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.
UN Women has placed emphasis on improving its strategic planning and managing for results by applying the Results-Based Management (RBM) throughout all the work of UN Women. This requires dedicated efforts to strengthen results culture in the organization. In order for UN Women to communicate impact stories on women and girls at the corporate level with aggregated results and financial data across all the countries and regions, strategic planning with strong emphasis on results management is pre-requisite to facilitate systematic and effective results monitoring and reporting during the implementation.
The Strategic Planning Unit in the Regional Office offers support to the 10 countries in which UNWOMEN is present, supporting planning processes, elaboration of work plans and strategic notes, as well as raising capacities in results based management. The Unit also supports the 14 countries in which UNWOMEN is not present by aligning joint programmes with corporate requirements of the Strategic Plan and integrating results into UNWOMEN’s work. The strategic planning Unit acts also as an interface with the resident coordinators and the country office to better align UNWOMEN planning processes with the cooperation frameworks. It supports the integration of strategic plan indicators and ensures alignment with the Planning and Monitoring Policy.
Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Deputy Regional Director, the Regional Strategic Planning Specialist is responsible for leading the strategic planning work in their respective region. The Regional Strategic Planning Specialist provides strategic guidance and technical support to the RO and Country Offices (COs) to ensure high quality strategic planning documents at regional and country levels, ensuring the alignment with UN Women Strategic Plan and the corporate standard on RBM. They lead the preparation of the Strategic Note and workplan of the RO in close collaboration with RO colleagues and COs in the respective region. Regional Strategic Planning Specialist also provides guidance, technical support and quality assurance to Country Offices (COs) associated with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks (UNSDCFs), Strategic Notes and workplans from the strategic planning and RBM perspectives. They also contribute to HQ-led corporate level initiatives in the areas of Strategic Planning and RBM.
The Regional Strategic Planning Specialist works closely with the Regional Coordination Specialist, the Regional Monitoring & Reporting Specialist/Focal Point and the Regional Operation Manager, as well as the rest of RO colleagues and CO colleagues in the region. They also coordinate with other Regional Strategic Planning Specialists in other ROs to facilitate cross-regional learning and peer-to-peer support mechanism. In carrying out the functions, they coordinate and collaborate closely with relevant HQ Divisions and units, including the Strategy, Planning, Resources and Effectiveness Division (SPRED) and the Policy, Programme and Inter-Governmental Division (PPID), in order to ensure the implementation of corporate policy, procedures, guidance and systems associated with the strategic planning and results management in their respective region
Duties and Responsibilities
Provide strategic planning and RBM-related guidance and technical support to the UN Country Teams (UNCTs) and UN Women COs in the region for development of UNSDCFs through the inter-agency regional mechanism, such as Peer Support Group (PSG), in close collaboration with Regional Coordination Specialist
- Substantively support and contribute to the inter-agency strategic planning processes at the regional and country levels, by coordinating with PSG co-chairs and participating in PSG meetings and related activities related to strategic planning, RBM, monitoring and reporting.
- Review draft Roadmaps, Common Country Assessment (CCA) and UNSDCFs from the perspective of strategic planning, RBM and monitoring/reporting, in line with the guidance/standard from DCO, in close collaboration with Regional Coordination Specialist.
- Provide additional technical support to UNCTs and Results Groups, upon request, in relation to UNSDCFs, joint work plans, RBM capacity development, monitoring and reporting.
- Provide guidance and technical support to UN Women COs in the areas of strategic planning, RBM, monitoring and reporting related to UNSDCFs, Joint Workplans and the UN Info platform, clarifying the alignment and linkage with UN Women Strategic Plan, Strategic Notes, workplans and UN Women Results Management System (RMS).
- Provide guidance, technical support and quality assurance to UN Women Country Offices in the region to ensure the quality and timely submission and finalization of Strategic Notes, ensuring the full alignment with the respective UNSDCFs and in line with UN Women’s relevant corporate policies, procedures and guidance.
- Provide guidance, technical support and quality assurance to UN Women Country Offices in the region to ensure the quality and timely submission and finalization of workplans, in line with UN Women’s relevant corporate policies, procedures and guidance.
- Lead and manage the regional level review and appraisal process of workplans from COs, in collaboration with the relevant RO colleagues, to ensure quality in the region to facilitate the approval of those CO workplans by Regional Director.
- Provide guidance and support to COs to ensure amendments of Strategic Notes and workplans are completed in a timely manner in line with relevant corporate procedure, in coordination with HQ.
- Provide guidance, technical support and training to strengthen the capacity of COs in the areas of RBM in relation to strategic planning.
- Provide guidance and technical support, upon request, when a CO conducts Mid-Term Review (MTR) of their Strategic Note.
- Provide guidance and technical support to COs to ensure the effective use of RMS for the planning processes.
Lead and coordinate the strategic planning processes at the regional level
- Lead and manage the overall processes and coordinate within RO and with COs in the region to develop a new Strategic Note, ensuring the timely submission and quality in line with the relevant corporate policies, procedures and guidance.
