; monitors variances between approved budgets and actual expenditures.
• Provides advice and support to relevant intergovernmental and expert bodies in review of budget performance reports; secure approval from the General Assembly and the Executive Board.

Accounting:

• Directs a complete financial function of the Organization which includes a number of different and diverse operations and interrelated accounts of the financial system.
• Participates in special reviews of operational objectives and related financial policies and procedures affecting the UN Secretariat’s accounting and financial systems. Takes the lead in designing and implementing required changes.
• Reviews and ensures the preparation of UN-Habitat annual IPSAS compliant financial statements for inclusion in the UN Financial Statements to be audited.
• Provides authoritative advice, financial interpretations, adaptations and corrective actions in response to audits and other queries to ensure adherence to UN Financial Regulations and Rules, Staff Rules, Administrative Instructions, Bulletins and Circulars.

General:

• Oversees the management of the staffing table for both assessed and extrabudgetary resources.
• Provides advice and guidance, including training, to Headquarters and field staff on budgetary and financial policies and procedures, including results-based budgeting.
• Participates in inter-departmental meetings and/or technical survey missions on matters related to resource requirements, programming and budgetary issues.
• Keeps up-to-date on documents/reports/guidelines that have a bearing on matters related to programme budgets, ensuring compliance with intergovernmental recommendations and decisions as well as with United Nations policies and procedures.
• Prepares/finalizes reports for intergovernmental bodies and for management on budgetary issues, and correspondence, including guidelines, instructions.
• Reviews and analyses budgetary policies and procedures, makes recommendations for changes and/or modifications.
• Acts as Certifying Officer under Financial Rule 110.4 to ensure that proposed obligations and expenditures are in accordance with budgets and established regulations and rules.
• Ensures the integrity of financial and management systems and the controls that underpin them.
• Represents UN-Habitat or the Division in inter-agency meetings and/or inter and intra-divisional meetings.
• Plans, organizes and manages staff and work programme; plans and discusses individual work programmes with staff and evaluates their performance.
• Leads team members’ efforts to collect and analyze data and provides insight to identify trends or patterns for data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting. Ensures that everyone can discover, access, integrate and share the data they need.
• Performs other related duties as assigned

Competencies

PROFESSIONALISM: Knowledge of financial and budgetary principles and practices, budget management and financial administration of resources. Proven analytical skills and ability to provide technical advice in budget management to managers. Ability to manage a programme in a field operation and formulate new strategies and approaches to budget management issues. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work. Able to analyze and interpret data in support of decision-making and convey resulting information to management.

CLIENT ORIENTATION: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

ACCOUNTABILITY: Takes ownership of all responsibilities and honours commitments; delivers outputs for which one has responsibility within prescribed time, cost and quality standards; operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules; supports subordinates, provides oversight and takes responsibility for delegated assignments; takes personal responsibility for his/her own shortcomings and those of the work unit, where applicable. LEADERSHIP: Serves as a role model that other people want to follow: empowers others to translate vision into results; is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives; establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions; drives for change and improvements; does not accept the status quo; shows the courage to take unpopular stands. Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work; demonstrates knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing.

MANAGING PERFORMANCE: Delegates the appropriate responsibility, accountability and decision-making authority; makes sure that roles, responsibilities and reporting lines are clear to each staff member; accurately judges the amount of time and resources needed to accomplish a task and matches task to skills; monitors progress against milestones and deadlines; regularly discusses performance and provides feedback and coaching to staff; encourages risk-taking and supports creativity and initiative; actively supports the development and career aspirations of staff; appraises performance fairly.

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in business administration, finance, or related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with an additional two (2) years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is desirable.

Work Experience

• A minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in finance, administration, programme management, business administration or related area is required.
• A minimum of five (5) years of relevant experience in implementing, applying, and contributing to development of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) is required Minimum of three (3) years of relevant experience in conceptualizing, preparing, and defending policy and administrative decisions/guidance to diverse inter-governmental bodies in support of negotiations and international environmental agreements is required.
• A minimum of five (5) years of hands-on, practical experience with preparing annual financial statements for large international organizations involving multiple sources of funds is desirable.
• Minimum of two (2) years experience in developing, building capacity and delivery of training on financial and legal arrangements with project implementing partners is desirable.
• Experience with use of finance modules in an ERP system, including analysis of accounting data and creation of management reports using Business Intelligence tools, is desirable.
• Experience in performing analysis, reviewing, and designing tailored donor reports is desirable. Experience in data analytics or related area is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat, for the position advertised, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another UN official language is desirable.
• NOTE: ”Fluency” equals a rating of ”fluent” in all four areas (read, write, speak, understand) and ”Knowledge of” equals a rating of ”confident” in two of the four areas.

Assessment

• Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.

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