Jobs - 26978- UN Women: UN Women Representative

UN Women: UN Women Representative

Location :

Juba, SOUTH SUDAN

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

20-Jan-12 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

D-1

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The scope of work of the UN Women Representative requires experience and in-depth understanding of gender equality and women's empowerment issues, as well as management and programming expertise, to translate UN WOMEN's strategic plans into effective development initiatives and results. It also requires developing mutually reinforcing partnerships with relevant Government counterparts, UN organizations, CSOs, and with bilateral and non-traditional donors in order to promote inter-agency partnerships, support for UN reform, and mobilization of visibility and resources to advance gender equality and women's empowerment.

The UNW Representative is the accredited UNW Head of Office in South Sudan Country Office (CO), who is responsible for the effective and efficient implementation and successful delivery of UNW programs to advance gender equality and women’s human rights in South Sudan. The UNW Representative is responsible for providing the strategic leadership, guidance and oversight of programs and operations, formulation and execution of UNW CO strategic programs and plans of actions in line with UNW and UN development efforts in the country.

Under the overall guidance of the Regional Program Director, East and Horn of Africa, the UNW Representative will provide technical and program leadership ensuring high quality of UN Women's interventions in South Sudan. The UNW Representative is an integral part of the UN Team in South Sudan and will work in close partnership with all UN agencies.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions:

Strategic CO Program Development and Advocacy:

Monitor and evaluate the political and economic situation and trends and identify emerging issues at the national level of relevance to the mandate of UN Women and establish effective dialogue with the government and a wide range of stakeholders (civil society, private sector and development partners) on development challenges, opportunities and priorities;
Identify opportunities and challenges and determine the vision and strategy to respond and achieve UNW goals and objectives on gender equality and women's human rights with particular emphasis on UNW core focus areas in South Sudan;
Lead, articulate and effectively communicate the strategic vision for UNW in the country that is consistent with UNW strategic plan and supportive of national development goals and priorities;
Provide direction and guide the strategic development and preparation of the CO program in line with the national development strategies and plans of action, UNW's mandate, mission, goals and objectives and accountability framework and UNDAF;
Participate actively as a member of the UNCT to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment are well integrated into UN programming processes such as CCA/UNDAF, Country Progrmmes, etc.;
Advocate on behalf of UN WOMEN and its mandate to help raise awareness and stimulate action to advance gender equality and women's rights and form strategic partnerships with government, UN agencies, NGOs, academia, media and the private sector;
Carry out ongoing advocacy to ensure that UN support towards realization of the national plans and priorities are done in a gender responsive manner, and within agreed regional and international frameworks that promote and protect gender equality.

Program Management and Oversight:

Engage and/or consult senior partners in the UNDG/UN system, UNCT, RDTs to enhance understanding of the needs and challenges in programming to achieve gender equality and women's empowerment for strategic programming and policy discussion and agenda setting;
Provide advice to the UN Women Senior Management (Executive Director/Deputy Executive Director(s) and other partners within UN Women), on the strategy, direction and plans of action for programs on gender issues in South Sudan;
Lead the management, implementation and evaluation of the country strategic plan based on UN WOMEN's Strategic Plan (SP), and in line with regional and national priorities and in consultation with government, civil society and UN partners and stakeholders;
Oversee, monitor and assure quality control in the implementation of high quality, results-based, rights-based and relevant country programmes and projects in line with corporate guidelines and consistency with corporate policies and strategies;
Ensure UN Women's strategic and technical support to government counterparts, non-state actors and UN agencies through direct involvement and provision of advisory services as needed;
Manage ongoing program activities on gender equality and women's empowerment and ensure delivery of agreed results;
Ensure that the Country Programme Office has the human and financial resources and capacities needed to respond to requests for assistance and to deliver on its commitments to support and advance gender equality and to participate effectively as a member of the UN Country Team;
Use corporate monitoring and oversight tools to identify areas which need improvement;
Contribute to regular assessments of the regional, sub-regional and country strategic plans and implementation plans and identify lessons learned and areas of emphasis to underpin consistently improved programming and future Strategic Plan development.

