Background

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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 is mandated to lead and coordinate 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 national priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with government, civil society and other relevant actors.

In Nepal, UN Women's current programme focuses on women's leadership in peace and security, economic empowerment of women and gender responsive national planning and budgeting processes to contribute to achieving the goals of gender equality and empowerment of women. In addition to the above, UN Women also actively participates and contributes to various UN inter-agency processes and collaborates with UN organizations around specific programme areas. UN Women is committed to support women and girls affected by the earthquake and address areas outlined in Nepal Flash appeal for provision of humanitarian response and early recovery efforts to women and girls affected by the April earthquake.

UN Women Nepal continues its work to strengthen the women’s economic empowerment through initiating the programme on ‘’Advancing Women’s Economic Empowerment- Ensuring sustainable and Equitable Development 2015- 2017’’. The programme contributes to the UN Women Nepal Country Office’s Strategic Note and Annual Work Plan for 2014-2017. It is designed to support the Government of Nepal in its efforts to develop and implement policies to advance women’s economic empowerment and sustainable development.

The programme is envisaged to enhance the capacity of government officials as duty bearers to integrate and monitor the inclusion of gender equality provisions in economic policies, and provide skills and enterprise development assistance for networks of excluded women as rights holders for sustainable livelihoods. It will also increase the rights holders’ capacity and opportunity to influence national decision making processes for sustainable development. Research will be undertaken to strengthen the evidence base for policy advocacy on women’s economic empowerment. To support advocacy efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment, the programme will focus on creating an enabling environment to challenge structural inequalities as well as supporting the networks of excluded women to connect,  engage and contribute to national policy discussions and processes with influence. It will also specifically address the response to the earthquake through development and implementation of women’s economic empowerment programmes and projects during the early recovery and reconstruction and rehabilitation periods.

Recognizing the existing challenges and opportunities regarding rural women’s agency and rights, four UN agencies- Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Food Programme (WFP) and UN Women have come together with the aim to accelerate progress for economic empowerment of rural women, and to assist rural women in lifting themselves out of poverty, while promoting equitable and inclusive growth in Nepal. The programme has been endorsed by the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD) as a pilot programme to support the implementation of the 20-year Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS).

Under the overall guidance and direction of the supervisor, the Programme Officer provides programme support in response to the Nepal earthquake and to the effective management of the women’s economic empowerment unit in the Country Office by contributing in the programme design, formulation, implementation and evaluation. S/he supports the delivery of the programme by analyzing results achieved during implementation and supporting appropriate application of systems and procedures.  She/he works in close collaboration with the programme and operations team, UN Women HQ staff, Government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society ensuring successful UN Women programme implementation under portfolio and response to the Nepal earthquake.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

• Programme Development and Management;
• Inter-agency Coordination Support;
• Strategic partnerships and resource mobilization Support;
• Advocacy support and Knowledge building and management.

Programme Development and Management:

• Under the guidance of the supervisor, supports the analysis and research of the political, social and economic situation in the country and drafts reports to support the UN Women country office’s economic empowerment programme planning;
• Participates in the design and formulation of programme initiatives in the assigned focus area translating UN Women’s priorities into local interventions and ensuring substantive rigor in the design and application of proven successful approaches;
• Facilitates the collaborative relationships with other UN agencies, experts, government counterparts ensuring timely and efficient delivery of inputs related to assigned portfolio;
• Supports the effective application of RBM tools and monitoring achievement of results;
• Manage programme/projects appraisal and evaluation according to results-based management requirements.

Inter-Agency Coordination Support:

• Provides programme support to the supervisor on inter-agency coordination related activities;
• Take part in country level cluster meetings in response to earthquake and prepare substantive inputs ensuring mainstreaming of gender in all cluster operation;
• Provides inputs for the country level Comprehensive Country Assessment (CCA)/UNDAF processes and similar exercises related to the RC system by ensuring that gender concerns are clearly reflected;
• Participate in UNDAF Outcome Steering Group meetings;
• Contribute to CCA/ UNDAF processes and other documents by collecting substantive inputs form the Programme Unit and analyzing and researching the political, social and economic situation in the region;
• Helps puts together analytical and regular progress reports on UN Women´s program experiences in support of UN women inter-agency coordination role;
• Support the identification and development of strategic partnerships and alliances at the country level to promote gender equality and women's advancement through joint projects and interagency efforts in response to earthquake;
• As designated, in consultation with Country Representative and Deputy Country Representative, contribute to fund-raising activities including support with the development of new project proposals for use in resource mobilization addressing earthquake response.

Strategic partnerships building and resource mobilization Support:

• Supports strategic partnerships and resource mobilization efforts by researching relevant documentation, and participating in donor meetings and public information events;
• Maintains information and databases on donors and developing database of project profiles for presentation to donors;
• Supports the drafting of donor reports;
• Ensure good partnerships with the UN Agencies, government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, private sector, civil society etc.;
• Researches information on donors and drafts briefs on possible areas of cooperation;
• Follows up on resource on mobilization activities for fund raising for new projects in coordination with the supervisor.

Advocacy support and facilitation of knowledge building and management:

• Under the guidance of the supervisor, supports the establishment of advocacy networks at national/local level;
• Supports relevant, high-impact advocacy activities and campaigns with key partners;
• Collects knowledge on current and emerging trends by gathering relevant information on programme, projects, strategies, approaches and ongoing experience for lessons learned, best practices;
• Support the development and dissemination of gender-sensitive tools and methodologies for humanitarian actions at the country level;
• Contributes to knowledge networks and communities of practice;
• Drafts project briefs, reports and documents as required.

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 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:

• Development/programming skills particularly those that are pertinent to UN Women strategic priorities on gender issues and women’s rights;
• Ability to support formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects;
• Substantive knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in the fields of gender equality and humanitarian action including disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness, disaster response management and early recovery;
• Knowledge of Results Based Management principles and approaches;
• Ability to maintain networks and partnerships with UN agencies and other international partners to promote partnership and build alliances to advance organizational interests and competencies;
• Demonstrated good oral and written communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree in Economics, Gender and human rights related disciplines, Social Sciences or related field.

Experience:

• Minimum 2 years of relevant experience at the national or international level with development projects including some experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of development projects for gender and humanitarian action and human rights issue, preferably in the area of women’s economic empowerment.

Languages:

• Fluency in written and spoken English and Nepali is required.