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.

With the creation of UN Women, the adoption of a global strategic plan and the articulation of a regional and annual work plans, there is the need to reposition UN Women, UN Women West and Central Africa Regional Office to function more effectively in its new role within the UN and with strategic partners. This is particularly important given the mandate of UN Women in contributing to the UN system’s effectiveness in advancing gender equality and empowerment of women. It is therefore critical that UN Women West and Central Africa Regional Office is staffed and managed by personnel who are well positioned at appropriate levels of authority to take UN Women to the next level. One of such key roles is the position of Policy Advisor Governance.
 
Even though studies have shown that women constitute over half of the world’s population and contribute in vital ways to societal development they play very limited roles in all sectors of the economy. Women currently occupy very low of elective positions in the National Assembly. Yet women's effective participation in politics remains key for the West and Central Africa Region’s development. Thus, it is pertinent for UN Women West and Central Africa Regional Office given its critical role of promoting gender equality and women empowerment to engage government, political parties, the media, National Assembly and other relevant stakeholders to ensure women's increased leadership and participation in decisions that affect their lives.
 
In the light of the above, UN Women seeks to engage a Policy Advisor Governance to implement its Governance strategy and policy Programme under the overall supervision of the Regional Director.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions:

  • Programme Development, Management and Implementation;
  • Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning;
  • Communications and Advocacy;
  • Developing Partnerships and Networks;
  • Research on Women’s Leadership and Participation Issues.
 Programme Development, Management and Implementation
  • Manage UN Women’s programme portfolio on Women’s Leadership and Participation in the West and Central Africa Region;
  • Coordinate implementation of the regional Policy and Strategy;
  • Formulate and implement results-based programme strategies, focusing on achieving results, including grant management and reporting with support from Operations Staff;
  • Effectively assume strategic and substantive leadership for the integration of UN Women’ strategies and values in governance, peace and security programmesin the region. This covers supporting fundraising, communication and partnership-building, evaluation and knowledge management; and ensuring information flow and team-building across the diverse network of partners and stakeholders involved in various programmes;
  • Facilitate quality assurance of all Governance programmes and undertake technical assistance and monitoring missions to the projects sites;
  • Identify capacity development needs and develop adequate solutions to ensure effective programme implementation;
  • Monitor the development of, and provide substantive guidance and technical inputs, to ensure the quality of products and tools commissioned by country teams in the context of the Governance programme;
  • Ensure high-quality, results-oriented reporting on the Governance programmes, for internal and external audiences contributing substantively to monthly, six monthly and annual reports;
  • Manage donor reporting and accountability schedule ensuring production of quality reports;
  • Perform additional job-related duties, tasks and special projects as assigned.
 Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning 
  • Coordinate the monitoring and evaluation of UN Women’s Governance programme and projects;
  • Develop and oversee wide strategic dissemination of Governance programme findings and knowledge-related publications, inclusive of select case studies, good practices and lessons learned;
  • Document, and analyze lessons learned in the area of Governance, both for the UN system at large and UN Women in particular to stimulate global institutional learning and future programming;
  • Serve as resource person on capacity development activities on Governance and other gender responsive issues as required.

Communications and Advocacy

  • Support staff for the development and implementation of communications and advocacy strategies as well as identify and seize strategic advocacy opportunities on an on-going basis;
  • Identification, synthesis and dissemination of best practices and lessons learned linked to programme outcomes.
  • Prepare briefings for internal and external audiences at all levels, ensuring consistency of messaging and quality of materials;
  • Coordinate in collaboration with UN Women Communications staff advocacy materials, publications, working and briefing papers on the programme;
  • Provide information on a timely basis on important political and institutional issues of interest for UN Women, and on potential opportunities for engagement in country;
  • Ensure learning mechanisms are established and that resulting good practices are widely disseminated;
  • Prepare briefings, talking points and presentation materials and make sound contributions to knowledge networks.
Developing partnerships and networks
  • Strengthen and enhance partnerships/ co-operation/ consultation/ coordination with a wide range of actors, for more effective and coordinated Governance programme implementation as appropriate;
  • Utilize effectively on-going coordination mechanisms to ensure coherence of the programme with other country-level processes including national development policy frameworks, UN programming and coordination processes;
  • Ensure effective partnership, networking and coordination between other on-going UN Women programmes, projects and activities in the sub-region;
  • Maintain a database of development partners in the sector and initiate result-oriented resource mobilization actions.
Research on Women’s Leadership and Participation Issues
  • Coordinate and support high quality research to generate knowledge on Gender Governance;
  • Derive Policy recommendations from research and assist in the development and implementation of an evidence-based advocacy strategy for the Programme;
  • Work in a team to produce concise reports, briefing notes 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 promote ethics and integrity by creating organizational precedents.

Organizational Awareness:

  • Build support for the organization and ensure political acumen.

Development and Innovation:

  • Support staff competence development, and contribute to an environment of creativity and innovation.

Work in teams:

  • Build and promote effective 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.

Communication and Information Sharing:

  • Create and promote an environment for open and 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:

  • Share knowledge across the organization and build a culture of knowledge sharing and learning.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

  • Ensure fair and transparent decision making processes and manage risk.
Functional Competencies
  • Strong planning, goal setting and prioritization skills;
  • Results based management and quality delivery of outputs in accordance with time and budget;
  • Ability to lead and mobilize staff and partners towards shared goals;
  • Ability to build and maintain strong relationships with partners at all levels;
  • Strong interpersonal and diplomatic skills;
  • Proven analytic and problem solving skills and capacity to write clearly and concisely;
  • Good application skills of IT tools and management systems;
  • Familiarity with UN Women and broad knowledge and understanding of the UN System;
  • Familiarity with bilateral and multilateral donor organizations, Civil Society Organizations, National Assembly, Political parties and Government. 

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Political Science, Law, International Development, International Relations, Sociology, Gender studies, or other relevant social sciences.
Experience:
  • 10 years of progressively professional experience, including experience in formulation, management, monitoring and evaluation of Women’s Leadership and Participation/governance programmes.
Language Requirements:
  • Fluency in English and French is required. Working knowledge of another UN official 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.