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. The forthcoming UN Women Nepal’s Strategic Note (SN) for the period 2018-2022 lays out the agency’s unique role and comparative advantage in supporting national stakeholders in advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women in line with internationally agreed normative standards. The SN is aligned with and contributes to Nepal’s national priorities as described in Nepal’s Fourteenth Three-year Periodic Plan, its gender equality commitments, the needs of women’s organizations, and the UNDAF 2018-2022 with a commitment of leaving no one behind. UN Women will advance its efforts in Nepal in accordance with its unique role and triple mandate (normative, operational and coordination) and lessons learned to “achieve gender equality and social inclusion and empower women and girls in Nepal to realize their human rights” (Nepal Country Office SN Goal Statement).

Under the overarching SN 2018-2022, UN Women focuses on two programmatic areas, governance and leadership, and women’s economic empowerment. Women’s economic empowerment seeks to ensure income security, better jobs and economic independence of vulnerable women, taking into account the vulnerability of women and girls in the contexts of disaster risk and climate change impact. This will help ensure that, vulnerable women’s groups in Nepal have income generation opportunities and are resilient to climate change and disasters that affect their livelihoods by 2022 (Outcome 2). The anticipated outputs include: 1) Planet 50:50 Nepal advanced by engaging men/boys, interfaith leaders, vulnerable groups and youth networks in addressing adverse social and economic norms, structural barriers, and gender-based discrimination; 2) Key line ministries and select local governments have increased technical capacity to develop and implement gender responsive macroeconomic policies (fiscal and budgetary) and sectoral policies (agriculture, energy, labour, industry and DRR) developed and implemented by key line ministries to advance the implementation of SDG 5 and 8;  and 3) A substantive equality approach to women's economic empowerment tested and adopted in select target sectors (agriculture, energy) for income generation, improved climate resilient livelihoods and to address safe migration with vulnerable women’s groups.

Key strategies to achieve the above will include: 1) advocacy and social mobilization for transformational changes in social and economic norms, which regulate institutions, structures and policies of government agencies, businesses and communities; 2) integrated policy advice to the government at the federal level for the development of gender-responsive economic policies and at the local level for their implementation; 3) capacity development support for vulnerable women’s groups in partnership with federal and local governments, and the private sector, focusing on skills and leadership development and prevention of gender based violence; and 4) technical assistance to ensure women’s increased access to disaster and climate-smart and time-saving assets, tools, technologies and information, particularly for women in agriculture.

Reporting to Unit Manager (Economic Empowerment Unit), Programme Officer will be responsible to provide technical and programming support to ensure the quality and timely designing, planning and implementation of women’s economic empowerment portfolio, specifically focusing on substantive equality which can be brought about in women’s lives through their participation and leadership in economic activities and decision-making.

Deberes y responsabilidades

1. Provide programme development and management support. The specific tasks include but not limited to:

1.1. Technical and programming expertise to develop, design and plan women’ economic empowerment programmes/projects.

  • Under the guidance of the supervisor, contribute to the design and formulation of the programme initiatives in the assigned focus areas, translating UN Women’s priorities stated in the SN 2018-2022 to local interventions;
  • Participate in and contribute to designing and development of new approaches to women’s economic empowerment to be implemented under the SN 2018-2022, building on lessons/good practices and challenges/limitations of existing/past women’s economic empowerment support in the field, particularly to deepen UN Women’s field interventions beyond vocational skills development support;
  • Contribute to planning and effective rollout of the new approaches;
  • Provide technical inputs and advisory support to ensure the design, approach, modality of delivery of field interventions are strategically targeted and focused on specific needs of women and girls from vulnerable groups;
  • Review and provide technical inputs to service packages and project implementation tools (such as quarterly workplans, implementation guidelines and manuals) developed by partner organizations/service providers; and
  • Support and coordinate with partner organizations/service providers in strengthening their relationships with networks of excluded women for smooth implementation of the project activities.

1.2 Contribution of research and analytical inputs to produce evidence base for women’s economic empowerment.

  • Under the guidance of the supervisor, collect knowledge on current and emerging trends on women’s economic empowerment interventions in Nepal and global by gathering and analyzing information on existing/past programmes, projects and other practical cases and/or academic research/discussions;
  • Support the supervisor in analyzing and proposing new/innovational approaches to implement women’s economic empowerment interventions in the field, aiming to deepen the impact of field interventions to bring about substantive equality in women’s lives.

1.3 Result-based management (RBM), implementation and monitoring support, particularly focusing on tracking and documenting positive changes in social norms and behaviours of women and girls from vulnerable groups.

  • Manage programme/project appraisal and evaluation according to RBM requirements;
  • Support the supervisor on effective application of result-based management (RBM) tools and monitoring;
  • Build capacity of partner organizations/service providers in result-based management (RBM) and monitoring of implementation of planned activities as per workplans, keeping records of progress and writing progress reports on a quarterly basis;
  • Conduct monitoring of field interventions in close collaboration with other programme colleagues and partner organizations/service providers, particularly focusing on changes in social norms and people’s behaviours;
  • Provide expert services to partner organizations/service providers to strengthen their capacity in progress monitoring and result-based reporting; and
  • Provide any other technical expertise and advisory services to partner organizations/service providers on relevant subjects in support of the smooth implementation.

