Background

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 Fiji Multi Country Office (MCO) covers 14 Pacific countries, with field offices/presence in 7 countries, and five ‘focus countries’ (Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Samoa). UN Women is the IASC-endorsed lead for the Pacific Humanitarian Team (PHT)’s Pacific Humanitarian Protection Cluster (PHPC), and lead of the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Sub-Cluster. The situation varies by country, with national clusters led by government (typically Women’s Ministries). During disaster response, UN Women leverages its existing programmes to support local development partners to respond to the needs, for example, of people with disabilities, GBV survivors, and general provision of psychological first aid. Through the combination of coordinator and responder roles, UN Women promotes gender- and protection-sensitive disaster preparedness, response and recovery.

Reporting to the Representative, the Programme Specialist Gender and Protection will lead and supervise the Humanitarian Unit, consisting of national and surge support staff based in the Fiji MCO.  The Gender and Protection Specialist will work closely with governments, humanitarian clusters, including other UN agencies and partners; and through regional and national coordination mechanisms to promote the substantive incorporation of gender and protection in humanitarian action. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Lead the inter-agency coordination:

  • Lead UN Women’s role in the regional Pacific Humanitarian Protection Cluster (PHPC), and Gender-Based Violence (GBV)  in emergencies sub-cluster;
  • Ensure the effective co-lead of the Fiji Safety and Protection Cluster, led by the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation;
  • Advocate for and support UN Women’s role in national protection and GBViE coordination mechanisms, as appropriate;
  • Lead specific efforts in mainstreaming gender and protection in disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts of other clusters and relevant working groups, including inclusion and participation of under-represented groups in accordance with Commitments on Accountability to Affected Populations;
  • Participate in inter-cluster coordination fora, including the Inter-Cluster Coordination Group (ICCG) of the PHT, the Gender Theme Group, and groups formed under the UN Partnership Strategy; and
  • Support the engagement and participation of local organizations and civil society networks in humanitarian coordination mechanisms.

Oversee humanitarian programming:

  • Oversee the development of regional programme documents on gender and protection in humanitarian action;
  • Provide substantive technical and policy support to country office and MCO programme teams in developing and strengthening humanitarian programmes and humanitarian components of development programmes;
  • Work with national staff on contextualizing/ localizing programmes, ensuring appropriate inclusion and participation of communities, and working through local partners;
  • Coordinate proper monitoring and reporting in collaboration with programme teams; and
  • Develop appropriate mechanisms for beneficiary feedback and complaints mechanisms.

Provide technical assistance and planning support:

  • Provide substantive technical and policy support to country office and multi-country office programme teams in developing and strengthening projects/ programmes;
  • Advise, support, guide and provide substantive inputs to ensure the formulation of gender- and protection-sensitive disaster preparedness, response and recovery by humanitarian stakeholders;
  • Provide technical support to partners on implementation of humanitarian action;
  • Advocate for the collection and use of disaggregated data and for gender and protection analysis to be undertaken during preparedness, response and recovery phases;
  • Provide technical support to gender- and protection-sensitive multi-sector rapid needs assessment, and sector-specific protection needs assessments, including ensuring timely data analysis and reporting;
  • Ensure and promote compliance with relevant international laws, standards and humanitarian policies related to gender and protection in humanitarian action; and
  • Develop, implement and monitor capacity development initiatives and resources for UN Women, for government, military, non-government, civil society and other stakeholders, on gender and protection in humanitarian action.

Lead strategic partnerships and resource mobilization initiatives:

  • Build and maintain alliances and strategic partnerships for the advancement of humanitarian action;
  • Build and maintain close liaisons with relevant donors and other actors supporting efforts towards humanitarian action;
  • Develop funding proposals for preparedness actions for gender and protection in humanitarian action; and
  • For joint appeals, lead the development of a UN Women proposal for humanitarian programming and coordination efforts.

Provide advocacy, communication and knowledge building support:

  • During emergency response, develop and implement communication and advocacy messages and strategies on key gender and protection concerns;
  • Develop information, education and communication (IEC) materials, press releases, situation reports, alerts and contribute gender and protection-related inputs to documents prepared by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA);
  • Provide policy recommendations and guidance to strategic planning and positioning on humanitarian action;
  • Work closely with and provide advice to regional/ national bodies and interagency groups that influence national policies and legislation related to humanitarian action and where necessary represent UN Women;
  • Identify promising practices, technical expertise, and strategic opportunities in humanitarian action;
  • Identify and disseminate lessons learnt and good practices in collaboration with country offices;
  • Research, develop and present analytical reports, research papers, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, correspondence, and knowledge products on humanitarian action; and
  • Ensure technical skills and knowledge are shared within and among the MCO and Country Offices.

Oversee work of team:

  • Manage budget; and operations of team;
  • Finalize financial reports in accordance with UN Women procedures as necessary; 
  • Supervise and coach staff and manage performance; ensure compliance to the performance management cycle;
  • Ensure that security policies and procedure are followed by team.

Key Performance Indicators:

  • Timely and quality technical advice and support;
  • Leadership in area of expertise in the region;
  • Quality reports and other strategic documents drafted and submitted in a timely manner;
  • Strong relationships with various partners and stakeholders;
  • UN Women is well represented in important meetings on topics related to expertise;
  • Contributions to resource mobilization;
  • Timely and quality knowledge products.

Competencies

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: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf.

Functional Competencies:

  • Substantive knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in the fields of gender equality, protection and humanitarian action, including humanitarian coordination; 
  • Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of humanitarian and development experience;
  • Strong communication skills, with proven expertise in writing cogent and convincing policy and programme documents, as well as inputs to donor and other communications products;
  • Ability to lead strategic planning, programme development and implementation, results-based management and reporting;
  • inability to foster good relations with government counterparts, UN agencies and NGO partners;
  • Ability to interact with donors, identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising;
  • Strong knowledge of the Pacific region and the UN System;
  • Excellent analytical and problem solving skills; and
  • Ability to perform qualitative and quantitative policy research.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master’s degree or equivalent in human rights, gender, international relations, international development, international law or other social science fields is required.

Experience:

  • At least 7 years progressively responsible experience in designing and managing humanitarian programmes in diverse cultural settings, with a particular focus on gender and protection in emergencies;
  • Substantive and technical experience in inter-agency coordination, preferably protection cluster coordination, and/or ProCap/GenCap in a natural disaster setting;
  • Experience in policy analysis and strategic planning;
  • Experience working with, and building partnerships with governments, donors and civil society organizations internationally and in the field;
  • Experience working with the UN is an asset; and
  • Experience working in the region is an asset.

Experience:

  • Fluency in English is required; and
  • Knowledge of the other 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 http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment 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.