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 will lead and coordinate United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide 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 focuses on strengthening women’s voice, agency and leadership across sectors to advance women’s rights, provide space for women’s meaningful participation and to demonstrate tangible differences in their lives. The agency’s programme adopts a holistic and integrated approach across UN Women’s five thematic priorities. It is guided by Nepal’s stated priorities (including those from the Approach Paper to the Three-Year Plan 2013-2016) and its commitments to relevant normative frameworks[1], the country’s United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2013-2017, the CEDAW Concluding Observations (2011) and UN Women’s Corporate Strategic Plan 2014-2017. The programme promotes national ownership, capacity development and institutionalization, inclusiveness, coordination and partnerships, and knowledge generation and management, and seeks to prioritize engagement with and support to key duty bearers who are responsible for advancing women’s human rights and with rights holders so they can exercise voice and agency.

UN Women will establish a Research Advisory Committee (RAC) with leading experts, who will be responsible for providing strategic direction and guidance to UN Women’s new research and data agenda. The RAC will provide substantive inputs for the development of a dynamic and innovative research and data strategy for UN Women Nepal, to position the organization as a national broker for knowledge on – and central player in – research and policy on gender equality and women’s empowerment. It will also provide technical advisory support to ensure that knowledge products are of the highest standards in terms of research content as well as effective tools for policy advocacy. It will also support the office to develop and maintain relationships with academia, research and training institutes, civil society and thematic technical experts to gain and share knowledge, exchange views on current issues/trends and to incorporate cutting-edge thinking in research and data analysis on gender issues. The work undertaken by the committee will inform research priorities guided by the country’s evolving context and emerging opportunities. It will carry out studies on such issues as the nature of structural gender inequalities, the status of gender responsive public service delivery systems, and women’s land ownership patterns. It will review existing support schemes, prepare fact sheets on key issues/sectors, and develop policy briefs to inform national debate and policy formulation.

A Knowledge Management and Research Specialist will be recruited to provide necessary support and guide the above efforts to strengthen the evidence base on women’s empowerment. The Knowledge Management and Research Specialist will work with the team to complete high quality research and analysis, focusing on social policies and politics for the flagship reports and other research outputs. This role entails undertaking a wide range of research and analysis work to input directly into the reports. The Specialist will also lead on other policy-relevant research projects and contribute to the section’s broader work.

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Nepal Representative and the direct supervision of the Deputy Representative, the Knowledge Management and Research Specialist will be responsible for strategic advice on research and data to the Senior Management Team with a particular focus on forecasting emerging research and data issues and fostering innovation in research, data and knowledge management. The Knowledge Management and Research Specialist will support the office to mobilize resources for UN Women’s research and data work.

[1] The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) 1325 and 1820.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

• Research and gender analysis in wide range of areas related to gender equality and empowerment of women;
• Data analysis, including review and improvement of gender statistics;
• Provision of top quality advisory and programme development services;
• Knowledge Management;
• Advocacy support and facilitation of knowledge building and management.

Research and gender analysis in wide range of areas related to gender equality and empowerment of women:

• Conduct research on the priority areas for gender equality and empowerment of women;
• Identify factors that have a positive or negative impact on women’s rights and women’s empowerment and that lead to transformations in gender relations;
• Review contemporary literature on feminist inputs into goal- and target-setting, including academia, women’s organizations and reports/documentation from UN system and special procedures of the Human Rights Council as needed;
• Maintain a ‘watching brief’ of the current debates gender equality and empowerment of women including monitoring consultation processes, the work of High level panels and Working Groups such as the intergovernmental working group and others that will be formed over time;
• Conduct analysis on ways to mainstream gender perspectives in a wide range of areas of development (covering economic, social and environmental aspects);
• Provide substantive support for UN Women’s preparation and positioning for major inter-agency and intergovernmental reviews including the 2015 Commission of the Status of Women meetings;
• Prepare the report(s) on gender equality and empowerment of women as needed;
• Maintain roster of research organizations and consultants.

Data analysis, including review and improvement of gender statistics:

• Keep up-to-date with the literature and policy debates, especially on social policy, conduct background research, and analyse policy changes for their impact on gender equality;
• Conduct research on existing qualitative and quantitative gender indicators;
• Develop a set of gender indicators including justification and feasibility;
• Develop proposals for production of crucial baselines to secure the viability of proposed key indicators;
• Conduct background research and analysis, including using statistical modeling and other quantitative techniques;
• Ensure that research and data relevant to the report is compiled, including on the substantive theme and the statistical annexes (including technical notes, statistical references, and definitions and so on);
• Make sure that options for presenting more in-depth technical data for specialist audiences, which may include web-based formats, are scoped;
• Contribute to drafting of a variety of texts, including case studies;
• Identify potential authors of background papers and other research materials for the analytical parts; assist in commissioning and coordinating their work where requested and comment on their draft papers;
• Participate in proof-reading, data-checking and providing comments on draft chapters and sections of the report as required, including, if possible, proof-reading of translated text in languages other than English.

Provision of top quality advisory and programme development services:

• Thorough analysis and research of the political, social and economic situations in countries and at regional level and preparation of substantive inputs to support UN Women country office programme planning;
• Constant monitoring and analysis of programme environments, and provide advice with respect to timely readjustment of programme interventions;
• Identification of areas for support and interventions within the thematic/sectoral areas assigned;
• Assist with the design and formulation of programme initiatives within the area of responsibility, in order to translate UNW’s priorities into local interventions;
• Provision of programme advisory support to the Office Management within the thematic area/portfolio assigned.

Knowledge Management:

• Undertake research on good practices of existing and emerging KM approaches and tools; participate in UN wide community of practice on knowledge-sharing;
• Contribute to the Office’s Knowledge management efforts, including review of evaluation and technical reports to document lessons learned and recommendations for knowledge-sharing; Provide writing and editing support, including drafting the Inventory of UN system activities in gender quality and empowerment of women; drafting and editing knowledge products; and providing other research, drafting and editing support, including data analysis, fact-checking, talking points, blurbs, speeches, power point presentations, press and media releases and other materials on demand, or in response to internal and external requests;
• Develop guidance on how to develop associated knowledge products; analyze types of products being produced against knowledge needs; provide support in the development of strategic knowledge products;
• Contribute to systematic identification of human stories, case studies, and good practices that have the potential to capture the attention of wide range of audiences and partners.  

Advocacy support and facilitation of knowledge building and management:

• Support the establishment of advocacy networks at national and regional levels and linkages to international networks;
• Proactively and substantively support and implement relevant, high-impact advocacy activities and campaigns with key partners;
• Identify and synthesis best practices and lessons learnt directly linked to programme goals, particularly in the priority areas of violence against women, political participation and leadership, and economic empowerment;
• Proactively contribute to knowledge networks and communities of practice. 

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

Knowledge Management and Learning:

• Shares knowledge and experience through promotion of participatory learning process;
• Works actively towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas; and acts on learning plans and applies newly acquired skills;
• Demonstrated team management and coordination skills;
• Experiences of managing similar projects at the district level will be an asset;
• Result oriented, forward thinking and problem solving skills;
• Ability to deliver results in a complex and hardship environment.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

• Ability to perform a variety of tasks (multitasking) related to programme development and resource mobilization;
• Good knowledge of rights-based approach and results-based management;
• Ability to generate innovative ideas and approaches; and to provide inputs in developing programme policies and strategies;
• A good understanding of UN’s programme, finance and operational procedures will be an asset;
• Previous working experiences with Government agencies will be an added value.

Leadership and Self-Management:

• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and  positive and constructive attitudes;
• Possesses conflict management skills, remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master degree (or equivalent) in social policy, sociology, political science, gender and development or related discipline with strong gender content.

Experience:

• At least seven years of relevant work experience on substantive issues of gender equality involving research and policy analysis on gender and social policy;
• Substantive research outputs and publications, and/or high quality peer reviewed publications a strong asset;
• Previous experience working on major institutional reports with substantive gender content a strong asset;
• Good knowledge of the human rights-based approach with strong technical knowledge in results-based management and reporting;
• A proven ability to liaise with the Government and development partners;
• Experience of working in UN coordination would be an advantage.

Languages:

• Written and oral proficiency in English and Nepali is required.