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 center of all its efforts, 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.

The Regional Programme on Preventing the Exploitation of Women Migrant Workers in the  region is a multi-country initiative that aims to strengthen protections to counter the abuse, violence, trafficking and exploitation of women migrant workers. The strategies adopted in the programme include a) enhancing access to evidence and knowledge about the gender dimensions of extreme labour exploitation and unsafe migration as well as strategies for prevention; b) normative and evidence-based policy advocacy to enhance understanding and accountability of regional and state actors including ASEAN, to prevent exploitation of women migrant workers; and c) social mobilization and campaigning.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Economic Empowerment Advisor, Asia Pacific Regional Office, the Programme Manager will manage the Regional Programme on Preventing the Exploitation of Women Migrant Workers with special focus on the ASEAN. S/he will work closely with Country offices and project offices in the region in the implementation of the Programme and will provide technical support to the activities at both regional and national level.


The main duties and responsibilities of the Programme Manager are:

Management of the Regional Programme:

  • Coordinate, manage and monitor overall programme implementation to ensure quality, synergy and results keeping a rights based perspective;
  • Manage programme resources and administration to ensure accountability;
  • Mobilize and manage inputs and expertise required for implementation of the regional / national components of the programme, and provide support to the national officers;
  • Prepare annual work plans focusing on key results to be achieved in the different components, synergies and linkages across the region;
  • Manage planning and implementation of the programme in close coordination with country offices (country representatives) and project offices (project officers);
  • Provide regular briefings to UN Women senior management on the progress of regional initiatives;
  • Liaise and coordinate with partner organizations on for effective programme implementation;
  • Organize the Programme Advisory Committee meetings.
Technical Support:
  • Provide technical support implementing and collaborating partners, including UN Women country offices/ project offices on implementation of programme activities;
  • Provide technical support as appropriate, for training and capacity-building activities;
  • Actively seek and create synergies with other substantive areas of UN Women work;
  • Brief Country representatives, Regional Director on emerging opportunities in the region and provide technical support in development of programme components when requested;
  • Develop national and regional components for the Programme, in line with its empowerment and rights-based approach, and on the basis of opportunities identified jointly with regional and national partners.
Advocacy and Partnership Development:
  • Promote the Programme's conceptual framework among governments, the private sector, NGOs, research institutions/academics, UN agencies, and other bilateral and multilateral aid organizations;
  • Support joint advocacy at regional level on the ratification and use of relevant international human rights instruments Organize regional meetings and workshops for/among stakeholders to exchange knowledge and experiences;
  • Liaise with media in the region to highlight various aspects of female migration from an empowerment and rights-based perspective, with a particular focus on advocacy and social mobilization for preventing abuse, violence and exploitation;
  • Broker support from governments, the private sector, migrant workers organizations/networks, research institutions/academics, UN agencies and other bilateral and multilateral aid organizations to the Programme, and establish linkages with their work;
  • Support Country Offices/ Project Offices and the Regional Office in fundraising;
  • Supervise the development and implementation of advocacy and social communications strategies.

Reporting, Knowledge/ Information Development and Dissemination:
  • Develop a strategy for documentation and dissemination of programme results and learning, and coordinate implementation with Sub-regional Coordinators;
  • Monitor trends and debates related to migrant women workers in the region and globally, and facilitate sharing of this information with all relevant colleagues, donors and partners;
  • Prepare semi-annual progress reports with inputs from all countries covered by the programme focusing on key results to be achieved in the different components, synergies and linkages across the sub-region;
  • Actively participate in UN Women Knowledge Management Gateway to disseminate learnings from the programme.

Competencies

Core values and Guiding principles:

Integrity:
  • Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
Professionalism:
  • Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:
  • Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.
Core Competencies:
 
Ethics and Values:
  • Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.
Organizational Awareness:
  • Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
Development and Innovation:
  • Take charge of self-development and take initiative.
Work in teams:
  • Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
Communicating and Information Sharing:
  • Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.
Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:
  • Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.  
Conflict Management:
  • Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.
Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:
  • Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.
Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:
  • Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning

 

  • Possesses in-depth practical knowledge of  women's economic security and rights
  • Promotes knowledge management in UN Women and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example
  • Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;
  • Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of UN Women

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

 

  • Ability to lead strategic planning, change processes, results-based management and reporting;
  • Ability to lead formulation, oversight of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
  • Ability to deal with multiple constituencies and represent UN Women to major donors and different government agencies

Management and Leadership:
  • Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
  • Ability to lead effectively,  strong facilitation skills as well as conflict resolution skills;
  • Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
  • Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
  • Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Advanced university degree ( Masters or above) in international relations, law, human rights, social sciences or women's studies or any other related field of study.

Experience:

  • A minimum of seven years of professional experience in planning, designing, organizing and implementing gender and development projects, preferably in the UN system and/or the international cooperation level;
  • Practical experience in the field of gender and human rights, with particular experience in the field of protection of migrant women's workers’ rights.

Language:

  • Fluency in English, knowledge of other UN languages an asset.

Important Application Information:
  • 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. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment;
  • UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest.
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.