Jobs - 33933- UN Women - Economic Adviser

UN Women - Economic Adviser

Location :

Panama City, PANAMA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

30-Nov-12 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-5

Duration of Initial Contract :

One year

Languages Required :

English Spanish

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations (UN) 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 launched its Regional Center for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in Panama following a series of consultations which enabled UN Women to identify a number of sectors and issues as priority programmes for the next years. As per the LAC regional strategy, the priority areas of work are (i) expanding women's leadership and participation; (ii) enhancing women's economic empowerment; and (iii) ending violence against 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.

The scope of work of the Economics Adviser requires experience and in-depth understanding of gender equality and women's political empowerment issues, to translate UN Women's strategic plans in the area of economic empowerment into effective programmes and results. It also requires developing mutually reinforcing partnerships with relevant Government counterparts, UN organizations, and CSOs.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the LAC Regional Director, the Economics Adviser, based at the Regional Center in Panama, is expected to engage proactively on women's leadership and economics issues with local and regional figures to help advance women's economic empowerment in Latin America and the Caribbean and deliver on the following key functions:

Analysis and monitoring of trends, opportunities and challenges
Programme development and technical support
Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, regional and international actors and development partners
Knowledge management and reporting

Analysis and monitoring of trends, opportunities and challenges:

Provide policy recommendations, strategic advice and proposed courses of action to the Regional Director and Country Representatives;
Establish and maintain close working contacts with national partners and regional actors , civil society, and international organizations in the region;
Maintain up-to-date knowledge of economic events and integrate information and analysis in support of policy development, analysis, outreach and advocacy;
Draft and briefings to senior management and other officials as required;
Prepare analytical reports, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, correspondence and talking points;
Liaise with key national, regional, and local stakeholders from Government and civil society and key international actors to build up and strengthen strategic alliances and partnerships on Economics initiatives;
Represent UN Women at inter-governmental and regional meetings on Women's economic empowerment in the region;
Propose plan of action for immediate and long- range actions on women's economic empowerment in the region;
Work closely with colleagues of UN Women's policy advisors to identify promising practices, technical expertise, and strategic opportunities for enhancing gender equality and women's economic empowerment.

Programme development and technical support:

Manage and be responsible for the overall implementation of the UN Women Regional economic empowerment programme;
Assist country offices in developing and strengthening policies to scale up efforts to increase women's access to decent work and economic empowerment;
Work closely with UN Women country offices in the LAC Region and provide programme guidance and support to develop and implement programmes at the local and national level to enhance women's economic empowerment;
Promote coordination and participation in joint activities with various stakeholders such as UN agencies, women's national machineries, civil society, Inter-governmental organizations and regional women's networks, so as to work collaboratively in pursuit of the shared goal of increasing women's economic empowerment.

Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, regional and international actors and development partners:

Support the building of strategic alliances and partnerships for women economic empowerment related strategies and initiatives;
Maintain close liaison with relevant donors and other actors supporting efforts towards women's economic empowerment in the region;
Support country offices in mobilizing resources for the implementation of women's economic initiatives;
Maintain close contact with relevant staff at UN Women HQ.

Knowledge Management and Reporting:

Manage the process of compiling reports and lessons learned on Women's economic empowerment and contribute to UN Women's knowledge management efforts;
Work with relevant UN Women teams to identify and disseminate lessons learnt and good practices in the area of gender and economics;
Contribute to the development of the regional knowledge hub and propose plans to enrich its gender and economics coverage.

Competencies

Core Values/Guiding Principles:

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.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

Promoting Ethics and Integrity / Creating Organizational Precedents

Organizational Awareness:

Building support and political acumen

Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring:

Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation

Working in Teams:

Building and promoting effective teams

Communicating Information and Ideas:

Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication

Self-management and Emotional intelligence:

Creating an emotionally intelligent organization

Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements:

Leveraging conflict in the interests of the organization & setting standards

Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning:

Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking

Functional Competencies:

Substantive experience and record of accomplishment in the area of Gender and Economics.
Demonstrated People Management Skills.
Familiarity with the LAC Region, women's rights organizations and networksin the region and globally.
Good knowledge of UN Women and the UN system.
Proven ability to advocate and provide policy advice.
Ability to lead strategic planning, programme development and implementation, results-based management and reporting.
Ability to develop and maintain strong partnerships and mobilize resources.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master's degree (or equivalent) in Economics or related field with specialization in rural development/informal sector/small business development.

Experience:

A minimum of 10 years' progressively responsible experience in gender and economics issues, preferably with 5 years' field experience in the area of Gender and Economics.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in written and oral Spanish and English.

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.