Background

The duration of the assignment is for 364 days. Whereas an external candidate will be offered a temporary appointment; subject to release agreements, staff members in UN Women may be administered as a temporary assignment and staff members in the UN Common system may be administered under a loan arrangement.

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works 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.

The Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division develops and implements UN Women’s programme of work across its normative, coordination, and operational triple mandate and provides policy advice and guidance and technical support to intergovernmental processes, UN system, and UN Women regional and country offices, among other partners and stakeholders. The Division is organized in thematic sections, which undertake policy research; analyze data on country, regional and global trends; and propose evidence-based options for global policy, norms and standards as well as for UN Women’s policy advocacy and global programme strategies, including flagship programme initiatives. The Division also undertakes substantive preparations for the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and drafts reports on behalf of the Secretary-General on multiple topics. With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Women is supporting the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) towards achieving gender equality and women's economic empowerment by 2030 to benefit all women and girls. UN Women works in partnership with governments, multilateral organizations, the UN System, civil society organizations and the private sector.

Economic empowerment is one of the priority areas of UN Women. UN Women works with governments and partners to promote women’s economic empowerment and increase their access to economic opportunities and outcomes, especially for those who are most excluded, including women migrant workers. In 2018, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was adopted by UN Member States. And as the blueprint for the governance and coordination of international migration, it is critical that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are central in its implementation. UN Women works to help ensure that migrant women’s human and labour rights are effectively promoted and protected at all stages of migration, and that the Global Compact for Migration is human rights-based and gender-responsive.  Since 2019, UN Women has been implementing the Germany-funded Making Migration Safe for Women programme in Niger and at the global level with the goal of ensuring that the development and implementation of national migration policies and laws in Niger are gender-responsive, and that international norms and standards for protecting and promoting migrant women’s rights are strengthened. The programme has also aimed to improve the use and collection of sex-disaggregated data and provide robust evidence and research on migrant women to inform national policy making. Starting in January 2023, UN Women will start the implementation of the second phase of the ‘Making Migration Safe for Women’ programme, at the global level and in Ethiopia.

Under the overall supervision of the Policy Advisor, Sustainable Development, Economic Empowerment HQ and reporting to the Global Coordinator for the Making Migration Safe programme, the Policy Specialist will provide substantive support to the implementation of the Making Migration Safe for Women programme at the global level, providing policy advice and technical support in the area of gender and migration including through the development and dissemination of knowledge products.

Duties and Responsibilities

1.    Provide technical support to the implementation of the Making Migration Safe for Women programme

  • Review programme documents and provide technical guidance
  • Lead on the development and dissemination of global knowledge products on gender and migration, developed as part of the Making Migration Safe programme
  • Support preparation of annual work plans, budgets and donor reports.
  • Support resource mobilization efforts for the expansion of the Making Migration Safe programme

2.    Provide policy guidance and technical support on gender and migration

  • Provide technical support to strengthen UN Women’s work on gender and migration
  • Identify policy gaps, emerging issues and cutting-edge knowledge on gender and migration
  • Provide technical contributions to global annual reports, project assessment committees (PACs) and annual peer review of regional and/or country office strategic notes and annual work plans
  • Ensure timely contributions to corporate documents, briefs and other strategic papers/ materials for development and presentation of policy and programmatic positions and donor proposals

3.    Provide substantive support to intergovernmental and interagency processes

  • Provide substantive support for UN Women’s engagement in normative processes, including CSW, HLPF, and UNGA by drafting background papers and briefings and preparing analytical summaries of debates, negotiations and outcomes
  • Provide technical contributions and participate in international meetings and conferences, bringing UN Women expertise into global debates and discussions on gender and migration

4.    Facilitate partnerships and collaboration on gender and migration

  • Identify, propose, and coordinate opportunities for collaboration and partnerships with UN agencies, research institutions, civil society organizations and/or think tanks working in these areas, to increase awareness of UN Women’s Making Migration Safe programme and bring learning and innovative practices into UN Women’s work
  • Participate in and/or represent UN Women as needed in internal and external meetings
  • Participate in the meetings of the UN Network on Migration, including by providing technical and coordination support to the Gender Workstream

Key Performance Indicators

  • Quality technical support to the Making Migration Safe programme
  • Quality and timely research, analysis and writing on gender and migration
  • Quality and timely contributions to briefings, knowledge products, publications and other documents which contribute to positioning UN Women as a knowledge leader and repository on gender and migration
  • Quality representation, coordination and contributions to intergovernmental/interagency fora

Competencies

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:

  • Substantive knowledge of gender equality and women’s rights issues in the area of migration
  • Strong oral communication and writing skills, with proven expertise in writing cogent and convincing policy and programme documents and ability to produce high quality written work within short timeframes
  • Ability to contribute to policy research and preparing policy reports and briefs
  • Ability to handle a large volume of diverse tasks under time constraints
  • Familiarity with intergovernmental and normative processes, such CSW, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 2030 Agenda, Global Compact for Migration, etc.
  • Demonstrated effectiveness in establishing and fostering good relations with representatives of government, UN entities, donors, academia and civil society

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

  • Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, migration studies, development studies, gender/women’s studies or a related technical field is required
  • A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

  • At least 5 years of progressively responsible work experience in policy research and analysis in the area of gender equality, migration and/or economic empowerment
  • Demonstrated experience in contributing to normative and intergovernmental processes, such as CSW and UNGA
  • Experience in organizing workshops, meetings, and side events
  • Experience working within the UN system highly desirable

Language Requirements:

  • Fluency in English is required
  • Knowledge of another UN official working language 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: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc. 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.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, 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.)