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.

The UN Women Pacific Multi-Country Office is based in Suva, Fiji and works alongside over 20 other UN agencies in the region and in 14 countries: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Under its Strategic Note 2018-2022, UN Women Fiji MCO focuses on delivering on four interlinked programme areas underpinned by support for intergovernmental and normative processes:

• Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership
• Women’s Economic Empowerment
• Ending Violence against Women
• Gender and Protection in Humanitarian Action and Disaster Risk Reduction

Markets for Change / M4C:

The Markets for Change - Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu Project (hereinafter referred to as the M4C project) is a six-year initiative aimed at ensuring that marketplaces in rural and urban areas are safe, inclusive and non-discriminatory environments, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The M4C project aims to promote the gender, social and economic empowerment of market vendors, with specific attention to the needs and aspirations of women market vendors. Through the creation of representative groups in marketplaces, a focus on economic security, the strengthening of local government institutions, procedures and development approach, and the design and building of gender-responsive infrastructure, market vendors will be able to influence decision-making on market management and resource allocation, supporting the economic and social empowerment of market vendors, and the advancement of women market vendors. The Markets for Change project is implemented by UN Women, with UNDP acting as the Responsible Party for the delivery of one of the 4 Outcomes of the Project.

Under the overall guidance of the Multi-Country Office Representative, and the direct supervision of the Deputy Country Representative, the M4C Regional Project Manager, will ensure that the M4C project substantively contributes to UN Women’s work in gender equality, women’s leadership and women’s economic empowerment.  

The Regional Project Manager, Markets for Change is the team leader with responsibility for the overall quality assurance to and coordination of the management and implementation of the Markets for Change Project as a regional project and for the implementation of the regional components of the project.  This includes oversight and support of the three-country based M4C Project Managers, and their respective teams in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and other regional staff as required, ensuring strategic direction and consolidation of the M4C Project at a regional level.

The Regional Project Manager will adopt an approach focusing on quality and results oriented management. He/ She will work in close collaboration with UN Women MCO team, in addition to the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and Pacific and HQ teams, in order to implement ensure complementarity with sister UN agencies and other national/international stakeholders towards common goals as set out in the SDGs, the UNDAF and other development priorities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide programme development advisory services to the Markets for Change:

• Provide oversight, quality assurance and close guidance and direction to ensure strategic focus, result orientation and effectiveness and efficiency of the overall M4C programming;
• Translate the priorities of the Strategic Note in women’s economic empowerment and women’s leadership into M4C project interventions;
• Organize periodic consultations with key stakeholders, women leaders, human rights experts and UN partners to gather inputs on project design, as necessary;
• Finalize country strategy documents, programme/ project proposals, briefs, policy dialogue and other documents related to M4C.

Oversee the implementation and management of the Markets for Change:

• Finalize the M4C annual workplans and budgets and implementation process;
• Finalize project reports; and manage the preparation of donor and UN Women reports;
• Ensure compliance to standard UN Women procedures in planning and implementation of programmes/projects;
• Ensure synergies within and with other programme/project teams;
• Manage the technical implementation and conceptualization of the project;
• Provide oversight and quality assurance towards the management of implementing partner financial and narrative reports;
• Provide guidance to project staff and partners on RBM tools and performance indicators;
• Lead Project Steering Committee, project review and/or evaluation meetings;
• Provide supervision, direction and support to the country managers and other regional staff / specialists as required.

Manage technical assistance and capacity development to Markets for Change partners:

• Build, manage, and expand relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the programme; respond to any potential problems;
• Development, implement and manage capacity building opportunities and initiatives;
• Provide partners with advanced technical assistance, training and capacity development initiatives;
• Serve as an expert to partners on M4C.

Oversee the management and implementation of programme activities through knowledge management, monitoring, evaluation, communications and reporting:

• Provide technical support and quality assurance towards all information and monitoring processes including gathering information and preparing reports on progress of programme implementation;
• Provide oversight to the implementation and management of the project’s monitoring and evaluation framework to track progress on program results and indicators;
• Provide oversight to the implementation and management of the project’s knowledge management strategy including the development of knowledge products;
• Manage the process of collecting and sharing lessons learned on women’s economic empowerment, gender equality and women's empowerment to build knowledge and capacity of partners and stakeholders;
• Attend field missions, if necessary and finalize reports on monitoring missions;
• Finalize quarterly reports and donor reports;
• Plan and manage project evaluations.

Manage personnel and financial resources of Markets for Change:

• Provide overall quality assurance and coordination towards the development and management of project budgets and finalize financial reports;
• Supervise the three in-country M4C Project Managers and the team of National Coordinators, regional project staff and other M4C project staff, volunteers and consultants;
• Finalize terms of reference for new staff, consultants and contractors and oversee the recruitment process, as necessary;
• Mentor and coach programme staff and do performance assessments;
• Develop short term as well as long term perspectives on staffing issues including succession planning where relevant, increased possibilities of transition to national staffing and staff capacity development.

Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies:

• Develop and implement partnerships and resource mobilization strategies;
• Finalize relevant documentation on donors and develop potential opportunities for resource mobilization;
• Analyse and research information on donors, finalize substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost sharing;
• Determine programmatic areas of cooperation, based on strategic goals of UN Women, country needs and donors’ priorities and develop;
• Prepare program/project documents for resource mobilization.

Lead advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts:

• Represent UN Women in meetings and policy dialogues on issues related to the programme/project as per delegation from the Representative;
• Lead the development of Markets for Change contribution to the Fiji MCO communication strategy and UN Women's efforts to ensure ongoing and substantive communication about the Markets for Change Project with media, partners as well as current and potential donors;
• Lead the development of knowledge management strategies and methodologies and products on the programme/project;
• Manage the identification and synthesize of best practices and lessons learned.

Key Performance Indicators: 

• Country Programmes are implemented in line with Strategic Notes and Annual Work plans;
• Programme teams adhere to UN Women’s Rules, Regulations, policies and procedures, using a results-based management approach;
• Programmes are implemented in a timely manner, in line with budgets;
• Regular monitoring of programmes, addressing issues in a timely manner
• Timely and quality reporting;
• Regular dissemination and sharing of information; country offices are sharing best practices/ lessons learned on programme management.

Competencies

Core values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Excellent analytical skills
• Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management
• Strong knowledge of UN programme management systems
• Ability to lead formulation of strategies and their implementation
• Strong networking skills

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, Human Rights, Gender / Women’s Studies, International Development, or a related field is required.

Experience:

• A minimum of 7 years of relevant professional experience that combines intellectual, strategic and managerial leadership in development programmes focused on, or strongly involving gender equality and women’s empowerment at the international level, preferably in developing countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds or Programs;
• Significant progressively responsible experience in programme development and implementation, results-based management, monitoring and evaluation, reporting, budget management and oversight, preferably at a regional level and in a multi-country setting;
• Demonstrated experience with women’s economic empowerment programming;
• Several years field-based experience working with multi-cultural teams required;
• Prior experience in the region will be an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Working knowledge of another official UN 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.