Background

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development places gender equality at its core to achieve the SDGs, with the elimination of violence against women and girls as a crucial component.  To that end, the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) have embarked on a new multi-year programme, called the ‘Spotlight Initiative,’ which is focused on eliminating violence against women and girls (VAWG) and harmful practices (HP). The Spotlight Initiative will model a new way of working on the SDGs, in line with objectives of the United Nations development system reforms to enhance integrated delivery of results at the country level. The Spotlight Initiative also aligns with the EU Gender Action Plan, and the EU has committed an initial contribution of €500 million to the programme. The initiative will deploy targeted, large-scale investments in a focused number of countries aimed at achieving significant impact in the lives of women and girls. It comes with the highest level of commitment globally and the initiative will be governed by the UN Deputy Secretary General and the Vice President of the EU Commission. The Spotlight Initiative is a flagship programme under the UN Reform, showing how the UN will work together towards a common goal, and a targeted investment in a usually underfunded SDG (SDG 5).

The Tajikistan Spotlight Initiative will build on lessons learned from former and existing programmes with its partners, including CSOs, development agencies such as UN agencies, EU and others to address bottlenecks hindering progress and to build on successes to ensure a successful and sustainable country programme achieving visible gains to End Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) in Tajikistan. 

Under the overall supervision and guidance of the United Nations Resident Coordinator and with the technical guidance from UN Women in its capacity as lead Technical Coherence Agency and serving all UN Agencies in the implementation of the programme components, the Spotlight Programme Coordinator  will hold overall responsibility for operational guidance and coordination, strategic engagement with the Government counterparts, high-level programme oversight and monitoring, and quality assurance of the programme components, in coordination with the Civil Society Reference Group and the Government of Tajikistan.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Lead the coordination and implementation of the Spotlight Initiative Country Programme in Tajikistan

• Coordinate and manage the overall Tajikistan Spotlight Initiative Country Programme work plan development and implementation;
• In collaboration with the Technical Team from Recipient United Nations Organizations (RUNOs - UNICEF, UNDP, UN Women and UNFPA), develop specific annual programme delivery targets, allocate budget and coordinate its implementation;
• Lead the implementation of a results-based management and accountability approach to programme management;
• Provide quality assurance management in the implementation of the Country Programme;
• Coordinate the development and production of progress and annual reports and expenditure status reports in coordination with RUNOs;
• Liaise with the Programme Technical Focal Points in the Spotlight Technical Unit, national counterparts, donors, and partners to ensure the Programme results are achieved and resources are managed;
• Lead the preparation for the National Steering Committee meetings, programme review and or evaluation meetings with inputs from RUNOs and support from the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office.
• Establish systems for programme planning, implementation and monitoring, in collaboration with partners;
• Record and maintain documents on relevant Programme activities, issues, and risks.
• Oversee implementation, schedules, deliverables, and budgets as articulate in the country programme document;
• Provide programme guidance, updates, and information to the Steering Committee, National Civil Society Reference Group, implementing partners, and other stakeholders
• Liaise with the Spotlight Secretariat and EU Delegation in Tajikistan;
• Provide support to inter-agency coordination-related activities, including by attending or participating in meetings, events, committees or groups;
• Support UN agencies, government departments, donors and NGOs to ensure Spotlight programme is harmonized and aligned with other in-country efforts.  

2. Coordinate and lead technical assistance and capacity development to the Spotlight Initiative Programme in Tajikistan

• Manage the overall RUNO transfer of technical advice, assistance, and guidance to and engagement with, implementing partners to support programme implementation
• Provide technical advice to RUNOs partners for purposes of ensuring programme coherence where required
• Develop and implement tools, and initiatives to support and facilitate accurate and timely implementation
• Provide a forum for exchanging experiences; consolidate lessons learned and key outcomes of workshops, webinars and other meetings/events
• Build, manage, and expand relationships with partners to support implementation.

3. Manage and guide coordination with national partners and other stakeholders

• Coordinate relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the Spotlight Initiative, raise potential problems and provide solutions;
• Provide guidance to partners on establishment of performance indicators, and monitoring achievement of results;
• Identify capacity building needs and support partners through technical assistance, mentoring, training, cross-partner learning, and capacity development initiatives.

4. Oversee the monitoring and reporting on the Spotlight Initiative

• Gather and compile all information necessary for monitoring and reporting on programmes and projects from the planning to the evaluation stages;
• Monitor the implementation of activities and the expenditure of funds by partners;
• Finalize annual and final reports; review and coordinate the submission of RUNOs financial and narrative reports;
• Follow up on deadlines, commitments made, actions taken and coordination of collection and submission of the reports to Spotlight Secretariat,
• Engage directly and pro-actively with operational counterparts in other UN agencies.

5. Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies

• Coordinate the development of partnerships and resource mobilization strategies;
• Determine programmatic areas of cooperation, based on strategic goals of Spotlight Programme, country needs and donors’ priorities and develop the relevant partnerships.
• Participate in ongoing coordination mechanisms to ensure coherence of the programme with other country-level processes.
• In collaboration with RUNOs, provides technical support to the development of proposal, relevant advocacy and policy documents;

6. Advocate and facilitate knowledge building, visibility and communication in respect of the Tajikistan Country Programme

• Ensure documentation of the programme implementation process and products produced are in accordance with UN rules, regulations, policies, and recording and reporting systems;
• Represent RUNOs in meetings and policy dialogues on issues related to Spotlight Initiative as necessary;
• Identify best practices and lessons learned to guide programme improvement and strategy planning;
• Contribute to the exchange of information and knowledge products internally and externally of the programme;
• Develop, organize and implement in consultation with Communications Focal Points, the UNCGs at country level, professional staff and stakeholders major advocacy campaigns, events, trainings, workshops and knowledge products.

Competencies

• Timely and quality implementation of Spotlight Initiative activities against set workplans, timelines and budgets, in line with the Operational Guidance
• Quality and timely reporting
• Excellent relations with partners and stakeholders
• Regular and timely monitoring of activities 
• Enhanced best practices and lessons learned documented and circulated
• Timely and quality implementation of advocacy events in line with work plan

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

Functional Competencies

• Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management
• Ability to lead the development of detailed operational plans and budgets and deliver on them for development results
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Excellent analytical skills
• Proactive, flexible, resourceful and able to work independently with limited supervision, with demonstrated creative problem solving;
• Strong knowledge of UN programme management systems

Required Skills and Experience

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; 

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