Antecedentes

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.

Afghanistan is one of the world’s most complex emergencies, and the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Afghan people are grappling with the impact of conflict, poverty, economic decline, and natural disasters. In this context, Afghan women and girls face unique vulnerabilities and require urgent support as gender inequality is interwoven with conflict dynamics and humanitarian needs. It is essential that Afghan women and girls can continue to shape the development of their country, and that their gains are protected. UN Women remains fully committed to supporting Afghan women and girls and to putting them at the center of the global response to the crisis in Afghanistan.

UN Women has been in Afghanistan for two decades. UN Women’s programming approach is informed by analysis of the political, economic, and humanitarian situation, risks to and capacities of partner organizations, and needs of Afghan women and girls. UN Women Afghanistan currently has four key programme priorities: (1) Gender in Humanitarian Action, (2) Ending Violence Against Women, (3) Women’s Economic Empowerment, and (4) Women, Peace, and Security.

UN Women Afghanistan focuses on reaching women who are most at risk and marginalized populations, in particular gender-based violence survivors, female headed households, women IDPs and returnees, women with disabilities, older women, and adolescent girls.

Afghan women, who comprise more than half of the population in Afghanistan have been hit hard by this crisis, especially women who are unemployed, women suffering from poverty, women-headed households, and women in rural areas who’s their livelihoods and income generation activities have been disrupted or lost. These women will be supported with interventions to boost their livelihoods.

UN Women will support women in target areas, including in host communities and informal settlements, to secure alternative sources of income through development of capacities and skills and access to resources including employment opportunities. This will provide women with emergency livelihood protection and support—urgently needed given a looming economic collapse and associated crisis in the formal banking sector.

Within the framework of its crisis response, UN Women Afghanistan, along with other partners, is supporting crisis-affected women through livelihoods interventions to promote women-led businesses and to strengthen women’s economic agency. 

UN Women is looking for an experienced Programme Analyst, WEE (Livelihood and Business Development) to support Afghan women entrepreneurs through empowerment and creating networking opportunities as well as building infrastructure for business development that will lead to the improved economic potentials through identifying the skills gaps for women, boosting beneficiaries’ skills and linking women to market for employment opportunities.  This intervention is part of an integrated response of UN Women Afghanistan and aligns with the United Nations Transitional Engagement Framework (TEF) for Afghanistan: essential services are sustained that address basic human needs for the people in Afghanistan. Under this outcome, livelihoods will be preserved, and jobs will be created through asset creation and business support at community and household level.

The incumbent will provide support to existing and emerging (start-ups) women-led businesses, including both home-based businesses and businesses run in market or commercial areas. This support will help women recover from crisis, strengthen women’s resilience, address their basic needs, reduce poverty, and support addressing the unemployment crisis.

Reporting to the Programme Manager/ Women’s Economic Empowerment, the Programme Analyst, WEE (Livelihood and Business Development) will work along with other team members in the WEE Programme to provide support to the business community and women owned businesses and she/he will ensure that project activities meet their goals. She/ he will travel to field offices, engage directly with beneficiaries, partners, and consultants on business development matters.

 

Deberes y responsabilidades

  1. Contribute technically to the development of programme strategies in the area of Women’s Economic Empowerment
  • Provide substantive inputs to the design and formulation of programme/ project proposals and initiatives;
  • Identify areas for support and intervention related to the programme.

       1.1 Women Entrepreneurship related support

  • Carry out regular consultations with local women representatives to determine needs and opportunities, as well as training and technical assistance requirements.
  • Coordinate the provision of training to female entrepreneurs with support from colleagues.
  • Carry out regular consultations with female entrepreneurs, women producers associations and sector-specific groups to determine local business development needs and opportunities, as well as training and technical assistance requirements.

       1.2 Business Development Related Duties

  • Actively assist female entrepreneurs and sector-specific groups in the development and implementation of brokering services.
  • Assist entrepreneurs in the development of marketing plans and business plans if required.
  • Seek out, document, and develop new local and international market opportunities, contacts, and linkages for the benefit of local entrepreneurs and sector-specific groups, both on a continuing basis and in response to specific requests.
  • Carry out an assessment of local businesses and design & provide tailor-made technical assistance to businesses.
  • Provide back-stopping support to all Women’s Economic Empowerment Team members where and when needed.

