Background

UN Women (UNW), 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 centre of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actor.
 
The Programme Specialist on Gender and Governance in Fragile and Conflict Affected States will be responsible for knowledge management, policy support, and management of the governance-related advocacy and programming of the Peace and Security Cluster. This will include, management, monitoring and on-going fund-raising of the global programme: 'Gender and Democratic Governance: Delivering Services to Women'. The Programme Specialist will provide overall leadership, strategic guidance, coordination, management, quality assurance and technical oversight to the Programme; and directly support and monitor the implementation of the cross-regional components of the programme involving various countries. These include components related to technical assistance, monitoring, knowledge-sharing, advocacy and resource mobilization, and results-based reporting
 
The Programme Specialist, under the supervision of the Chief of the Peace and Security Cluster of UNWOMEN, will take responsibility for fulfilling these tasks in close collaboration with the UNWOMEN Sub-regional offices and in consultation with Geographic Sections and other relevant sections.

Duties and Responsibilities

Programme Management and Coordination
  • Manage UN Women) project, ‘Gender and Democratic Governance: Delivering Services to Women’. Management includes implementation of HQ level and country level project components of the programme and provide technical assistance as appropriate, undertake monitoring missions to country project sites.
  • Support UN WOMEN Country Offices in the development and implementation of country level components of the programme and provide technical assistance where appropriate, and undertake monitoring missions to country project sites.
  • Identify cross-regional needs and support capacity development.
  • Develop, manage and oversee programme budget, in consultation with UNWOMEN offices and HQ units, and in close collaboration with administrative and financial staff.
  • Ensure high-quality, results-oriented reporting on the global programme, for internal and external audiences (e.g. UN, donors), including providing guidance to UNWOMEN Sub-regional Offices and partners in the submission of timely, quality reports and contributions.
  • Develop the global annual work plan and time-line, facilitating and monitoring compliance, in consultation and coordination with UNWOMEN offices.
  • Ensure effective information flow, communication and coordination with and between UNWOMEN Sub-Regional officers, global partners, consultants, and UNWOMEN geographic and thematic sections.  
Policy Development and Support
  • Lead the development of policy and knowledge in the area of gender responsive governance in fragile and conflict affected states as appropriate and under the guidance of the Chief Advisor.
  • Provide UN, Government and CSO partners with technical support on gender-responsive peacebuilding, as requested.
  • Organise expert preparatory meetings, panels and other interactive events on gender and peacebuilding.
  • Liaise with other geographic sections and other relevant thematic section including the National Planning and Budgeting and the Leadership and Political Participation sections of UN Women.
  • Attend programme meetings within UN WOMEN, and other forums for coordinating planning and quality programme implementation, as relevant; provide other support to the programme team as necessary, including support in drafting project proposals, organizing programme workshops, etc.
 Learning and Knowledge Management
  • Produce studies and thematic technical papers as required.
  • Convene and organize global meetings of programme stakeholders and other events as required related to advocacy, knowledge sharing, or other programme priorities.
  • Monitor the development of, and provide substantive guidance and technical inputs, to ensure the quality of knowledge products and capacity development tools commissioned under the Programme.
  • Review and provide feedback to UN WOMEN offices on case studies and other related knowledge products and publications as requested and needed.
  • Support institutional learning in the area of peace and security including preparation of briefs, managing production of knowledge products, participation in appropriate global knowledge events, informing UN WOMEN staff about the work of the section (via a monthly update, or updates to the UN WOMEN website with public and internal information).
Representation, Partnership Building and Advocacy
  • Strengthen UN WOMEN partnership in the area of governance in fragile and conflict affected states through engagement with other UN agencies, multilateral organizations, donors, government authorities and CSOs.
  • Support the organization of high-level consultation meetings and other governance related advocacy.
  • Develop and drive donor outreach and fundraising plans to mobilize resources for the programme, in coordination with relevant UN WOMEN sections.
  • Represent UN Women in international fora to encourage greater commitment to, collaboration on the implementation of gender equality policies (in Peace and Security).
  • Support inter-agency work and processes pertaining to gender and governance in fragile and conflict affected states.
  • Contribute to the development of strategic approaches to policy dialogue, resource mobilization, partnerships, and outreach.
  • Establish and nurture relationship with academia, research institutes, civil society and experts working on governance and gender in contexts of fragility, conflict and peacebuilding to expand and share knowledge, exchange views on latest findings, incorporate cutting-edge thinking in UN work on gender equality.

Competencies

CORE VALUES / GUIDING PRINCIPLES:
  • Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
  • Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity. 
SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES:
  • Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, women's rights and related instruments.
  • In-depth knowledge of program management and implementation.
  • Knowledge of UN WOMEN business, operations and programming cycle.
  • Managerial, organizational, budgeting, results-based management, and negotiating and communication skills.
  • A proven ability to liaise with a myriad of stakeholders and partners, including government, civil society, international organizations and grassroots organizations.
  • Strong analytical, dialogue, consultation and communication skills, including ability to produce high quality practical advisory reports and knowledge products.
  • Maturity, ability to take decisions under pressure and ability to deal with matters that are politically or culturally sensitive
  • Ability to work as a member of a team.

Required Skills and Experience

 Education:
  • Masters degree (or equivalent) in governance, public policy, and/or post-conflict peace processes.
Experience:
  • Five years experience in one of these fields: women's political participation, human rights, gender and development, gender and good governance, including progressively responsible professional project management and monitoring and evaluation experience.
  • Experience in the area of advocacy and policy analysis on advancing gender equality, ideally in a post conflict setting.
Language Requirements:
  • Excellent command of English, including analytical writing skills and presentation skills.

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. More information on UN Women can be found through www.unwomen.org.
 
All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment
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.