UN WOMEN Jobs - 63432- UN Women: Gender and Humanitarian Advisor

UN Women: Gender and Humanitarian Advisor

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

26-Jun-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-5

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 year

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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.

The Humanitarian Unit leads the organisation’s work in humanitarian action, including disaster risk reduction, preparedness, response and recovery at the country, regional and global levels.

Under the overall supervision of the Director, Programme Division and in close collaboration with the Policy Division, Peace and Security Section, the Gender and Humanitarian Advisor, as outlined in UN Women’s Strategic Plan (2014-2017) and UN Women’s Humanitarian Strategy, is responsible for UN Women’s engagement in humanitarian action. She/ He will lead in advocating for a coordinated and coherent approach on gender mainstreaming in emergency response and humanitarian action and is responsible for ensuring that specialized technical and strategic support is available to field offices where needed.

The scope of work of the Gender and Humanitarian Action Advisor requires experience and in-depth understanding of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues, as well as expertise on humanitarian issues, to translate UN Women`s Strategic Plan (Plan 2014 – 2017) into results. It also requires developing mutually reinforcing partnerships with national entities, civil society, regional institutions, standby partners and the international humanitarian system, including relevant UN entities and bilateral donors to enhance awareness and commitment as well as visibility and resources to advance gender equality and women's empowerment.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide Lead policy guidance and strategic planning for the engagement in humanitarian action:

Lead and guide implementation of UN Women’s Humanitarian Strategy based on the Strategic Plan (SP), in partnership with UN system humanitarian actors and in support of advancing integration of gender equality and women’s empowerment priorities into humanitarian action;
Manage UN Women’s Humanitarian Unit and ensure its effective functioning;
Guide field offices on UN Women’s role and objectives in the humanitarian area;
Identify strategic programme approaches and modalities that provide value added for UN and UN Women in the humanitarian area both at HQ level and in the field.

Provide technical support to UN Women senior management in the area of humanitarian action:

Support UN Women field offices through direct technical advice via field missions and through rapid short term deployments (using UN Women and/or the GenCap rosters) to provide hands-on support for gender equality programming during and after emergencies, including UN Women’s participation in gender-sensitive needs assessment such as Post Disaster Need Assessments (PDNA);
Proactively assess trends and identify emerging issues in humanitarian area at the national, regional or international level that are of relevance to UN Women’s mandate;
Undertake specific flagship technical projects as appropriate to UN Women's SP. Conceive, design, staff, direct, and assess these initiatives;
Contribute to regular review and assessment of UN Women's SP as well as regional and country programming on humanitarian issues.

Participate in and lead inter-agency coordination and partnership building in the area of humanitarian action:

Participate and lead UN Women’s contribution to the existing inter-agency coordination mechanisms and enhance coherence of UN and humanitarian system in promoting gender equality in humanitarian action;
Participate and provide substantive support to relevant inter-agency and inter-governmental forums, notably the IASC, the GenCap Steering Committee, the IASC Gender Reference Group on Gender, donor conferences and others;
Contribute to strategic thinking and policy decisions on mainstreaming gender into humanitarian action and influence agenda and priority setting in relevant UN and humanitarian system-wide inter-agency tasks forces;
Work in close partnership with Member States and non-governmental partners for key programming initiatives and build synergies for effective gender equality programming and advocacy;
Forge strategic partnerships and alliances at the country and global levels to promote gender equality and women's advancement through joint projects and interagency efforts;
Support country offices through direct technical assistance as required.

Engage in advocacy and communication efforts in the area of humanitarian action:

Engage in policy debates relevant to gender and humanitarian action, including participation in global knowledge events and support formulation of corporate policy guidance and practice notes;
Advocate on behalf of UN Women and its mandate to help raise awareness and stimulate action to advance gender equality and women's rights within humanitarian context and form strategic partnerships with government, UN agencies, NGOs, academia, media and the private sector;
Ensure information exchange on crosscutting themes within UN Women, with a particular focus on information chains between the Programme Support and Policy Divisions, in particular the Peace and Security and the Ending Violence Against Women Clusters, geo sections, regional and country offices and other thematic sections;
Provide support to ensure that UN humanitarian action is done in a gender-responsive manner, and within agreed regional and international frameworks to promote and protect gender equality, as needed;
Actively participate in country-level programming processes where UN Women has presence, ensuring that UN Women is strategically placed within the UN humanitarian context. Assist the RC/HC system to secure expertise that will ensure commitment, quality control and resources for gender equality programming.

Participate in capacity building and knowledge management in the area of humanitarian action:

Initiate and manage the process of collecting and disseminating best practices on gender equality programming in humanitarian action and contribute to UN Women’s knowledge management efforts;
Promote the development and dissemination of gender-sensitive tools and methodologies for humanitarian action at the country level, contribute to the development and maintenance of global, regional and national knowledge networks and practices on mainstreaming gender into humanitarian action;
Coordinate UN Women’s crisis response mechanism in partnership with other divisions and units in the organization for successful deployment of financial and human resource capacities and implementation of fast track procedures as per the internal procedures;
Generate ideas for innovative capacity development initiatives and support development of new project proposals for use in resource generation;
Support country staff capacity development to engage in post-crisis needs assessments and in supporting humanitarian coordination and responses from a gender perspective.

Impact of Results:

The functioning of Humanitarian Unit directly impacts on changing humanitarian practice for the benefit of women and girls. This takes place through enhancing coordination and accountability for gender equality in humanitarian action, promoting consistency and sustainability in addressing gender equality concerns and strengthening capacity and effectiveness of UN Women field offices together with national entities and civil society.

Timely and quality delivery of the unit’s activities and outcomes;
Timely analysis and monitoring of crisis situations;
Quality advice and guidance to Senior Management; Regional, Multi-Country and Country Offices;
Quality inputs to strategy documents;
Develop quality partnerships to advance agenda;
Timely exchange of information;
Increased awareness of UN Women;
Quality capacity development tools.

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. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

Demonstrate and promote ethics and integrity by creating organizational precedents.

Organizational Awareness:

Build support for the organization and ensure political acumen.

Development and Innovation:

Support staff competence development, and contribute to an environment of creativity and innovation.

Work in teams:

Build and promote effective 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.

Communication and Information Sharing:

Create and promote an environment for open and 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:

Share knowledge across the organization and build a culture of knowledge sharing and learning.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

Ensure fair and transparent decision making processes and manage risk.

Functional Competencies:

Substantive knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in the fields of gender equality and humanitarian action;
Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of development and humanitarian experience;
Excellent communications skills, with proven expertise in writing persuasive, convincing Policy and Programme documents;
Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills;
Strong planning, goal-setting and prioritization skills;
Effectiveness in establishing and fostering good relations with government counterparts, UN agencies, donors, and NGO partners;
Ability to utilize information technology, executive information systems, management techniques and tools, with a view to optimizing office performance.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master degree (or equivalent) in development-related disciplines, gender issues, public policy or other social science fields.

Experience:

A minimum of 10 years of field and policy experience in management and humanitarian programming, including in conflict, post-conflict and natural disasters’ settings and gender equality;
Programme and policy analysis, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation and field experience in developing country contexts;
Substantive and technical experience in inter-agency humanitarian coordination, experience working with governments, donors and civil society organizations internationally and in the field.

Language:

Written and oral proficiency in English is required;
Knowledge of another UN working language is an asset.

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.

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.

Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.