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 Ukraine UN Women works with the government, parliament and civil society in advancing gender equality through implementation of the national and international commitments on gender equality and women’s human rights. UN Women Ukraine implements interventions towards the realization of following strategic goals: elimination of violence against women and girls; implementation of women, peace and security agenda and gender responsive governance. UN Women works closely with the UN Country Team in integration of women’s rights and gender equality in all spheres of UN work.

The joint programme of UN Women, UNDP, FAO and UNFPA on “EU Support to the East of Ukraine – Recovery, Peacebuilding and Governance”, funded by the European Union, will be implemented in conflict-affected Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Eastern Ukraine.

Joint programme aims to contribute to peace, economic revitalisation and reconciliation in Eastern Ukraine through social and economic recovery, with special focus on Government Controlled Areas (GCAs) of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. 

Programme has four specific objectives: 1) To enhance local capacity for gender-responsive decentralisation and administrative reforms to improve governance, local development and the delivery of services; 2) To stimulate employment and economic growth by providing assistance to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) development through demand-driven business development services and professional skills training; 3) To enhance social cohesion and reconciliation through promotion of civic initiatives; 4) To support sector reforms and structural adjustments in health, education and critical public infrastructure to mitigate direct impacts of the conflict. UN Women jointly with other participating UN Agencies will support the implementation of two programme components (under objectives 1 and 3) and will provide gender mainstreaming into all four components of the programme.

Under the overall guidance and supervision of Programme Manager based in Kyiv, the Project Specialist will be responsible for programme implementation in Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine (government-controlled area). 

Impact of results:

The key results of this post will include that joint programme initiatives are implemented to translate the UN Women’s priorities in local interventions in the East of Ukraine.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions:

• Project Implementation, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting
• Contribution to Inter-Agency coordination and partnerships building 
• Advocacy support and facilitation of knowledge building and management?

1. Project implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting

• Ensure timely and effective implementation of the programme’s Component 1 - enhance local capacity for gender-responsive decentralisation and administrative reforms to improve governance, local development and the delivery of services; and Component 3 - enhance social cohesion and reconciliation through promotion of civic initiatives.
• Delivery of results in accordance with the programme document, work plans and result framework;
• Provide inputs to project reports, including progress and annual reports, as well as ad-hoc technical reports;
• Contribute to project monitoring and evaluation, as well as audit activities;
• Assure that due security measures are in place with regard to the project personnel and assets;
• Ensure provision of timely inputs to preparation, update and implementation of annual and detailed implementation work plans and other related documents for timely commencement and implementation of the project activities;
• Provide inputs to activities and ensure timely implementation of project, including reporting on achieved progress;
• Ensure proper management of the budget component allocated for the project implementation.
• Arrange and monitor field level activities of the project.

2. Contribution to Inter-Agency coordination and partnerships building 

• Provide technical support to UN Women and other participating UN agencies of the joint programme in engagement with relevant local authorities to support the gender mainstreaming throughout the programme implementation;
• Maintain close liaison with local and oblast partners, ensuring optimum participation of all relevant stakeholders;
• Develop the professional platform for networking and partnership building with the local and regional authorities, CSOs, private sector and international development organizations or programmes;
• Ensure coordination with relevant working groups and information sharing in the Eastern regions.
• Support UN Women in partnership building with local authorities, service providers, developmental actors, women’s organizations and other stakeholders in target regions.
• Facilitate collection, analysis and interpretation of data in the field of project implementation in the target regions of Ukraine. Ensure availability of an up-to-date information on all critical issues related to project implementation;
• Prepare regular updates to UN Women with situation analysis (political, social, and economic) in the field of the project implementation;

3. Advocacy support and facilitation of knowledge building and management

• Manage the establishment of advocacy networks at national level;
• Proactively and substantively support and implement relevant, high-impact advocacy activities and campaigns with key partners;
• Ensure awareness about project priorities, strategies and approaches. Analyse ongoing experience for lessons learned, best practices, and shares with project management for use in knowledge sharing and planning future strategies;
• Proactively contribute to knowledge networks and communities of practice.
• Provide inputs to the development of knowledge management products on thematic areas related to gender-responsive decentralization reform and gender-responsive community security.
• Contribute to implementation of the UN Women communications strategy and plan;

MEASURABLE OUTPUTS OF THE WORK ASSIGNMENT:

• Full and appropriate implementation of project activities in assigned region;
• Results, experiences and lessons learned during implementation of the project are shared with the project management;
• Programme initiatives are designed and formulated for translating UN Women’s priorities into local interventions;
• Reporting and quality monitoring activities completed;
• Timely and quality inputs to programme’s annual work plan, project monitoring framework;

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR EVALUATION OF RESULTS:

• Timely monitoring and tracking of programme results;
• Adherence to UN Women standards and rules;
• Number of progress, annual and thematic reports contributed;
• Timely organization of events/meetings;
• Number of knowledge products developed;
• Partnership is established with regional and local authorities and key stakeholders .

Competencies

CORE VALUES / GUIDING PRINCIPLES

• Integrity: Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
• Professionalism: Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
• Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

CORE COMPETENCIES

• Ethics and Values: Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity ;
• Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment ;
• Development and Innovation: Take charge of self-development and take initiative
• Work in teams: Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds ;
• Communicating and Information Sharing: Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication ;
• Self-management and Emotional Intelligence: Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others ;
• Conflict Management: Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution ;
• Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge ;
• Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making ;

Functional Competencies

• Demonstrated development/programming skills particularly those that are pertinent to UN Women strategic priorities on gender issues and women’s rights;
• Ability to lead implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programmes component;
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them for development results;
• Good knowledge of Results Based Management principles and approaches;
• Ability to establish and maintain broad strategic networks and partnerships with UN agencies and other partners to promote partnership and build alliances to advance organizational interests and competencies; CORE VALUES / GUIDING PRINCIPLES (applies to all)  
• Demonstrated strong coordination, facilitation and communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience