Background
Duties and Responsibilities
- Support to the Regional Director on UN programming and coordination at the Regional level and in support to country-level work, including to the UNDAFs, GTGs and related Working Groups and Task Forces;
- Support UN system partnership and alliance building at the Regional level;
- Support enhanced results-based planning, management and reporting practices at the country level to ensure coherence, effectiveness and efficiency;
- Knowledge management and capacity building.
- Support the Regional Director (RD) in his/her participation in the UNDG-ECA Regional Team as well as the Regional Coordination Mechanism and their related technical bodies;
- Support UN Women country teams on coordination processes and mechanisms including UNDAFs and other UN system joint planning and/or programming strategies, modalities and documents;
- Ensure effective knowledge management and capacity development of UN Women in the region in rolling out and support system-wide tools on gender equality;
- Prepare presentations and briefing materials for the RD on issues to be discussed in the UN and other events and meetings and follow up on required action/outstanding issues and alerting RD on critical issues for action to be addressed;
- According to the results envisioned in the Management Results Framework in UN Women's Strategic Plan, periodically review and assess UN Women's engagement in inter-agency processes and joint programmes in the field and in New York to devise improved strategies for ensuring that UN Women's investment in coordination processes is yielding results in support of gender equality and women's human rights. Additionally, in coordination with regional evaluation specialists, promote UN Women's engagement in joint evaluations on gender equality and women's empowerment.
- Support work within the UN System at the Regional and Country level in managing activities and other promotional events to engage bilateral and multilateral institutions/donors, private sector and civil society to expand and/or sustain interest and resources for UNW programs and joint UN system programs;
- Participate in global practice network on coordination, sharing and learning best practices to keep abreast of and/or to contribute to on going debates and strategic thinking and to exchange experience and/or seek support on coordination issues affecting UNW and UN system programs and operations.
- Technical support to regional and country level colleagues in the development and monitoring of work planning processes;
- Provide capacity development support to regional and country level colleagues on results based programme planning and management;
- Ensure quality of regional and country level planning instruments, promoting application of good practice in the development, design, monitoring and reporting of results;
- Collaborate with Regional Evaluation Specialists and country M&E focal points to ensure that findings and lessons from evaluations are reflected in strategic planning processes and RBM and training on results based management.
- Analyze global practice and lessons learned on coordination and advise the Regional Director and internal and external partners to enhance knowledge and build capacity;
- Collect and share lessons learned on coordination and UN system programming and development and to contribute to development of knowledge management products and tools in UNW;
- Ensure the use of evaluation findings to feed into knowledge management and decision making at the regional level.
- Design and implement capacity building training activities to enhance skills and knowledge On request, make accessible to national partners, RCs and UNCTs, a comprehensive roster of highly experienced and technically qualified professionals that are gender experts in a range of fields.
The successful management of coordination activities will facilitate and enhance the ability of the Regional Director to work effectively within the context of UN system priorities in the region and support coherent UN response and implementation in line with national strategies and priorities.
Competencies
Core Values / 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.
- Substantive experience in the area of development and or gender equality and women's empowerment issues;
- Knowledge of UN system and understanding of inter-agency coordination processes;
- Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of development to experience;
- Demonstrated negotiating, cultural sensitivity and diplomatic skills;
- Familiarity with results-based programme planning and management, and the ability to clearly communicate and explain RBPPM approaches;
- Well-developed people management skills;
- Effectiveness and pro-activity;
- Ability to leverage information technology, executive information systems, management techniques and tools for optimal office performance;
- Strong interpersonal, communication and presentation skills;
- Good planning, goal-setting and prioritization and organizational skills.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Master`s degree or equivalent in development related disciplines, international relations, development studies or other social science fields.
- At least 7 years of experience that combines strategic and managerial leadership in development cooperation, international relations, public administration or other related field, some of which should be in the area of gender equality and women's rights at the international level, preferably in developing countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds or Programs. Familiarity and experience with UN inter-agency coordination processes and or results based management would be an asset.
Language Requirements:
- Written and oral proficiency in English is required. Knowledge of the other UN working knowledge is highly desirable.
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.