UN Women: Travel Associate, Home Based, NPSA-6

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.  

Under the overall guidance and daily supervision of the Chief, Procurement and Travel Services, the Travel Associate provides support in the execution of travel services within the Business Unit, ensuring effectiveness, transparency, and integrity. The Travel Associate promotes a client-focused, quality, and results-oriented approach in the Unit.

The Travel Associate works in close collaboration with Operations, Programme, and Project teams in the Business Unit, Region, and UN Women HQ, as well as with travel service providers and government officials, to deliver information, provide advisory support, and resolve complex travel-related issues.

UN Women embraces a programmatic approach that facilitates adaptation to changing business needs and maximizes synergies across various initiatives to achieve its strategic goals. Consequently, it is anticipated that UN Women personnel will engage in cross-unit and cross-functional collaboration. This approach is designed to amplify and facilitate cross-disciplinary teamwork, supporting the organization's overarching mission and goals.

Key Functions and Accountabilities:

1) Provide administrative and policy support in the implementation of UN Women’s travel strategies in accordance with UN Women rules, regulations, policies, and standards:

• Provide inputs to travel-related reports and analyses; research and draft responses to travel inquiries for clearance.
• Contribute to the implementation of travel management policies and strategies focused on cost optimization and efficiency.
• Follow up on internal and external audits related to travel operations.
• Support the development of sustainable travel strategies and guidelines. 
• Generating reports from organizational databases and systems to track compliance and performance.
• Developing dashboards and leveraging data analytics tools (e.g., Power BI, Excel, or other BI platforms) to visualize trends, identify gaps, and support decision-making.
• Using data-driven insights to recommend process improvements and ensure adherence to KPIs and service standards.

2) Organize travel processes entrusted to the Travel Services at UN Women Headquarters:

• As part of the Virtual Travel Hub (VTH), provide travel services to requesting units within the organization, manage the issuance of invoices for cost recovery, follow up with clients, and ensure client satisfaction in line with organizational standards and KPIs. 
• Prepare travel plans for programmes/projects in alignment with operational requirements.
• Review travel requests and initiate travel arrangements for staff, consultants, and meeting participants.
• Organize travel processes including booking flights, accommodation, and ground transportation; ensure compliance with UN Women travel policies.
• Review and process travel-related transactions and create/close Travel Requests (TRs), Purchase Orders (POs) and other transactions, in Quantum and UNall, for requesting offices.
• Review travel requests and prepare submissions for approval by relevant committees.
• Assist field offices in developing travel itineraries and provide quality assurance for travel activities.
• Perform backup duties within the travel team as needed to maintain service continuity.

3) Organize travel contract management processes:

• Maintain and update rosters of travel service providers; support implementation of vendor selection and evaluation.
• Provide technical advice to UN Women Regional and Country Offices on travel requests exceeding pre-defined thresholds.
• Provide guidance on travel policies, procedures, and system functionalities.
• Conduct periodic reviews and closure of travel-related transactions in coordination with project managers.
• Collect documents and information required by auditors and other entities, as required. 

4) Facilitate knowledge building and knowledge sharing:

• Provide inputs and support to the development of training materials, webinars, and other educational resources on travel management.
• Organize trainings for operations/projects staff on travel policies and procedures.
• Synthesize lessons learned and best practices in travel management.
• Support the development and delivery of comprehensive training programs on travel compliance and sustainability.
• Facilitate knowledge-sharing sessions an