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.

UN Women Multi-Country Office (MCO) is based in Almaty, Kazakhstan and covers 4 countries in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). MCO programming in Tajikistan includes support to Government and civil society organizations in the development and implementation of innovative approaches aimed at achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment, specifically targeting women’s economic empowerment, women's involvement in conflict prevention and conflict managements, ending violence against women and making government budgets and policies more responsive to women's needs and experience.

The Project ‘Support to Civil Registration Reform in Tajikistan’ led by UNDP with financial support from SDC has been launched in December 2015. The overall goal of the project is protection of women, men and children’s human rights (civil, social, political and economic) by enhanced provision of civil registration services and by increased public access to the civil registration system. The Project determined two strategies towards achieving the set goal, more specifically:  reforming civil registry system that is effectively managed and provides quality and affordable services to the population and qualitative vital statistical data for the State; and educating  population so they know how to and timely have their vital events recorded in the civil registry system. The project will cover policy and institutional levels and will also cover issues related to service delivery and population access.

The project will be implemented with involvement of UNDP as leading agency, UN Women, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNHCR and WHO in close cooperation with the Ministry of Justice. The project will work with the different actors at different levels to make civil registry institutions and mechanisms more responsive to the populations needs and more functional, by developing capacities among the relevant institutions and stakeholders and by simplifying and standardization the processes. The project will adopt a human rights based approach and will work on both the supply and demand sides of civil registration service provision enabling each side to substantively contribute to implementation of the civil registration reform process.

With a purpose to implement UN Women planned activities related to protection of women and girls’ human rights (civil, social, political and economic rights) UN Women plans to hire a Project Coordinator who will be based in Dushanbe. The Project Coordinator will bear fully responsibility for overall implementation of the planned activities for enhancing civil registration system and developing capacity of service providers and raising awareness of women and girls on the existing civil registration services. 

Duties and Responsibilities

The National Project Coordinator will work under direct supervision of UN Women Programme Specialist in Tajikistan and in close collaboration with UN Women Multi-Country Office team for effective achievement of results, anticipating and contributing to resolving complex project -related issues and information delivery. The incumbent is expected to manage the implementation of UN Women-led activities within the project. More specifically, he/she will perform the following tasks:

Project management and coordination:

  • Ensure sound management of UN Women-led activities of the CRRF project, including planning, monitoring and reporting  stages;
  • Coordinate and ensure the timely and efficient delivery of the project outputs and products leading to the achievement of expected results;
  • Ensure overall coordination activities of the implementing partners;
  • Be responsible for the coordination and implementation of the overall project work plans according to indicators for achieving planned results, as well as for the overall management of the project in accordance to prevailing UN Women rules, regulations and procedures;
  • Liaise with UNDP CRRF Programme Manager, national counterparts, and donors to ensure that project results are achieved and resources are managed efficiently and effectively;
  • Coordinate the efficient use of financial resources of the project,  including budgeting and budget revisions, as well as expenditure tracking and reporting;
  • Continuously document  and systematically archive relevant project activities, issues, risks, etc. as per existing rules and procedures;
  • Lead and coordinate the organization of meetings, workshops, conferences and related activities relevant to the overall implementation of the Project.

Project  monitoring and reporting:

  • Monitor project implementation and activities versus set targets and indicators;
  • Monitor the implementation of activities and the expenditure of funds by using internal systems and rules and regulations;
  • Ensure timely and quality delivery of baseline, monitoring, evaluation plans and reports     (quarterly, annual and final and final);
  • Identify key performance indicators as well as develop and maintain a monitoring system to ensure effective information sharing, provision of feedback and elaboration of top quality progress reports;
  • Present work-plans, periodic narrative progress reports and expenditures status reports to the UNDP CRRF Programme Manager in line with the project reporting schedule;
  • Contribute substantively to UN Women quarterly monitoring and annual RMS (results management system) based reporting;
  • Monitor overall allocation and disbursement of project funds, making sure funds are properly allocated and appropriate actions are taken to optimize use of project funds.

Communication and advocacy:

  • Develop and ensure the implementation of a project communication plan and identify and seize strategic advocacy opportunities on an ongoing basis;
  • Establish partnership with key communications and media actors to raise awareness of women from vulnerable layers of population to ensure that their vital events recorded in the civil registry system;
  • Ensure high quality information and visibility of the Project activities to the mass media and stakeholders;
  • Assist in advocating the project-related results at relevant conferences, high-level events and briefings to a variety of audiences;
  • Ensure the quality and content of related press and communications materials.       

Developing partnerships and networks:

  • Strengthen partnership/co-operation/ consultation/ coordination with, where appropriate, national state actors, civil registration offices, local authorities in pilot districts, civil society partners, especially, women's organizations and local activists, UN, donors, academia, private sector and private foundations for more effective and coordinated project implementation;
  • Ensure effective partnership, networking and coordination between other ongoing UN Women projects and activities in the country for a more holistic and coherent approach to project implementation.

Knowledge management:

  • Ensure timely and proper documentation of the project implementation process and products produced in accordance with the UN Women guides;
  • Document and analyze lessons learnt that might be useful to UN system at large and UN Women in particular;
  • Advise UN Women on strategies and approaches for promoting gender equality and women’s human rights based on the lessons learnt;
  • Contribute to the exchange of information and knowledge product within the CRRF Programme and outside. 

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

  • Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standard;
  • Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

Management and Leadership:

  • Possesses in-depth knowledge of the issues of women's rights and gender equality;
  • Knowledge and experience with project management, monitoring and evaluation;
  • Establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs, gain support, and is proactive in developing solutions;
  • Monitors progress against milestones and deadlines;
  • Demonstrates openness to change, flexibility, and ability to manage complexities;
  • Ability to work under pressure and with multi-disciplinary and multicultural teams and possess excellent inter-personal skills;
  • Demonstrates strong written and oral communication skills;
  • Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills;
  • Ability to establish priorities and to work independently.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

  • Proven ability to problem-solve and think creatively to develop and implement smart business solutions in a challenging socio-economic environment;
  • Proven ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them for development results;
  • Ability to lead formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects;
  • Good knowledge of Results Based Management principles and approaches.

Knowledge Management and Learning:

  • Promotes knowledge management and a learning environment in the office and among local partners through leadership and personal example;
  • 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 in Law, Public Administration, Education or development related field.

Experience:

  • At least 5 years of experience in project management to support women's empowerment and rights, with particular experience in complex and multi-component programmes/projects, experience in promotion of women’s human rights;
  • Proven experience of working with state institutions, especially in rule of law and justice sector;
  • In-depth knowledge of Government structure and Legal and Judicial institutions framework;
  • Good understanding of Tajikistan’s development context in general and civil registration issues in particular;
  • Previous experience in the area of civil registration is an advantage;
  • Experience in writing project documents and reports;
  • Partnership building and fundraising experience;
  • Experience in developing advocacy strategies and public speaking highly desirable.

Language:

  • Fluency in English, Russian and Tajik is required.

Application process

Note: the system will only allow one attachment, hence all supporting document e.g. P11, CV and Cover letter must be scanned as ONE attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. Only qualified, shortlisted candidates will be contacted for test and interview.

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.