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 leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides 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 provides the substantive underpinning for UN Women’s normative, operational and coordination work. It provides this substantive input through research and analysis; technical guidance; knowledge management; training and capacity building; partnerships and global programmes; UN system coordination and collaboration; normative and intergovernmental work; and corporate positioning. The Policy Division is organized into four thematic sections, addressing five goal areas of the Strategic Plan, and two functional sections, Research and Data and the UN Women Training Centre.

The Policy Analyst reports to the Director of Policy who is responsible for providing direction and leadership in the Policy Division in the formulation of all policies, the strategic planning of knowledge management programmes and ensuring that UN Women meets all reporting requirements for support to intergovernmental processes and the management and oversight of work in progress to ensure delivery according to timeline, plans, performance standards and objectives.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide research and analysis support:

• Make necessary arrangements for the Director’s participation in important events and meetings, including background research on events and invitations addressed to the Director.;
• Draft speeches and talking points for the Director, as requested;
• Undertake research and draft papers and analytical studies on policy issues pertaining to gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Undertake research as required for documents and reports to constituent body sessions including the Commission on the Status of Women and the Executive Board;
• Draft substantive correspondence as well as edit briefing notes, talking points, meeting notes prepared by others. Prepare notes to the file and presentations;
• Review and edit reports prepared by the Policy Division for Intergovernmental Bodies.

Provide coordination support:

• Coordinate Policy Division briefing notes, talking points, other advocacy and strategic messaging tools as well as inputs into Secretary- General’s reports;
• Organize policy dialogues and thematic discussions on priority policy areas and horizontal scanning topics for HQ staff, colleagues in the field as well as external partners;
• Work closely with the Special Assistant and Executive Assistant to support the Director in preparations for official trips and missions by liaising with country or regional offices, event organizers and other relevant partners;
• Coordinate with UN Women Resource Mobilization Unit and maintain database of Policy Division’s proposals.

Coordinate and implement knowledge management and information sharing initiatives:

• Manage the Policy Division’s intranet page and coordinate content with Section focal points;
• Develop and produce periodic briefings from the Policy division, for external and internal partners;
• Provide coordination support to the production and dissemination of knowledge on initiatives in the Policy Division;
• Attend meetings and events on behalf of the Directorate.

Perform other official duties and special assignments which may be requested by the Supervisor.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Quality contributions to policy briefs, concept notes, and research papers;
• Quality speeches and talking points;
• Quality research that leads to solid analysis and findings;
• Quality and timely support to the organization of meetings and other events;
• Quality Knowledge products.

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 Competences:

• Strong research, analytical and writing skills;
• Produces qualitative, accurate outputs with considerable attention to detail, in a timely manner;
• Manages complexities, shifting priorities, and is able to work effectively without constant supervision;
• Adheres to deadlines and follows up on time-bound issues;
• Ability to work in a front-office environment and maintain diplomacy, tact and strict confidentiality with internal and external partners and clients;
• Strong interpersonal and communication (verbal, listening, writing) skills;
• Organization skills (time management, efficient administration, multi-tasking and fast-paced);
• Willingness to “inter-change” work functions with other staff within the Unit, when required.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in the field of gender studies, international development, law, political science, economics, public administration or other relevant/similar field.

Experience:

• At least 2 years of specialized professional experience in gender equality, law, public policy, international development or related field at the national and international level;
• Experience in the use of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and in handling web-based management systems;
• Experience working for the United Nations in support of Policy processes is an advantage;
• Experience in any of the substantive areas of the Policy Division’s work: Leadership and Governance, Peace and Security, Economic Empowerment, Ending Violence against Women, Research and Data – would be an asset;
• Experience of drafting documents for others to use is an advantage;
• Experience of organizing internal events (retreats, brown bags lunches etc) an advantage.

Languages:

• Fluency in English, both oral and written, is required;
• Working knowledge of at least one other UN official language is 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.