Leadership and Overall Management of the Country Office:

Provide strategic guidance and oversee the overall management of the UNW Country Office Programme and Operations including human resources and financial management, procurement in support of programs and projects to ensure adherence to policies and procedures and accountability framework;
Establish the CO annual work plans and set objectives, performance measurements, standards and expected results in collaboration and discussion with the CO Team;
Guide the preparation of and approve budget proposal for financial, human and other required resources to ensure the office operates efficiently. Decide on the optimum and appropriate allocation and management of resources;
Supervise and assess work in progress to ensure delivery of results according to performance standards, overall objectives and accountability framework. Provide intellectual leadership and technical guidance and timely take decisions to meet objectives;
Promote teamwork to ensure harmonization, linkages, collaboration and synergy and through the Managers, ensure that staff members are provided sufficient information, guidance and support to perform and deliver results according to the organizational, personal and professional standards of efficiency, accountability and integrity;
In close coordination and consultation with UNDSS and UN system agencies and partners, assess external and internal risks and take timely decisions to ensure the protection of staff (and their families) well-being and UNW programs and assets;
Direct implementation of all activities and arrangements related to the safety and security of UNW staff in South Sudan in accordance with Framework for Accountability for the UN Security Management System and other UN safety and security policies and security plan.

Representation and Partnership Building:

Forge strategic partnerships at the county level to promote gender equality and women's advancement through joint programmes and interagency efforts;
Develop and maintain strategic partnerships with wide ranging constituencies, Government, NGOs, donors, the UN system agencies/partners, regional commissions, institutes and academia through policy dialogue, advocacy and to enhance collaboration, resource mobilization and or/share ideas to influence agenda and priority setting;
Actively communicate and interact with donors/partners in South Sudan to keep them informed, engaged, advised and interested in UNW goals and objectives to promote gender equality and women's human rights in the country;
Lead/direct resource mobilization activities to maximize resources for programs and projects to meet ongoing and/or new challenges and opportunities to promote gender equality and women's rights in the country and to sustain achievements in these areas;
Lead negotiations on cost-sharing agreements with donors. Ensure timely and accurate reporting to donors/partners to maintain UNW credibility and keep their interests and support to UNW programs and projects;
Represent UN Women in interagency and intergovernmental forums and other key meetings and events, as designated/appropriate to speak on programming issues, participate in program policy dialogue, discuss initiatives, report on progress achieved and/or present papers/ideas to influence setting of agenda and/or advocate UN Women competencies and mandate.

Knowledge Management and Reporting:

Manage the process of collecting and disseminating lessons learned on gender equality and women's empowerment strategies and contribute to UN Wonen's knowledge management efforts;
Lead and manage the preparation of UN Women country reports as required, ensuring relevancy, quality and appropriateness of content and presentation;
Work with relevant UN Women units to identify and disseminate best programme and management practices;
Lead the development/expansion of knowledge management strategies and methodologies at the country level;
Contribute to the development and maintenance of global, regional and national knowledge networks and practices;
Produce knowledge products to meet UN Women needs and standards of quality.

Impact of Results:

The result of the work of the UNW Representative directly and effectively impact on the strategic presence, successful implementation of the UNW program and its development results in the country to advance gender equality and women's human rights in South Sudan and directly reflect on the UNW competence and image in the country.

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles:

Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values: Promoting Ethics and Integrity / Creating Organizational Precedents;
Organizational Awareness: Building support and political acumen;
Developing and Empowering People / coaching and mentoring: Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
Working in Teams: Building and promoting effective teams;
Communicating Information and Ideas: Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
Self-management and Emotional intelligence: Creating an emotionally intelligent organization;
Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements: Leveraging conflict in the interests of the organization & setting standards;
Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning: Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning;
Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making;
Fair and transparent decision-making; calculated risk-taking.

Functional Competencies:

Excellent managerial, intellectual and technical skills in international development;
Demonstrates political savvy and intellectual capacity in representing the organization effectively at high level in national and international forum to advocate and to promote organizational priorities, initiatives and a better understanding of the organizational strategic agenda and to build consensus;
Ability to establish and maintain broad strategic networks and partnerships with UN agencies and other international partners to promote partnership and build alliances to advance organizational interests and competencies;
Effective leadership in building partnerships, fund raising strategies and activities and proactive engagement with the multilateral and bilateral donor community to ensure a stable resource base;
Exercises leadership in strengthening accountability and results-based management in supporting organizational priorities, policy and decision-making processes.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master`s degree (or equivalent) in development related disciplines, economics or public policy or other social science fields and gender equality.

Experience:

Over 15 years of extensive development experience that combines intellectual, strategic and managerial leadership in development cooperation at the international level, preferably in developing countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds or Programs or UN Mission.

Language:

Written and oral proficiency in English is required;
Knowledge of another UN working language is an asset.

Note: In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.