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. Women’s leadership and political participation is one of UN Women’s primary areas of work as mandated in its inception, recognizing the integral role of women in strong and stable democratic processes. UN Women in Niger works to implement in a cross-cutting manner Output 4: More women if all ages fully participate, lead and engage in political institutions and processes of the Strategic Plan 2018-2021.To promote the leadership and participation of women in all levels of decision-making processes, UN Women works with a range of stakeholders including women leaders and aspiring candidates, national parliaments and parliamentarians, political parties, media, civil society organizations, and electoral management bodies, in coordination with UN partner Entities, through a wide range of interventions which include: i) support gender responsive legal reforms, and institutional processes to advance women’s participation and representation (including initiatives to address violence against women in politics); ii) build capacities of women leaders and aspiring candidates; iii) promote change of gender norms through advocacy and outreach initiatives targeting communities, political leaders and the media; iv) and support women leaders in gender responsive political institutions. UN Women has conducted a series of consultations with key national partners and stakeholders to set programming priorities and design targeted programming in alignment with UN Women Strategic Plan 2018-2021 and the UN Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) recommendations. Within this framework, UN Women’s priorities to promote and strengthen women’s political participation during the current electoral cycle will include: i) supporting national accountability mechanisms to monitor the quota law implementation; ii) a countrywide advocacy strategy on gender equality and women’s political participation; ii) support UN coordinated efforts on capacity building and technical assistance to electoral stakeholders ; iii) support the creation of a cadre of qualified women leaders and aspiring candidates, including through mentorship programmes for young women interested in politics; and v) strengthening capacities of elected and appointed women public officials. To support this process, UN Women programme in Niger is seeking the services of a national expert, to support the implementation of this programming area of work. Under the supervision of the of the head of the office and in close coordination with the UN Women Regional Advisor on Women’s Political Participation, the Leadership and Political Participation expert will provide the technical support and UN coordination required to effectively launch and roll-out the women’s political participation programming priorities in line with the country assessment consultations and the UN NAM recommendations. |
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the head of the office, the national SB5 expert will provide the technical support to the implementation of critical activities in women political participation and leadership in coordination to national stakeholders of the electoral process.
1. Provide gender-responsive policy guidance and technical support to enhance women’s participation in political processes:
2. Coordinated technical assistance and targeted advocacy to electoral stakeholders to promote gender balance:
3. Enhanced capacities of aspiring women leaders and candidates and elected women to apply leadership skills:
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Competencies
Core Values and Guiding Principles
Functional Competencies
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Required Skills and Experience
Education:
Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) Political Science, Sociology, International Relations, or relevant field and/or equivalent practical experience.
Experience:
- At least 7 years of experience integrating gender equality and political participation and representation; including proven experience integrating gender equality and electoral cycle, women’s political participation, and gender based electoral violence mitigation;
- Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, women’s rights and related instruments;
- Experience with UN Intergovernmental processes including those related to women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming and gender equality;
- Experience working with multi-stakeholder organizations is essential: governments, CSOs, and the UN/ multilateral/bilateral institutions.
- Experience in programme design and results-based management;
- Experience with UN electoral assistance processes;
Language: Fluency in oral and written French is required, fluency in English is an asset.