UN WOMEN Jobs - 73013- UN Women: Chief, Research and Data Section

UN Women: Chief, Research and Data Section

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

07-Jul-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

D-1

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women (UNW) will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The Policy Division develops and implements the UN Women corporate programme of work on analysis, research and knowledge management that provides the evidence base for the advice and guidance UN Women provides to development practitioners, the intergovernmental process, the UN system, and to UN Women staff working at country and regional level on issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment. The Division identifies emerging issues and trends, including gaps and challenges, and develops and proposes new strategies for achieving the agreed goals through innovative approaches and lessons learned about what works in practice. It also designs and oversees the training and capacity development programs of UN Women, through the training facility in Santo Domingo.

Based on UN legislative mandates and UN Women Strategic Programme Plan, the Policy Division undertakes and/or coordinates global or sectoral research and data analysis; advises on norms, policies and strategies for achieving the internationally agreed goals related to gender equality and women’s empowerment issues. It acts as a knowledge hub, collecting evidence on progress and emerging issues, identifying trends in implementation of global commitments; and sharing knowledge on innovative approaches and lessons learned in implementation. It designs tools for inter-regional capabilities building and institutional development programmes and fosters strategic substantive partnerships with academic and research institutions and UN partners, in close collaboration with the Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnership Bureau, the Programme division and UN Women Training Center (Santo Domingo).

To successfully perform its mission/mandate, the Policy Division is organized into Sections, bringing together technical experts who undertake issues-based research; analyze data on country, regional or global trends; build a knowledge base on policy commitments and their implementation; propose evidence-based options for global policy, norms and standards and for UN Women programme strategies; and contribute substantive inputs to policy advocacy and technical cooperation programmes.

The Research and Data Section in the Policy Division is responsible for leading UN Women’s research and data agenda. It manages a large global network of leading feminist researchers and high profile publishing programme; produces high profile knowledge products including UN Women flagship publications such as Progress of the World’s Women and The Survey of the Role of Women in Development; and leads UN Women’s growing portfolio of work on gender statistics, including monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and cutting edge work to develop new statistical methodologies.

Under the general guidance and direction of the Director Policy Division, the Chief, Research and Data Section reports to the Director, in collaboration with the other sections, is responsible for leading the development and planning of research and data analysis and the development, innovation in and dissemination of UN Women knowledge products to enhance its competence and credibility as a global broker of knowledge, experience, leadership and advocacy on gender issues and women’s empowerment.

Duties and Responsibilities

Lead UN Women’s research and data agenda:

Spearhead an ambitious, dynamic and innovative research and data strategy for UN Women, to position the organization as a global knowledge hub on – and central player in – gender equality and women’s empowerment;
Act as a thought leader for the section, and provide strategic advice to the Policy Director and the rest of the organization, with a particular focus on forecasting emerging research and data issues and fostering innovation in research and data;
Position the organization to take leadership on identifying major gaps in research and data, spurring research institutions to take up the agenda and to contribute to filling identified gaps;
Identify, develop and manage the diverse range of partnerships that UN Women needs to achieve its research and data goals, both within and beyond the UN system;
Convene networks of leading feminist researchers, statisticians and key thinkers on gender to input, advise and steer UN Women’s research and data agenda;
Represent UN Women in international fora to encourage greater commitment to and collaboration on research and data on gender equality;
Support other sections and Divisions in the development of knowledge generation and insight.

Lead UN Women’s portfolio on Gender statistics:

Provide leadership on UN Women’s growing portfolio of work on gender statistics, including the Flagship Programme Initiative: Making Every Women and Girl Count;
Oversee UN Women and UN Statistics Division’s joint Programme, Evidence and Data for Gender Equality, which aims to develop innovative methodologies for measuring key gender equality issues;
Provide substantive support to the intergovernmental process to develop indicators for the gender dimensions of the SDGs.
Develop and disseminate research and data analysis to monitor implementation of the SDGs and promote accountability on the new framework.

Lead Inter-agency collaboration, partnership and advocacy initiatives:

Convene or represent UN Women in UN inter-agency working groups and other high level academic and policy conferences and events to participate in strategic discussions and establish cooperation/collaboration on research and data analysis and dissemination;
Develop and maintain relationships with academia, research and training institutes (including the UN Women Training Center), civil society and thematic technical experts to gain and share knowledge, exchange views on current issues/trends and to incorporate cutting-edge thinking in research and data analysis on gender issues;
Engage partners, stakeholders and other entities, including the UN Statistics Division, to advocate for improved harmonization and sharing of gender statistics.