1.4 Other coordination and management support to EE unit on the timely implementation of project activities in the relevant fields. The specific tasks included but not limited to:

  • Draft relevant Terms of References (ToRs) for the procurement of both institutional and individual experts’ services on relevant subjects;
  • Provide technical expert services in procurement processes. Review technical and financial proposals of partner organizations within the framework of the UN Women’s operational guidelines; and
  • Provide logistic, coordination and any other programme management expertise to the EE unit as requested by the supervisor.

2. Build strategic partnerships and support resource mobilization. The specific tasks include but not limited to:

  • Provide the support to the supervisor to finalize relevant documentation on donors and potential opportunities for resource mobilization;
  • Support strategic partnerships and resource mobilization efforts by researching relevant documentation, and participating in donor meetings and public information events;
  • Support drafting of donor reports; and
  • Analyze and research information on donors, prepare substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost sharing.

3. Contribute to inter-agency coordination to achieve a coherent and aligned presence for women’s economic empowerment in Nepal. The specific tasks include but not limited to:

  • Provide technical and programme support to the supervisor on inter-agency coordination related activities by attending meetings, events, and participating in groups and committees as needed;
  • Provides inputs for the country level Comprehensive Country Assessment (CCA)/UNDAF processes and similar exercises related to the RC system by ensuring that gender concerns are clearly reflected;
  • Participate in UNDAF Outcome Steering Group meetings;
  • Contribute to CCA/ UNDAF processes and other documents by collecting substantive inputs form the Programme Unit and analyzing and researching the political, social and economic situation in the region;
  • Helps puts together analytical and regular progress reports on UN Women´s program experiences in support of UN women inter-agency coordination role;
  • Ensure good partnerships with the UN Agencies, government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, private sector, civil society etc.; and
  • Coordinate with other UN agencies, government departments, donors and NGOs to ensure the projects’ capacity development programme is harmonized and aligned with other in-country efforts.

4. Support advocacy and communication efforts. The specific tasks include but not limited to:

  • Provide the support to the supervisor to develop and review background documents, briefs and presentations related to the women’s economic empowerment;
  • Identify best practices and lessons learned to guide programme improvement and strategy planning; and
  • Provide the support to the supervisor to develop knowledge management strategies, products and methodologies on women’s economic empowerment.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:

  • Timely and quality programme design, implementation, monitoring and reporting
  • Timely and quality of programme delivery in line with budget and workplans
  • Timely and quality monitoring and evaluation of programmes
  • Relations with partners and stakeholders
  • Quality reports and timely submission
  • Regular communication with other agencies and partners
  • Advisory services for vocational skills and entrepreneurship development training

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 

Functional Competencies:

  • Strong development/programming skills particularly those that are pertinent to UN Women strategic priorities on gender issues and women’s rights;
  • Ability to support formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects;
  • Strong knowledge of Results Based Management principles and approaches;
  • Ability to maintain networks and partnerships with UN agencies and other international partners to promote partnership and build alliances to advance organizational interests and competencies;
  • Demonstrated good oral and written communication skills;
  • Ability to synthesize programme performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making;
  • Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising and develop strategies.

Technical Knowledge Required:

  1. Specific Technical Knowledge Required for this post
  • Strong knowledge of and ability to lead the management of vocational skills and entrepreneurship development training to bring innovative ideas to establish their linkages with business development resources, markets, job opportunities and financial institutions

2.      Common Technical Knowledge Required 

  • UN/UN Women policy papers, relating to programme communication and programmes;
  • UN Women Global Strategic Plan/UN Women Nepal Strategic Note
  • Gender equality and diversity awareness
  • Communication for Development Guidelines;
  • Government development plans and policies.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

  • Master’s degree in Gender and Development Studies, Economics, Public Policy or any other related field of studies with emphasis on women’s economic empowerment and/or vocational skills and entrepreneurship development training.

Experience:

  • Minimum 7 years of progressively responsible professional work experience in the development, planning and management of social development programmes with practical experience in the technical and vocational education and training and business development services, including provisions of gender equality and psychosocial supports;  
  • Technical experience in and demonstrated knowledge on women’s economic empowerment and the barriers to hinder women’s leadership in economic activities are required;
  • Working experiences with programmes/projects on women’s economic empowerment, including business development marketing support to women and girls from vulnerable groups, are a strong plus;
  • Demonstrated professional working experience in the fields of gender equality and women’s empowerment is a strong plus;
  • Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies, donors and/or civil society partners and stakeholders is an asset; and
  • Experience working in the government and/or UN System is an asset.

Language:

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

HOW TO APPLY?

Interested individual must submit the following documents:

NOTE: Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Please upload as one attachment of the documents as mentioned above online through this website.

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.

UN Women is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous group, LGBTI and persons with disability are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with strictest confidence.