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 Executive Office (EO) brings together the Executive Director, her Deputies and their teams. The EO supports the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) in the delivery of their functions, especially that of providing overall executive direction and leadership to UN Women. The EO supports the Executive Director and her Deputies in providing vision, establishing priorities, fostering coherence amongst the senior management team, leading advocacy, ensuring overall management, oversight and accountability.

Under the general guidance of the Head of Office and the day-to-day supervision of the Senior Coordination Specialist, the Programme Specialist provides coordination and technical support in the implementation of the Executive Director’s priorities. The Programme Specialist ensures that key annual results are identified, develops plans, timelines and resource projections to ensure the successful implementation of priorities, tracks progress and liaises with relevant colleagues to follow up. In addition, the Programme Specialist directly support the Executive Director on some key priorities, such as the African Women’s Leaders Network and her engagement with Africa-related processes.

Provide coordination and technical support in the implementation of the Executive Director’s priority projects:

• Coordinate and provide support to the development of an implementation plan for the Executive Director’s priorities, including deliverables related to UN Women @10, with clear results, timelines, milestones and responsible parties.
• Develop a tracking system and liaise with relevant divisions and focal points across the organization, including in the field, to ensure timely implementation.
• Provide coordination support in the alignment of the Executive Director’s priorities with her schedule and helps ensure that sufficient time is allocated in her long-term planning and daily schedule for their implementation.
• Provide technical support to the communication of priorities throughout the organization, including by drafting guidance notes, memos, messages and other documents to support their implementation.
• Identify and highlight opportunities for the Executive Director’s priorities and brings them to the attention of EO senior staff.

Provide coordination and technical support to the Executive Director’s engagement around African Women’s Leaders Network (AWLN) and other Africa-related matters:

• Act as a focal point for the ED’s full engagement around AWLN, particularly the youth, private sector and leadership engagement strategies; coordinate closely with relevant parties including the ED’s Special Representative.
• Provide coordination support on internal planning for the ED’s engagement in the AWLN by identifying key processes, events and dates that require her participation.
• Ensure that the ED’s engagement are well prepared by drafting briefing notes, background notes and other relevant materials.
• Provide coordination and liaison support to the Executive Director in her role as co-chair of the UN Senior African Group, by liaising with relevant agencies, partners, developing agendas, taking minutes and other tasks as required.
• Advise on ED’s bilateral meetings, events and other types of meetings related to her engagements with African countries in consultation with relevant colleagues.
• Liaise with Regional Offices and HQ Africa focal points as required to ensure good coordination and coherence in UN Women’s work in its engagement with Africa.
• Review and prepare briefs, statements and other materials to ensure that they are relevant to Africa.

Provide technical support to efforts on addressing racism in the organization:

• Provide technical inputs to the development, implementation and tracking of a workplan to address racism in the organization in line with the ED’s vision.
• Help coordinate the “Let’s Speak about Race” series by identifying speakers, undertaking preparations, including logistics, for the webinars, preparing briefs, talking points and other materials.
• Liaise with the Human Resources team and other relevant sections to drive forward the ED’s priorities on addressing racism in the organization.
• Research, gather data and other materials to inform the approach and steps taken by the organization to address racism, and supports the development of proposals made to the ED and other senior staff.

Support other EO processes:

• Provide support as required to the Secretariat of the Senior Management Team and other relevant management groups
• Support planning and monitoring processes within the EO.
• Perform any other duties as required by the Senior Coordination Specialist, Head of Office and Executive Director.

Core values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 Values and Competencies Framework: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to plan and implement project and programmes.
• Demonstrates commitment to UN Women’s mission, vision and values.
• Ability to Produce qualitative, accurate outputs with considerable attention to detail, in a timely manner.
• Ability to manage complexities, shifting priorities, and is able to work effectively without constant supervision.
• Ability to maintains diplomacy, tact and strict confidentiality with internal and external partners and clients.
• Strong interpersonal and communication (verbal, listening, writing) skills.
• Strong organization skills (time management, efficient administration, multi-tasking and fast-paced).
• Ability to work under pressure within strict deadlines; Ability to adapt quickly to work demands, and changing deadlines.
• Willingness to “inter-change” work functions with other personnel within the Unit, when required.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and discretion.

Education:

• Master’s degree in public administration, gender equality, management, social sciences or other related areas.
• A combination of relevant academic qualifications and two years of experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience at the international level in managing complex and multi-component processes, including with a focus on Africa;
• Demonstrated experience and skill in coordinating projects;
• Experience working with senior executives and/or with senior officials is an advantage;
• Experience within the UN System is an advantage.

.Languages:

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

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558. Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. 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.