UN WOMEN Jobs - 70733- Gender Specialist- Election and Conflict Preventio

Gender Specialist- Election and Conflict Prevention

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Nairobi, KENYA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

06-Mar-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

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

Strengthening the Electoral Processes in Kenya project (SEPK) led by UNDP in collaboration with UN Women is designed to consolidate and build on the gains made from the constitutional transition process and the 2013 elections to strengthen and develop sustainable and effective election institutions, systems and processes. This project grounds electoral assistance within the democratic governance framework and the electoral cycle. The project reflects the UN delivering as one principles in its implementation as programmatic strengths of the various UN agencies are leveraged for greater impact.

SEPK started in 2015 with institutional and professional capacity building of EMBs, of completing the legal and regulatory frameworks, consolidating gains, and strengthening key processes that were problematic in the 2013 general elections in Kenya. This includes strengthening the participation of women, youth, and marginalized groups; the professionalism of electoral reporting; and the electoral security and dispute resolution processes. In 2017 SEPK focuses on support geared towards supporting fair, peaceful and credible general elections, and in 2018 dispute resolution including post-election mediation and support for any further reforms with an exit strategy that emphasizes sustained institutional capacity for the next cycle of elections.

The Gender Specialist – Election and Conflict Prevention will work with the Peace and Security Specialist and the SEPK team to enhance gender equality principles and constitutional gains on inclusiveness in representation and participation in particular for women and youth in the process that is free from violence. The transparency and inclusiveness principles will be entrenched at all levels including civic/voter education and voter registration, candidate nomination, and conflict management at pre, during and post elections periods. The Gender Specialist – Elections and Conflict Prevention will work with IEBC, the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government (National Police Service and the Directorate of Peace-building and Conflict Management), Elections Observation Groups, the media, Political Parties Tribunals, and the judiciary to safeguard women’s rights and security during the election period (pre, during and post) and provide access to justice and support for women candidates and voters.

Under the guidance of the Peace and Security Specialist the Elections and Conflict-Prevention Specialist will work closely with the Elections and Gender Officer to support the implementation of UN Women’s commitments the third priority area of the SEPK; “Delivery of more efficient, transparent and peaceful elections”.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide advisory services to political parties and relevant stakeholders on the design and development of strategies and interventions that support women participation in the electoral process (including nomination process) while their human rights are respected and protected in line with legal and international human rights frameworks;
Provide technical support to UN Inter-agency platforms and electoral observers on gender responsive electoral violence prevention and mitigation;
Based on the gender needs assessment, support the development of a strategy and action plan for security sector institutions training, community dialogues and other measures to be undertaken to help promote peace and prevent election-related conflict in Kenya in the 2017 pre-election and general election period and post;
In close collaboration with relevant actors, take design and implement activities that build awareness amongst relevant stakeholders on challenges facing women’s participation in elections;
Integrate Electoral and Gender based violence (EGBV) information as a cross-cutting issue in civic, electoral and voter education materials and curricula developed by IEBC and CSOs, and provide targeted documentation and training;
Support sensitization and capacity building on women’s rights, address Electoral and Gender based violence and engage Government and CSOs and private sector;
Identifying opportunities for and making recommendations regarding community-based, gender and youth-focused, political party engagement and other approaches to enhance dialogues and other conflict prevention measures, including capacity development with security sector institutions; Strengthen coordination and collaboration of stakeholders in preparedness and response, more specifically UWIANO Peace Platform, IEBC, security sector institutions, pressure groups, service providers and establishing real time response and dispute mechanisms, such as the Women Situation Room and t other conflict prevention mechanisms;
Draft and support a media campaign using messaging that promoted peaceful elections, security and safety for women candidates and voters through various communication channels;
Support documentation of contribution of women to promoting free, fair and peaceful elections in accordance to UNSCR 1325;
Contribution to regular reporting and documents that reflect full participation of women in decision-making best practice knowledge sharing in line with international best practice and norm;
Undertake research and prepare papers on comparative examples and make presentations and briefings as required.

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 workforce;
Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Professionalism:

Ability to work collaboratively and collegiately with internal and external stakeholders to achieve corporate goals;
Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work;
Capacity to anticipate and address difficult issues.

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.

Conflict Management:

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

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

Ensure fair and transparent decision making processes and manage risk.

Functional Competencies:

Influencing the public policy agenda:

Dialogues with partners and counterparts to strengthen advocacy efforts, incorporating country, regional and global perspectives.

Relationship Management and Building Strategic Alliances:

Ability to engage with other parties and forge productive working relationships;
Identifies and prioritizes opportunities and obstacles in the political scene (government, civil society, parliamentarians, pressure groups) to advance UN Women’s agenda; identifies common interests and goals and carries out joint initiatives with partners; Makes effective use of UN Women’s resources and comparative advantage to strengthen partnerships;
Builds partnerships with non-traditional sectors by translating UN Women’s agenda into messages that reflect the pertinence of their values and interests;
Creates networks and promotes initiatives with partner organizations; Leverages the resources of governments and other development partners.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in a relevant field e.g. International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies, development, political sciences.

Experience:

At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience in international development including experience with elections, electoral security, prevention/mitigation of political and social conflict related to the electoral cycle;
Knowledge and experience in conflict prevention and understanding of electoral processes including stakeholders and Electoral Management Demonstrable knowledge of the gender aspects of peace and conflict through programming;
Thorough knowledge and demonstrated extensive experience in conflict prevention policy development, programming and advocacy related to the electoral cycle;
Demonstrated substantive experience in security sector governance and collaboration among/between security services and electoral management bodies, reconciliation & dialogue, voter/civic education, engaging men and boys in prevention of gender based violence and social cohesion and engagement with CSOs;
Track record of building good working relationships with government counterparts, none-state actors (CSOs) and private sector;
Experience in results based management in Development Cooperation;
Knowledge or practical experience on donor policies and principles on development cooperation.

Language:

A high level of written and spoken English is essential.

Application procedure:

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, group all documents into one (1) single PDF document;
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.