Background

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women will work 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 centre 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 Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women Kyrgyzstan

Holistic approach to programming and close collaboration with national partners enabled UN Women to provide rapid and meaningful emergency response during and after the conflict situation in the Southern part of Kyrgyzstan in 2010. The new challenges have set forward the need to strategize the role of UN Women in humanitarian response and coordination for ensuring that gender equality and women’s human rights issues are an integral part of peace building, reconstruction and reconciliation processes in the country. Along with continued support to national commitments on MDGs/CEDAW/BPFA, UN Women will promote national strategies on the implementation of the UN SCRs 1325 and 1820. 

In Kyrgyzstan, the UN Gender Theme Group is led by UN Women and works in accordance with a comprehensive ‘UNCT Kyrgyzstan Gender Mainstreaming Strategy 2010–2016’, which ensures consistent and well coordinated UN support to gender equality in Kyrgyzstan.  UN Women programmes are developed and implemented in close partnership with UN agencies, including through the process of development of a new UNDAF for 2012- 2016.
 
UN Women /DPA Joint strategy on Gender and mediation
Peace processes provide a critical opportunity to reshape the political, security and broader socio-economic landscape of a nation state. However, women have been consistently marginalized in peacemaking efforts. The low number of women at the peace table demonstrates a gap between the aspirations of many global and regional commitments, and the reality women face at the local and national levels. Five UN Security Council resolutions (S/RES/1325 (2000), S/RES/1820 (2008), S/RES/1888 (2009, S/RES/1889 (2009), and S/RES/1960 (2010) and the United Nations Secretary-General’s reports on mediation support (2009) and women’s participation in peace building (2010) have repeatedly called for the inclusion of dedicated gender expertise and greater numbers of women in peace negotiations.
 
Yet, ensuring women’s participation in peacemaking is not only a matter of women’s rights. Women are crucial partners in shoring up the three pillars of lasting peace: economic recovery, social cohesion and political legitimacy. By including women in peace processes, a mediation process can expand the domestic constituencies engaged in peacemaking, which in turn can build the credibility of the process and broaden national ownership. It can also bring more comprehensive understanding of the causes and alternative solutions to conflict. If women’s participation can result in responses that address broader needs, including their own, this in turn can contribute to the long-term sustainability of the peace agreement.
 
To achieve greater effectiveness of UN Mediation efforts through the increased participation of women and strengthened capacity to address gender issues in peace processes, UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and UN Women launched a Joint Strategy on Gender and Mediation to:
1. Increase the availability and quality of gender expertise in mediation processes; and
2. Support greater and more effective participation by women at all levels of conflict resolution and peacemaking including through the identification and preparation of qualified female mediators
 
With an aim to strengthen the development and implementation of gender-responsive peacebuilding activities in Kyrgyzstan, UN Women is looking for a Programme Specialist who will take responsibilities for UN Women programming, policy advice and technical assistance on peacebuilding, mediation and conflict prevention in Kyrgyzstan.
 

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the EECA Regional Programme Director and in close coordination with the UN Women Gender Advisor and the UN Women Peace and Security Cluster and EECA programme and operation staff, the International Programme Specialist will take responsibilities for the following:
 
Technical assistance (25%)
 
  • Conceptualize new programme and projects on gender and mediation in Kyrgyzstan.
  • Provide substantive inputs to the operationalization of new programme and projects on gender and mediation in Kyrgyzstan.
  • Review and provide feedback to ongoing projects, project-related strategies and documents, work-plans, case studies and related knowledge products and publications as requested.
  • Ensure effective information flow and  communication in the gender and mediation area and, if required, coordination with other UN Women peacebuilding related programmes, projects and activities.
  • Provide guidance and support to regional and national partners on gender responsive mediation  and peacebuilding initiatives and build strategic links with the work being done on national development strategies  and NAP and under international frameworks on women, peace and security.
 