       2. Provide substantive technical support to the implementation and management of the Women’s Economic Empowerment  programme

  • Lead the implementation of programme activities;
  • Lead the coordination of the call/ request for proposals, including the organization of technical review committees, and capacity assessment of partners;
  • Review, coordinate and monitor the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports;
  • Train partners on Results Based Management and monitor implementation.
  • Provide support to the WEE Program Manager in developing Annual Work Plan in line with UN Women Strategic Plan (2023-2025) and contribute to the implementation of UN Women's WEE interventions. 
  • Work closely with Finance and monitoring and Reporting units to ensure that activities are well captured in the Systems
  • Co-ordinate the activities of the project in accordance with guidance from the Project management team.
  • Establish a professional and collaborative relationship with the field offices and implementing partners, and other stakeholders including private sector companies, universities, and institutions of higher learning in different provinces for women owned businesses capacity building and access to market.
  • Coordinate the provision of training, marketing, and technical assistance to target entrepreneurs in collaboration with the implementing partners.
  • Maintain accurate and up-to-date records as required by WEE Programme Manager.
  • Actively assist local and international implementing partners in the performance of their projects.
  • Actively promote productive linkages between entrepreneurs, market actors as well as local counterparts.
  • Provides adequate technical guidance and support to the WEE Programme Manager when relevant including development of needs assessment and project management tools; and contributes to proposal writing and reporting in line with strategic plan and standards Provide technical inputs to the annual workplan and budget;

       3. Provide technical assistance and capacity development to project/ programme partners

  • Coordinate and provide technical support in the implementation of programme activities; Develop technical knowledge products
  • Maintain relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the Women’s Economic Empowerment programme;
  • Identify opportunities for capacity building of partners and facilitate technical/ programming support and trainings to partners, as needed.

      4. Provide technical inputs to the monitoring and reporting of the programme/ project

  • Monitor progress of implementation of activities and finances using results based management tools;
  • Draft reports on monitoring missions, programme results s, outputs and outcomes;
  • Provide substantive inputs to the preparation of donor and UN Women reports.

       5. Provide substantive technical inputs to the management of people and finances of the Women’s Economic Empowerment programme

  • Monitor budget implementation and make budget re-alignments/ revisions, as necessary;
  • Provide substantive inputs to financial reports;
  • Support the Programme Manager in supervising Programme Associates and Assistants.

      6. Provide substantive inputs to building partnerships and resource mobilization strategies

  • Provide substantive inputs to resource mobilization strategies; analyze and maintain information and databases.
  • Prepare relevant documentation such as project summaries, conference papers, briefing notes, speeches, and donor profiles.
  • Participate in donor meetings and public information events, as delegated.

       7. Provide technical support to inter-agency coordination on Women’s Economic Empowerment to achieve coherence and alignment of UN Women programmes with other partners in the country

  • Provide substantive technical support to the WEE Programme Manager on inter-agency coordination related activities by drafting background reports and briefs.

      8. Provide substantive inputs to advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts

  • Develop background documents, briefs and presentations related to Women’s Economic Empowerment;
  • Coordinate and organize advocacy campaigns, events, trainings, workshops and knowledge products;
  • Coordinate the development of knowledge management methodologies, and products on Women’s Economic Empowerment.

Competencias

Core Values:

  • Respect for Diversity
  • Integrity
  • Professionalism

Core Competencies:

  • Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
  • Accountability
  • Creative Problem Solving
  • Effective Communication
  • Inclusive Collaboration
  • Stakeholder Engagement
  • Leading by Example

    Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:  https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

    Functional Competencies

  • Strong understanding and knowledge of livelihoods programming in post-conflict and crisis affected communities with experience in complex economic intervention models, such as graduation model approaches.  
  • Strong background in project management, needs assessments, risk analysis and mitigation; Monitoring and Evaluation and learning (MAEL)and reporting skills.
  • Knowledge of micro and small businesses development, investment appraisal, market systems development and value chain approaches.
  • Understanding of the underlying market environments, opportunities and barriers to growth and access to finance affecting micro businesses.
  • level reports and presentations.
  • Ability to work independently and meet tight deadlines in a high-pressure environment.
  • Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities, and threats to fundraising and develop strategies

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education and Qulification:

  • Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/women's studies, international development, or a related field is required
  • A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
  • A project/ programme management certification would be an added advantage.

Experiance:

  • At least 2 years of progressively responsible work experience at the national or international level in different aspects of development assistance relevant to business development and income generation interventions in post-conflict and crisis affected communities.
  • Experience in development of training materials and capacity building in Microfinance, SME Finance, rural finance, value chain finance, financial education Business development and Business skills is required.
  • Experience in working with women’s economic empowerment is an asset.
  • project management in post-crisis contexts is an asset
  • A minimum of 2 years in adult training and capacity building (workshop and training design and facilitation, coaching, mentoring.)
  • Experience in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) finance, and digital financial services, market studies and feasibility studies is required.
  • Experience working in the UN System is an asset.

Language Requirements:

  • Fluency in English is required
  • Fluency in Dari and/ or Pashto is an asset
  • Additional UN language is an asset.

Application:

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.

Inclusion Statement:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits employ, trains, compensates and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity, and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)