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 international 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.

Under the overall guidance and direction of the Country Programme Manager, UN Women is currently recruiting a Field Operations Manager. She/he will oversee the management of UN Women’s field offices in Mogadishu, Garowe and Hargeisa in addition to programme development, implementation and country operations team.  

The Field Operations Manager will be under the overall and direct supervision of the Country Programme Manager. She/he will work closely with internal and external counterparts, including government, national institutions, civil society and the private sector.

The Consultant will carry out the following functions:

Efficient Sub Office Management:

• Ensure the smooth running of the field offices;
• Ensure responsibility and accountability for the appropriate use and management of resources attributed to the CO and to the portfolio of the geographic area;
• Promote team work, collaboration and synergies within sub office, among the project teams and with the Programme units at the Country Office level;
• Supervise programme staff for day-to-day operations in the field offices.

Ensures Effective Coordination and Representation:

• Provide substantive support on inter-agency coordination related activities;
• Participate in country level Comprehensive Country Assessment (CCA)/UNDAF processes and similar exercises related to the RC system ensuring that gender concerns are clearly reflected and mainstreamed in processes;
• Prepare analytical and regular progress reports on UN Women’s’ program experiences in support of UN women inter-agency coordination role;
• Represent UN Women as requested by the supervisor;
• Ensure collaboration with the Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa, provide strong coordination support to UN Agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and national authorities through the establishment of a wider consultation process and appropriate fora to promote gender equality and women empowerment activities;
• Provide support to Country Programme Manager for overall resource mobilization efforts of the Office in close collaboration with Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa.

Provision of Sound Programme Development & Implementation:

• Identify, in close collaboration with management, areas for support and interventions including new programmatic activities and strategic direction of the programmatic activities;
• Design and formulate programme initiatives within the area of responsibility, translating UN Women’s priorities into local interventions including joint programming and planning opportunities;
• Advise management, national counterparts and other partners on policies and strategies to adequately respond to gender equality and women’s empowerment initiatives;
• Promote identification and synthesis of best practices and lessons learned for organizational sharing and learning;
• Supervise the day-to-day project management based on annual/quarterly work plans and ensure coordination among projects;
• Ensure overall program and individual project work plans and budgets are developed and implementation modalities agreed upon;
• Assess implementation and financial management, analyse progress in achievement of objectives and results, propose direction and solutions, distil lessons learned and best practices;
• Develop work plans, budgets and reports as required.

Ensures Operational Efficiency:

• Oversee effective provision of programme delivery including fair and transparent procurement, logistics and sound financial management through Atlas, including direct payments, purchase orders and requisitions as well as the consistent application of UN Women rules and regulations;
• Work closely with UNDSS to ensure the security of UN Women Staff and premises and supports the implementation of UN Women MOSS compliance;
• Ensure effective management of resources for achieving results;
• Review budgets and work plans and bring any proposed changes to the attention of Country Programme Manager;
• Prepare project budget revisions to ensure the efficient and timely delivery of inputs and realization of targeted expenditures; 
• Ensure delivery of program resources in line with UN Women’s regulations and procedures to track project budgets and expenditures;
• Supervisory support to all the operations staff.

Effective Strategic Partnership Development:

• Establish and maintain strong relationship with governments, intergovernmental organizations, parliamentarians, media, civil society and other stakeholders;
• Initiates partnerships in core programming areas as per the country strategy;
• Develops LOAS and PCAS with government counterparts;
• Support capacity building of national counterparts.

Deliverables:

• Efficient Sub-Office Management;
• Representation and Coordination;
• Programme Development & Implementation, Strategic Analysis and Planning;
• Operational Management;
• Strategic Partnership Development;
• Grant Management & Reporting.

Core Values/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:

• Demonstrated negotiating, cultural sensitivity and diplomatic skills;
• Provide information, tools, resources to support work achievement;
• Effectiveness orientation and pro-activity;
• Ability to leverage information technology, executive information systems, management techniques and tools for optimal office performance;
• Strong interpersonal, communication and presentation skills and team player;
• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards, shows commitment to UN Women’s mission, vision, values and strategic goals of UN Women’s and displays cultural, gender, religion, race, and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Knowledge of Somalia context on gender equality, women’s political participation and women’s empowerment will be an asset;
• Ability to work under minimal supervision and be proactive and initiative;
• Demonstrated ability and excellent communication skills to facilitate group discussions and the ability to deal with multi-stakeholder’s groups;
• Sound judgment and decision-making skills, with the ability to make effective timely decisions.

Education:

• Master’s degree in Monitoring & Evaluation, Social Sciences, or related field. Additional certification in statistics, planning, MIS management will be considered as an asset.

Experience:

• At least 6 years of experience that combines strategic and managerial leadership in crisis response & prevention, recovery & development, programme development, management or other related field, some of which should be in gender equality and Women, Peace and Security at the international level, preferably in post conflict setting within the UN system, Agencies, Funds or Programs;
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex operations;
• Demonstrated ability to force constructive and mutually reinforcing relationships with counterparts;
• Experience in crisis, conflict or post conflict countries highly desirable;
• A solid understanding of gender issues in Somalia required;
• Excellent communication, networking, and facilitation skills required.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset.