Background

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (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 provides support to Member States’ efforts and priorities in meeting their gender equality goals and for building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
 
UN Women Fiji MCO has four main thematic areas:
  • Advancing Gender Justice in the Pacific;
  • Ending Violence against Women (EVAW);
  • Improving Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE);
  • Increasing Community Resilience through the Empowerment of Women to Address Climate Change and Natural Hazards – IREACH.

Advancing Gender Justice in the Pacific

The AGJP programme is based on an understanding of gender responsive governance as the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels. It acknowledges that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities and opportunities are respected and will not depend on whether they are born male or female. Gender responsive governance can only be achieved through women’s empowerment, acceptance and practice of women’s human rights, and healthy positive gender relations that address negative gender stereotypes, and promote women’s transformative roles as leaders and decision makers. As with gender equality, gender responsive governance does not imply that women and men are the same, but that they have equal value, rights are respected and should be accorded equal opportunities and access to decision-making and leadership. Gender responsive governance creates equal opportunities for women and men to contribute to and benefit from economic, social, cultural and political leadership. 
 
These projects will promote gender responsive governance in the Pacific and build on synergies within UN Women’s broader programme on Advancing Gender Justice in the Pacific, as well as the programmes on Women’s Economic Empowerment, Ending Violence against Women and Increasing Community Resilience to Climate Change Resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction.
 
The Advancing Gender Justice in the Pacific (AGJP) programme has been designed based on nationally identified priorities that acknowledge and highlight the complexity in changing social norms, values and cultural practices around human rights, access to justice and women’s political participation. The programme builds on UN Women’s global and regional comparative advantage in promoting gender responsive governance.
                                                                                                                 
The AGJP programme will be implemented through two initiatives:
  • The Pacific Women’s Access to Justice and Human Rights Initiatives (Women’s Rights Project) to promote harmonised human rights reporting as well as de-jure and de-facto implementation of CEDAW; and
  • The Gender Responsive Political Governance Initiatives to promote women’s political participation and representation and gender responsiveness of state structures, systems and processes. (This is the next phase of UN Women programming on gender equality in political governance. Over the past 4 years UN Women through the Gender Equality in Political Governance (GEPG) project sought to raise awareness on gender equality and electoral system and highlighted how appropriate measures could be used to address gender bias).

Under the AGJP Programme, UN Women will implement the EC funded Project “Strongim Mere: Promoting Women’s Political Participation and Representation in the Solomon Islands” In order to promote women’s empowerment, gender equality and peace through women’s increased political participation and representation UN Women is supporting structural reform to reflect gender responsive governance processes and systems. In addition to structural reform, UN Women is supporting community awareness projects and support to women candidates. 

Under the supervision of the Solomon Islands National Programme Coordinator for the Advancing Gender Justice in the Pacific (AGJP) Programme, the Assistant Project Officer will support the implementation of the following specific objectives:

  • Women candidates’ voice and transformational influence in 2014 national Elections strengthened;
  • Increase in Non-Honiara based women’s voice and participation in 2014 national elections;
  • Increase understanding of women’s role as leaders and peace agents.

Summary of Key Functions

Reporting to the Advancing Gender Justice in the Pacific Programme Coordinator (Solomon Islands), the Assistant Project Officer will support the implementation of the AGJP Programme in the Solomon Islands, including but not limited to:

  • Support the implementation of programme strategies;
  • Provide assistance to monitoring and evaluation of the programme implementation;
  • Provide logistical support for the National Coordinator, resource persons and UN Women implementing partners;
  • Support the implementation of the AGJP Solomon Islands communication action plan;
  • Develop regular update reports for AGJP management team. 
Ensures implementation of programme strategies focusing on achievement of the following results:
  • Provide assistance to the Solomon Islands National Programme Coordinator (AGJP) and technical resource persons to strengthen capacity among community radio staff on gender and elections;
  • Establish partnerships and develop plans with the national and local government bodies and CSOs to ensure sustainable advocacy on women political participation through community radio. 
  • Provide support to relevant stakeholders to advance women’s political participation and representation using the transformational leadership capacity building approach; 
  • Support government, CSOs and development partners with the implementation of the national Women’s Peace and Security Action Plans;
  • Provide logistical support to the Fiji Multi Country Office (MCO) to ensure the participation of representatives from the Solomon Islands in regional and international initiatives;
  • Provide logistical support to UN Women’s Empowerment Series to promote women’s political participation events;
  • Engage in monitoring of activities and project implementation for evaluation purposes, including reporting to ensure efficient implementation of the Advancing Gender Justice in the Pacific Programme in Solomon Islands.
  • Liaise with national development partners and UN agencies to ensure aid effectiveness and transparency.
Provide advice and support to UN Women management, focusing on achievement of the following :-
  • Ensure that the Multi Country Office as well as relevant UN staff in other agencies are fully informed and able to contribute meaningfully to the inception and rollout of UN Women Solomon Islands  Advancing Gender Justice Programme;
  • Ensure that the goal and objectives of the Project and the underlying gender analysis are converted into substantive inputs to, UN Women MCO Annual Workplans and Reports as well as relevant Programme and other strategic documents;
  • Represent UN Women’s Programme in relevant working groups at national policy and programme related meetings.
Under the guidance by supervisor, ensure creation of strategic partnerships and support to resource mobilization focusing on achievement of the following results:
  • Development of partnerships with the UN Agencies, government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, private sector, civil society areas based on strategic goals of UN Women in the area of human rights, countries needs and donors’ priorities;
  • Analysis and research of information on donors, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation;
  • Production of periodic updates and briefs on country development situation to be used by stakeholders, MCO, RO and HQ.
Advocacy and promotion of awareness of the Advancing Gender Justice in the Pacific project focusing on achievement of the following results:
  • Public and policy advocacy for Human Rights, Gender Justice and Women political participation and representation by participating in relevant forums, conferences and trainings;
  • Support to monitoring progress and formulation of strategies towards the achievement of Human Rights compliance and advancement of Gender Justice.
Ensures provision of top quality advisory services and facilitation of knowledge building and management focusing on achievement of the following results:
  • Identification of sources of information related to policy-driven issues. Identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learnt directly linked to programme country policy goals;
  • Support to development of policies and institutions that will address the country problems and needs in collaboration with the Government and other strategic partners;
  • Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice;
  • Organization of trainings for the operations/ projects staff on programme issues.

Competencies

Core values and Guiding principles:

Integrity:

  • Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

  • Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

  • Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff;
  • Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies

Ethics and Values:

  • Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

  • Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Development and Innovation:

  • Take charge of self-development and take initiative.

Work in teams:

  • Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing:

  • Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

  • Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management:

  • Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

  • Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

  • Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

  • Master’s Degree or equivalent in Business Administration, Public Administration, Finance, Economics or related field i.e. Governance and Public Policy, Governance and Development Studies, International Relations.

Work Experience

  • Up to 2 years of relevant experience at the national or international level in providing management advisory services, hands-on experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
  • Experience in the field of gender equality and the empowerment of women preferably focused on democratic governance, women’s political participation planning, and human rights – is desirable;
  • Knowledge in gender and development issues especially in the Pacific. Proven experience in UN project implementation in the Solomon Islands; proven knowledge on human rights and women’s political participation situation of Solomon Islands women; and established excellent networks in the Solomon Islands. Excellent communication, interpersonal and liaison skills with Solomon Islands Government and CSOs inter-governmental, civil society, academic, UN system and international and regional development partners;
  • Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, experience in handling of web based management systems.

Language Requirements

  • Fluency in the UN and national language of the duty station.