UN WOMEN Jobs - 50384- Re-advertisement - UN Women: Gender and Humanitari

Re-advertisement - UN Women: Gender and Humanitarian Specialist

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Erbil, IRAQ

Type of Contract :

TA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

10-Oct-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

364 days

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.

As the nature of the conflict in Iraq is becoming more apparent and its impact on local communities more severe, there is an increasing recognition among all partners that the humanitarian and development challenges arising from the crisis need accelerated action and enhanced capacity in order to be addressed. In this respect, UN Women is contributing to the UN Humanitarian and Country Team processes to support the UN humanitarian response to the crisis of the Iraqi displaced population and its impact on Iraqi host communities both in Iraqi Kurdistan and elsewhere in Iraq.

UN Women is seeking to support the Humanitarian and UN Country Team with gender equality expertise so that humanitarian response and coordination structures integrate gender equality and women’s empowerment. UN Women is seeking to expand its work in the area of women’s economic empowerment and social cohesion in host communities affected by the Iraqi conflict and the Syrian crisis, and is providing ongoing technical support to gender mainstreaming in the Strategic Response Plan (SRP).

The Gender and Humanitarian specialist, under the supervision of the UN Women Representative in Iraq and the overall guidance of the Regional Director, Arab States, will assist the UN Women Country Office at multiple levels: 1) within protection strategy, developing programmes to address the specific needs of Iraqi displaced women in camps and communities for livelihood support, 2) promoting social cohesion and responding to the needs of host communities; and 3) providing coordination support and technical expertise to the relevant humanitarian and development coordination fora.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Gender and Humanitarian Specialist based in Erbil, northern Iraq is expected to deliver on the following key functions:

Recovery planning for interventions in an emergency response;
Coordination and partnership building to enable gender responsive humanitarian actions;
Programme development, management and execution;
Evidence-based advocacy and communication;
Capacity building and knowledge management.

Policy Guidance and Strategic Planning for engagement in recovery planning & programming:

Lead development and implementation of the UN Women’s programme framework with a focus on the crisis displaced populations in Iraq while also including the host communities, in partnership with UN agencies and humanitarian partners, in support of mainstreaming gender equality and women’s empowerment concerns into humanitarian response and recovery planning and programming;
Liaise with the Humanitarian Country Team and provide technical support on gender mainstreaming for the implementation of the Strategic Response Plan;
Ensure high quality and timely reports, position papers and follow up actions;
Respond to requests for technical input on gender mainstreaming into humanitarian clusters/ sectors focusing particularly on protection, and economic recovery throughout response planning;
Promote the development of new projects;
Draft/ provide inputs to concept notes, funding proposals and project documents;
Identify strategic programme approaches and modalities which provide value added for UN Women’s engagement in humanitarian action and recovery in Iraq. Support collection of lessons learned, best practices, knowledge management;
Contribute to strategic thinking and policy decisions on strengthening gender equality mainstreaming into the SRP programming.
Contribute to fund raising to ensure sustainability of projects and programmes.

Coordination and Partnership Building:

Participate and lead UN Women’s contribution to the existing inter-agency coordination mechanisms established in Iraq in response to the Syria crisis and the ongoing crisis in Iraq and contribute to enhance coherence of UN system in promoting gender equality concerns in recovery planning;
Contribute to strategic thinking and policy decisions on strengthening gender mainstreaming into humanitarian response and recovery planning and programming;
Forge strategic partnerships and alliances at the country level to promote gender equality and women's advancement through joint projects and inter-agency efforts;
Negotiate relevant partnerships as needed to achieve UN Women Iraq strategic goals.

Advocacy and Communication:

Support UN Women’s Advocacy efforts to help raise awareness and stimulate action in addressing specific needs of displaced Iraqi women and girls and advancing gender equality and women's rights in Iraq, especially Iraqi Kurdistan, establishing strategic partnerships with governments, UN agencies, NGOs, academia, foundations, private sector etc.;
Ensure information exchange on crosscutting themes within UN Women, with a particular focus on information chains between the Programme Division, Regional office, and relevant HQ teams;
Actively participate in country level programming processes, ensuring that the UN Women is strategically placed within UN humanitarian and recovery context. Assist the Iraq UNCT to secure expertise that will ensure commitment, quality control and resources for gender equality programming.

Capacity Building and Knowledge Management:

Contribute to UN system and UN Women’s global knowledge management efforts related to collection and dissemination of best practices on crisis response by documenting and sharing best practices;
Promote development and dissemination of IASC and UN Women gender-sensitive tools and methodologies for strengthening gender coordination and mainstreaming in humanitarian action and recovery in the assigned portfolio;
Contribute to the development and maintenance of regional and national knowledge networks and practices on mainstreaming gender into humanitarian response and recovery contexts;
Support country staff capacity development to engage in humanitarian response and recovery and in supporting system coordination and responses from a gender perspective.

Impact of Results:

The functions of the incumbent have direct impacts on strengthening humanitarian and recovery programming for the benefit of displaced Iraqi women and girls and host communities in Iraq. As such, the activities carried out by the incumbent will have a significant influence on humanitarian action in Iraq and the standing of UN Women in the country before national authorities, donors and other relevant humanitarian and development stakeholders.

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:

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

Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning:

Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others.

Functional Competencies:

Substantive knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in the fields of gender equality and humanitarian action;
Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of humanitarian and development experience;
Strong communications skills, with proven expertise in writing cogent and convincing policy and programme documents;
Good knowledge of the UN system;
Proven ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
Ability to lead strategic planning, programme development and implementation, results-based management and reporting;
Proven analytical and problem solving skills;
Good planning, goal-setting and prioritization skills including ability to work under stress;
Effectiveness in establishing and fostering good relations with government counterparts, UN agencies, donors, and NGO partners.
Ability to leverage information technology, executive information systems, management techniques and tools for optimal office performance.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, international relations, public administration, gender issues, or other development-related fields.

Experience:

A minimum of 7 years of experience in development programming preferably in the area of recovery and gender equality, including in conflict and post-conflict settings. Livelihoods experience would be an asset;
Substantive and technical experience in inter-agency coordination, experience working with governments, donors and civil society organizations internationally and in the field.

Languages:

Fluency in written and spoken English;
Knowledge of Kurdish and/or Arabic would be 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.