UN WOMEN Jobs - 62211- UN Women: Economic Empowerment Advisor

UN Women: Economic Empowerment Advisor

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Panama City, PANAMA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

24-Jan-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-5

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 year

Languages Required :

English Spanish

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

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, the UN Women will leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

As per the LAC regional strategy, UN Women Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean in Panama, has identified a number of sectors and issues as priority falling into the thematic of economic empowerment of UN Women´s Strategic Plan, including supporting efforts towards ensuring a gender approach in processes aimed towards the adoption and localization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the development of macroeconomic enabling environments for gender equality and women´s economic rights; female poverty eradication and gender responsive pro-poor policy making and gender responsive budgeting; equal employment and decent work for women and men; ensuring women access and command over resources; gender mainstreaming in national planning and budgeting processes and promoting women´s entrepreneurship and the relation with the private sector.

Under the guidance of the Regional Director (RD) and under the direct supervision of the Deputy Regional Director (DRD), the Economic Empowerment (EE) Adviser, based at the Regional Office in Panama, provides high quality advice on economic policies and trends and relevant linkages affecting women´s empowerment in Latin America and the Caribbean. The EE Adviser provides analysis for formulation of strategies and briefings to Senior Management and works closely with counterparts to identify alternative micro, meso and macroeconomic policy options and to enhance the policy impact of UN Women´s projects and programmes. The EE Adviser monitors economic trends and developments and advises the RD, the DRD and other members of the agency and its partners on policy issues. He/she contributes to UN Women´s policy dialogue with the Government and donors and is responsible for the expansion, coherence and relevance of the agency´s portfolio under this area.

The EE Adviser leads and supports the quality implementation of the programmes and projects at a regional and national levels as appropriate. The EE Adviser is expected to engage proactively on women's leadership and economic issues with local and regional figures to help expand UN Women´s portfolio in the region and advance women's economic empowerment. The EE Adviser maintains a network with colleagues from UN Women, other UN Agencies, IFIs, Government officials, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors and civil society. The Economic Empowerment Adviser will work in close coordination with the Economic Empowerment section in the Policy Division at UN Women Headquarters and with teams in national offices to advance the agenda of women´s economic empowerment.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

Analysis and monitoring of trends, opportunities and challenges;
Programme and project development and management;
Technical advice and support;
Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, regional and international actors and development partners;
Resource mobilization;
Knowledge management and reporting.

Analysis and monitoring of trends, opportunities and challenges:

Permanent monitoring and analysis of international, regional, sub-regional and national trends for the adoption and implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to build networks, create opportunities and develop initiatives for gender responsive SDG localization processes;
Analyze and understand the inter-relationships between macro-economic trends, household economic security, women’s rights and access to services and socio-economic resilience in different contexts;
Provide policy recommendations, strategic advice and proposed courses of action;
Integrate information and analysis in support of policy development, analysis, outreach and advocacy;
Maintain up-to-date knowledge of economic events and integrate information and analysis in support of policy development, analysis, outreach and advocacy;
Prepare analytical reports, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, correspondence and talking points;
Liaise with key national, regional, and local stakeholders from government, private sector and not-for-profit-civil society and key international actors to build up and strengthen strategic alliances and partnerships on economics initiatives;
Upon request of the RD/DRD, represent UN Women at inter-governmental and regional meetings on women's economic empowerment in the region;
Propose plan of action for immediate and long range actions on women's economic empowerment in the region;
Work closely with colleagues of UN Women's policy advisors to identify promising practices, technical expertise and strategic opportunities for enhancing gender equality and women's economic empowerment.

Programme and project development and management:

Manage and be responsible for the expansion of the Regional Office portfolio on economic empowerment, its coherence and overall implementation based on corporate strategies, Flagship Programme Initiatives and quality standards;
Work closely with UN Women field based presences in the Americas and the Caribbean Region and provide programme guidance and support to develop, expand and implement programmes at the local, national and regional level to enhance women's economic empowerment;
Design and preparation of programme initiatives within the area of responsibility, translating UN Women’s priorities into regional and local interventions;
Manage the portfolio of on-going programmes/projects through technical monitoring and administrative and financial supervision ensuring the proper application of a monitoring system to track progress on program results and indicators;
Constant monitoring and analysis of the programme environment, timely readjustment of programme interventions;
Ensure effective application of RBM tools and monitoring achievement of results;
Activate and oversee use of UN Women systems and processes for effective planning, monitoring and timely progress reporting on programme implementation.

