Antecedentes

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, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women has played an innovative and catalytic role in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) since its inception in 1997. UN Women Palestine focuses its activities on one overarching goal, namely to support the implementation at the national level of existing international commitments to advance gender equality in line with the national priorities. In support of this goal and thoroughly taking into consideration the specificities of the Palestinian context, UN Women concentrates its efforts and interventions toward the realisation of following strategic goals: Engendering governance, peace and security; Supporting women's economic security and rights; and Promoting women’s rights and protection against violence.

UN Women, as part of its approach and methodology within the unique political and social context and situation of the occupied Palestinian territory, and in order to advance the recognition and enjoyment of women's rights, developed and implemented a programme aimed at creating and institutionalizing systems, policies, procedures and mechanisms related to the protection and empowerment of women victims of violence, as well as to women’s access to equitable justice. Building on this programme and through the UN Women/UNDP programme "Strengthening the Rule of Law in Palestine: Justice and Security for the Palestinian People" (2014-2017), UN Women is currently supporting the process of institutionalization and capacity development of the justice and security sectors in Palestine. Aimed at ensuring proper cross-fertilisation and feedback and to ensure the implementation of a coherent gender approach across the different components of the joint programme, the UN Women/UNDP Joint Programme will form a “Gender Experts Team, composed of both UN Women and UNDP/PAPP Gender Experts recruited through the programme. The Gender Experts Team will meet fortnightly, or more often as needed, facilitated by the UN Women Gender Team Coordinator. The Gender Experts Team will develop a work plan which will be aligned and considered a full part of the annual work plans”.

Within this framework, UN Women Women’s Human Rights Programme (WHRP) in Palestine would like to recruit a highly-qualified “Gender Experts’ Coordinator”.

Under the overall supervision of UN Women Palestine Programme Coordinator and the direct supervision of the Project Manager, the Gender Experts’ Coordinator will work in close collaboration with the Women’s Protection Advisor to support the implementation of the UN Women Joint Programme with UNDP: "Strengthening the Rule of Law in the oPt: Justice and Security for the Palestinian People". 

Deberes y responsabilidades

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, the Gender Experts’ Coordinator will undertake the following tasks, duties and responsibilities:

• Support and provide advice to the Women’s Human Rights Project Manager and the Women’s Protection Advisor in the recruitment of 4 Gender Experts who will be seconded to key justice and security institutions, namely Cabinet of Ministers; Ministry of Interior/Palestinian Civil Police; Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Women’s Affairs;
• Support and facilitate a process of joint planning, harmonization of approaches, sharing of best practices within the Gender Experts Team (composed of professionals recruited either by UN Women or by UNDP within the framework of the Joint Programme);
• Revise and approve monthly work plans prepared by the Gender Experts hired by UN Women, based on official project work plans;
• Revise and advise on monthly work plans prepared by the Gender Experts hired by UNDP, based on official project work plans;  
• Facilitate the development of a monthly coordination plan for the Gender Experts group, to ensure joint planning, the identification of (resource) gaps and opportunities and sharing of best practices, challenges and lessons learnt;  
• Support and advise the Gender Experts Team in providing technical assistance to partner institutions in a constructive and participatory manner, based on programme goals and expected results, as well as on institutional/national priorities and plans, and on international human rights standards;
• Provide technical backstopping and strategic guidance to Gender Experts in the accomplishment of their duties, via regular coordination meetings, as well as through ad hoc training and working sessions;
• Facilitate synergies and communication between Gender Experts and respective partner institutions, including through knowledge exchange, activation of coordination mechanisms, as well as regular and inclusive circulation of relevant information among partner institutions;
• Regularly document results, challenges and lessons learnt arising from the work of the Gender Experts and, based on this, prepare bimonthly reports to be submitted to the Project Manager;
• Develop and submit to the Project Manager for approval a monitoring system/mechanism with the purpose to regularly coordinate and support the work of the Gender Experts, as well as to timely detect emerging issues;
• Support UN Women in identifying strategic direction in the provision of technical assistance to partners for the realization of programme goals, based on accurate situation analysis and early detection of emerging issues;
• Participate in strategic meetings with partner institutions’ senior staff together with concerned Gender Experts where appropriate;
• Gather and share with Gender Experts, the Joint Programme Manager, the Project Manager, the Women’s Protection Advisor and other Joint Programme colleagues any needed background and technical information supporting the implementation of the Programme;
• Contribute to the development of information materials and knowledge products in Arabic and English as required, in close cooperation and coordination with the Project Manager, the Joint Programme Manager and the UN Women and UNDP Communication Officers and the Women’s Protection Advisor;
• Advise on any barriers that limit women’s participation and gender inclusion in the various overseen activities and processes;
• Perform other duties as required.

Impact of Results

• Gender Experts’ contributions are harmonized and focused;
• Partner institutions mainstream gender using the same human rights-based approach, as well as similar strategies;
• Knowledge, processes and lessons learnt related to gender across key partner institutions are documented, analyzed and strategically circulated. 

Time frame:

• The assignment is expected to start in October 2014 and to be accomplished by October 2015 with a possibility of extension. 

Key deliverables

• Bimonthly reports on results, challenges and lessons learnt arising from the work of the Gender Experts Team.

Competencias

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.

Core Competencies:

Results oriented

• Plans and produces quality results to meet established goals, generates innovative, practical solutions to challenging situations.

Ethics and Values

• Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity.

Organizational Awareness

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring

• Initiative-taking; coaching and mentoring ability.

Working in Teams

• Acting as a team player and facilitating team work.

Communicating Information and Ideas

• Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively.

Self-management and Emotional intelligence

• Creating synergies through self-control.

Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements

• Managing conflict.

Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning

• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of other.

Functional Competencies:

• Strong leadership skills;
• Ability to deal with multiple and diverse parties/partners;
• Flexibility and ability to negotiate based on agreed upon goals;
• Strong analytical skills.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education: 

• MA Degree in Social Sciences, Law, Gender Human Rights, or related fields, or
• BA Degree in Social Sciences, Law or related fields combined with 7 years of relevant experience.

Experience: 

• 5 years’ experience in project coordination and/or management;
• 3 years’ experience in the area of gender and institutional capacity building;
• Experience related to the Rule of Law sector, an asset;
• Experience in the development and implementation of M&E systems and tools, an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency (both oral and written) in English and Arabic.