CaucasusNOW

The United Nations High Commission has appointed WomenAid International to implement a project that aims to empower women drawn from the internally displaced persons (IDP) community. The project will be implemented through WomenAid International’s Tbilisi based Health & Gender Equity Centre and involves enabling IDP women to achieve greater self-reliance on terms that are meaningful to the women themselves. On the request of UNHCR following gender-sensitive evaluation of micro-credit projects targeted at IDP women in 2000, WomenAid International will add a gender empowerment component onto existing micro-finance projects supported by UNHCR. This is an innovative merge by UNHCR between the goals of different implementing partners. Micro-finance projects for the poor create groups of borrowers with the group as collateral for a group loan. A significant non-economic output of group loan projects is the production of a tight well-functioning group that trust each other with a clear financial incentive (the group loan) to continue co-operating.

WomenAid International will work with the ‘groups’ created by micro-finance projects to add value to the existing projects. Community projects will be targeted at selected groups of female borrowers- with the express aim to strengthen supportive networks amongst the women. Awareness raising seminars and discussion on the subjects of health and health behaviour (emphasis on sexual health, reproductive health and family planning), human rights (emphasis on women’s rights and IDP rights) and gender violence (emphasis on domestic violence, trafficking and forced prostitution) will be held with groups of females. By working with existing groups rather than isolated individuals, and groups that have to meet regularly- it is hoped that women will be able to find support amongst the group on issues of concern to improve their own levels of well-being.

Under the overall guidance of the WomenAid Project Management Team, direct supervision by the WomenAid International Caucasus representative, and in close collaboration with other staff of the Tbilisi based Health & Gender Equity Centre, the Project Financial Officer will be responsible for the following:

Processing salary payments, purchase invoices, approved project visit expenses and arranging payments;
Liaising with the bank and providing bank reconciliation and financial summary statements;
Preparing management accounts including monthly financial and project reports, and quarterly statement of financial activities and balance sheet;
Maintaining separate project records and accounts, petty cash accounts and staffing tables;
Other related tasks as requested by WomenAid;
Liaise, collaborate and consult with all project partners and beneficiaries, arrange and attend meetings, producing reports/minutes of meetings as necessary;
Systematically collect relevant data/information and maintain administrative and financial records and participate in general office administration.