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 plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997 (as UNIFEM). UN Women Palestine Country Office focuses its activities on one overarching goal, namely to support the implementation at the national level of existing international commitments to advance gender equality in line with the national priorities.

In full partnership with the Palestinian government and authorities UN Women Palestine is implementing the UN Women/UNDP Joint Programme (JP) “Strengthening the Rule of Law in the oPt: Justice and Security for the Palestinian People" (2014-2017). The Programme supports the process of institutionalization and capacity development of the justice and security sectors in Palestine.

Reporting to the Special Representative, the Programme Specialist exercises overall responsibility for planning, implementing, and managing the UN Women programme on the rule of law and access to justice for women.  She/he works in close collaboration with the programme and operations team, UN Women HQ staff, government officials, civil society; implementing partners; and multi and bi-lateral donors ensuring successful UN Women programme implementation.    

Duties and Responsibilities

Manage the implementation and management of the Rule of Law programme:

  • Finalize the annual workplan and budget and manage their implementation;
  • Provide programme advisory support to the Office Management within the Rule of Law/Access to Justice area;
  • Manage the technical implementation of the programme; provide technical advice; ensure synergies with other teams;
  • Review the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports as required;
  • Provide guidance to staff and partners on Results Based Management tools and performance indicators;
  • Lead programme review and/or evaluation meetings;
  • Facilitate Programme Steering Committee Meetings.

Oversee technical assistance and capacity development to programme partners:

  • Provide substantial guidance to partners on establishment of performance indicators, and monitoring achievement of results;
  • Build, manage, and expand relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the Rule of Law programme; raise potential problems and provide solutions;
  • Serve as an expert resource to partners on Rule of Law/Access to Justice issues;
  • Identify, implement, and oversee capacity building opportunities and initiatives; support partners through technical assistance, mentoring, training, and cross partner learning and sharing;
  • Provide partners with advanced technical assistance, training and capacity development initiatives.

Manage the implementation of programme activities through monitoring and reporting:

  • Manage the process of monitoring the programme implementation of activities and finances using results based management tools;
  • Finalize quarterly reports and donor reports, focusing on results, outputs and outcomes;
  • Write Office donor and UN Women reports.

Manage the people and financial resources of the programme:

  • Manage the programme budget and finalize financial reports;
  • Manage Programme Associates; mentor and coach staff and do performance assessments;
  • Oversee recruitment processes, as necessary.

Manage inter-agency coordination Manage inter-agency coordination to achieve a coherent and aligned presence for rule of law/ women’s access to justice issues in Palestine:

  • Provide substantive technical support to the Special Representative on inter-agency coordination related activities by attending meetings, events, and participating in groups and committees;
  • Coordinate with other UN agencies, government departments, donors and NGOs to ensure the projects’ capacity development programme is harmonized and aligned with other in-country efforts;
  • Take part in country level Comprehensive Country Assessment (CCA)/UNDAF processes and similar exercises related to the RC system;
  • Prepare substantive inputs to CCA/ UNDAF and other documents, as necessary.

Lead advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts:

  • Represent UN Women in meetings and policy dialogues on issues related to Rule of Law/Access to Justice;
  • Manage advocacy strategies and their implementation;
  • Lead the development of knowledge management strategies and methodologies and products on Rule of Law/Access to Justice in Palestine.

Key Performance Indicators:

  • Timely and quality implementation of Rule of Law programme against workplan, timeline and budget, in line with the Strategic Note;
  • Strong and clear leadership/supervision of team;
  • Timely and quality reports;
  • Regular and timely monitoring of activities;
  • Enhanced best practices and lessons learned documented and circulated;
  • Quality of advocacy, communication and knowledge management initiatives;
  • Resource mobilization;
  • Strong relationships with donors, partners and other stakeholders.

Competencies

Core Values:

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.

Respect for 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:

  • Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
  • Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them for development results;
  • Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management;
  • Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports in order to inform management and strategic decision-making;
  • Excellent knowledge in area of eliminating violence against women;
  • Strong organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail;
  • Ability to lead formulation of strategies and their implementation;
  • Strong networking skills;
  • Ability to negotiate and interact with donors, identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/women's studies, international development, or a related field.

Experience:

  • Minimum 7 years of relevant work experience at the national or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
  • Strong technical experience in rule of law/access to justice issues;
  • Experience in leading/managing teams;
  • Experience in establishing relationships among international organizations and national governments in the field of gender and human rights of women;
  • Experience working on women’s human rights in MENA region;
  • Experience working in the UN System is an asset.

Languages:

  • Fluency in English is required;
  • Knowledge of Arabic as a UN official working language is an asset.

Application Information:

  • 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;
  • UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest.

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.