UN WOMEN Jobs - 4445- Project Coordination Specialist, UN Trust Fund

Project Coordination Specialist, UN Trust Fund

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

ALD International

Starting Date :

01-Jul-2008

Application Deadline :

30-Apr-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 UN Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women was established by General Assembly Resolution 50/166 in 1996, with UNIFEM as the Fund's Administrator. As the UN Trust Fund continues to expand on both resources and outreach, staffing complement needs to be strengthened in order to meet the substantive and management demands, especially in the current context of increased UN Member States' commitment and resource mobilization opportunities.

Accordingly, there is a need to strengthen the UN Trust Fund managerial and technical support to grantees, as well as to the UNIFEM. In addition, since 2006-2007, the work on the intersection of Violence against Women and HIV and AIDS within the UN Trust Fund has gained momentum, and the UN Trust Fund is supporting a knowledge cohort of grantees across Asia, Africa and Latin America. The UN Trust Fund is thus positioned to create a new knowledge base on this critical thematic area, and feed into upscaling and advocacy efforts at the regional and global levels, including with sister UN agencies.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Project Coordination Specialist will be supervised by the UN Trust Fund Manager, under the overall guidance of the Senior Advisor on Ending Violence against Women, and will be responsible for:

I) Support to the Management of the UN Trust Fund:

Serve as the focal point and compile relevant materials to draft and finalize the UN Trust Fund Call for proposals and related application forms and documents;
Serve as the focal point for the UNIFEM sub regional offices in the roll out of the Call at the national and regional levels providing necessary guidance and feedback;
Provide technical assistance to UNIFEM sub regional offices and the their Inter Agency Programme Appraisal Committees in the short listing and final selections process;
Prepare presentations and/or other informative packages on the UN Trust Fund call and applications for the Directorate, donors and the Programme Appraisal Committee members, as relevant;
Ensure monitoring and fulfillment of time lines of the UN Trust Fund Call roll out process at HQs and sub regional levels, as required.
Follow up and monitor implementation of grants at the field level, liaising with field offices and ensuring fulfillment of reporting and program management requirements (as per the Operational Guidelines);
Key focal point for data compilation of new applicant organizations each year, highlighting relevant organizational trends analysis;
Support the UN Trust Fund Manager in backstopping and liaising on inter-agency related work;
Support the UN Trust Fund Manager in the preparation of the global and regional capacity building workshops and other global events involving the participation of the UN Trust Fund grantees;
Liaise with the UNIFEM Monitoring & Evaluation expert for quality assurances of grantees' final implementation and monitoring and evaluation plans;

II) The special window on the intersection of Violence against Women and HIV and AIDS (EVAW-HIV and AIDS):

Oversight responsibility for the special window on EVAW-HIV and AIDS grantees (2005-2007), including project management, supporting implementation, monitoring and evaluation plans;
Review grantee progress reports and synthesize as inputs for mid-term and annual progress donor reports, including capturing and compiling lessons learned;
Support and provide technical feedback to UN Trust Fund Focal Points in the UNIFEM sub-regional offices for follow up and monitoring implementation of the selected grantees;
Support the global evaluation strategy and its roll out, including liaising with and ensuring ongoing consultations with UNIFEM's Advisor on Evaluation as well as the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist and external experts;
Liaise within UNIFEM on the grantees, in particular with the respective Geographic Sections, the Gender and HIV and AIDS Specialist and the Evaluation Unit;
Moderate the EVAW-HIV and AIDS list-serve and intranet including: sharing relevant information on events/papers/studies, etc, with members of the group as well as framing agendas and summarizing discussions on a regular basis; as well ensuring that key documents, resources and tools on the intersection are uploaded on the intranet on a regular basis;
Prepare relevant materials for donor briefings and meetings, including for advocacy purposes related to the HIV-AIDS and VAW grantees;
Support and organize convenings by UNIFEM, including review and learning meetings with the knowledge cohort of HIV and AIDS grantees, including preparing background concept notes and meeting agendas;
Serve as lead focal point, in close consultation with the UN Trust Fund Manager and the Gender and HIV-AIDS Specialist, for supporting grantee participation at relevant conferences for advocacy purposes.

III) Any other assignment as required and requested by the UN Trust Fund Manager and the Senior Advisor on Ending Violence against Women.

Competencies

Ability to communicate sensitively and effectively across different constituencies.
Demonstrated capacity to perform effectively within a multicultural work environment, tact and ability to deal with confidential matters in a discreet and reliable manner.
Ability to participate effectively in a team-based, information-sharing environment, to collaborate and cooperate with others.
Willingness to accept additional responsibilities as required by the demands of the service.
Strong inter-personal skills and excellent organizational and coordination skills.
Capacity to plan, prioritize and deliver tasks on time. Ability to set priorities; work under pressure with colleagues at all levels.
Ample knowledge and use of computer office tools (word, data base, spread sheets, web content production, filing)

Required Skills and Experience

Graduate degree (masters) in International Development, Women's Studies or a related Social Sciences field;
Minimum 5 years of relevant project management experience;
Substantive knowledge of gender equality and gender-based violence desirable;
Strong communications and writing skills in English;
An additional UN language an asset, especially French or Spanish.