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.

Under the supervision of the Americas and the Caribbean Regional Director, the Peace and Security Specialist, is particularly expected to engage proactively with local and regional partners to ensure gender issues are addressed on efforts in the region related to peace-making, peacekeeping and peace building, such as, amongst others, within formal mediation processes with UN’s involvement, transitional justice mechanisms at the country level, security sector reform processes.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Analysis and monitoring of trends, opportunities and challenges;
• Programme development and technical support;
• Establish, strengthen and maintain strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, regional and international actors, and development partners;
• Knowledge Management and Reporting.
  

• Provide policy recommendations, strategic advice and proposed courses of action to the Regional Director and Country Offices;
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of regional and global peace and security developments and events and integrate information and analysis in support of policy development, analysis, outreach and advocacy.
• Prepare analytical reports, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, talking points and others as required by senior management;
• Establish and maintain close working contacts with key national, regional and local stakeholders from Government, Civil Society, Regional Organizations and other relevant international and regional actors to build, strengthen and maintain strategic alliances and partnerships on women and peace and security issues and initiatives
• Represent UN Women at inter-governmental and regional meetings on women and peace and security issues in the region, as requested by the Regional Director;
• Work closely with colleagues of UN Women's Peace and Security Section in the Policy Division to identify promising practices, technical expertise, and strategic opportunities for addressing women’s empowerment and gender issues in the area of peace and security in the Americas and the Caribbean region;
• Engage in global and regional normative discussions dealing with conflict and personal security.

• Promote coordination and participation in joint activities with various stakeholders to work collaboratively in the area of peace and security in the region such as: UN agencies, relevant government stakeholders, civil society, Inter-governmental organizations and regional women's networks;
• Work closely with UN Women country offices in the region and provide programme guidance and support to develop and implement programmes at the local and national level in the area of peace and security, including conflict prevention, mediation, transitional justice, security sector, peacekeeping, conflict-related sexual violence, national action plans on SCR 1325, among others;
• Support country offices to provide technical assistance to the Government on key Women and Peace and Security issues, including for the development and implementation of National Action Plans on women and peace and security, as requested by the Regional Director and in collaboration with the Peace and Security Section in the Policy Division;
• Specific support to women and peace and security issues in Colombia (with a focus on the peace process and related processes), Guatemala (with a focus on the transitional justice process) and Haiti (with a focus on community security, armed violence reduction, justice and ssr processes), in collaboration with the Peace and Security Section in the Policy Division.
  

Establish, strengthen and maintain strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, regional and international actors, and development partners:

• Support the building of strategic alliances and partnerships to develop regional strategies and initiatives on the area of women and peace and security;
• Maintain close liaison with relevant donors and other actors supporting efforts on women and peace and security in the region;
• Support resource mobilization efforts at regional and country levels for the implementation of women and peace and security initiatives in the region;
• Collaborate with UN Entities at the regional level, and support country offices, in accelerating the implementation of the SG’s Action Plan on Women’s Participation in Peace building;
• Liaise with relevant regional organizations engaged in peace and security issues, such as peacekeeping institutions, regional networks and academic institutions;
• Maintain close contact with relevant staff in UN Women HQ.
  

Knowledge Management and Reporting:

• Collect information at the regional level to input to the annual SG report on Women and Peace and Security (usually due by May of each year), as well as other relevant thematic SG reports such as Peace building;
•  Provide strategic information to input into briefings by UN Women’s Executive Direction to the Security Council, as requested;
• Provide inputs regarding the implementation of the SG’s Action Plan on Women’s Participation in Peace building
• Manage the process of compiling reports and lessons learned on women and peace and security issues in the region and contribute to UN Women's related knowledge management efforts;
• Facilitate cross-regional exchange of best practices and lessons learned with Regional Peace and Security advisers and Peace and Security Section in Policy Division;
• Contribute to the development of the regional knowledge hub on women and peace and security and propose plans to enrich its evidence base on women and peace and security in the region.

The strategic and technical advice provided to the implementation of programmes and projects at the regional and country level enhances overall efficiency, timeliness and effectiveness of developed strategic plans on the subject. Coordination will ensure stronger and smoother coordination with field offices considering their experience and in-depth understanding of gender equality and peace and security issues. This enhances the impact of UN Women’s initiatives in its focus areas to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Competencies

Core Values and 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.
  

• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.
  

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
  

• Take charge of self-development and take initiative.
  

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds. 

• Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.
  

• Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others .
  

• Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.
  

• Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge;
  
• Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

• Substantive experience and record of accomplishment in the area of women and peace and security;
• Demonstrated People Management skills;
• Familiarity with the LAC Region, women's rights organizations and networks in the region and globally;
• Good knowledge of the UN Women and UN system;
• Proven ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
• Ability to lead strategic planning, programme development and implementation, results-based management and reporting;
• Ability to develop and maintain strong partnerships and mobilize resources.

Required Skills and Experience

• Master's degree (or equivalent) in social sciences, international development or related field.

• A Minimum of 7 of progressively responsible experience in the area on women, peace and security. Field based experience working with multi-cultural teams is required.
  

Languages:

• Fluency in written and oral Spanish and English is required. Working knowledge of French is desirable.
  

• 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;
• UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest.

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.