Background

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides solid and coherent leadership supporting Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

In South Sudan, UN Women supports national priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with government, civil society and other relevant actors. As a national priority and part of efforts to build lasting peace, South Sudan has embarked on a process to develop its permanent Constitution. A gender-responsive, people-centered, participatory and inclusive constitution-making process will build consensus amongst stakeholders on substantial constitutional issues. In line with the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS), the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) developed a Constitution Making Process Bill, 2021, presented to the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) for enactment. The Bill’s purpose is to establish a legal framework to govern the process of Permanent Constitution-making and outline the design, form, powers and functions of the mechanisms to be involved in the Permanent Constitution-making process.

Currently, UN Women South Sudan is implementing a project “support to a people-driven and gender-responsive permanent constitution-making process in South Sudan.” The project is for a period of two years from 2022 to 2023, focusing on three main areas, that is, 1) supporting the R-TGoNU to establish inclusive and functional constitutional-making mechanisms for developing a permanent constitution peacefully; 2) supporting constitution-making mechanisms and key non-state actors implement gender-responsive, inclusive, people-driven and participatory processes for building consensus around the substance of the permanent constitution; and 3) ensuring that communities/public have access to information to build awareness, understanding of and support for the constitution-making process through strengthened media, CSOs and local outreaches.

Duties and Responsibilities

To support the Government of South Sudan to manage a gender-responsive, people-centered, participatory and inclusive constitution-making process, UN Women South Sudan Country Office is seeking to recruit a Senior Gender Advisor to provide technical and advisory assistance to advance the project’s focus areas as mentioned above. Therefore, under the overall guidance of the Country Representative, direct supervision of the Deputy Country Representative and close coordination with the Gender Justice Specialist, the Senior Gender Advisor is required to perform the following tasks:

Technical Assistance:

  • Advising and supporting the stakeholders in establishing gender-responsive mechanisms for the permanent constitution-making process;
  • Advising and supporting the development and implementation of gender-responsive policies, rules, procedures, strategies, plans, actions, programs, and systems of the constitution-making mechanisms;
  • Develop with women and other partners, position papers providing comparative analysis on areas/issues of concern/ contention from a gender perspective during the constitution-making process;
  • Conduct gender analysis of the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011 (as amended) to inform advocacy on the Permanent Constitution Making Process;
  • Support women-specific consultations and dialogues with the constitution-making mechanisms at national and sub-national levels;
  • Support advocacy meetings for women delegates with other stakeholders to support buy-in for the women’s position;
  • Submit regular updates on activities on constitution-making;
  • Advise on the training needs of the constitution-making mechanisms and stakeholders;
  • Liaise with the Gender Justice Specialists to provide guidance on specific requests from the constitution-making mechanisms and stakeholders;
  • Prepare inputs on documents on inter-agency coordination on the Permanent Constitution-making process and contribute to the project’s reports as required.

Capability Building of Stakeholders:

  • Develop and implement capacity-building strategies to meet the capacity and training needs of the constitution-making mechanisms, stakeholders and women leaders involved in the constitution-making process;
  • Support the training of the constitution-making mechanisms and other institutions involved in the constitution-making process on a gender-responsive, rights-based and conflict-sensitive constitution-making process;
  • Support the training of the constitution drafting committee on gender-sensitive/responsive drafting;
  • Strengthen the capacity of women leaders to engage with the media in the constitution-making process, including public speaking; press-release writing, and presentation.

Partnership Building:

  • Develop and implement partnerships strategies;
  • Enhance partnership/cooperation/consultation/coordination with stakeholders, CSOs, Women groups/organizations, and international partners;
  • Coordinate with other UN agencies, government institutions, donors and CSOs to ensure the interventions on the constitution-making process are gender-sensitive, harmonized and aligned with other in-country efforts;
  • Liaise with and establish strong working relationships with other UN agencies and international organizations to promote a coordinated approach to the development and implementation of constitution-making activities;
  • Spearhead UN Women’s input and contribution to joint activities on Constitution Making Process support;
  • Liaise with key stakeholders to strengthen strategic partnerships to facilitate and increase women's participation in the Constitution Making Process.

Support to implementation of programs:

  • Assess Country Office annual work plans and provide recommendations to ensure compliance with program goals and results-based indicators;
  • Analyze and ensure alignment of project budgets with logical framework matrices and work plans;
  • Ensure program quality control and identification of potential challenges;
  • Ensure the country office have aligned program plans with operations plan;
  • Support the development of necessary documentation such as ToRs, concept notes, memos, correspondence, meeting briefs and talking points to implement activities;
  • Provide inputs into the project’s reporting requirements to the donor and Monitoring and Evaluation activities to the Programme M & E Officers on work done and further prospects as decided by the program;
  • Develop detailed work plans in line with the project activities.

Knowledge building and sharing:

  • Lead the process of identifying and synthesizing of best practices and lessons learned that are directly linked to the implementation of the project and contribute to their national and global dissemination; 
  • Perform other job-related duties as requested by supervisor from time to time.

Key Deliverables:

  • Develop a work plan in line with the project activities;
  • Develop with women and other partners, position papers providing comparative analysis on areas/issues of concern/ contention from a gender perspective during the constitution-making process;
  • Conduct gender analysis of the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011 (as amended) to inform advocacy on the Permanent Constitution Making Process;
  • Support the stakeholders in establishing gender-responsive mechanisms for the permanent constitution-making process;
  • Support the stakeholders to develop and implement gender-responsive policies, rules, procedures, strategies, plans, actions, programs, and systems of the constitution-making mechanisms;
  • Support women-specific consultations and dialogues with the constitution-making mechanisms at national and sub-national levels;
  • Support advocacy meetings for women delegates with other stakeholders to support buy-in for the women’s position;
  • Develop and implement capacity-building strategies to meet the capacity and training needs of the constitution-making mechanisms, stakeholders and women leaders involved in the constitution-making process;
  • Support the training of the constitution-making mechanisms and other institutions involved in the constitution-making process on a gender-responsive, rights-based and conflict-sensitive constitution-making process and gender-responsive drafting;
  • Strengthen the capacity of women leaders engaging with the media in the constitution-making process, including public speaking; press-release writing, and presentation;
  • Prepare inputs on documents on inter-agency coordination on the Permanent Constitution-making process and contribute to the project’s reports as required.

Key Performance Indicators:

  • The project’s activities are implemented in line with the project document, Strategic Notes and Annual Work plans;
  • Adherence to UN Women’s Rules, Regulations, policies and procedures, using a results-based management approach;
  • Programs are implemented in a timely manner, in line with budgets;
  • Regular monitoring of programs, addressing issues in a timely manner
  • Timely and quality reporting;
  • Regular dissemination and sharing of information - country offices are sharing best practices/ lessons learned on program management.

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.

Functional Competencies:

  • Excellent program formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
  • Ability to develop detailed operational plans, and budgets, and deliver on them;
  • Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making;
  • Excellent analytical skills;
  • Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management;
  • Strong knowledge of UN program management systems;
  • Ability to lead the formulation of strategies and their implementation;
  • Strong networking skills.

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

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master’s degree or equivalent in Law, Human Rights, or Gender Studies is required;
  • A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s) in a relevant discipline from a recognized University with the required work experience, plus two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Work Experience:

  • A minimum 5 years of professional and responsible experience in law or mainstreaming gender in legal processes  is required;
  • Strong experience in mainstreaming gender in legal and public processes;
  • Experience in writing position papers providing comparative analysis on contentious issues;
  • Experience in supporting different women’s groups in consultative processes.

Language Requirements:

  • Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of Arabic or other official UN working languages is an added advantage.

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.

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.