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; and the achievement of substantive equality between women and men. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women also leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action. The fundamental objective of UN Women is to enhance national capacity and ownership to enable national partners to formulate gender responsive laws, policies and upscale successful strategies to deliver on national and international commitments to gender equality. 

In Sierra Leone, UN Women is recognized as a central stakeholder in advancing global norms and standards for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women’s work in Sierra Leone started through UNIFEM in 2002. UN Women provides unique supports to national gender machineries, cooperating with UN and public, private, community-level non-UN institutions to empower women and advance gender.  

Women account for about 51% of the 7.9 million Sierra Leoneans, yet occupy less than 20% of elected positions, and own less than 17% of businesses. Women actively participate in electioneering process as voters, campaign agents, political party activists, and candidates/aspirants, but their role is not reflective in the elective and appointive seats obtained. Currently, women represented only 13% of parliamentarians, 13% of Cabinet members and held 19% of local government positions. 

Sierra Leone made key strides in the promulgation of laws and policies relating to Sexual and Gender Based violence, women’s leadership in public life and in peace and security, and their access to land. In line with the principle of Leaving No One Behind, UN Women makes deliberate efforts to develop partnerships which address the needs, demands and interests of women facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, vulnerability and marginalization. The Agency’s portfolio in Sierra Leone includes the following flagship Programme Initiatives across the country: 

• Women’s Participation and Leadership in Governance and Politics. 
• Ending Violence Against Women. 
• Women in Peace, Security and Humanitarian Actions. 
• Women’s Economic Empowerment. 

Reporting to the Regional Director, the Head of Office, Sierra Leone is responsible for the strategic positioning of UN Women as a leader in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Sierra Leone.  The Head of Office is responsible for leading and managing the Country portfolio and for translating UN Women’s Strategic Plan in line with regional and national priorities, into development initiatives and results by developing, implementing and managing programmes; and developing effective partnerships with government counterparts, UN system agencies and organizations, civil society organizations and with bilateral and non-traditional donors in order to promote inter-agency partnerships, support for  mobilization of visibility and resources to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment

Manage strategic programme development and planning

• Assess national social development trends and identify emerging issues of relevance to the mandate of UN Women to identify opportunities for development planning to advance UN Women goals and objectives in the country;
• Identify strategic programme opportunities, approaches and modalities to strengthen UN Women country presence and relevance, in close consultation/collaboration with national development stakeholders and partners,
• Oversee the appraisal and approval of UN Women programmes in line with corporate guidelines and consistency with corporate policies and strategies.

Manage country programme management and oversight

• Establish the Country Office annual work plans in collaboration and discussion with the team and set objectives, performance measurements, standards and expected results.
• Manage and ensure the completion of high quality, results-based and rights based country programmes and projects.
• Ensure regular programme monitoring and evaluate progress for timely action and intervention to achieve results;
• Lead and manage the country budget preparation and submission processes to ensure budget proposals are correctly presented and submitted in a timely manner;
• Lead and manage the preparation of UN Women mandated country reports and submit timely quarterly, annual and other periodic progress reports ensuring relevancy, quality and appropriateness of content and presentation;
• Plan and manage monitoring and evaluation of programmes and projects, and take appropriate action; manage the preparation of audits and implementation of its recommendations;
• Maintain and update country office security strategy, plan, and measures to ensure full compliance with UN ?security policies, procedures and requirements.

Manage Finance and Human Resources in Office

• Monitor the utilization of allocated funds to ensure transparency and compliance with UN Women financial policies and accountability framework. Decide on the optimum and appropriate allocation and management of CO resources;
• Supervise and coach programme and operations staff in the country office and manage performance in line with applicable UN Women policies and guidelines
• Plan deployment of the internal human and financial resources including as necessary recruitment and procurement of additional resources
• Oversee security requirements for the team

Participate in UN inter-agency and country coordination

• Participate actively as a member of the UN Country Team (UNCT) to ensure that gender equality and women's empowerment issues are fully integrated into implementation of the UN One Strategic Plan; and into UN programming processes such as Comprehensive Country Assessment (CCA)/ UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), Country Programs, etc.;
• Actively seek out participation of UN Women in UN system thematic and other working groups to establish effective network and to keep abreast of ongoing debate and thinking on development, facilitate joint programming and promote UN Women competencies to advance gender equality and women's human rights.

Provide oversight and contributions to UN Women’s advocacy strategies

• Contribute substantively to governmental forums and participate in key meetings and events to speak on policy issues, participate in policy dialogue, discuss policy initiatives, report on progress achieved and/or present policy papers/ideas to influence setting of agenda and/or advocate UN Women competencies and mandate;
• Contribute in the UNCT to the mainstreaming of UN Women’s policies in joint programming and initiatives, under the leadership of the UN Resident Coordinator;
• Participate in regional, country and other critical meetings and events to evaluate the impact and efficacy of UN Women policies and programmes and provide input in strategic discussions and provide technical advice on policies and programmes;
• Advocate on behalf of UN Women to help raise awareness and stimulate action to advance gender equality and women's rights; provide partners with relevant technical advice and capacity development related to gender equality and women’s empowerment to advance policy priorities;
• Oversee the development and implementation of relevant communications and advocacy strategies to ensure that UN support towards realization of the national plans and priorities are done in a gender responsive manner, and within agreed international frameworks that promote and protect gender equality.

Manage Strategic partnerships, resource mobilization and knowledge management initiatives

• Develop and maintain active relationship and partnerships with the Government, NGOs, the UN system and development partners, institutes, academia, the media, and private sector on women's issues to enhance collaboration, resource mobilization and/or share ideas and to influence agenda and priority setting.
• Oversee the development of knowledge management strategies and methodologies; manage the process of identifying and synthesizing of best practices, innovations and lessons learned that are directly linked to the implementation of the programme and contribute to their global dissemination and supports further programmatic expansion

Key performance indicators

• Country Programmes are implemented in line with Strategic Notes and Annual Work plans;
• All programme teams adhere to UN Women’s Rules, Regulations, policies and procedures, using a results-based management approach;
• Programmes are implemented effectively and efficiently;
• Regular monitoring of programmes;
• Evaluations conducted on time and in high quality;
• Timely and quality reporting; Regular dissemination and sharing of information; country office is sharing best practices/ lessons learned on programme management

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
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them
• Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Excellent knowledge of gender equality and women's empowerment
• Strong knowledge of country and/or region
• Ability to lead formulation of strategies and their implementation
• Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising

Education and certifications

• Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/ women’s studies, international development, or a related 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

Experiences

• At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience at the national and/or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
• Experience in establishing inter-relationships among international organization and national governments;
• Experience in the in the field of gender and human rights of women is an asset;
• Experience in administrative systems and UN system norms is an asset;
• Experience in country and/or region is an asset;
• Experience in leading a team is an asset.

Language requirements

• Fluency in English is required
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language French is an asset.