Commission, develop, manage and share research, and data and policy analysis, in collaboration with Policy Division sections, on key areas for gender equality and women’s empowerment, including emerging and cross-cutting issues:

Commission, develop and manage research, and data and policy analysis on crosscutting issues, development trends, best practices, innovations, performance gaps and opportunities for UN Women development planning;
Facilitate the translation of UN Women’s analytical work, including from flagship publications, into policy and programming practice;
Lead on the conceptualization of and research programme for UN Women reports, Progress of the World’s Women and The Survey of the Role of Women in Development. Oversee the preparation and dissemination of these reports;
Alongside flagship reports, develop a high profile publishing programme for the organization, including position papers, a discussion paper series and a policy briefing series.

Workacross the organization to promote and encourage the use of research and data in UN Women’s policies and programmes, to strengthen the evidence base for UN Women’s decision-making:

Provide substantive contributions to internal reviews of UN Women policies and programmes to ensure good use of evidence;
Work with policy teams to build a high quality evidence base for their work, including action-oriented research to link academic and policy research with knowledge generated from practice at country level;
Provide quality assurance of UN Women’s publications, through developing peer review processes.

Provide substantive advice and support to intergovernmental processes and key events:

Provide substantive input to intergovernmental fora to help shape development of global and regional policies, norms, standards and implementation strategies;
Produce reports and background papers on a wide range of gender equality issues in accordance with mandates provided by relevant intergovernmental bodies and report on progress and challenges on critical and emerging issues;
Provide technical and advisory support on gender equality issues to intergovernmental bodies, preparing summaries of debates, supporting negotiations and analyzing outcomes.

Manage the Research and Data Section:

Finalize the annual workplans and annual reports for the section;
Manage the performance off staff and ensure compliance to the performance management process; Promote teamwork and establish a working environment that is conducive to delivering results;
Supervise and oversee the work of the team to ensure the delivery of quality results according to standards and goals established in the Section;
Manage the financial resources and take responsibility for the integrity of financial systems and consistent application of the internal control framework and/or UN Women/UN rules and regulations. Submit timely mandated reports;
Identify and integrate efficiency gains and cost reductions in all operations;
Build staff capacity through planned training, learning programs, mentoring and coaching;
Oversee the development and implementation of strategic evaluation plans, ensure that management responses to all evaluations are completed and followed up, and that learning from evaluations is fed back into UN Women initiatives and operations;
Oversee security requirements for the team.

Contribute to the work of the rest of UN Women’s work, including in mobilizing resources for UN Women’s research and data work.

Key Performance Indicators:

The ability of the Chief, Research and Data to lead and manage the output of the Section to produce quality research and data and to introduce best practices, cutting edge approaches and innovative thinking in the area of research and data management, directly impact on the efficiency and efficacy of UN Women global/political interventions and advocacy on evidence-based options for global policy, norms and standards and technical cooperation.

Key Performance Indicators include:

Timely and quality strategic advice to the Policy Director and the rest of the organization;
Flagship Programme Initiative: Making Every Women and Girl Count is managed on time on scope on budget;
Initiatives to engage and build relationships with key partners;
Quality of inputs provided to intergovernmental fora to help shape development of global and regional policies, norms, standards and implementation strategies;
Performance of staff;
Implementation of the “no programme without security, no security without resources” strategy in all activities.

Competencies

Core Values:

Respect for Diversity;
Integrity;
Professionalism.

Core Competencies:

Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
Accountability;
Creative Problem Solving;
Effective Communication;
Inclusive Collaboration;
Stakeholder Engagement;
Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

Ability to develop and implement substantial research programmes, and develop and manage research partnerships;
In-depth understanding of: quantitative and qualitative research methods, particularly in relation to gender; and knowledge management approaches;
Managerial competencies/ supervisory skills , especially strong people management skills;
Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision;
Strong communication and public speaking skills, with proven expertise in writing for a range of audiences, including a substantial record of peer reviewed publishing on gender issues;
Proven analytical and problem solving skills;
Ability to leverage information technology, executive information systems, management techniques and tools for optimal office performance;
Excellent strategic planning, goal-setting and prioritization skills;
Effectiveness in establishing and fostering good relations with government counterparts, UN agencies, donors, and NGO partners;
Strong, proven commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters (or equivalent) in gender and development, or in related discipline, such as political science, public policy, or other social science fields with significant focus on gender equality. Candidates with PhD in a related field will have a distinct advantage.

Experience:

A minimum of 15 years of progressively responsible work experience carrying out research and analysis in a development policy and/or research context;
Significant record of research and writing, including on gender and development;
Proven experience of effectively managing teams.

Languages:

Fluency in English is required;
Knowledge of the other UN official working language is very desirable.

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.