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.
 
Under the supervision of the Chief of the Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) Section in New York (HQ) and in close collaboration with UN Women colleagues from the field and HQ, the Programme Specialist, provides technical and substantive support to sub regional and country offices in the region for programme/project design and implementation and supports the analysis of relevant political trends in the Region. The Programme Specialist is responsible for the management of the Section's selected programmes, projects and other initiatives, including substantive, financial, and administrative support in accordance with UN/UN Women procedures. 
 

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of function:
  • Support to program formulation, planning and preparation
  • Program management, monitoring and oversight
  • Liaison with country offices, partner institutions and UN system agencies
  • Knowledge management and capacity building
Support to program formulation, planning and preparation
  • Keep abreast of and analyze the political, social and economic trends in region and provide technical and share knowledge with to sub-regional offices in the region to support programme/project design and implementation.
  • Participate in the LAC, Regional Programme Directors (RPDs) and other designated/relevant thematic program strategic discussions to provide analytical/substantive inputs to the formulation of new programs and projects and to assist in their review and submission to the Executive Board and PACs.
  • Manage and execute a variety of technical and operation activities related to the formulation of programs/projects, presentation and review by relevant bodies in UNW. Prepare minutes, report on comments and issues and provide feedback to participants/stakeholders for their information and/or action.
Program management, monitoring and oversight
  • Provide technical and advisory guidance/support on financial and administrative operations to clients and stakeholders to promote and support accountability, quality control and achievement of results as planned and to ensure compliance with UN/UN Women procedures and accountability framework. 
  • Monitor regional programs/projects and reports to assess performance and achievements as per indicators/success criteria and other corporate tools for measuring results. Provide timely feedback to support the implementation of plans and activities in accordance with established work plans and results desired.
  • Identify and/or assess operational and financial issues and take timely action and/or recommend solutions. Keep Section Chief, RPDs, SROs and other clients and stakeholders informed.
  • Confirm the appropriate/timely disbursements of funds and ensure compliance of program, financial and administrative operations with UNW rules, regulations, policies and procedures and accountability framework. Provide timely technical and administrative support to implementation and monitoring of LAC programmes in line with UN Women Strategic Plan. Take action as required or refer issues for higher management action/intervention/solution.
  • Provide technical inputs throughout the process of program/project preparation and preparation of documentations and proactively convey information between SROs and HQ to ensure the timely submission of the required information and documentation.
Liaison with country offices, partner institutions and UN system agencies
  • Coordinate and provide technical support to the Secretary General's Campaign "UNITE To End Violence against Women" Inter-Agency Group.
  • Acts as focal point for the LAC Regional Directors Team, promote inter-agency coordination on UN Reform and MDGs achievements. Provide feedback and support to the RDT focal point group to facilitate the implementation of and monitoring and reporting on the latest UN Reform directives and initiatives.
  • Establish and maintain effective working relationships with various stakeholders and UNW Women partners and allies in workshops, seminars, technical discussions and other events to advocate and/or influence agenda and discussions and to promote UN Women interests, competencies, priorities and goals.
  • Develop working relationships with other stakeholders such as multilateral and bilateral agencies, NGOs, donors, foundations, governments and other networks to promote and advocate UN Women issues and focus, and to establish supportive networks on common interests and objectives.
  • Organize, participate and/or represent the LAC Section in internal and external Committees, Task Forces, and other meetings.
Internal and external briefing and reporting
  • Follow up on timely reporting by offices to donors and Headquarters on programme implementation and keep other UN Women departments (i.e. Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnerships, Management and Administration Bureau) duly informed on critical issues.
  • Coordinate, collect and/or organize information on UN Women LAC activities for documentation preparation, (Annual LAC Report, Programme Fact Sheets, lessons learned etc.). Assess and verify the relevancy, adequacy and quality of materials prior to submission or presentation. Follow with offices to ensure the submission of required information.
  • Prepare or draft briefing materials and inputs, talking points for senior level official meetings with governments, UN system partners and donors
  • Analyze and research information of critical issues and information on countries and donors and convey results to clients and stakeholders.
Knowledge management and capacity building
  •  Identify policy driven issues, synthesize best practices and lessons learned directly linked to program management and implementation and submit inputs to contribute to policy formulation and development of knowledge products and tools.
  • Share and disseminate lessons learned, best practices and other knowledge management tools to support clients and stakeholders to enhance and sustain performance and achievement of goals and objectives.
  • Participate in capacity building activities and events to train clients and stakeholders in LAC.
Impact of Results:
 
The oversight provided to the implementation of programmes and projects by the LAC Section enhances overall efficiency, timeliness and effectiveness. Coordination with multi stakeholders ensures stronger and smoother coordination with SRO. UN Women´s work as a leading agency on women's rights in Latin America and the Caribbean thereby becomes further recognized. 

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: Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity
  • Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
  • Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring: Self-development, initiative-taking
  • Working in Teams: Acting as a team player and facilitating team work
  • Communicating Information and Ideas: Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively
  • Self-management and Emotional intelligence: Creating synergies through self-control
  • Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning: Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others
  • Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Informed and transparent decision making
FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES 
  • Substantive knowledge and understanding specifically on gender equality issues as well as more broadly, human rights and development cooperation.
  • Substantive experience with development issues in the LAC region.
  • Experience in programme design, coordination and implementation.
  • Excellent writing skills with demonstrated ability to carry out research, to contribute to the formulation of policies, procedures and guidelines. 
  • Proficient in IT skills. 
  • Familiarity with results based management and rights-based programming.
  • Familiarity with UN and UN Women system.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Advanced University Degree in International Affairs, Law, Social Sciences, Economic and Political Development, and/or a closely related discipline.
  • Gender studies an asset.
Experience:
  • A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience in international development work preferably focused on, or strongly involving gender equality at national, regional and international levels.
  • Knowledge of and experience with the LAC geographic region.
Language Requirements:
  • Excellent written and spoken English and Spanish are required.
  • Working ability in at least one other LAC language (Portuguese, French) is an asset.
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. More information on UN Women can be found through www.unwomen.org.
 
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.