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 Zimbabwe, UN Women’s country programme is aligned to the national development plan objectives, the National Gender Policy, Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Transformation, the national Broad Based Women’s Economic Empowerment Framework, the Zimbabwe National Gender-Based Violence Strategy, and the ZUNDAF Priority Area 2 on Women’s Empowerment, Gender Equality and Equity.

UN Women, in partnership with Government of Zimbabwe, CSOs, donors and UN agencies, focuses on delivering within six interlinked programme areas such as:

• Increasing women’s leadership and participation in decision making; 
• Enhancing women’s economic empowerment, especially of those who are most excluded;
• Ending Violence Against Women and Girls;
• Engaging women in all aspects of peace and security;
• Making gender equality central to national planning and budgeting processes; and
• Strengthening the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality. 

Reporting to the Country Representative, the Deputy Country Representative is responsible for the day-to-day management of the UN Women Zimbabwe Country Office (CO). The incumbent is responsible for substantially contributing to the design, implementation, management and oversight of the country programme and to the operations supporting its implementation to ensure effective and efficient delivery of results as planned in UN Women’s Strategic Plan and the CO plans.

The incumbent is expected to bring innovative thinking which fits and adapts to the changing environment to the strategic development of the programme portfolio, to respond to national priorities and commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment, and to help raise resources to fund it. He/she also plays a key role in ensuring effective use and management of UN Women resources in compliance with UN women programming and operational policies and regulations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide advisory and specialized technical support on the strategic direction of the office:

• Provide specialized technical and strategic support in managing all aspects of CO programme design and management of related activities and for ensuring accountability in programme monitoring, reporting and evaluation;
• Develop policy documents, briefs and other strategic papers/materials for use in the development and presentation of innovative and coherent policy and programmatic positions in support of national development priorities and commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment, incorporating regional and global perspectives and contributing to regional and global strategies;
• Oversee guide and provide input to assure quality control in the formulation of relevant, high quality, results-based and rights-based country programmes and to ensure programme coherence, technical integrity, inter-unit programme cooperation and coordination;
• Regularly assess the country level annual work plans, monitor progress on the achievement of goals and targets, and make recommendations to assist in development planning.

Manage the programme and operations team:

• Manage and monitor the day-to-day work of the programme and operations teams, including finalizing the Office’s annual workplan, in close collaboration with te Operations Manager and Monitoring and Reporting Specialist;
• Manage the process of programme conceptualization, planning, implementing and monitoring; and the management of material and financial resources;
• Lead the process of preparing programme implementation progress reports and identifying areas for UN Women Country Representative’s action and/or decision.

Manage and oversee Programme management, monitoring and oversight:

• Recommend and establish program monitoring standards, criteria and other indicators for measuring and assessing progress/results, in close collaboration with the Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist;
• Monitor the progress on mutually agreed results frameworks and performance indicators and take timely support, action and/or decisions as required;
• Lead the processes of preparing reports on progress of programme implementation, assessing results and identifying areas for action and/or decision to ensure achievement of results as planned and in accordance with UN Women’s goals and objectives and accountability framework, in close collaboration with the Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist;

Provide technical support in creation of strategic partnerships and resource mobilization strategies:

• Support the Representative in the formulation and implementation of a country resource mobilization strategy;
• Ensure substantive and high-quality proposals following the established rules, and regulations, and adhering to the Strategic Plan and Annual Work plans;
• Establish and maintain effective consultations with government partners, stakeholders and civil society partners to achieve active collaboration, cooperation and alliances on programme development and implementation, and sustained partnerships.

Represent UN Women in UN system coordination, with a focus on programming:

• As delegated by the UN Women Country Representative, represent UN Women in the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) and/or the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) to collaborate with the Resident Coordinator and UN system on interagency coherence, collaboration, cooperation, resource mobilization, advocacy, common services, and operations;
• Ensure UN Women’s participation in UN system thematic and other working groups to advance UN Women’s mandate.

Represent UN Women and support advocacy strategies:

• Represent and advocate for UN Women in organizational, regional, global, public information/ relations events and key meetings, as delegated;
• Develop and implement advocacy and public communication strategies.
• Represent UN Women in national and international fora as requested by the Representative.

Facilitate knowledge management, innovation and capacity building:

• Manage the process of collecting and sharing lessons learned on gender equality and women’s empowerment to build knowledge and capacity of partners and stakeholders;
• Oversee the design and implementation of capacity building training activities to enhance skills and knowledge.

Manage personnel under supervision:

• Manage the performance of personnel under supervision; provide managerial direction, guidance and leadership to staff and provide performance feedback and coaching to personnel under supervision, ensure performance assessment are implemented on time and ensure staff members are fully aware of UN Women workplace relations policies;
• Technically support the development of the Office security strategy and plan, as required;
• Create an enabling work environment;
• Identify learning and development opportunities;
• Ensure proper management of all human and financial resources.

Key Performance Indicators

• Timely and quality provision of strategic support and advise to the Country Representative
• Timely and quality delivery of the programme teams
• Regular interaction and establishment of joint activities and programmes with other agencies and partners
• Quality of inputs provided in formulation and implementation of the country resource mobilization strategy
• Quality and number of knowledge management and advocacy initiatives undertaken
• Quality mentoring, training, coaching which affects performance of personnel, inclusive workplace environment
• UN Women is seen as a reliable and trustworthy partner, providing substantial inputs to progress UN women’s mandate

Competencies

Core values

• Integrity
• Professionalism
• Respect for Diversity

Core Competencies

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Demonstrated analytical and technical skills in managing development projects/programmes, including knowledge of Results Based Management, particularly those that are pertinent to UN Women strategic priorities on gender issues and women’s rights;
• Ability to establish and maintain broad strategic networks and partnerships with UN agencies and other international partners;
• Ability to go beyond established procedures and practices, introduce new approaches and strategic innovations;
• Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them
• Ability to provide policy advice and support to partners
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Strong leadership skills, ability to create and enabling work environment
• Strong knowledge of the UN system
• Strong knowledge of local country context
• Strong negotiation skills

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in Law, International Development, Public Administration, Public Policy, Gender Studies or other relevant social science fields is required;
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree;
• A project/programme management certification (such as PMP, PRINCE2, or MSP) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of progressively responsible professional experience that combines strategic and managerial leadership in development programmes with a strong focus in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment at the national or international level, preferably in developing countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds or Programmes;
• Field based experience working with multi-cultural teams;
• Experience in leading a team.

Language Requirements:

• Proficiency in written and spoken English;
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset.

Application:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) a completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process.
• Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment and candidates are required to include in the P-11 form links for their previously published reports and articles completed within the last two years. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.