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.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched the “System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity” in September 2017. UN Women is committed to supporting the UN system to reach gender parity, based on its mandate to lead, promote and coordinate efforts to advance the full realization of women’s rights and opportunities as well as UN Women’s Implementation Plan. Implementation, follow-up and monitoring progress are keys for achieving gender parity. The Gender Parity Specialist is a member of the UN Women’s team responsible for enhancing gender parity within the UN system.

The Gender Parity Specialist reports to the Senior Advisor and Focal Point for Women in the UN System, who provides overall strategic direction and guidance. The Gender Parity Specialist contributes to the implementation of the SG’s parity strategy at the global, regional and country level. The Gender Parity Specialist supports the engagement of the UN system in gender parity efforts, working through the established coordination mechanisms; assisting in developing, promoting; and monitoring strategies for enhanced implementation and accountability in the UN system for gender parity as well as promoting and monitoring gender balance within the UN system.

Provide analytical and advisory support on gender parity:

• Provide guidance and analytical and technical support on strengthening the UN system’s gender parity efforts, including follow-up, implementation and coordination of the SG’s System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity within the UN System.
• Provide technical and coordination support to UN Women’s implementation plan, including at the field and global levels, in line with UN Women’s mandate.
• Provide analytical, coordination and advisory contributions to the internal and inter-governmental parity work of the UN and UN Women.
• Participate in the inter-governmental and inter-agency processes and negotiations related to gender parity/equal representation of women and men.

Provide Capacity-building support and strengthening of interagency networks:   

• Provide technical support to, and build capacity of, Gender Focal Points and Focal Points for Women;  including dissemination of good practices and inter-agency knowledge sharing, and  strengthening the network and role of Focal Points in line with UN Women’s mandate, including in peacekeeping.
• Strengthen partnerships and cooperation with other entities of the UN Common System and beyond through regular contacts to exchange ideas, review progress in implementation of inter-agency projects and promote initiative for increased collaboration.
• Liaise and coordinate with relevant inter-agency bodies to ensure that UN Women is delivering on its responsibilities vis-a-vis system-wide coordination, advocacy, policy development, dissemination of good practices, monitoring, analysis and inter-governmental reporting on compliance related to the General Assembly mandated goal of 50:50 gender balance at all levels.

Provide Outreach and awareness raising support:

• Organize public events and communications.
• Provide inputs to and finalize  knowledge products and capacity development materials.
• partner with relevant networks, including collaboration with civil society, as needed.
• Provide technical and coordination support to the planning and organization of technical and ad hoc expert group meetings with key stakeholders.
• Draft or prepare reports, documents and communications.
• Provide technical support to the development and enhancing of capacities of field offices and UN Women partners, especially gender focal points of the UN system; this may include going on shorter mission/s to Country or Regional Offices, resources permitting and will include organization of the annual Gender Focal Point meeting.

Provide monitoring and reporting support:

• Support inter-governmental processes, including but not limited to creating the biennial SG’s Report on the Improvement in the Status of Women in the UN System.
• Provide updates to regular monitoring and reporting on gender parity progress, including disseminating information through the UN Women website and analytic reports.
• Provide technical and strategic support to policy development and implementation, monitoring and reporting, research and knowledge management on gender parity in the UN system.
• Provide technical support to the development and drafting of policy papers, background research, SG reports and briefing notes, and other high-level papers/reports and meetings. Undertaking research as required for analytical studies on issues pertaining to gender parity.
• Provide substantive inputs to the quantitative and qualitative monitoring of progress made by the organizations of the UN System in improving the status of women: analysis of statistics and implementation of specific measures governing inter alia the appointment, promotion and retention of women, work-life balance/Enabling Environment issues and other gender related policies.
• Provide research support and develop tools to operationalize the implementation of parity recommendations system-wide;
• Provide technical support to the engagement of the UN system in gender balance, working through the established coordination mechanisms, such as the Gender Focal Point network.
• Assist in joint in-house efforts related to resource mobilization for parity, if requested.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Enhancement of gender parity within the UN system Timely support to the enhancement of gender parity within the UN System in line with the annual workplan.
• Timely support to initiatives, in line with the annual workplan that are targeted to an Increased representation of women throughout the UN system; timely support to activities that lead to change in the organizational culture/enabling environment in support of gender parity.
• Timely and high-quality inputs to the implementation and coordination of the SG’s System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity within the UN System.
• Timely and high-quality capacity building tools developed.
• Strong relationships with other UN entities to reach gender parity; enhancement of capacity-building of Gender Focal Points.
• Timely and quality analysis and delivery related to monitoring and reporting.
• Increased awareness, outreach and understanding of gender parity and UN Women’s mandate in the inter-agency and inter-governmental arena.

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity;
• Integrity; 
• Professionalism.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability and transparency;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration and teamwork;
• 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-valuesand-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to conceptualize, convey and implement strategic vision;
• Ability to design, monitor and evaluate gender equality progress; strong analytical and research skills;
• Technical and research skills to provide information, tools and resources to support work achievement on time;
• Ability to leverage information technology, executive information systems, management techniques and tools for optimal office performance;
• Demonstrated cultural sensitivity and diplomatic skills;
• Strong team-work, collaboration and coordination skills;
• Strong interpersonal, communication and presentation skills;
• Self-driven, organized and results-oriented.  

Education:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in one or more of the following disciplines: gender issues, social sciences, economics, or other related fields is required.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience, including with the UN inter-agency processes and intergovernmental bodies dealing with gender;
• Experience in the UN Common System recommended.
• Experience in gender related research / strategy development recommended.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Knowledge of the other UN official working 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.

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.