Background

The duration of the assignment is 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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts.

Haiti is facing recurrent socio-political and economic challenges for several decades. These challenges stem mostly from deep-seated structural problems and are exacerbated by natural hazards. According to the Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO, 2022), 4.9 million people need humanitarian assistance in Haiti, 58% of whom are women and 42% men. It’s in this context that in recent years, gang violence has intensified, particularly in the capital, Port-au-Prince. For example, the violence recorded recent months in Port-au-Prince led to the displacement of approximately 24,000 people, 52% of whom were women and girls and 52% of whom were under the age of 18. In addition according to the Protection Sector's analysis of gang-controlled areas in Port-au-Prince, "the lack of data and access to gang-controlled areas has made the plight of those affected invisible to state authorities, national and international actors. Yet, the protection problems are staggering and cannot be limited to gang-occupied areas or the West Department, but has to cover other departments including the South, Grand d'Anse, and Nippes, which have already been heavily hit by natural disasters (earthquake, floods).

In this regards, UN Women with the support of a NorCap and GenCap deployed advisers have endeavored to work at coordination level to ensure gender is integrated into the coordinated response, but the ever increasing complexity of the unfolding humanitarian context has meant meeting the needs of women and girls consistently faces gaps and challenges.

To help address these concerns UN Women is seeking a Humanitarian Specialist to support the UN Women Country Office’s humanitarian coordination role in Haiti and to enhance its contribution to the response.  This will be done through the strengthening of the humanitarian response programme and coordination efforts  of UN Women with its partners so that humanitarian response and coordination structures have the capacity and resources they need to integrate gender equality and women’s empowerment into the planning and implementation of the humanitarian response.  

Under the guidance of the Country Representative and in close collaboration with the Programme Manager leading the WPS/HA unit and its team, the Humanitarian Specialist will not only ensure the overall leadership role on gender in humanitarian action but also play the coordination role to support the UN Women’s Country Representative and team engaged in the humanitarian space.

Duties and Responsibilities

Manage the GiHA on behalf of UN Women:

• Facilitate and review compliance of the Haiti Humanitarian System with IASC Gender Commitments and Standards
• Lead on UN Women’s contribution to the evidence base, through the production and use of gender analysis in the development of official humanitarian response plans.
• Publish gender alerts and other knowledge products when needed based on the Rapid Gender Analysis results.
• Lead UN Women’s contributions to flash appeals and/or any other humanitarian planning processes.
• Provision of GiHA policy recommendations and guidance to strategic planning and positioning on humanitarian action around the HCT. 
• Represent UN women in of GiHA coordination through the Reseau Genre dans l ’Action Humanitaires (REGAH).
• Work with REGAH to ensure that sectors/clusters designate focal points for the GiHA working group convene and lead monthly and ad-hoc meetings.
• Facilitate the inclusion of local women’s groups in the planning and implementation of the humanitarian response plan.
• Develop an accountability report on inclusion of HCT gender in Haiti humanitarian coordination processes based on UNW developed Localized Accountability Framework template equality roadmap.
• Actively participate to the Gender in Humanitarian Action working group and others relevant fora, including PSEA.
• Contribute to Strengthening gender mainstreaming/development of target actions in the Inter-cluster coordination Group and other cluster/working groups meetings as needed.
• Ensure that gender is mainstreamed in cluster assessments, the Joint Multi-Sector Needs Assessment (MSNA) and rapid interagency assessments.
• Provide technical inputs on gender in the country HPC process.

Coordinate UN Women GHA programmes to respond to the current crisis situation:

• Coordinate the development of program documents.
• Provide technical inputs to programme proposals of the CO.
• Provide advice on contextualizing/ localizing programme documents, country strategies, and knowledge products including the review of agreements with implementing partners.
• Create guidance to be used by UN Women to contribute to prevention mitigation and responding to GBV and Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA).
• Ensure involvement of LWO in programme cycle from the context analysis to evaluation. 
• provide advice on how to boost humanitarian resourcing of gender related activities and outcomes.

Provide Capacity building support:

• Provide substantive technical and policy support programme teams in developing and strengthening projects/ programmes on humanitarian action.
• Contribute to strengthening the capacities of stakeholders on Gender and Age Marker and project analysis on gender mainstreaming. 
• Strengthen the capacities of Women Lead Organizations on Gender and Age Marker.
• Provide technical support to partners – including local women’s organizations - on implementation of gender in humanitarian programming in country.
• Build capacity of REGAH group members on gender mainstreaming.

Manage resource mobilization and partnerships:

• Build and maintain alliances and technical partnerships for the advancement of UN Women’s engagement in the coordinated humanitarian response in Haiti.
• Build and sustain relationship with colleagues working on other sectors particularly the access sector.
• Develop partnerships with national partners working on data collection.
• Build and maintain close liaisons with relevant donors and other actors.
• Provide strategic guidance to COs in mobilizing resources for humanitarian programming.

Manage knowledge products and communication:

• In collaboration with the NorCap adviser, develop a strategy on how UN Women can support the implementation of humanitarian response.
• In collaboration with the Communications Expert, actively disseminate knowledge products to facilitates its use across the humanitarian system. 
• Work with selected LWOs to develop charter of demands based on UNWs template to create an advocacy piece highlighting self-identified needs of Haitian women and girls.
• Strengthen the capacity of GiHA members and WLOs on Gender Equality in Humanitarian Action.
• Lead the drafting of / and contribution to the SG, ED, RD and Representative reports, interventions.
• Provide substantive technical support to identifying opportunities for the development of relevant advocacy and communication materials for the COs.
• Organize and conduct a GiHA members joint mission to a Rapid Gender Assessment in the country hotspot identified areas by the HCT.
• Drafting declaration on other briefs for publication in media with agreement with the representative and the communication officer.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 and experience related to current policies and practices in the fields of gender equality in humanitarian contexts and area of expertise.
• Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision.
• Strong communications skills, with proven expertise in writing cogent and convincing policy and programme documents.
• Good knowledge of the UN system.
• Proven ability to advocate and provide policy advice.
• Ability to lead strategic planning, programme development and implementation, results-based management, and reporting.
• Proven analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Good planning, goal setting and prioritization skills including ability to work under stress.
• Effectiveness in establishing and fostering good relations with government counterparts, UN agencies, donors, and NGO partners.
• Ability to leverage information technology, executive information systems, management techniques and tools for optimal office performance.

Critical Competencies for Immediate Response situations:

Possess a comprehensive set of competencies enabling immediately taking on the challenging role of helping to lead early response recovery efforts in the designated area of responsibility – including:

• Strategic, integrity, results orientation, teamwork, good inter-personal skills;
• Well-developed communication skills;
• Sound judgment, analytical skills;
• Flexibility, proactive engagement, innovation;
• Risk management, gender and culturally sensitivity;
• Ability to work under pressure and demonstrates high tolerance for change, complexity and unpredictability.

Required Skills and Experience

Educaton: 

• Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, international relations, public administration, gender issues, or other development-related fields.
• 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: 

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in area of expertise and gender equality in complex and difficult humanitarian settings.
• Substantive and technical experience in inter-agency coordination, experience working with governments, donors, and civil society organizations internationally and in the field.

Languages: 

• Fluency in written and spoken English and French.
• Knowledge of Creole is an asset.
• Knowledge of the other 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.)