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; and the achievement of substantive equality between women and men. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women also leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action. The fundamental objective of UN Women is to enhance national capacity and ownership to enable national partners to formulate gender responsive laws, policies and upscale successful strategies to deliver on national and international commitments to gender equality.
Reporting to Regional Director, the Head of Office, Timor Leste, with a matrix reporting line to the Resident Coordinator related to the work in the UN Country Team (UNCT), the Head of Office is responsible for the strategic positioning of UN Women as a leader in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Timor L’Este. The Head of Office is responsible for leading and managing the Country portfolio and for translating UN Women’s Strategic Plan in line with regional and national priorities, into development initiatives and results by developing, implementing and managing programmes; and developing effective partnerships with government counterparts, UN system agencies and organizations, civil society organizations and with bilateral and non-traditional donors in order to promote inter-agency partnerships, support for mobilization of visibility and resources to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Duties and Responsibilities
?1. Lead strategic programme development and planning
- Assess national social development trends and identify emerging issues of relevance to the mandate of UN Women to identify opportunities for development planning to advance UN Women goals and objectives in the country;
- Identify strategic programme opportunities, approaches and modalities to strengthen UN Women country presence and relevance, in close consultation/collaboration with national development stakeholders and partners,
- Oversee the appraisal and approval of UN Women programmes in line with corporate guidelines and consistency with corporate policies and strategies.
2. Manage and oversee the implementation of the country programme
- Establish the Country Office annual work plans in collaboration and discussion with the team and set objectives, performance measurements, standards and expected results.
- Manage and ensure the completion of high quality, results-based and rights based country programmes and projects.
- Ensure regular programme monitoring and evaluate progress for timely action and intervention to achieve results;
- Lead and manage the country budget preparation and submission processes to ensure budget proposals are correctly presented and submitted in a timely manner;
- Lead and manage the preparation of UN Women mandated country reports and submit timely quarterly, annual and other periodic progress reports ensuring relevancy, quality and appropriateness of content and presentation;
- Plan and manage monitoring and evaluation of programmes and projects, and take appropriate action; manage the preparation of audits and implementation of its recommendations;
- Maintain and update country office security strategy, plan, and measures to ensure full compliance with UN security policies, procedures and requirements; Oversee security requirements for the team.
- Serve as member of the Security Management team (SMT) and undertake relevant security and crisis management training. Guide and influence decisions and standards related to security of personnel, premises and assets
- Oversee the implementation of the Security Mainstreaming & Compliance and Business Continuity Management and Organizational Resilience requirements
- Ensure all personnel are made fully aware of safety and security procedures and policies and undertake mandatory training
3. Manage finance and human resources in the office
- Monitor the utilization of allocated funds to ensure transparency and compliance with UN Women financial policies and accountability framework. Decide on the optimum and appropriate allocation and management of CO resources;
- Ensure effective workforce planning and timely recruitments; Manage the performance of personnel under supervision; provide ongoing performance and career development feedback, timely completion of performance assessments and coaching;
- Ensure that personnel are familiar with and follow UN Women’s regulations and rules, policies and procedures in the Policy, Procedures and Guidance Framework (PPG); Ensure personnel are aware in particular or of UN Women’s standards of conduct including but not limited to policies and procedures on preventing, reporting and addressing misconduct, Fraud and Corruption, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) Harassment, Sexual Harassment, Discrimination and abuse of authority, Protection from retaliation, and ensure mechanisms are in place to support personnel in this regard.
4. Represent UN Women in UN inter-agency coordination
- Serve as member of the UN Country Team (UNCT) under the strategic guidance and coordination of the UN Resident Coordinator (RC)/Humanitarian Coordinator (HC), collaborate on UNCT programming and advocacy to ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment issues are fully integrated into UN programming processes, including the Common Country Assessment (CCA) and United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) planning, budgeting, resource mobilization, implementation, monitoring and evaluation through UN results groups and respective joint workplans, and in an enhanced response to national partners;
- Partner with RC and UN system partners to strengthen UN system interagency coherence, collaboration, planning, cooperation, and harmonization of programming, advocacy, common services, and operations; Facilitate joint programming and promote UN competencies to advance gender equality and women’s human rights; report to the UN RC on these issues as required
- Actively engage in regular UNCT consultations and decision-making processes
- Actively engage in and contribute to UNCT strategic communications that advance UN system efforts and collective results to promote Agenda 2030, including for national goals and priorities for sustainable development to generate positive public support and ownership
- Ensure enhanced accountability of the UNCT on gender mainstreaming and works for with the RC and to on the implement the UNCT SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard
- Participate in RC and UNCT members’ performance appraisal, as requested
5. Lead representation and advocacy with stakeholders
- Represent UN Women in and substantively contribute to governmental forums and other key meetings and events to speak on policy issues, participate in policy dialogue, discuss policy initiatives, report on progress achieved and/or present policy papers/ideas to influence setting of agenda and/or advocate UN Women competencies and mandate;
- Participate in regional, country and other critical meetings and events to evaluate the impact and efficacy of UN Women policies and programmes and provide input in strategic discussions and provide technical advice on policies and programmes;
- Advocate on behalf of UN Women to help raise awareness and stimulate action to advance gender equality and women's rights; provide partners with relevant technical advice and capacity development related to gender equality and women’s empowerment to advance policy priorities;
- Oversee the development and implementation of relevant communications and advocacy strategies to ensure that UN support towards realization of the national plans and priorities are done in a gender responsive manner, and within agreed international frameworks that promote and protect gender equality.
6. Lead Strategic partnerships, resource mobilization and knowledge management initiatives
- Develop and maintain active relationship and partnerships with the Government, NGOs, the UN system and development partners, institutes, academia, the media, and private sector on women's issues to enhance collaboration, resource mobilization and/or share ideas and to influence agenda and priority setting.
- Oversee the development of knowledge management strategies and methodologies; manage the process of identifying and synthesizing of best practices, innovations and lessons learned that are directly linked to the implementation of the programme and contribute to their global dissemination and supports further programmatic expansion
Key Performance Indicators
- Country Programmes are implemented in line with Strategic Notes and Annual Work plans;
- All programme teams adhere to UN Women’s Rules, Regulations, policies and procedures, using a results-based management approach;
- Programmes are implemented effectively and efficiently;
- Regular monitoring of programmes;
- Evaluations conducted on time and in high quality;
- Timely and quality reporting; Regular dissemination and sharing of information; country office is sharing best practices/ lessons learned on programme management
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: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637
Functional Competencies
- Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
- Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them
- Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management
- Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
- Excellent knowledge of gender equality and women's empowerment
- Strong knowledge of country and/or region
- Ability to lead formulation of strategies and their implementation
- Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising
Required Skills and Experience
Education and certification:
- Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/ women’s studies, international development, or a related field is required
- A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
- A project/programme management certification (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.
Experience:
- At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience at the national and/or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
- Experience in establishing inter-relationships among international organization and national governments;
- Experience in the in the field of gender and human rights of women is an asset;
- Experience in administrative systems and UN system norms is an asset;
- Experience in country and/or region is an asset;
- Experience in leading a team is an asset.
Language Requirements:
- Fluency in English is required
- Knowledge of Portuguese is an asset
- 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 https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558. 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.