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.

The Fund for Gender Equality (FGE) is a $74 million, multi-donor initiative designed to advance innovative, high-impact programmes that focus on women’s economic and political empowerment at local and national levels, in line with national development plans and priorities. Launched in December 2008 with an initial contribution of EUR 50 million (US$65 million) from the Government of Spain, and subsequently joined by the governments of Norway, Mexico, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland, the FGE provides grants on a competitive basis to civil society and governmental partners in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, the Arab States, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Fund is unique in its focus on supporting partners to turn local and national laws and policies into tangible gains for women’s rights.
 
When FGE was created, the staffing structure was enshrined in the ProDoc, based on projected requirements at that time (2009). For the past three years, the Fund for Gender Equality has significantly grown in scope and size. Starting with an initial portfolio of 40 programmes and US$ 38 million awarded after its first grant making cycle 2009-2011, the Fund is ending 2012 with a total of 94 programmes and $56 M awarded with the completion of its second grant making cycle 2011-2012. This means that the Fund’s responsibilities for adequate induction and programme technical assistance and monitoring to 70 active programmes, as well as for proper closing, reporting, and evaluation and knowledge management for programmes ending implementation will increase significantly during 2013. As a result, the FGE must to review its staffing needs and adjust the ProDoc to reflect them. As the Fund grows, there is a need of a programme analyst role that supports the different programmatic functions of the Fund.
 
Currently, on the programmatic side, FGE has three programme positions at HQ, a Programme and Grant making Specialist; a Programme and Reporting Specialist and a Knowledge Management and Information Specialist, all at the P3 level. A brief overview of programme staff responsibilities are below:
  • Programme and Reporting Specialist – tasked with aggregating results and progress on the Fund’s portfolio of active grantees (70 programmes) and producing aggregate reporting (i.e. donor reports, annual reports etc.) out of 140 semester reports. In addition, the Programme and Reporting Specialist liaises with field staff in the ECA region to ensure coverage of a vacant Monitoring and Reporting Specialist post in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA region)
  • Programme and Grantmaking Specialist – tasked with managing the Fund’s bi-annual global grant making cycle (handling between 1,000 and 2,000 applications at a time).
  • Knowledge Management and Information Specialist – tasked with overseeing knowledge generation, capture and dissemination for the Fund’s active portfolio of grantees (70 programmes) and managing the use of information systems to support these initiatives.               
The existing programme staff supports the programmatic oversight of the Deputy Manager, who is also the current Interim Chief of the Fund. The Deputy Manager also manages the work of four Regional Monitoring and Reporting Specialists who oversee the Fund’s active portfolio of grantees and undertake additional work in communications and resource mobilization, as these posts remain vacant. 

Given the demands on the current programme staff at HQ, the scope of the global grant making process, and the significant size of the Fund’s portfolio of active grants, the Fund for Gender Equality therefore requests the creation of a Programme Analyst Position at a P-2 level at HQ in order to ensure business continuity for the Fund. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Deputy, the Programme Analyst will be responsible for the following activities:

Programmatic & Grantmaking
  • Support substantive programmatic and operational inputs to the Gender Equality Fund's activities;
  • Support the grants administration process for 43+ new grantees in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean (i.e. coordinate with newly selected grantee on the contractual process);
  • Liaise between Monitoring and Reporting (M&R) Specialists and UN Women HQ to address operational issues ensuring a smooth implementation of grantee programmes (e.i. processing contract amendments, No Cost Extensions, etc.);
  • Provide technical assistance to grantees as part of programmes design and implementation phases, in coordination with the Grantmaking Specialist and the M&R Specialists.
  • Create grantee materials, such as grantee lists, maps as requested by FGE and UN Women staff;
  • Support the Programme and Grantmaking Specialist in the creation of a Grantmaking Toolkit;
  • Coordinate with the Programme and Grantmaking Specialist to support the logistical and technical organization of high-level Steering Committee meeting in 2013 to support the Fund’s communication and fundraising strategies;
  • Responsible for maintaining grantee records including updated lists of submitted Financial Reports, Bi-Annual Narrative Reports, Audits and Evaluations
  • Support the Programme and Reporting Specialist in tracking and aggregating grantee results in both consolidated and annual formats.
  • Provide managerial and operational support to the Deputy Manager as needed.

Knowledge Management

  • Provide support to the KM and ICT Specialist in the implementation of the Grants and Reporting Database; including beta-testing, training and roll out;
  • Assist with the creation, editing and translating of user guides and other training materials;
  • Provide planning and logistical support in the planning of local, regional and grantee trainings;
  • Contribute to information-sharing and organizational development through use of web-based resources such as tools, templates, models, tips and guidelines, helping to ensure organization-wide quality, consistency and coherence in communicating results of Gender Equality Fund programming;
  • Coordinate with the Knowledge Management and Programme and Reporting Specialist to provide feedback on the content, layout and design of the Fund’s key communications materials (i.e. Programme Profiles, Fact Sheets, brochures, etc.).

Competencies

CORE VALUES / GUIDING PRINCIPLES: 

  • Integrity: Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
  • Professionalism: Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
  •  Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.
CORE COMPETENCIES
  • Ethics and Values: Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity
  • Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
  • Development and Innovation: Take charge of self-development and take initiative
  • Work in teams: Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
  • Communicating and Information Sharing: Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication
  • Self-management and Emotional Intelligence: Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others
  • Conflict Management: Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.
  • Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge
  • Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making
FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:
  • Very strong organization skills;
  • High attention to detail;
  • Ability to handle multiple work requests, multitask and prioritize assignments;
  • Knowledge of women’s rights and gender issues globally;
  • Knowledge of grant making;
  • Experience with databases a plus;
  • Knowledge of relevant UNDP/ UN Women programme and operations (including procurement and human resources) regulations and procedures;
  • Excellent computer skills, including Microsoft Office applications.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Master’s Degree or equivalent in International Development, Gender Studies, Public Policy, Economics, Political Sciences.
Experience:
  • 2 years of relevant experience at the national or international level in providing programme management support, hands-on experience in grant making and on design and monitoring of development projects.
  • Experience in handling of web based management systems.
Language Requirements:
  • Excellent writing skills in English;
  • Fluency in UN Language, especially Russian or Arabic, a plus.
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.