UN WOMEN Jobs - 48788- UN Women: Special Assistant to the Executive Dire

UN Women: Special Assistant to the Executive Director

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

27-Aug-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

One Year

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

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

The Special Assistant position is located centrally in the Office of the Executive Director, UN Women and reports to the Executive Director. The Office of the Executive Director, UN Women is responsible managing and ensuring the provision of substantive support to intergovernmental processes on gender equality and the empowerment of women on a global level. The Office of the Executive Director is responsible for providing vision, strategic planning and establishing priorities, leading the senior management team, leading advocacy as a global voice for women, ensuring coordination in the UN Common System, providing overall management and oversight and ensuring accountability to governance bodies.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

The Special Assistant to the Executive Director, UN Women, will provide timely analytical information, coherent policy advice and will have a proven ability to work and act under pressure and with discretion in a sensitive and challenging environment. He/She has to have excellent communication and organization skills to manage the substantive and normative agenda.

Within the relevant delegated authority, the Special Assistant will be responsible for the following duties:

Support the Executive Director in the performance of her functions, including by the provision of sound policy inputs on issues as appropriate, to facilitate her representation with UN Women staff at HQ;
Support the Executive Director in her interactions with other UN entities by working closely with liaison staff of senior officials of those entities;
Manage the Executive Director’s agenda; evaluating and keeping track of important events, meetings and advising her of priorities and critical meetings requiring her presence and making necessary arrangements for her participation including the preparation of papers, policies, etc;
Ensure the timely preparation of relevant background documents and the organization of briefings for meetings; ensure the relevant staff are informed and/or called to attend. Assist in the follow-up to meetings, including the preparation of relevant notes and briefing to staff, as appropriate;
Draft and /or review substantive correspondence as well as edit and clear briefing notes, talking points, meeting notes prepared by others, notes for the file, presentations;
Review incoming and outgoing correspondence and refer it to, and hold consultations with, appropriate units/officers. Take initiative in drafting and preparing correspondence for the Executive Director’s signature;
Provide support to the Senior Management Team (SMT) meetings and retreats, including preparation of agenda and minutes, ensuring the timely submission and circulation of relevant background documents and reports;
Ensure the timely follow-up to the Executive Director’s directives, including the effective dissemination of pertinent information to senior management and other relevant staff at Headquarters and in other offices;
Maintain close contacts with the Intergovernmental Support Strategic Partnership Bureau, the Policy and Programme Bureau and the Division of Management and Administration and bring to the attention of the Executive Director and the Chief of Staff (or Special Advisor) all matters requiring their personal attention. Formulate options as to how those matters might be best handled and followed-up, as directed;
Manage the planning and organization of the Executive Director’s official travel, including the timely preparation of official travel files and background documents by the relevant divisions and units as well as prepare or ensure the preparation of official travel reports;
Perform other official duties and special assignments which may be requested by the Executive Director .

Impact of Results:

The key results have an impact on the overall efficiency and success of Office of the Executive Director, UN Women. In particular, the key results will ensure overall coordination and will have an impact on the delivery of services. Results will contribute to ensure a coherent team, timely and effective delivery of UN Women activities.

Competencies

Core Values and 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:

Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;

Developing and Empowering People/Coaching and Mentoring:

Self-development, initiative-taking.

Working in Teams:

Acting as a team player and facilitating team work.

Communicating Information and Ideas:

Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively.

Self-management and Emotional intelligence:

Creating synergies through self-control.

Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements:

Managing conflict.

Knowledge Sharing/Continuous Learning:

Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of other.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision-Making:

Informed and transparent decision making.

Functional Competencies:

Management and Leadership:

Strong analytical and information-management skills required to distill the considerable volume of information submitted to the Executive Director down to his/her core/key elements.
Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback.
Establishes lasting relationships and substantive dialogue that create valuable intervention opportunities for the office and facilitate access to critical information within and outside the Office.
Maintains confidentiality.

Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities:

Ability to lead effectively, mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills.
Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills in English (and Spanish).
Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure.
Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills.

Displays cultural sensitivity and adaptability:

Communicates effectively with and relates to people of different cultures, demonstrating an ability to see issues from other perspectives.
Displays positive attitude and enthusiasm – consistently approaches the work of the office with energy and constructive attitude.
Executes special projects consistent with commitment to UN values on gender equality, cultural, religious, national and ethnic diversity.

Knowledge Management and Learning:

Promotes knowledge management in UNW and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example.

In-depth practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues:

Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.
Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of UN Women.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in one or more of the following disciplines: social sciences, political science, international relations, business administration or management, public administration, or other related fields.

Experience:

Seven years of progressively varied responsible experience with international and/or corporate organizations preferably in the United Nations system and its organizations.

Language:

Fluency in one of the working languages of the UN Secretariat, English or French, (both oral and written) is required;
Knowledge of another UN official language is an advantage.

Application:

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.
Previous applicants need not reapply as their previous submissions will be considered.

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.