UN WOMEN Jobs - 45004- Re-advertisement - National Programme Officer

Re-advertisement - National Programme Officer - Governance

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Bangkok, THAILAND

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

02-Jun-2014

Application Deadline :

28-Mar-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

SB-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 year

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

1 year

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

UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality, and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards. It stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; and making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is used as a guide for all programming on women’s rights and the Country Office focuses in areas of protection of women migrant workers, increasing the role of men in preventing violence against women; linking the twin pandemics of violence against women and HIV. Some of the key focus of UN Women’s work in the area of Governance includes;

Building knowledge and skills within the government and civil society to put into place gender responsive laws, policies, plans in line with international human rights standards, and the institutional structures and processes that ensure implementation of these;
Promoting women's effective leadership, including among excluded groups of women, and their meaningful participation in democratic governance;
Ensuring that decision-making processes are participatory, responsive, equitable and inclusive for all women;
Engendering formal and informal justice systems to promote women’s human rights at national and local levels.

In Thailand, guided by the UN Women Annual Work Plan (AWP) of 2012-2013, UN Women builds on its successful initiatives promoting the realization of human rights of women guaranteed in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) through good governance, women’s participation in decision making and access to justice. UN Women Thailand builds on the successful support that it has been providing to government and civil society organizations in understanding and applying CEDAW towards gender responsive good governance and the full realization of women’s human rights in Thailand since 2004 through the Regional CEDAW Southeast Asia Programme (CEDAW SEAP). The 1st phase of the programme from 2004 to 2009 focused on a) enhancing government and civil society understanding of the principles of the convention and their application to legal framework, b) strengthening government and civil society participation in the CEDAW review process, and c) supporting advocacy for the implementation of CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations. The 2nd phase of the programme will focus on are; 1) strengthening legal frameworks through addressing discriminatory laws and facilitating implementation of laws that promote gender equality, and 2) improving women’s access to justice through engendering the justice system and actors.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Deputy Regional Director, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and the guidance of the Regional Programme Manager, CEDAW SEAP based in Bangkok, the National Programme Officer for Governance is responsible for the successful development and implementation of programmes and projects in the Thailand Annual Work Plan for 2012-2013 that support gender responsive good governance with particular responsibilities for the CEDAW SEAP and its associated ASEAN Regional Human Rights Mechanism project.

The National Programme Officer is responsible for analyzing political, social and economic trends as they affect women and girls and must lead formulation, management and evaluation of programme and project activities within her/his portfolio, and provide policy advice.

In managing the programmes/projects, s/he will be provided technical advice and guidance from relevant regional programme managers and technical specialists in the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and will work closely with Operations staff of the Regional Office. S/he works in close collaboration with programme staff in other UN agencies, Government officials, Civil Society partners, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors ensuring successful implementation of the programmes and projects that s/he is responsible for. S/he works as part of the UN Women Thailand Project Office team, and also actively engages with colleagues across the region in knowledge sharing and peer support.

Summary of Key Functions:

Management of Governance programmes and projects, including but not limited to CEDAW SEAP and ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism Project, in line with UN Women AWP;
Creation of strategic partnerships;
Provision of advice to partners and facilitation of knowledge building and management.

Ensures effective management of the programmes and projects in the area of Governance focusing on quality control from formulation to implementation of the programmes/projects achieving the following results:

Thorough analysis of political, social, economic situations in the country and preparation of substantive inputs to country strategy documents, project proposals, Annual Workplans and other documents for UN Women’s Governance programmes/projects in Thailand;
Design and formulation of programme activities, translating the priorities of the Country Strategy in the area of Governance into local interventions. Coordination of programme implementation with implementing agencies;
Effective application of RBM tools, providing guidance to partners on establishment of performance indicators, and monitoring achievement of results;
Substantive monitoring of the programme activities, including tracking use of financial resources, identification of operational and financial problems, development of solutions;
Reporting requirements fulfilled in a timely manner focusing on outputs, and outcomes.

Ensures creation of strategic partnerships focusing on the following results:

Facilitate consultation with stakeholders for strategic selection of programme activities and partners based on the results framework of the programmes and projects, national priorities, partner capacity assessments;
Development of partnerships with UN agencies, government institutions, private sector, civil society, etc. for programme/project implementation;

Ensures provision of advisory services to the government, civil society and other development partners, and facilitation of knowledge building and sharing in the areas of gender responsive governance, CEDAW, women’s human rights and gender equality focusing on the following results:

Identification of key women’s human rights and governance issues and challenges. Identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learned directly linked to policy goals, leading to the formulation of substantive policy advice;
Support to development of policies and institutions that will address the country problems and needs in collaboration with the Government, civil society organizations and other strategic partners;
Active participation and contribution of UN Women’s perspectives to relevant conferences, fora and meetings addressing women’s human rights and government accountability issues;
Active mobilization of UN Women colleagues across the region as knowledge resources, soliciting advice, good practice information, and reciprocating through contribution of knowledge for UN Women;
Other programme-related tasks as assigned by UN Women management.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women;
Displays sensitivity and fairness in regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, and disability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning:

Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office;
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more thematic Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

Ability apply conceptual models in support of formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects, mobilize resources;
Strong IT skills;
Ability to lead implementation of new systems (business side), and affect staff behavioral/attitudinal change.

Management and Leadership:

Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Thai national with Master’s Degree or equivalent in Gender and Development, International Relations, Public Administration, Law, Human Rights and other related fields of Social Sciences.

Experience:

Minimum 2 years experience working in the field of gender responsive governance and women’s human rights in Thailand;
Hands on experience in designing, implementing and monitoring development projects;
A good understanding of CEDAW and practical experience applying CEDAW in programme and policy development would be an advantage;
Good knowledge of policies and programmes and the architecture of the government to advance gender equality;
Familiarity of civil society organizations and networks in Thailand working to advance gender equality;
Familiarity with the UN and its coordination mechanism would be an advantage.

Language:

Good written and communication skills in English and fluency of national language of duty station.