Background The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) operates in more than 170 countries and territories, providing support for policy development, leadership and partnership skills, institutional capacity building, and resilience strengthening to promote sustainable development. In Colombia, UNDP works across 32 departments and 360 municipalities. ย UNDP is part of the 26 UN Agencies, Funds, and Programmes in Colombia, contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework. The UNDP Country Programme Document (CPD) 2025-2027 aims to support the Colombian government's efforts in transitioning towards peace and consolidating its status as an upper-middle-income country. It focuses on four key priorities: 1) Peacebuilding, human security, and social justice, 2) Social protection and socio-economic inclusion, 3) Environment, climate action, and energy transition and 4) Enablers of the 2030 Agenda. ย At the programmatic level, UNDP Colombia is structured into two Clusters and five Portfolios: The Inclusive Sustainable Development Cluster, which includes the Sustainable Development Portfolio and the Productive Inclusion and Social Protection Portfolio and The Peacebuilding and Inclusive Governance Cluster, which encompasses the Democratic Governance Portfolio, the Peacebuilding Portfolio, and the Crisis Response and Rule of Law Portfolio. ย The Finance team supports the Country Office (CO) in the promotion of its sustainable development agenda by continuously enhancing CO financial performance, delivering sound management of financial resources, and ensuring strong accountability through informed decision making, effective financial management processes, and transparent financial reporting that complies with international standards and regulatory guidelines. ย ย Position Purpose Under the guidance and supervision of the Finance Analyst, the Finance Associate ensures effective execution of financial services and processes in the Country Office and transparent utilization of financial resources. The Finance Associate promotes a collaborative, client-oriented approach consistent with UNDP rules and regulations. ย The Finance Associate may supervise clerical and support staff of the Finance Unit. The Finance Associate works in close collaboration with the Operations, Programme, and projects staff in the CO and with UNDP HQ and GSSC staff to exchange information and resolve finance-related issues. ย UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration. ย ย Duties and Responsibilities 1.) Support administration and implementation of operational strategies and adapt processes and procedures.
Technical Competencies
OPERATIONS: FINANCE ACCOUNTING (GENERAL:ย Knowledge of accounting concepts, principles, regulations, policies and ability to apply this to strategic and/or practical situations. BUDGET MANAGEMENT: Ability to support budgetary aspects of work planning process, drawing and management of team budgets. FINANCIAL REPORTING AND ANALYSIS: Understands changes in regulatory, legal and ethical frameworks and standards for financial reporting in the public sector. Ability to extract, evaluate financial data, derive relevant findings and present them in a meaningful and coherent manner to facilitate effective decision making and performance monitoring. Understands the benefits of integrated reporting, including nonfinancial resources such as human, social and intellectual capital, and environmental and governance performance. AUDIT (GENERAL): Understands how regulations and professional standards in internal and external audit underpin audit work in the public services. Understands the key stages of audit work, including planning, documentation, testing and reporting. Ability to examine and verify accounts and records. Understands wider mechanisms for assurance and scrutiny. Understands the law and best practice relating to antibribery and corruption controls and the fraud risks faced by public bodies. ETHICS ADVICE & GUIDANCE: Ability to quickly analyse complex fact patterns and provide comprehensive, sensitive, and confidential ethics advice and guidance. ย Required Skills and Experience ย Education: Fully Qualified Accountant, from an internationally accredited institute of accountancy or Full Completion of the UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP). No UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) required. Candidates with no professional accountancy qualifications, but with degrees that major in accountancy and/or finance must complete UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP), if recruited. However, no UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) is required. Candidates with no professional accountancy qualifications but with relevant experience must successfully undertake UNDP Accountancy and Finance Test (AFT) before shortlisting, and must complete the UNDP Finance Training and Certification Programme (FTCP), if recruited. ย Experience: 6 years (with high school diploma) or 3 years (with bachelorโs degree) of progressively responsible finance and accounting experience at the national or international level is required. Experience in the use of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advanced knowledge of spreadsheets and web-based management systems such as ERP financials and database packages. Knowledge of IPSAS and/or IFRS is required.ย Experience beyond the minimum required, particularly in finance for programmes, projects, or operations, is highly desirable. Experience in applying UNDP rules and policies is highly desirable. ย Languages: Fluency in Spanish is required. Working Knowledge of English is desirable. ย Important applicant informationย ย ย ยAll posts in the GSย categories are subject to local recruitment. ย Equal opportunity As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination.ย ย UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all. ย Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. ย Probation For all new UNDP fixed term appointments (FTA), including for staff members being transferred or seconded to UNDP under the Inter-Organization Agreement concerning Transfer, Secondment or Loan of Staff, on an appointment of more than one year, continuation of the appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period. ย Right to select multiple candidates UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.ย We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements. ย Scam alert UNDP does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process. For further information, please see www.undp.org/scam-alert.