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.

 

UN Women Mexico Country Office (CO), in line with national priorities on Gender Equality, and with the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, among other normative frameworks, provides coherent support to government, parliament, academia, indigenous and women’s organizations, justice system and UN entities, through providing “upstream” policy and programme advise, promoting a human rights-based approach to achieve sustainable development, improving national systems, sharing of good practices and lessons learned, strengthening normative and operational linkages, and promoting South- South and triangular cooperation. The programme in Mexico aims to guide, promote and coordinate actions to drive national partners to better develop strategic interventions in four priority areas:

 

  1. Women’s leadership and political participation,
  2. Women’s economic empowerment,
  3. Ending violence against women and girls,
  4. Gender responsive planning, budgeting and production of statistics.

 

Reporting to the UN Women Country Representative, the Programme Management Specialist is responsible for managing the development, implementation, monitoring and reporting of programmes for the CO under her/his portfolio as well for managing the human and financial resources of the team.

 

S/he is responsible for implementing key elements of UN Women’s Research, Knowledge Management, Advocacy and Data strategy in Mexico and supporting the resource mobilization strategy. S/he assumes responsibility, based on sound research, for substantive aspects of gender responsive programme design, planning and monitoring. The incumbent also plays a key role in capacity building and advocacy including South- South and Triangular Cooperation Initiatives.

 

She/he works in close collaboration with the programme and operations team in Mexico, UN Women global and regional staff, Government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society ensuring successful UN Women programme implementation under portfolio.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Manage the programmatic development for the UN Women Mexico CO programme, based on the Strategic Note

  • Provide overall programme advisory support to the Office Management;
  • Guide the development of the UN Women Mexico CO programme, and provide technical support to the design and formulation of programme/ project initiatives;
  • Review and provide feedback to project/ programme strategies and documents, workplans, case studies and related knowledge products and publications, as needed;
  • Provide technical advice on the development of systems, processes and mechanisms to support programme planning, implementation, monitoring and progress reporting;
  • Review and evaluate proposals and oversee the preparation of donor proposals and reports;
  • Draft policy documents, briefs and other strategic papers/ materials for the use in the development and presentation of policy and programmatic positions;
  • Undertake analysis of trends and developments and related policy issues, relevant to the UN Women mandate, projects and initiatives in Mexico.

2. Provide technical support to the implementation of the UN Women Mexico CO programme

  • Review programme annual work plans to assure compliance with UN Women programme goals and results-based indicators;
  • Analyze and ensure alignment of project budgets with logical framework matrices and work plans;
  • Draft reports on activities, outputs and outcomes; and compile information in preparations of country office donor and UN Women reports;
  • Manage programme quality control and identification of potential challenges; prepare documentation for national programmes and projects including social and economic substantive analysis;
  • Align programme activities with operations team in close liaison with Operations Managers;
  • Build and manage relationships with national partners, as necessary.

3. Manage monitoring and reporting for UN Women Mexico CO

  • Recommend and establish programme monitoring standards, criteria, and other indicators for measuring and assessing progress/results;
  • Manage the monitoring of mutually agreed results frameworks and performance indicators;
  • Coordinate the process of gathering information and preparing progress reports on programme implementation; prepare technical reports;
  • Prepare programme team for audits and monitor implementation of audit recommendations;
  • Provide training on results-based management to office staff, as necessary.

4. Oversee and guide people and budget management for the programme team

  • Lead a team, perform staff performance reviews, ensure capacity development of staff members by suggesting development opportunities;
  • Monitor and analyze financial situation on the portfolios and programmes to ensure adherence to delivery rates and utilization of resources to meet agreed upon targets and results;
  • Ensure effective information flow, communication and coordination across the office, between programmes, projects and operations, and with other UN Women offices and units.

5. Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies

  • Develop and implement partnerships and resource mobilization strategies;
  • Analyze and research information on donors, finalize substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for resource mobilization and cost sharing;
  • Determine programmatic areas of cooperation, based on strategic goals of UN Women, country needs and donors’ priorities and develop the relevant partnerships;
  • Liaise with officials of governments, representatives of national, regional organizations, organizations of the UN System, etc. on selected social and economic issues related to the implementation of specific programmes, action plans or other initiatives in Mexico, and provide advice on gender-responsive policies and sustainable development.

6. Contribute to inter-agency coordination to achieve a coherent and aligned presence for the Mexico CO

  • Provide substantive support to the UN Women Representative on inter-agency coordination related activities;
  • Take part in UN System planning and programming processes in Mexico, ensuring that gender equality, non-discriminations and human rights concerns are clearly reflected and mainstreamed in process.

7. Manage knowledge building efforts

  • Manage the process of identifying and synthesizing of best practices and lessons learned that are directly linked to the implementation of the programme and contribute to their global dissemination;
  • Oversee the production of knowledge products to meet UN Women needs and standards of quality;
  • Provide support to the roll out of the Corporate Knowledge Strategy in Mexico by engaging in advocacy and communications and providing technical and substantive support to the UN Women Country Representative.

Competencies

Key Performance Indicators:

  • Programme team workplans and budgets are developed and implemented in line with Strategic Note and UN Women Mexico CO 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, issues/deviations are raised in a timely manner;
  • Timely and quality reporting and regular dissemination and sharing of information; programme team is sharing best practices/ lessons learned;
  • Quality support to programme team;
  • Positive feedback from partners.

Core values:

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.

Respect for 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:

  • Strong programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills.
  • Good knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues. Proven commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment;
  • Ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
  • Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them for development results;
  • Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports in order to inform management and strategic decision-making;
  • Strong analytical and problem solving skills;
  • Strong knowledge of Results Based Management;
  • Good knowledge of programme management systems;
  • Strong organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail;
  • Ability to plan and organize work programme.

Required Skills and Experience

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

  • Master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, Political Science, Human Rights, Development, Public Administration or related field is required.? Gender studies is an asset.

Experience:

  • At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in programme management, including programme design, programme coordination, monitoring and evaluation, donor reporting and capacity building;
  • Experience in working in a gender related area is an asset;
  • Experience in setting priorities, budgets, work plans, participating in programme development and programme writing;
  • Experience in leading teams effectively is an asset:
  • Experience in building and maintaining partnerships and fundraising.

Language Requirements:

  • Fluency in English and Spanish is required;
  • Working knowledge of another official UN language is an asset.

 

Application:

  • “Only nationals of Mexico may apply to this position”
  • Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form and Cover Letter 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.