- Lead the overall processes and coordinate within the RO to develop and finalize workplans of the RO, ensuring the timely submission and quality in line with the relevant corporate policies, procedures and guidance documents.
- Lead and manage the amendment process of Strategic Note and workplan of RO in line with relevant corporate procedure and in coordination with SPRED/SPU.
- Provide RBM-related guidance and technical support to RO personnel to improve strategic planning in RO.
- Provide guidance and technical support to personnel in the RO to ensure the effective use of RMS for RO’s planning processes.
- Provide support to the Regional Operations Manager for matters relating to the Regional Quarterly Business Review (QBR), the Regional Risk Management process and the development of the regional Office Typology and physical presence setup.
Contribute to HQ-led corporate initiatives in the areas of Strategic Planning and RBM in close collaboration with HQ to ensure the field perspectives and needs are reflected in those corporate initiatives
- Contribute to corporate level strategic planning exercises associated with UN Women Strategic Plan, including development of new Strategic Plan and Mid-Term Review of Strategic Plan.
- Contribute to development, revision and roll-out of relevant corporate policies, procedure and guidance in the areas of strategic planning and RBM.
- Contribute to development/revision of corporate RBM capacity development resources and tools in the areas of strategic planning.
- Contribute to development/enhancement of corporate systems in the areas of strategic planning and results management.
- Contribute to enhancement of UN Women’s Transparency Portal to improve publishing of planning data.
- Contribute to cross-regional and corporate level knowledge exchange and learning on strategic planning and RBM in close collaboration with other Regional Strategic Planning Specialists and HQ colleagues.
- Coordinate and collaborate with HQ to support the preparation of sessions with the Executive Board associated with Strategic Notes, as needed.
Oversee documentation in the areas of strategic planning and RBM within the Regional Office and contribute to audits and evaluations
- Ensure Strategic Notes and workplans of RO and COs in the region are fully updated in the corporate systems and documented with amendments, ensuring the readiness for future audits and evaluations.
- Contribute to internal/external audits, corporate/regional evaluations, other assessment/reviews and reporting requirements, by providing necessary data, information and documents associated with UNSDCFs, Strategic Notes and workplans from the region.
Oversee the management of the Regional Project Appraisal mechanism (RPAC) and reporting of regional/global results
- Contribute to the corporate level monitoring and reporting requirements, such as the Executive Director’s Annual Report (EDAR) to the Executive Board on the implementation of UN Women Strategic Plan and UN Women’s Transparency Portal.
- Provide guidance and technical support to Country Offices to support planning of monitoring and reporting work at the planning stage of Strategic Notes, workplans and projects in line with the corporate requirements.
- Ensure the efficient functioning of the RPAC and provide technical guidance to the RPAC chairs, secretariat and members.
Lead and manage personnel under their supervision Manage the performance of personnel under their supervision by provide managerial direction, guidance and leadership as well as performance feedback and coaching.
- Prepare and oversee the implementation of an action plan for an adequate transfer of knowledge and skills to national staff under their supervision to prepare their gradual takeover of critical strategic planning functions.
- Ensure performance assessments are completed on time and identify learning and development opportunities to support personnel’s engagement.
- Ensure all personnel under their supervision are fully aware of UN Women’s workplace relations policies.
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.
Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:
The incumbent supervises the Regional Monitoring and Reporting Specialist (P3) and Monitoring and Reporting Analyst (NOA) and Knowledge Management Specialist (P3)
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 knowledge of strategic planning and RBM
- Excellent knowledge of UN system and understanding of inter-agency strategic planning processes
- Excellent analytical skills
- Ability to promote and monitor inclusion of gender-specific results, indicators, targets and activities in various planning frameworks
- Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision
- Ability to support others to strengthen their knowledge and skills in the areas of strategic planning
Required Skills and Experience
Education and Certification
- Master’s degree or equivalent in development-related disciplines, Social Sciences, Political Science, Development Studies, Public Administration, Gender, 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.
Experience
- At least 7 years of progressively responsible development experience that combines strategic and managerial leadership in development cooperation, international relations, public administration or a related field is required.
- At least 3 to 5 years of experience in Results-Based Management (RBM) and strategic planning, including managing and coordinating strategy development, multi-year planning documents, work plans, and/or programme documents at the country, regional and/or international levels is required.
- Experience in providing guidance and technical support for the development of Theory of Change, results frameworks, logical frameworks and indicators for programmes/projects to ensure the minimum standard of RBM is required.
- Experience in inter-agency strategic planning work related to UNDAF/UNSDCFs at the country, regional or international level is desirable.
- Experience in developing RBM resources and tools is desirable.
- Experiences in conducting RBM training, as a trainer, to personnel and/or external partners to support results-based planning, monitoring and reporting is desirable.
- Experience leading and coaching staff in international settings is required.
- Experience in the use of computers, office software packages (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), spreadsheet and database packages is required.
- Experience in the use of the Results Management System (RMS) or similar web-based results management system, is desirable.
Languages
- Fluency in French and English is required.
- Knowledge of another official UN language is desirable (Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).