Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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, UN Women will lead and coordinate 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.

The scope of work of the Peace and Security Adviser who will be based in UN Women’s Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean in Panama, requires experience and in-depth understanding of gender equality, peace and security issues, and citizen security issues to translate UN Women's strategic plans in the area of Peace and Security into effective programmes and results. It also requires developing mutually reinforcing partnerships with relevant Government counterparts, UN organizations, and CSOs in the region.

Under the supervision of the Regional Director, and in close collaboration with the Chief Adviser, Peace and Security (HQ), the Peace and Security Adviser is expected to engage proactively with local and regional women leaders, UN Entities (including relevant Divisions, Sections, and Country Offices within UN Women) and regional and subregional bodies to ensure gender issues are addressed on efforts related to citizen security, peace-making, peacekeeping and peace building including formal mediation processes with UN’s involvement, transitional justice mechanisms, security and justice sector reform processes, humanitarian initiatives, disaster response, issues of displacement and other consequences of conflict providing support or facilitating and coordinating donors initiative among other relevant issues in the region.

Summary of Key Functions:

• Analysis and Monitoring Trends, Opportunities and Challenges;
• Develop Programmes and Mobilize Resources for Regional Programmes on Women, Peace and Security;
• Establish and Strengthen Strategic Partnerships with Key Stakeholders, Regional and International Actors and Development Partners;
• Knowledge Management and Reporting.

Description of Functions:

Analysis and Monitoring Trend and Opportunities:

• Provide policy recommendations, strategic advice and proposed courses of action to the Regional Director and Country Representatives;
• Establish and maintain up-to-date knowledge of regional developments in peace and security issues and integrate information in support of policy and programme development, analysis, outreach and advocacy;
• Prepare analytical reports, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, talking points and others as required by senior management;
• Establish and maintain close working contacts with key national, regional and local stakeholders from government, civil society, regional organizations, donors’ communities and other relevant international actors to build and strengthen strategic alliances and partnerships on women, peace and security issues and initiatives;
• Represent UN Women at inter-governmental and regional meetings on peace and security issues in the region, as requested by the Regional Director;
• Propose plan of action for immediate and long range actions on women, peace and security in the region;
• Work closely with colleagues of UN Women's Peace and Security Section and the Policy Division to identify promising practices, technical expertise, and strategic opportunities for addressing women’s empowerment and gender issues in the area of peace and security;
• Engage in regional post-2015 discussions dealing with conflict and citizen security.

Develop Programmes and Mobilize Resources for Women, Peace and Security:

• Propose plan of action for immediate and long range actions to advance women’s effective participation in peace and security initiatives in the region;
• Promote coordination and participation in joint activities with various stakeholders to work collaboratively in the area of peace and security in the region such as: UN agencies, relevant government stakeholders, civil society, inter-governmental organizations and regional women's networks;
• Work closely with UN Women country offices in the region and provide programme guidance and support to develop and implement programmes at the local, national and regional level in the area of peace and security, including conflict prevention, mediation, transitional justice, justice and security sector reform, peacekeeping, conflict-related sexual violence, national action plans on SCR 1325 and citizen security in the context of humanitarian assistance;
• Support country offices to provide technical assistance to the Government on key Women, Peace and Security issues, including for the development and implementation of National Action Plans on women, peace and security, and citizen security, as requested by the Regional Director and in collaboration with the Peace and Security section;
• Work closely with UN Women country offices in the region and provide programme support to develop and implement programmes at the local, national and regional level to enhance women’s influence in relevant processes;
• Learn from Country Offices in order to ensure that technical support and programme advice provided is relevant to the national and cultural context;
• Support the country offices in mobilizing resources for the implementation of women, peace and security initiatives in the region in conjunction with the Regional Resource Mobilization Specialist.

Establish and Strengthen Strategic Partnerships with Key Stakeholders, Regional and International Actors and Development Partners:

• Support the building of strategic alliances and partnerships to develop regional strategies and initiatives on the area of women, peace and security;
• Maintain close liaison with, regional entities and other actors supporting efforts on women, peace and security in the region;
• Collaborate with UN Entities at the regional level, and support country offices, on accelerating the implementation of the SG’s 7 Point Action Plan on Women’s Participation in Peacebuilding;
• Liaise with relevant regional organizations engaged in peace and security issues, such as peacekeeping institutions, regional networks and academic institutions;
• Maintain close contact with relevant staff in UN Women HQ.

Knowledge Management and Reporting:

• Manage the process of compiling and analyzing reports and lessons learned on Women, Peace and Security and contribute to UN Women's knowledge management efforts;
• Collect information at the regional level to input to the annual SG report on Women and Peace and Security (usually due by May of each year), as well as other relevant thematic SG reports such as peacebuilding;
• Provide strategic information to input into briefings by UN Women’s Executive Director to the Security Council, as requested, as well as ongoing provision of relevant information to HQ in relation to Security Council debates and resolutions;
• Provide inputs regarding the implementation of the SG’s Action Plan on Women’s Participation in Peace building;
• In close consultation with Country Offices manage the process of compiling reports and lessons learned on women, peace and security issues in the region and contribute to UN Women's knowledge management efforts;
• Facilitate cross-regional exchange of best practices and lessons learned with Regional Peace and Security advisers and Policy Division Peace and Security Division;
• Contribute to the development of the regional knowledge hub and propose plans to enrich its evidence base on women, peace and security in the region.

Impact of Results

This post should be able to help ensure that gender issues are addressed within the Region which relate to all areas of peace and security. An effective incumbent should help UN Women to translate their strategic plans in the area of Peace and Security into effective programmes and results within the Region. The overarching impact would be to help ensure the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, and a future where women and girls would enjoy identical human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security as men.

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 women, peace and security and humanitarian assistance;
• Demonstrated people management skills;
• Familiarity with the LAC region. Familiarity of other regions in which UN Women operates is an advantage;
• Good knowledge of UN Women and the UN system;
• 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.  

Education:

• Master’s Degree in Social Sciences, International Development Studies, Gender, Peace & Women Studies or related field.

Experience:

• Minimum of 10 years progressively responsible experience in the area of women, peace and security, preferably with 5 years field experience in one or more of the regions in which UN Women operates;
• 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;
• Experience working in large multicultural development agencies is a distinct advantage.

Language:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Fluency in Spanish is highly desirable.

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.