Background

1. Organizational Context 

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, the UN Women 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.

UN Women in Serbia contributes to the implementation of UN Women Global Strategic Plan (SP) through the implementation of the Annual Work Plan for Serbia and in direct alignment with the country’s national development priorities. In line with its Strategic Plan 2019-2021, UN Women Serbia is working under the following impact areas: 1) governance and national planning and budgeting, 2) ending violence against women and girls, and 3) women’s economic empowerment. UN Women leads the UNDAF Outcome Group on Gender, which provides a platform United Nations Country Team in Serbia to coordinate gender-specific activities in Serbia and to ensure joint consolidated support to the state to enforce its international commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

Reporting to ECA RO Deputy Regional Director, Programme Management Specialist/ Head of Office in Serbia is responsible for the strategic positioning of UN Women as a leader in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Serbia. The Programme Management Specialist/ Head of Office in Serbia 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 UN reform, mobilization of visibility and resources to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Duties and Responsibilities

2. Functions

• Manage programme development and overall management and implementation of programme in Serbia
• Develop the multi-year strategic document of UN Women Serbia Office (i.e. Strategic Note/Country programme document)
• Lead the preparation of annual work plan of UN Women Serbia Office each year, including budget and results framework
• Manage delivery of the day-to-day programme activities to ensure prompt and adequate delivery of results;
• Ensure effective use of resources and compliance with UN Women rules, policies, and procedures as well as donor/fund requirements;
• Manage the preparation for programme audits and implementation of its recommendations.
• Identify areas that may require improvement and capture best practices/lessons learned, using corporate monitoring tools. Take action to improve areas of weakness.
• Oversee capacity building training activities to enhance skills and knowledge in results-based management; results-based reporting and budgeting, and systematic quality assurance;

• Manage technical support and capacity development to project/programme partners
• Oversee relationship building with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the country programme; respond to any potential problems;
• Oversee and manage capacity building opportunities and initiatives of key institutions and mechanisms;
• Provide timely advice on programmatic areas;
• Provide partners with technical advice, training, and capacity development initiatives.

• Oversee the implementation of programme activities through monitoring and reporting
• Oversee the establishment of an effective monitoring system for the delivery of programme results;
• Finalize the preparation of quarterly and annual progress reports and donor reports and organize progress reviews as necessary;
• Oversee the organization of field missions and finalize reports.
• Responsible for the timely preparation and quality control of all substantive technical reports, briefs and required documents.

• Oversee people and financial resources of the programme
• Manage programme budget; and office operations;
• Finalize financial reports in accordance with UN Women procedures and submit the reports to UN Women HQ and donors;
• Supervise and coach programme and operations staff and manage performance; Ensure programme team is well-staffed.
• Identify lessons learned from resource and staff management to ensure effective change management as required in adapting the programme and the office to meet changed circumstances.

• Oversee inter-agency and country coordination
• Participate in country level Comprehensive Country Assessment (CCA)/United Nations Development Sustainable Development Country Framework (UNSDCF) processes and similar exercises related to the Resident Coordinator system and UNCT’s planning processes;
• Provide leadership and guidance to the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in supporting enhanced response to national partners in advancing gender equality and women's empowerment;
• Oversee the writing of progress reports on UN Women’s programme experiences in support of UN women inter-agency coordination role;
• Provide coordination support to UN Agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and national authorities to promote gender equality and women empowerment activities in Tajikistan;
• Identify and inform the ECA RO of joint programming opportunities and participate in the development of UN joint programmes
• Facilitate inter-agency coordination related activities.  Chair the UNDAF Outcome Group on Gender (OGG) and facilitate gender mainstreaming in the UN Country Team’s work. Play the role of OGG secretariat.

3. Key Performance Indicators

• Timely and quality programme strategies and contributions to Strategic Note
• Timely and quality of programme delivery in line with budget, workplans and the Strategic Note
• Strong and clear leadership/ supervision of team
• Partners and other stakeholder provide positive feedback on advisory and technical services
• Quality reports and timely submission
• Quality of advocacy, communication and knowledge management initiatives
• Resources mobilized
• Strong relationships with donors, partners and other stakeholders

Competencies

4. 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

Functional Competencies

• Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them
• Strong knowledge of Results Based Management in project/programme design, planning, implementation, monitoring/reporting and evaluation.
• Ability to synthesize programme performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Strong knowledge of gender equality and women's empowerment
• Ability to lead formulation of strategies and their implementation to drive results
• Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising
• Proven ability in managing and empowering teams to work effectively together in reaching results.
• Demonstrated political acumen and technical capacity in representing the organization effectively
• Ability to establish and maintain broad strategic networks and partnerships with UN agencies and other international partners

Required Skills and Experience

5. Recruitment Qualifications