Jobs - 31467- UN Women: Coordination Specialist on Women and Pea

UN Women: Coordination Specialist on Women and Peace and Security

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

02-Aug-12 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months

Languages Required :

Expected Duration of Assignment :

6 months

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

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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 center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations System’s efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. UN Women provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The Policy Division develops and implements the UNW program of work on analysis, research and knowledge management that provides the evidence base for the advice and guidance UNW provides to the intergovernmental process, the UN system, and to UNW staff working at country and regional level on issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment. It identifies emerging issues and trends, and develops and proposes new strategies for achieving the agreed goals through innovative approaches and lessons learned about what works in practice. It also designs and oversees the training and capacity development programs of UNW, working closely with the UNW training facility in Santa Domingo.

Based on UN legislative mandates and UNW Strategic Programme Plan, it undertakes or coordinates global or sectoral research and data analysis; advises on norms, policies and strategies for achieving the internationally agreed goals related to gender equality and women’s empowerment issues. It acts as a knowledge hub, collecting evidence on progress and emerging issues, identifying trends in implementation of global commitments; and sharing knowledge on innovative approaches and lessons learned in implementation. It designs tools for inter-regional capabilities building and institutional development programmes and fosters strategic substantive partnerships with academia and other UN partners, in close collaboration with the Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnership Bureau, the Programme division and UNW Training Center (Santa Domingo).

UN Women's Peace and Security section within the Policy Division is responsible for providing corporate policy and strategic advice as well as technical support to UN Women Country Offices and partners in a number of areas, including: conflict prevention and peacebuilding, justice sector and security reform, transitional justice, promoting women's political participation, and mainstreaming gender issues into governance reforms. In addition, UN Women’s Peace and Security section coordinates the UN Standing Committee on women and peace and security and leads the process for developing the SG report on women and peace and security that will is presented annually in October to the Security Council.

The consultant will support the Peace and Security section’s work on National Action Plans (on women peace and security [WPS]) and in addition will help in the development of WPS training materials, conflict prevention strategy development, and coordination and reporting on encounters between in-country UN leaders and women’s groups. This will include:

1. Providing technical assistance for national implementation of women, peace and security agenda and coordination of providing technical assistance in that area;

2. Providing assistance in the revision and validation of an e-learning course on national implementation of women, peace and security agenda in Asia;

3. Helping to coordinate and report on the annual “Open Day” meetings between UN leaders and women’s groups in a range of conflict-affected situations;

4. Supporting the elaboration of a UN Women strategy on gender-sensitive Conflict Prevention.

The consultant will be physically based in UN Women New York and will report to the Programme Specialist overseeing the work on National Action Plans (deliverables 1 and 2) and Policy Adviser (deliverables 3 and 4).

Duties and Responsibilities

DELIVERABLES

The Coordination Specialist on women and peace and security will have the following deliverables:

Deliverable1 : Provide technical assistance to UN Women Regional and Country offices on National Action Plans on Women and Peace and Security, including the organization of at least two national workshops [40%]

Support at least two UN Women Country Offices in the organization of in-country consultations and training on development or monitoring and accountability of NAPs with national stakeholders (a report detailing consultations and trainings held to date, outputs and lessons learnt will be provided). In addition, monitor and analyze types of adoption and implementation of WPS NAPs and provide remote technical assistance to at least two UN Women Country Offices, including through rolling out/testing existing guidance.

Deliverable 2: Provide technical assistance in the development of an e-learning course on national implementation of women, peace and security agenda in Asia; [20 %].

Support the process of development an e-learning course for national implementation of the women, peace and security agenda, including through monitoring the delivery of revised and new inputs (by other consultants) and organizing a peer review workshop in collaboration with the regional office in Thailand. In addition, ensure the coordination of work among all partners involved (WPS cluster, Santo Domingo Training Center and Peace Operation Training Institute, POTI).

Deliverable 3: Support and provide technical assistance to UN Women’s coordination of the global Open Day events on Women and Peace and Security (along with partners – DPKO, DPA & UNDP), including drafting the final report [15%].

The consultant will coordinate logistics (monitoring the number of countries in which these events are held, and ensuring technical support is provided at least remotely from HQ if requested, ensuring the modest financial contribution from UN Women is made if requested) as well as provide substantive inputs in analyzing reports from missions and country offices on the Open Day (2012) encounters – and draft the final report. This may involve media work.

Deliverable 4: Provide technical assistance for the development of a UN Women Strategy on Conflict Prevention [25%].

Support the process of developing the strategy and guidance note on conflict prevention, including through research and attending meetings (in the absence of the Policy Adviser) to cover issues related to conflict prevention as well as monitor global trends, including inter-agency meetings – the Framework Team). A strategy and guidance note on conflict prevention will be produced

Competencies

CORE COMPETENCIES

Ability to work in a team;
Excellent communication and networking skills including English language writing skills;
Demonstrated ability to work cooperatively and productively with internal and external colleagues;
High level of initiative and self-motivation;
Basic computer literacy.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

A Master’s degree, or relevant experience in the fields of gender, development, peace and development, international relations, social sciences or a related field;

Experience:

At least five years relevant working experience, with work in the area of women, peace and security and field experience highly desirable;
A good knowledge of the UN’s inter-governmental commitments on women and peace and security and UN’s programming related to resolution 1325;
Knowledge of UN partners relevant to the women and peace and security agenda, with specific coordination experience desirable;
Experience working with the UN is highly desirable.
Excellent coordination and management skills including proven ability to manage complex processes and events;

Language Requirements:

Written and oral fluency in English and at least one other official UN language.

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