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UN Women’s Regional Office for the Arab States (ROAS) has recently adopted its new Strategic Note (2022-25). Our vision is to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and the full enjoyment of their human rights in the Arab States, propelling economic prosperity and sustainable development for all. Our goal is to accelerate achievements for the largest possible numbers of women and girls in the region, including the most vulnerable, in the next 4 years. To accomplish this, we work with our partners and offices across 17 countries in the region to implement targeted programmes that support women’s economic empowerment, women’s leadership and participation, women, peace and security and humanitarian issues, as well as ending violence against women.

Our growing women’s economic empowerment (WEE) portfolio builds on critical results achieved between 2018-21 and capitalizes on existing enablers to advance the number of women in decent employment, equitable access to employment opportunities and services while addressing foundational concerns related to unpaid care, negative gender stereotypes, and the implementation of legal reforms.

Under the supervision of the Deputy Regional Director, the Regional Programme Specialist – Women’s Economic Empowerment, will lead this exciting portfolio, and guide a small team, working in support of 17 countries, UN Women’s country offices (COs) and in collaboration with UN Women’s WEE Network. The objective is to propel and scale WEE results, including by strengthening and developing mutually reinforcing partnerships with relevant Government counterparts, UN organizations, CSOs and the Private Sector. The incumbent will oversee the development of women's economic empowerment programmes, build capacities of UN Women staff and country offices in the Arab States, establish and strengthen partnerships, conduct in-depth trends and organizational analysis, and develop relevant knowledge products on women's economic empowerment.

Lead the development of programmes on Women's Economic Empowerment (WEE) in the Arab States:

• Develop multi-country programme documents on Women's economic empowerment;
• Provide technical support to Country offices (COs) in drafting programme proposals;
• Develop and maintain thematic, trends and organizational analysis pertaining to Gender equality and Women's  Empowerment by country;
• Provide advice on contextualizing/ localizing programme documents, country strategies, global  policies, and knowledge products;
• Coordinate monitoring and reporting on WEE results in collaboration with programme teams;
• Provide inputs to the RO Strategic Note and provide technical  support to country office Strategic Notes;
• Provide technical support to Common Country Analysis (CCA) and UN Sustainable Development Country Framework (UNSDCF) development processes from a WEE perspective.

Lead capacity building efforts to country offices, teams and partners:

• Provide substantive technical and policy support to the regional and country programme teams in developing and strengthening projects/ programmes to support the implementation of global norms and standards, including Strategic Notes, Work Plan support;
• Develop, implement and monitor regional capacity-building initiatives;
• Provide technical support to partners on the implementation of women's economic empowerment policies and programmes;
• Provide technical policy advice to programme/ project managers/ specialists in the COs.

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

• Build and maintain alliances and strategic partnerships for the advancement of women's   economic empowerment;
• Lead and coordinate our partnership engagement with the private sector (for WEE and across other programming areas), and the roll-out of the Women’s Empowerment Principle;
• Build and maintain close liaisons with relevant donors and other actors supporting efforts  towards women's economic empowerment;
• Produce periodic updates and briefs on regional/country development situations to be used by stakeholders, COs and HQ;
• Maintain close contact with relevant units and personnel in UN Women HQ.

Develop and manage the resource mobilization strategy for women's economic empowerment in the region:

• Participate in the implementation, monitoring and periodic updating of the resource mobilization strategy on women's economic empowerment in the region;
• Provide technical support to field-based presences in the region in mobilizing resources for the implementation of women's economic empowerment;
• Research and analyze information on donors; prepare substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation.

Oversee the design/implementation of women's economic empowerment strategies/programmes in the region and develop relevant knowledge products:

• Lead strategic planning and positioning of women's economic empowerment programming in the Regional Office  (RO) and guide COs in this regard;
• Work closely with and provide advice to regional/ national bodies and interagency groups that influence national policies related to women's economic empowerment and where necessary represent UN Women;
• Identify promising practices, technical expertise, and strategic opportunities in women's economic empowerment;
• Ensure results monitoring, measurement, reporting and evaluation at the project level and corporately in the Result Management System.

Lead knowledge building and sharing for women's economic empowerment:

• Maintain and lead inputs to UN Women’s indicators database and dashboard through data, policy and trend analysis to inform programming and strategy development in the area of WEE;
• Research, develop and present analytical reports, research papers, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, correspondence, and knowledge products on women's economic empowerment;
• Identify and disseminate lessons learnt and good practices in collaboration with country offices;
• Ensure technical skills and knowledge are shared within and among COs.

Key Performance Indicators

• Timely and quality technical advice and support;
• Leadership in the area of expertise in the region;
• Quality reports and other strategic documents drafted and submitted in a timely manner;
• Strong relationships with various partners and stakeholders;
• UN Women is well represented in important meetings on topics related to expertise;
• Contributions to resource mobilization;
• Timely and quality knowledge products.

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity;
• Integrity;
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example;

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent knowledge of Women's Economic Empowerment;
• Strong knowledge of the region;
• Excellent networking skills;
• Ability to interact with donors, identify and analyze trends, opportunities, and threats to fundraising;
• Ability to engage with the private sector;
• Ability to perform qualitative and quantitative policy research;
• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
• Excellent analytical skills;
• Ability to write policy papers, speeches, briefings;
• Strong knowledge of programme development, implementation, results-based management, and reporting.

Education and certification:

• Master's degree or equivalent in economics, international development, international relations is required;
• A first-level university degree in combination with 2 additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. 

Experience:

• At least 7 years progressively responsible experience in designing and managing programmes in development cooperation,  with a focus on women and the economy;
• Experience in programme, policy analysis, and strategic planning;
• Experience working with, and building partnerships with governments, donors, and civil  society organizations internationally and in the field;
• Experience working with/collaborating with the private sector;
• Experience working with the UN is an asset;
• Experience working in the Arab region is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Knowledge of Arabic and/or French is an asset.

Application:

• 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.

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.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits employ, trains, compensates and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity, and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)