UN WOMEN Jobs - 55279- Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction Specialis

Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Nairobi, KENYA

Type of Contract :

FTA Local

Starting Date :

01-Aug-2015

Application Deadline :

14-Apr-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

NO-C

Duration of Initial Contract :

One year renewable; subject to funding and performance

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

One year

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.

In Kenya, the UN WOMEN Country Programme contributes to the development objectives of Kenya’s blue print, the Vision 2030 and is aligned to the United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAF) of 2009-2014 and the upcoming UNDAF of 2014-2018, as well as UN WOMEN Global Strategic Plan. The Kenya Country Programme - “Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Gains Consolidated' - aims to achieve the following results: (i) increased women’s leadership and participation in governance; (ii) strengthened women’s economic empowerment; (iii) increased protection of women & access to justice for women; and (iv) strengthened women’s leadership in peace building and humanitarian response.

Under the overall guidance of the Country Director and direct supervision of the Deputy Country Director and in general consultation with the Peace and Security Advisor; the incumbent is responsible for UN Women’s engagement in humanitarian action and Disaster Risk Reduction initiatives/efforts in Kenya. While working in close collaboration with other UN Women Kenya units and in consultation with the Regional Humanitarian Advisor , the Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Specialist will; be responsible for operationalizing UN Women’s mandate to lead and coordinate the support of the UN system in Kenya on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the humanitarian and DRR context with a particular emphasis on technical guidance and capacity strengthening for preparedness and response; lead in advocating for a coordinated and coherent approach on gender integration in humanitarian action and DRR initiatives; be responsible for ensuring that substantive technical and strategic gender support is available to the UN System, the relevant government structures and implementing partners; lead in establishing and maintaining strategic partnerships with multi stakeholders- government, inter-agency mechanisms, CSOs and women’s associations to continuously promote gender equality programming in emergency response, humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction initiatives and ; and ensure that specialized technical and strategic support is available to the IASC humanitarian sectors/clusters and other defined coordination mechanisms at both national and county levels.

The scope of work of the Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist requires substantive experience and in-depth understanding of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues in humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction and field level expertise on coordinating gender humanitarian action at interagency levels, to translate UN Women’s strategic plans into results. It also requires experiences in developing and nurturing mutually reinforcing partnerships with national entities, civil society, institutions and the IASC humanitarian coordination mechanisms, including relevant UN entities such as UNOCHA and UNISDR and bilateral donors to enhance awareness, commitment , accountability as well as visibility and resources to advance gender equality and women empowerment. The position also requires experiences in guiding and documenting piloting initiatives with a view to inform up scaling at different levels using lessons learnt.

Duties and Responsibilities

Within the Kenya Country Office and under the supervision of the Deputy Country Director and in close collaboration with the Un Women Peace and Security Advisor, the Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist will ensure effective guidance and oversight by carrying out the following functions:

Summary of Key Functions:

Technical leadership and Strategic Planning;
Inter-agency coordination support;
Strategic Partnership building and support to resource mobilization;
Knowledge management and capacity building;
Advocacy and communication.

Technical leadership and Strategic Planning for engagement in humanitarian action and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR):

Contribute to strategic thinking and policy decisions on mainstreaming gender into humanitarian response and influence agenda and priority setting in relevant UN system-wide inter-agency task forces and governmental coordination mechanisms;
Lead the formulation and development of UN Women’s Humanitarian programme and projects in partnership with the women peace and security docket and other implementing partners with an aim to institutionalizing system wide gender equality and women’s empowerment perspectives into humanitarian response and DRR;
From an inter-agency perspective; advise, support, guide and provide substantive inputs to ensure the formulation of high quality country level humanitarian and DRR programmes and projects;
Prepare technical guidelines, documents, briefs and other strategic papers and materials for use in the development and presentation of a coherent country level strategic plans;
Lead the conceptualization of the country level annual work plan and strategic plans and ensure lessons learnt are captured to futher guie recommendations and formulation of future humanitarian and DRR programme planning;
Collaborate with the regional office humanitarian advisor to develop evidence based guidelines and strategies for humanitarian work for UN Women.

