UNDP Jobs - 3627- Gender and Disasters Programme Specialist

Gender and Disasters Programme Specialist

Location :

Geneva, SWITZERLAND

Type of Contract :

ALD International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

17-Feb-08 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

ALD-3

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 year

Languages Required :

English

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

The importance of gender issues in disaster risk reduction has been recognized recurrently in many global, regional and national processes. UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) has formulated an 8-Point Agenda that will guide the integration of gender concerns in all aspects of Crisis Prevention and Recovery Practice of UNDP. The 8-Point Agenda calls for renewed commitment to integrating gender concerns in all aspects of disaster risk reduction work, with a special emphasis on preventing sexual and gender-based violence. Although UNDP’s country level capacity development projects are committed, at a policy level, to integrate gender issues, there is clearly a need to address these issues in greater depth at the operational level. For example, local level projects may insist on adequate representation of women in disaster management committees but may overlook gender dimensions in local level risk assessments. Similarly, in post-disaster situations women-headed households may receive special attention in individual house reconstruction but may be sidelined from decision-making on resettlement planning. Projects face constraints such as lack of sex-disaggregated data, lack of political and bureaucratic will at the local level and lack of practical guidance. In the face of these constraints, some projects still manage to develop innovative solutions to address gender concerns: these need to be captured and shared.

Recognizing the above, over 2008-09, BCPR’s Disaster Reduction and Recovery Team (DRT) will pursue a three-pronged strategy:

Focus at the national, sub-national and local levels: Based on a review of ongoing UNDP disaster risk reduction capacity building programmes, seek to understand lessons learnt and constraints on delivering disaster-related results and services, focusing on the core substantive areas of UNDP’s comparative advantage and specifically identifying gender-related opportunities and constraints. Towards this end DRT seeks to establish a facility that would provide small grants to ongoing disaster reduction initiatives at the national level in order to effectively address gender concerns.
Define a plan for finalizing and rolling out DRT’s operational model in a way that provides locally applicable solutions and builds a body of knowledge that provides practical guidance for enhancing the sub-practice of disaster reduction and its gender dimensions.
Identify and nurture local expertise on gender and disaster risk reduction with a particular focus on high-risk countries.

The gender and disaster specialist is expected to provide intellectual leadership to UNDP’s work in the area of disaster reduction and assist in the implementation of the strategy outlined above.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Senior Policy Advisor and in coordination with the Senior Programme Advisor and the Senior Gender Advisor, the Gender and Disasters Programme Specialist will work with the entire Disaster Reduction Team (DRT), the Early Recovery team, and the Programme and Operations Support Cluster to provide strategic direction to the Bureau’s work in the area of gender and disasters.

The Programme Specialist will perform three specific sets of functions:

Support to national level disaster reduction capacity development initiatives (50%)

Advise selected UNDP country offices – through national experts on gender and disasters – in high disaster-risk countries on how to integrate gender concerns in the national level disaster reduction capacity development programmes.
Develop a network of national level experts on gender and disasters in collaboration with Regional Disaster Reduction Advisors in each region.
Set up a system for capturing and sharing national, sub-national and local level experiences on integrating gender concerns in disaster reduction work.
Manage a BCPR-supported facility to support gender and disaster reduction work at the national level

Assist in integrating gender concerns in all aspects of DRT’s work, (in close coordination, where needed, with ERT and POSC (30%)

Advise Bureau staff on how to integrate gender concerns in a range of thematic areas such as climate risk management, risk identification, urban risk management and post-disaster recovery.
Help organize learning programmes on disaster related issues for BCPR staff.

Knowledge Management in the area of gender and disaster reduction (20%)

Based on UNDP and its partners’ work in the field systematize knowledge on gender and disasters.
Work with relevant BCPR, BDP and ISDR colleagues on building a UNDP practice on gender and disasters

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN values and ethical standards
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and
adaptability
Treats all people fairly without favoritism
Excellent analytical and organizational skills

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning
Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office
Has good knowledge of UNDP programme and operational issues
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills
Has knowledge of UNDP/UN policies and programme in crisis and post-crisis
Situations.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

Ability to lead and contribute to strategic planning, change processes, results-based management, work planning, and reporting.
Ability to lead formulation, oversight of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects.
Ability to apply development theory to the specific country context to identify creative, practical approaches to overcome challenging situations.
Ability to build and sustain effective partnerships with UN Agencies and main constituents, advocate effectively, communicate sensitively across different constituencies.

Management and Leadership:

Focuses on impact and results for the client and responds positively to feedback
Ability to establish effective working relations in a multicultural team environment
Excellent interpersonal skills
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills
Builds strong relationships with internal and external clients
Demonstrates capacity to communicate effectively; resource management; capacity to plan and organize programmes effectively
Demonstrates resourcefulness, initiative and mature judgment

Required Skills and Experience

Advanced university degree in international development/ relations, political science or other development-related fields, with a special emphasis on gender in crisis situations
A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in programme management related to gender, disaster reduction and recovery
Field experience in a country in special development circumstances including in post-disaster settings preferable; Understanding of UN/ UNDP programming modalities is an asset
Fluency in English, (verbal and written) is required.
Working knowledge of another UN language is highly desirable.