Technical advice and support:

Assist UN Women field based presences in the Americas and the Caribbean Region in developing and strengthening policies to scale up efforts to increase women's access to decent work and economic empowerment;
Provide authoritative advice on possible areas for UN Women´s support and adjustment of on-going programmes to ensure that programmes are in line with regional/national policies and priorities;
Develop a network/roster of consultants and experts to support regional and national efforts.

Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, regional and international actors and development partners:

Promote coordination and participation in joint activities with various stakeholders to work collaboratively in pursuit of the shared goal of increasing women's economic empowerment such as: UN agencies, Women's National Machineries, civil society, inter-governmental organizations, private sector, and regional women's networks;
Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, regional and international actors and development partners;
Establish and maintain close working contacts with national partners and regional actors, civil society, and international organizations in the region;
Support the building of strategic alliances and partnerships for women’s economic empowerment related strategies and initiatives;
Production of periodic updates and briefs on regional/country development situation to be used by stakeholders, CO and HQ;
Maintain close contact with relevant staff in UN Women HQ.

Resource mobilization:

Participates in the implementation, monitoring and periodic updating of the resource mobilization strategy on women´s economic empowerment;
Support field based presences in the Region in mobilizing resources for the implementation of women's economic initiatives;
Research and analysis of information on donors, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation;
Maintain close liaison with relevant donors and other actors supporting efforts towards women's economic empowerment in the region including IFI’s, government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, private sector.

Knowledge management and reporting:

Selection of strategic research topics, surveys and/or case studies;
Undertaking of selected studies/research on emerging development concerns that feed into civil society/government/development partners processes;
Support to monitoring progress and formulation of strategies towards the achievement of the economic empowerment of women;
Management of events and publications on women´s economic issues, including the elaboration of documents/reports and the launch and advocacy activities required to follow-up on findings among relevant governmental agencies, civil society organizations and donors;
Manage the process of compiling reports and lessons learned on women's economic empowerment and contribute to UN Women's knowledge management efforts;
Work with relevant UN Women teams to identify and disseminate lessons learnt and good practices in the area of gender and economics;
Contribute to the development of the regional knowledge hub and propose plans to enrich its gender and economics coverage.

Impact of Results

The work of the Economic Empowerment Adviser will impact on the success of the formulation and implementation of UN Women Economic Empowerment programmes, as well as initiatives in the LAC region to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment.

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 promote ethics and integrity by creating organizational precedents.

Organizational awareness:

Build support for the organization and ensure political acumen.

Development and innovation:

Support staff competence development, and contribute to an environment of creativity and innovation.

Work in teams:

Build and promote effective 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.

Communication and information sharing:

Create and promote an environment for open and 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:

Leverage conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous learning and knowledge sharing:

Share knowledge across the organization and build a culture of knowledge sharing and learning.

Appropriate and transparent decision making:

Ensure fair and transparent decision making processes and manage risk.

Functional Competencies:

Substantive experience and record of accomplishment in the area of gender equality and women's empowerment issues;
Proven ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
Ability to lead strategic planning, programme development and implementation, results-based management and reporting;
Ability to develop and maintain strong partnerships and mobilize resources;
Knowledge of methodologies and best practices for promoting gender equality, equity and women empowerment in general and in the Americas and the Caribbean region in particular;
Demonstrated people management skills;
Familiarity with the LAC Region, women's rights organizations and networks in the region and globally;
Excellent interpersonal skills; capacity to recognize and respond appropriately to the ideas, interests and concerns of others;
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity;
Negotiating skills and ability to work at all levels with others to reach mutually benefiting and lasting understandings;
Good knowledge of UN Women and the UN system;
Programme management: strong skills in the use of programmatic tools to plan, monitor and evaluate programmes and projects;
Commitment to continuous learning: initiative and willingness to learn new skills;
Technological awareness: possesses excellent computer skills to facilitate daily work.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree (or equivalent) in economics or related field.

Experience:

A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience on gender and economics issues, preferably 5 years of which in field experience in the area of gender and rconomics;
5 years of which of progressively relevant experience at the national or international level in development projects, preferably in Latin America, providing advisory services, hands-on experience in planning and design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development policies and programmes and establishing inter-relationships among international organizations and national governments specifically in the field of gender and economics;
Significant progressively responsible experience in strategic planning, programme development and implementation, results-based management and reporting;
Experience in developing and maintaining strong partnerships and in mobilizing resources;
Prior experience in the UN System and the Region will be an asset.

Languages:

Fluency in written and oral English and Spanish.

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, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document . Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

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.