Inter-Agency Coordination Support:

Provide substantive leadership and support to the coutry office on inter-agency coordination of gender in humanitarian action and DRR and enhance coherence of UN system in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment;
Take part and support the interagency sector coordination mechanisms, governmental mechanisms and other relevant sectoral level processes focusing on humanitarian and DRR issues eg. Inter Sector Working Group, sector coordination mechanisms and working groups, cross cutting thematic working groups, Inter Agency Working Group on DRR, National DRR platform, UNDAF processes, and similar exercises related to the R/HC system ensuring that gender perspectives are clearly reflected and mainstreamed in process;
Prepare substantive inputs to the interagency coordination mechanisms on humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction and other strategic humanitarian financing mechanisms –Emergency Response Fund (ERF),Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) ,Consolidated Appeals Processes (CAP)- thoroughly analyzing and researching the contextual issues at county and national levels;
Prepare analytical and regular progress reports on UN Women’s coordination and programmatic experiences in support of UN Women inter-agency coordination role.

Strategic partnership building and support to resource mobilization:

Forge strategic partnerships and alliances at country level to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment through joint programming and inter-agency initiatives;
Provide leadership towards the implementation of strategic partnerships and resources mobilization strategies to achieve programme outcomes within the humanitarian and DRR arena in Kenya;
Create and coordinate partnerships with the relevant UN Agencies, Government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, private sector, civil society and other specialized humanitarian partners such as the red cross/crescent society etc;
Determine programmatic areas of cooperation, based on strategic goals of UN Women, and country priorities in DRR and humanitarian action;
Analysis and research of information on donors, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost-sharing;
Follow up on resource on mobilization activities for fund raising for new projects in coordination with the Deputy Country Director and Country Director.

Knowledge Management and Capacity Building:

Ensure regular monitoring and documentation of lessons learnt to provide real time evidence that guides program improvements and future strategic engagement on humanitarian action and DRR;
Promote the contextualization, development and dissemination of gender-sensitive tools and methodologies for humanitarian action and DRR at country level to relevant sectors and mechanisms;
Generate innovative capacity strengthening initiatives targeting relevant stakeholders at different levels- Government, interagency , CSO’s and community levels;
Support country staff capacity development to engage in pre and post-disaster needs assessments such as the KIRA and the PDNA and in supporting humanitarian coordination and responses from a gender perspective;
Contribute to the development and maintenance of national program knowledge networks and practices, and development of knowledge products;

Advocacy and Communication:

Advocate for UN Women’s mandate to raise awareness and stimulate actions to advance gender equality and women’s rights within humanitarian and DRR contexts and form strategy partnerships with government, UN Agencies, NGOs, academia, media and the private sector;
Actively participate in country and interagency level programming processes at national and county levels ensuring that UN Women is strategically placed within UN humanitarian and DRR coordination mechanisms;
Provide support to ensure that UN humanitarian response is done in a gender responsive manner, and within agreed national, regional and international frameworks to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment;
Engage in policy debates relevant to gender and humanitarian action, including participation in national, regional and global knowledge events and support formulation of corporate policy guidance and practice notes.

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:

Substantive knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in the field of gender equality, humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction management;
Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of humanitarian and development experiences;
Strong communication skills, with proven expertise in writing coherent and analytical policy and programme documents;
Proven analytical and problem solving skills;
Good planning, goal-setting and prioritization skills;
Effectiveness in establishing and fostering good relations with government counterparts, UN Agencies, multi-sectoral coordination mechanisms, 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 humanitarian and disaster risk management/reduction -related disciplines, gender issues,conflict resolution, peace building, public policy or other social science fields.

Experience:

A minimum of 5 years of experience at management, coordination and programming capacities in humanitarian contexts, including in conflict and post-conflict settings;
Prior experience in the UN system and in the Kenyan humanitarian /DRR context is desirable.

Language:

Fluent in English.