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 centre of all its efforts, UN Women (UNW) 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 Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) for Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships leads the development of the strategies and work programme in the areas of management and administration, communication and advocacy, strategic partners and resource mobilization and human resources and provides leadership and management guidance and oversight to the staff in these areas aligned with the vision of the ED, and UN Women’s Strategic Plan.

The Special Advisor reports to the ASG/DED, Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships, for general guidance and direction and is responsible for providing advisory and specialized technical support to facilitate the DED’s management of the Bureau, including the development of work plans and monitoring of work progress. The Special Advisor is also responsible for the execution of a variety of key initiatives in the office of the ASG/DED on planning and policy development, partnership/advocacy and knowledge management.

Duties and Responsibilities

Oversee the management of the office of ASG/DED, Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships:

• Lead the development of work plans and budget for the DED’s office and track progress;
• Participate, as appropriate/delegated, in meetings related to strategic discussions to collaborate/consult on issues relevant to the issues managed in the DED’s office.
• Provide substantive guidance and support the DED in promoting and leading change management by keeping abreast of and ensuring that the latest and most relevant knowledge, practices and capacities for change management are provided to the DED or communicated and/or disseminated to the senior leadership of the Divisions in the Bureau.

Provide technical support to the DED:

• Review policy papers, strategies, work plans of different divisions, inter-governmental reports and other substantive documentation produced by the divisions/sections under the purview of the DED, for clearance/decision. Submit analysis and recommendations resulting from this review for the DED’s consideration/decision;
• Provide specialized technical advice to the DED in his/her leadership of various inter-agency groups, task forces, boards.
• Identify gaps and advise on the formulation of relevant policies, procedures and guidelines for action by relevant Divisions in the Bureau.

Partnerships and Advocacy:

• Consult and collaborate with colleagues in the divisions under the purview of the DED as well as across UN Women to exchange critical information and to monitor trends and development;
• Keep the DED advised on information received to ensure harmonization and linkages with institutional messaging in interactions with Member States, UN inter-agency groups, donors and other partners;
• Finalize speeches and/or presentation materials (including multi-media) produced by relevant divisions for delivery by the DED in key events, meetings and other external fora ensuring that UN Women thinking, goals, objectives, strategies and/or policies on gender issues and UN Women programmes are appropriately reflected in these materials;
• Working closely with relevant divisions, assist the DED in developing partnerships with development organizations, international financial institutions, civil society and the private sector to broaden UN Women initiatives and achieve transformative results.

Key Performance indicators:

The successful execution of the Special Advisor’s key functions, directly impacts on the ability of the DED to work efficiently in leading and managing the Bureau to deliver results expected and contributes to the successful implementation of the UN Women strategic plans and objectives.

• DED office workplan and budget are developed in a timely manner and implementation is on time, on scope and on budget.
• Quality advice on change management initiative.
• Policy papers, strategies, workplan and other reports and documents submitted to the DED are of high quality.
• Regular consultation with colleagues from different divisions on critical information and to monitor trends and development.
• High quality speeches and presentations.

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:

• Demonstrated theoretical, intellectual and technical skills in aid development/programming particularly those that are pertinent to UNW strategic priorities on gender issues and women’s rights;
• Demonstrated political acumen and technical capacity to advocate and to promote organizational priorities, initiatives and strategic agenda;
• Proven ability to drive results;
• Ability to establish and maintain broad strategic networks and partnerships with UN agencies and other international partners to promote partnership and build alliances to advance organizational interests and competencies;
• Strong diplomatic and negotiation skills;
• Strong people management skills;
• Strong team working skills;
• A strong network of contacts with partner governments, UN Missions, United Nations Organizations; and
• In depth knowledge of decision-making processes in partner governments.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in one or more of the following disciplines: gender analysis, international development, international relations, public administration or other related fields.

Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in developing strategic partnerships, resource mobilization initiatives, intergovernmental engagement, preferably in an international organization;
• In depth experience with UN process, intergovernmental and member state negotiations.

Languages:

• Fluency in oral and written English is required;
• Knowledge of a second UN official language will be an added advantage. 

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. 

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.