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.

 

In Nepal, UN Women focuses on strengthening women’s voice, agency, and leadership across sectors to advance women’s rights, provide space for women’s meaningful participation, and contribute to tangible differences in their lives. The UN Women Nepal’s Strategic Note (SN) for the period 2023-2027 lays out the agency’s unique role and comparative advantage in supporting national stakeholders in advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women in line with internationally agreed normative standards. The SN is aligned with and contributes to Nepal’s national priorities and commitments as described in the Nepal Constitution 2015 and the Fifteenth Periodic Plan, the needs of women’s organizations, and the UNSDCF with a commitment of leaving no one behind. UN Women will advance its efforts in Nepal in accordance with its unique role and triple mandate (normative, operational and coordination) and lessons learned to achieve gender equality and social inclusion and empower women and girls in Nepal to realize their human rights

The SN highlights the structural causes of gender inequality and inter-sectional social exclusion as bound up in its social norms. UN Women believes in a holistic approach to tackling structural gender inequality, transforming discriminatory social norms and ending harmful practices. UN Women pursues transformative change in social norms across its programming areas namely gender responsive and inclusive governance (GRIG), ending gender-based violence, humanitarian action, DRR and climate change, as well as women’s economic empowerment (WEE). Further, the UN Women Strategic Note underscores the need for programming across the post-conflict, humanitarian and development continuum. UN Women is currently implementing a longer-term initiative on storytelling to understand pathways for social norm change and the factors that spur transformative shifts toward gender equality.

Reporting to the Country Representative, Nepal, the Deputy Country Representative is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Country Office (CO). The incumbent is responsible for substantially contributing to the design, implementation, management and oversight of the country programme in coordination with the operational team supporting its implementation to ensure effective and efficient delivery of results as planned in UN Women’s Strategic Plan and the CO plans.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Manage the programme team

  • Manage the day-to-day work of the programme team, including finalizing the team’s annual and biennial work plan;
  • Manage the process of programme conceptualization, planning, implementing and monitoring; and the management of material and financial resources;
  • Lead the process of preparing programme implementation progress reports and identifying areas for UN Women Country Representative’s action and/or decision;
  • Lead  the process of monitoring the programme/ project implementation of activities and finances using results-based management tools;
  • Finalize quarterly reports, annual reports and donor reports, focusing on results, output and outcomes;

2. Provide advisory and specialized technical support on the strategic direction of the office

  • Advise and guide the Country Representative on strategic areas;
  • Provide specialized technical and strategic support in managing all aspects of the programme design and related activities and for ensuring compliance and accountability in programme monitoring, reporting and evaluation;
  • Develop policy documents, briefs and other strategic papers/materials for use in the development and presentation of innovative and coherent policy and programmatic positions;
  • Serve as a senior member of the management team.

3. Represent UN Women in UN system coordination, with a focus on programming

  • As delegated by the UN Women Country Representative, represent UN Women in the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) and/or the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) to collaborate with the Resident Coordinator and UN system on interagency coherence, collaboration, cooperation, resource mobilization, advocacy, common services, and operations;
  • Ensure UN Women’s participation in UN system thematic and other working groups to advance UN Women’s mandate.

 4. Provide technical support in creation of strategic partnerships and resource mobilization strategies

  • Provide substantive research and inputs in the formulation and implementation of the country resource mobilization strategy;
  • Establish and maintain relations with government, partners, stakeholders and donors to achieve active collaboration, cooperation and alliances on programme development and implementation and resource mobilization.

5. Represent UN Women and support advocacy strategies

  • Represent and advocate for UN Women in organizational, regional, global, public information/ relations events and key meetings, as delegated;
  • Develop and implement advocacy and public communication strategies.

6. Facilitate knowledge management, innovation and capacity building

  • Manage the process of collecting and sharing lessons learned on gender equality and women’s empowerment to build knowledge and capacity of partners and stakeholders;
  • Oversee the design and implementation of capacity building training activities to enhance skills and knowledge.

7. Manage personnel under supervision

  • Manage the performance of personnel under supervision; provide managerial direction, guidance and leadership to staff and provide performance feedback and coaching to personnel supervision, ensure performance assessment are implemented on time and ensure personnel are fully aware of UN Women workplace relations policies;
  • Create an enabling work environment;
  • Identify learning and development opportunities

Key Performance Indicators

  • Timely and quality provision of strategic support and advise to the Country Representative
  • Timely and quality delivery of the programme teams
  • Regular interaction and establishment of joint activities and programmes with other agencies and partners
  • Quality of inputs provided in formulation and implementation of the country resource mobilization strategy
  • Quality and number of knowledge management and advocacy initiatives undertaken
  • Quality mentoring, training, coaching which affects performance of personnel, inclusive workplace environment
  • UN Women is seen as a reliable and trustworthy partner, providing substantial inputs to progress UN women’s mandate

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

Functional Competencies

  • Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
  • Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them
  • Ability to provide policy advice and support to partners
  • Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
  • Strong leadership skills, ability to create and enabling work environment
  • Strong analytical skills
  • Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management
  • Strong knowledge of the UN system
  • Strong knowledge of local country context
  • Strong negotiation skills

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

  • Master’s degree in international development, public administration, public policy or other relevant social science fields 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.
  • A project/programme management certification (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

  • At least 7 years of progressively responsible professional experience that combines strategic and managerial leadership in development programmes with a strong focus in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment at the national or international level, preferably in developing countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds or Programmes;
  • Field based experience working with multi-cultural teams;
  • Experience in leading a team.

Language Requirements:

  • Fluency in English is required;
  • Knowledge of another UN working language will be an asset.

Application:

Inclusion Statement:

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