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 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 United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) was established through the UN General Assembly Resolution 50/166 in 1996 with UN Women as its Administrator on behalf of the UN system. The UN Trust Fund (UNTF) is a global multi-lateral grant making mechanism supporting national efforts to prevent and end violence against women and girls, one of the most widespread human rights violations in the world. The UN Trust Fund provides technical assistance and funding to advance the development of innovative models and strategic interventions in the area of ending violence against women and girls. To date, the UN Trust Fund has awarded US $129 million to 462 initiatives in 139 countries and territories. Its current portfolio consists of 95 grants in 75 countries and territories.

Under the overall guidance of the Chief and the direct supervision of the Grants Manager, the Programme Specialist will be responsible for coordinating and monitoring the portfolio of small grants.

Duties and Responsibilities

Lead the Monitoring and Grant-management operational processes:

• Lead the coordination for grants management with the Finance team, UN Women Regional, Country Offices and other teams as necessary to ensure the efficient oversight of the portfolio. This includes liaising with external stakeholders to ensure required documentation is received according to timeline agreed upon and the same files are stored in the UNTF shared drive;
• Manage and oversee all operational processes related to the small grants life-cycle, including budget revisions and disbursements in collaboration with Finance colleagues, processing of programme modifications and no-cost extensions, and processing grant closure. This includes keeping information on internal and external Focal Points up-to-date for each active grant;
• Provide technical assistance on the issue of ending violence against women and girls to grantees including in the design of their Results and Resources Frameworks (RRFs), in collaboration with the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist. Assist grantees in clarifying proposed programmes outcomes, outputs, indicators of success, methods of baseline and data collection, activities and budgets;
• Provide tailored technical support on the issue of ending violence against women and girls throughout the programme life-cycle, including in design of grantee baseline and end-line data and support in undertaking the final evaluation;
• Review progress reports and provide feedback to grantees as needed to ensure results-based reports and analysis and capturing of data on the issue of ending violence against women and girls;
• Perform a basic review of financial reports and liaise with relevant finance staff (within the UNTF or in the field) before final approval for grants and subsequent disbursements;
• Monitor and assess progress towards overall results based on results framework and monitoring schedules;
• Undertake monitoring missions and finalize mission reports in accordance with mission report template, summarizing key findings and recommendations;
• Review and provide technical feedback to grantees to ensure results-based analysis and capturing of data, with the effective use of Grants Management System. This includes provision of technical support and feedback on draft Terms of Reference (TOR) and report of grantee final external evaluation provided in a timely manner, ensuring finalization and submission of TOR and final report in accordance with the requirements specified in the UN Trust Fund evaluation guidelines.
• Monitor Audit Recommendations and update Action Plans in the system, in coordination with the Operations Analyst, where applicable;
• Perform a basic review of Financial Statements and flag inconsistencies between financial spending and project implementation.

Provide operational and technical support in Grant-making:

• Participate in annual grantee selection processes including through review and substantive analysis of concept notes and full-fledged proposals on ending violence against women and girls, accompanying budgets and monitoring and evaluation frameworks submitted to the UN Trust Fund;
• Prepare application feedback letters and summaries for all shortlisted applicants and grantees for the region and systematically update these summaries based on progress reports and monitoring missions;
• Provide guidance to ROs and grantees to ensure adherence to UN WOMEN policies, administrative and financial procedures.
• Review and lead finalization of project documents and Results Resources Frameworks through dialogue with grantees on submitted documents;
• Review implementing partner assessment forms and grant agreements prior to grantee selection and signature.

Provide technical inputs into Reporting and Knowledge Management:

• Maintain centralized portfolio matrix of small grants, and provide quarterly portfolio updates to the Grants Manager;
• Prepare written contributions for various purposes, including inputs for the report for the Commission on Status of Women, UNTF annual donor reports, newsletters, fund raising efforts and other reporting needs;
• Contribute to tracking and synthesizing, on an ongoing basis, developments, tools, emerging or good practices in the field of ending violence against women and girls, including capturing findings and lessons learned from evaluations;
• Update and maintain UNTF Grant-making and Knowledge Management Tracking database with relevant grantee information.
• Support the Fund’s communications efforts through direct engagement with grant recipients to gather information about the achievements and impact of the grant, knowledge products, media, etc. and ensure communications accurately reflect grant programmes;
• Keep systematic track of noteworthy grantee achievements and communicate to colleagues for possible visibility, such as special features on the website;
• Support and organize knowledge sharing events and identify good and promising models that can be shared widely across grantees and other key stakeholders;
• Identify challenges and lessons learned across the small grants, and contribute to a process of institutional learning through documenting lessons learned and contribution to modification of strategies and programmes.

Provide technical support to Capacity Development:

• Play a key role in the production of capacity development tools, including training materials and packages, programme guidance notes and other related support specifically as it relates to monitoring and reporting for small grants;
• Support, organize and participate in knowledge sharing and capacity development events for grantees, including organizing a capacity development workshop for new grantees on monitoring and evaluation, in liaison with the M&E Specialist.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Accurate analysis, monitoring and oversight of grants;
• Timely coordination of grants management with DMA departments;
• Issue are raised in a timely manner to appropriate stakeholders;
• Grants portfolio well maintained and information easily retrievable;
• Quality of communication and training materials.

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:

• Strong knowledge of planning and monitoring and related development policy and programming issues, including knowledge of results-based management, familiarity with log frames and understanding of baseline data collection and monitoring methodologies;
• Knowledge of women’s organizations and governmental agencies working on women’s empowerment and gender equality in the sub-region;
• Familiarity with UN Women procedures, particularly with regard to project management and more specifically in relation to the development of work plans, budgets, monitoring and reporting plans, purchasing plans and the identification of indicators.
• Able to effectively represent UN Women in, and contribute to, United Nations inter-agency programming initiatives related to ending violence against women;
• Builds strong relationships with, and focuses on results for clients and partners, responds positively to feedback;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Experienced in working in a global multi-cultural setting respecting gender equality and an ability to contribute to team work and provide conceptual leadership;
• Ability to work under pressure and meet strict deadlines;
• Ability to use critical thinking, conceptualize ideas, and articulate relevant subject matter in a clear and concise way. 

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced University degree or equivalent in Political Science, International Development Studies, Gender/Women’s Studies or other relevant field.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant national/international working experience in international development, human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment issues;
• Knowledge and experience in working on addressing issues related to violence against women and girls is required;
• Experience in monitoring and reporting on programmes related to gender equality is required;
• Experience in monitoring of grant programmes is highly desirable;
• Experience in knowledge management and communication – supporting collection and dissemination of lessons learned/best practices is highly desirable;
• Experience working in the field of monitoring: developing plans, tracking results, reporting to different constituencies is an asset;
• Experience in results-based management (RBM) is an asset;
• Experience with databases and data management a plus;
• Experience in the United Nations, a governmental, other multilateral or civil society organization in a developed or developing country is highly desirable. 

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Fluency in Spanish or French 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.