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.

In this role as the global voice and advocate for gender equality and the empowerment of women, UN Women must deliver to an ambitious agenda as a center of excellence on knowledge, partnerships, advocacy and social mobilization, as well as a convener, thought leader and champion of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

UN Women will take a lead role in helping to drive commitment and action on gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment as the imperative of our time. Such leadership is especially urgent at a time when Member States of the United Nations and all stakeholders have committed to accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, in the context of the fact that no country has fully achieved gender equality and the empowerment of women;  It is also urgent at a time when Member States are committed to implementing a transformative Sustainable Development Goals agenda with gender equality and the empowerment of women as a stand-alone goal and with gender-specific targets integrated across the entire agenda. 

In view of the crucial contribution of civil society organizations in the advancement of gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s rights, the role of civil society and the women’s movement as partners, supporting UN Women’s leadership, is seen as fundamental in the full realization of gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment. UN Women’s unique and critical role in engaging civil society and partnership building with women’s organizations as stakeholders to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment will be key drivers in helping UN Women achieve its strategic goals and fulfil its organizational mandate.

UN Women works to strengthen civil society’s historically crucial role in leading global action on gender equality including promoting reform, influencing policies, monitoring and upholding accountability of duty bearers. The Director of the Civil Society Division leads UN Women’s work in consistently and strategically mobilizing civil society to promote consensus, build alliances and strengthen advocacy to promote and implement the highest standards at the global, regional and national levels for strengthening the delivery of the gender equality agenda.

Civil Society as a constituency is vast, complex, diverse and influential which requires the UN Women Director of the Civil Society Division to strategically, politically and meaningfully engage organizations, at the highest levels, and represent UN Women’s mandate to this diverse constituency through political sound strategic partnerships. Equally important is the fact that UN Women is recognized by its partners, including civil society, as the leader on, and global voice for women, and in this context the Director of the Civil Society Division shapes the organization’s vision for its future work with civil society.

Under the general guidance and direction of the  Deputy Executive Director and Assistant Secretary General (ASG), Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnerships Bureau , the Director, Civil Society Division is responsible for leading the strengthening of partnerships with civil society organizations to influence standard setting, normative discussion and decision processes, leading advocacy and alliance building initiatives, leading advisory, coordination and collaboration responsibilities, representing UN Women in high level meetings and managing the division.

Duties and Responsibilities

Lead the strengthening of partnerships with civil society organizations to influence standard setting, normative discussion and decision processes:

• Develop and manage the implementation of the UN Women Civil Society Strategy;
• Lead the strengthening of civil society advocacy, partnerships and engagement in global, regional and national standard setting processes;
• Build and strengthen the partnerships with civil society and stakeholders that will be key to delivering results for women and girls in the 2030 Agenda and the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.

Lead Advocacy and alliance building initiatives:

• Lead and expand UN Women’s unique and critical role in engaging social justice actors beyond the women’s movement, to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Strengthen, through facilitating cross-constituency, intersectional partnerships and linkages, UN Women’s institutional support to feminist movement building at global, regional and country level;
• Create the dialogue platforms and opportunities for UN Women’s effective engagement with civil society and stakeholders for political influence and financial support;
• Substantively support the implementation of UN Women’s Civil Society Advisory Groups (CSAGs) at the global, regional and national levels so as to strengthen this institutional partnership mechanism with civil society;
• Develop and implement catalyzing partnerships for change and transformation with current and new constituencies such as youth groups, men and boys’ networks, faith-based organizations, think tanks, academia and other essential actors with whom the organization needs to engage;
• Foster dialogue and collaboration opportunities with International NGOs and philanthropies and foundations so as to strengthen presence and impact for UN Women in those constituencies and circles of influence.

Lead advisory, coordination and collaboration responsibilities:

• Provide technical guidance and advice to UN Women’s regional and country offices on all matters pertaining to UN Women’s engagement with civil society;
• Provide substantive guidance on management of CSAGs to country and regional offices and in particular to the heads of those offices;
• Advise on various modalities of stakeholder collaboration so as to strengthen UN Women’s political capital to enable it to deliver on its mandate.

Represent UN Women in high level meetings:

• Represent UN Women in high level international civil society and other stakeholder fora;
• Provide substantive advice and inputs to the development of strategic and political approaches to policy dialogue, fiscal mobilization, multi stakeholder partnerships, and media presence and impact;
• Promote initiatives and opportunities for civil society and stakeholder dialogue.

Manage the Division:

• Exercise oversight of the Civil Society Division to ensure the delivery of quality results according to UN-Women’s standards and goals established in the Division;
• 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;
• Manage 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;
• Identify and integrate efficiency gains and cost reductions in all operations;
• Build staff capacity through planned training, learning programs, mentoring and coaching;
• Support strategic evaluations and that learning from evaluations;
• Oversee security requirements for team.

Knowledge management and capacity building:

• Lead the development/expansion of knowledge perspectives and intelligence related to civil society;
• Support and facilitate internal and external, formal and informal communities and dialogues of practice which strengthen global and regional knowledge networks activities and practices among civil society partners;
• Produce knowledge products;
• Establish and nurture relationship with academia, research institutes, civil society experts to expand and share knowledge, exchange views on latest findings, incorporate cutting-edge thinking in UN work on gender equality.

Key Performance Indicators:

The key results have a major impact on the overall effectiveness of UN Women’s strategic partnerships,  business development, resource mobilization, advocacy and communications, leading to enhanced impact of the Organization work on gender issues, as well as to increased size, scope and predictability of the organization’s resources and enhanced visibility and reputation of the organization within the UN system and with external stakeholders and constituencies globally, as the UN’s thought and action leader on gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment.

Key performance indicators include:

• Implementation of UN Women civil society engagement strategy on time, on scope on budget;
• Implementation of programme of work of UN Women’s Civil Society Advisory Groups on time and on scope;
• Timely and relevant advice to ROs and COs as indicated in feedback and surveys;
• Timely inputs to reports, meetings and knowledge management materials;
• 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:

• Excellent knowledge and experience related to civil society organizations, women’s groups, feminist movements and trends in this arena (global and regional);
• Substantive knowledge and expertise of current policies and practices related to civil society participation in intergovernmental processes, in particular as related to gender equality issues, and the work of the UN in gender equality issues
• Excellent partnership and coalition building skills;
• Excellent written and oral communications skills;
• Proven strong people management skills;
• Proven analytical and problem solving skills;
• Excellent presentational and public speaking skills;
• Ability to leverage information technology, executive information systems, management techniques and tools for optimal performance;
• Good planning, goal-setting and prioritization skills;
• Effectiveness in establishing and fostering good relations with civil society, academia, and government counterparts, donors, and UN agencies.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master degree (or equivalent) in international relations, gender studies, social sciences or related field.  

Experience:

• A minimum of 15 years of progressively responsible experience in gender related issues, civil society, public policy and advocacy. Working experience in the UN system is highly desirable;
• Managerial Competencies/Supervisory and management experience;
• Field experience in developing countries is an advantage;
• Familiarity with UN intergovernmental processes, with a focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment and knowledge of UN system gender architecture and strategic stakeholders/partners is required.

Langiages:

• Fluency in oral and written English is required;
• Knowledge of another UN working language is an asset.