Programme Development, Management and Monitoring (25%)
 
  • Develop and oversee implementation of UN Women programmes in relation to gender-responsive mediation and conflict resolution initiatives in Kyrgyzstan.
  • Advise, guide and provide input into the formulation of quality project proposals for UN Women 's intervention in the areas of mediation and peacebuilding, setting models for achieving aspired results according to clear monitoring and evaluation systems.
  • Ensure a holistic programming approach and coherence between UN Women programmes, projects, activities and partnerships, and identifying existing and missing capacities, resources and partnerships.
  • Ensure timely and proper collection of documentation regarding the implementation of mediation-related programmes, in accordance with the UN Women Documenting Guide.
 
Network with and Build Capacity of National Women’s Organizations (25%):
  • Support grassroots women’s civil society organizations and advocates to increase their influence in shaping national peacebuilding plans, strategies and financing mechanisms, through network development, development of oversight bodies, capacity development and support to the development of national and international advocacy platforms.
  • Facilitate access of national women’s organizations to decision making spaces, including peace fora and formal peace negotiations in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia.
  • Facilitate South-South and regional cooperation among women’s peacebuilding organizations on gender-responsive mediation initiatives and peacebuilding processes.
  • Inform the development of the UN Women Global Database of Women and Peacebuilding Organizations, developed under the Joint Strategy on Gender and Mediation.
 
Strategic partnership and resource mobilization (15%):
 
  • Strengthen and enhance partnerships/cooperation/consultations/coordination with national and local state actors, national and international civil society actors, especially, women's organizations, bilaterals, UN, World Bank, donors, academia, private sector and private foundations for more effective and coordinated implementation of the country strategies in the area of women, peace and security.
  • Ensure internal partnerships, networking and coordination between ongoing UN Women programmes, projects and activities for a more holistic and coherent approach to implementing the UN Women/DPA Joint Strategy on Gender and Mediation.
  • Take active role and provide substantive inputs into the process of resource mobilization and partnership building for fund raising for mediation-related programmes.
 
Advocacy, Knowledge Management and Communications (10%):
 
  • Support and facilitate necessary advocacy efforts in support of the implementation of the UN Women/DPA Joint Strategy on Gender and Mediation.
  • Document, and analyze lessons learned from Kyrgyzstan that might be useful for the UN Women/DPA Joint Strategy on Gender and Mediation.
  • Develop and ensure the implementation of annual communications and advocacy plans and identify and seize strategic advocacy opportunities on an ongoing basis.
  • Ensure maintenance of a calendar of the most relevant international/regional/national peace fora and events on mediation and conflict resolution, facilitate access to that information by partners and relevant UN Women staff, and coordinate their participation.

Competencies

Core Values

  • Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct
  • Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.
 
Management and Leadership:
  • Establish and maintain relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs, gain support.
  • Pro-activity in developing solutions.
  • Monitor progress against milestones and deadlines.
  • Demonstrate 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.
  • Demonstrate strong written and oral communication skills.
  • Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills.
  • Ability to establish priorities for self and others, 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 post conflict socio-economic environment.
 
Knowledge Management and Learning:
  • Possess in-depth knowledge of the issues of women's rights, mediation and peacebuilding.
  • Knowledge and experience with programming, monitoring and evaluation.
  • Actively work towards continuing personal learning and development, act on learning plan and apply newly acquired skills.
  • Seek and apply knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of UN Women.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Masters degree or equivalent in the fields of gender and international affairs, political science, social sciences, development and/or security studies.
 
Experience:
  • At least 7 years of management and supervisory experience for programming geared to support women's empowerment and rights, with particular experience in complex and multi-component programmes on gender responsive governance, peace and security.
  • A proven track record in rights-based and results-based management, monitoring and reporting.
  • Experience writing project documents, fundraising proposals and project reports.
  • Fundraising experience will be considered an asset.
  • Experience in developing and implementing advocacy strategies and public speaking skills.
  • International peacebuilding experience and multi-cultural exposure.
 
Language Requirements:
  • Fluency in English.
  • Russian is highly desirable.
 
 
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.
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.