UN WOMEN Jobs - 65491- UN Women: Deputy Regional Director

UN Women: Deputy Regional Director - West and Central Africa

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Dakar, SENEGAL

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

05-May-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-5

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 year

Languages Required :

English French

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 UN Women Regional Office for West and Central Africa is leading and supporting strategic programme development and policy advice; oversight, programme and operational support; intergovernmental support; UN inter-agency coordination for gender equality; representation and advocacy and the maintenance of strategic partnerships. The Regional Office leads UN Women’s portfolio for project offices in West and Central Africa—Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Niger, and Mauritania.

Under the direct supervision of the Regional Director, the Deputy Regional Director provides support to Country and Project Offices and programmes to translate UN Women's strategic plans into effective development initiatives and results and build strong partnerships. The Deputy Regional Director is responsible for effective coordination and integration of gender perspectives in UN Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAF) to promote coherence in the UN system's work on gender equality and the empowerment of women with colleagues in UN organizations. The incumbent is responsible for managing the strategic development of the portfolio and oversight of programme implementation in the project offices to ensure delivery of results as planned in UN Women’s Strategic Plan, regional strategies and accountability framework and is responsible for providing specialized technical and strategic support to the project offices in the West and Central Africa region in managing all aspects of program management and related activities in the office/region. This role requires experience and in-depth understanding of gender and development issues in the West and Central Africa region as well as programme and management expertise.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide advisory and specialized strategic support:

Advise, support, guide and provide input in the formulation of relevant, high quality, results-based and rights-based country programmes and projects;
Prepare policy documents, briefs and other strategic papers/materials for the Regional Director for use in the development and presentation of a coherent regional perspective;
Assess the country level and sub-regional level annual work plans and present the Regional Director with recommendations and conclusions to assist in development planning.

Oversee programme management and monitoring:

Plan, implement, and monitor the Regional Office programme portfolio;
Oversee and monitor the development of systems, processes and mechanisms to support effective programme planning, implementation, monitoring and timely progress reporting;
Lead the monitoring of progress on mutually agreed results frameworks and performance indicators and timely action/decision and/or provide timely support;
Lead the process of gathering information and prepare reports for HQ on progress of programme implementation, assess results and identify areas for the Regional Director's action and/or decision;
Identify areas that may require improvement and capture best practices/lessons learned; use corporate monitoring tools, as such as the Balance Score Card, Atlas Snapshot and Dashboard, Staff Surveys, Audits and other corporate reports;
Manage the timely allocation of funds to field offices under the responsibility of the Regional Office. Monitor and ensure the appropriate utilization of resources approved and allocated to regional programmes and projects that are managed by the Regional Office;
Review and evaluate proposals submitted to the Regional Office and oversee the preparation of donor proposals and reports.

Oversee the Regional Office operations:

Oversee the Operational Services i.e. human, financial, procurement and IT services of UN Women regional and country programmes and projects, ensure compliance of all services according to rules, regulations, processes and procedures and UN Women accountability framework.

Advocate for UN Women’s mandate and support UN coordination, joint programming and reform:

Provide technical inputs and support to the Regional Director and Country Representatives in establishing and maintaining effective consultations with governments, partners, stakeholders and donors to achieve active collaboration, cooperation and alliances on program development and implementation, resource mobilization and sustained partnerships;
Represent UN Women in UNCTs in countries where UN Women has a programme presence as required;
Advocate for new programme initiatives and conduct resource mobilization efforts; maintain contacts with donor countries as required;
Provide resource mobilization support to Regional Offices and Country Offices as necessary;
Act as Officer in Charge and represent Regional Director when requested.

Participate in knowledge management and capacity building efforts:

Ensure regular assessments of regional and country strategic and implementation plans. Identify lessons learned and areas of emphasis to guide programme improvements and future strategic development plan;
Manage the process of collecting and sharing lessons learned on gender equality and women's empowerment to build knowledge and capacity of partners and stakeholders;
Design and implement capacity building training activities to enhance skills and knowledge in Results Based Management, Results based budgeting and systematic quality assurance;
Contribute to the development and maintenance of global and regional programme knowledge networks and practices, and development of knowledge products.

Key Performance Indicators:

The effective support provided by the Deputy Regional Director in the management of programmes and operations directly impacts the quality of UN-Women programme development, implementation and results that in turn directly impact the credibility and image of UN Women as an effective partner for regional and country organizations and as a competent knowledge based organization on gender equity and women's human rights issues.

Timely achievement of programme results in line with the UN Women Strategic Plan;
Quality and timely advice to the Regional Director and Country Representatives;
Effective programme planning, implementation, monitoring and timely progress reporting;
Timely and quality reporting to HQ;
Well-functioning operation services;
Timely, regular and quality Knowledge Management and information dissemination.

Competencies

Core values and 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.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

Promoting ethics and integrity / creating organizational precedents.

Organizational Awareness:

Building support and political acumen.

Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring:

Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation.

Working in Teams:

Building and promoting effective teams.

Communicating Information and Ideas:

Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

Creating an emotionally intelligent organization.

Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements:

Leveraging conflict in the interests of the organization & setting standards.

Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning:

Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

Fair and transparent decision-making; calculated risk-taking.

Functional Competencies:

Outstanding analytical and technical skills in managing development projects/programmes particularly those that are pertinent to UN Women strategic priorities on gender issues and women’s rights;
Knowledge of programme management, methodology and practical application;
Knowledge, skills, and leadership for managing teams, budgets and project execution;
Effectiveness in strengthening accountability and results-based management in supporting organizational priorities, policy and decision-making processes;
Proven ability to lead and to drive results;
Ability to go beyond established procedures and practices, introduce new approaches and strategic innovations;
Strong negotiation, advocacy and interpersonal skills;
Outstanding communications and public speaking skills;
Strong knowledge of UN system is an advantage;
Demonstrated political acumen and technical capacity in representing the organization effectively in national and international fora to advocate and to promote organizational priorities, initiatives;
Ability to establish and maintain broad strategic networks and partnerships with UN agencies and other international partners to promote collaboration and build alliances to advance organizational interests and competencies.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master's degree (or equivalent) in a development-related area, including economics, public policy or other social science fields.

Experience:

At least 10 years of extensive development experience that combines intellectual, strategic and managerial leadership in development programmes some of which should be in the area of gender equality, preferably in developing countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds, Programs, or UN Mission;
Experience with managing, supporting and overseeing development policy-making, programme and operations management, resource mobilization and partnership creation.

Language:

Fluency in written and spoken English and French is required;
Working knowledge of another UN Language, especially Arabic, will be an asset.

Application:

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.

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.