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.
Under the supervision of the Deputy Regional Director, and in close collaboration with Peace and Security Section in New York, the Adviser is expected to engage proactively with local and regional women leaders, UN Entities (including relevant Divisions, Sections, and Country Offices within UN Women) and regional and sub-regional bodies to ensure gender issues are addressed on efforts related to citizen security, peace-making, peacekeeping and peacebuilding including formal mediation processes with UN’s involvement, transitional justice mechanisms, security and justice sector reform processes, humanitarian initiatives, disaster response issues of displacement and other consequences of conflict providing support or facilitating and coordinating donors initiative among other relevant issues in the region.
The Policy Advisor, Peace, Security and Humanitarian Response will oversee the development of peace and security programmes, provide capacity building to Country Offices (CO), Multi Country Offices (MCO) and Programme Presence Offices (PPO), establish and strengthen partnerships, and develop relevant knowledge products on gender equality, peace and security and citizen security issues.
Duties and Responsibilities
Lead the design of women, peace and security in the region and the development of relevant knowledge products:
- Lead the provision of policy recommendations and guidance to strategic planning and positioning on women, peace and security issues and citizen security in the context of humanitarian assistance;
- Lead and provide advice to regional/ national bodies; represent UN Women in interagency groups that influence national policies related to women, peace and security issues and initiatives;
- Contribute substantively and lead existing thematic and gender equality networks to better connect UN Women and partners;
- Lead the research, development, and presentation of analytical reports, research papers, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, correspondence on women, peace and security;
- Identify promising practices, technical expertise, and strategic opportunities for addressing women´s empowerment and gender issues in the area of peace and security.
Manage the development of programmes on Women, Peace and Security to Country Office/ Multi Country Office / Programme Presence Office teams:
- Manage the development and implementation of an integrated strategy for the delivery of technical assistance, policy advocacy and programme support in the region;
- Propose plan of action for immediate and long-range actions to advance women’s effective participation in peace and security initiatives and humanitarian assistance in the region;
- Promote coordination and participation in joint activities with various stakeholders to work collaboratively in the area of peace and security in the region such as: UN agencies, relevant government stakeholders, civil society, inter-governmental organizations and regional women's networks;
- Work closely with UN Women COs, MCO and PPOs in the region and provide programme guidance and support to develop and implement programmes at the local, national and regional level in women, peace and security, including conflict prevention, mediation, transitional justice, justice and security sector reform, peacekeeping, conflict-related sexual violence, national action plans on SCR 1325 and citizen security in the context of humanitarian assistance;
- Oversee the contextualization/ localization of programme documents, country strategies, and knowledge products, and ensure proper monitoring and reporting in women, peace and security and humanitarian assistance.
Lead the provision of capacity building support to Country Office/ Multi Country Office/ Programme Presence Office teams and partners:
- Lead programme presence office, country office, and multi-country office programme teams in developing and strengthening policies, projects/ programmes and modalities to support the implementation of global norms and standards; and ensuring proper monitoring;
- Manage the identification of knowledge and implementation gaps and possible solutions;
- Develop, implement and monitor capacity building initiatives;
- Lead the provision of technical policy advice to programme/ project managers/ specialists in the CO, MCOs and PPOs;
- Support COs, MCO and PPOs to provide technical assistance to the Government on key Women, Peace and Security issues, including for the development and implementation of National Action Plans on women, peace and security, and citizen security, as requested by the Regional Director and Deputy Director and in collaboration with the Peace and Security section.
Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with stakeholders, regional/ international actors and development partners:
- Build and strengthen strategic partnerships for the advancement of women, peace and security and humanitarian assistance;
- Build and strengthen close liaisons with relevant donors and other actors supporting efforts towards women, peace and security and humanitarian assistance;
- Production of periodic updates and briefs on regional/country development situation to be used by stakeholders, CO and HQ;
- Collaborate with UN Entities at the regional level, and support COs, MCO and PPOs on accelerating the implementation of the SG’s 7 Point Action Plan on Women’s Participation in Peacebuilding and the sustaining peace resolutions;
- Maintain close contact with relevant staff in UN Women HQ.
Manage the resource mobilization strategy for women, peace and security in the region:
- Participate in the implementation, monitoring and periodic updating of the resource mobilization strategy on women, peace and security in the region in close coordination with the Regional Resource Mobilization Specialist;
- Provide technical support to field based presences in the region in mobilizing resources for the implementation of women, peace and security and humanitarian assistance initiatives;
- Research and analyze information on donors; prepare substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation.
Manage knowledge building and sharing for women, peace and security:
- Manage the process of compiling and analyzing reports and lessons learned on Women, Peace and Security and contribute to UN Women's knowledge management efforts in collaboration with country offices;
- Collect information at the regional level to input to the annual SG report on Women and Peace and Security, as well as other relevant thematic SG reports such as peacebuilding;
- Provide strategic information to input into briefings by UN Women’s Executive Director to the Security Council, as requested, as well as ongoing provision of relevant information to HQ in relation to Security Council debates and resolutions;
- Provide inputs regarding the implementation of the SG’s Action Plan on Women’s Participation in Peace building;
- Ensure technical skills and knowledge are shared within and among CO/ MCOs/PPOs in the region as well as facilitate cross-regional exchange with Regional Peace and Security Advisors and Policy Division Peace and Security and others relevant to the position;
- Manage and monitor the regional knowledge platform and innovative approaches in peace and security and humanitarian assistance.
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;
- Regular communication and information flow with other UN Women Advisors Quality strategic documents delivered in a timely manner;
- Timely and quality knowledge products;
- Strong relationships with various partners and stakeholders;
- UN Women is well represented in important meetings on topics related to expertise;
- Increase in resources mobilized.
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:
- Excellent knowledge of gender equality, peace and security issues, citizen security issues and humanitarian assistance;
- Strong knowledge of the Americas and Caribbean region;
- Good knowledge of UN Women and the UN system;
- Excellent networking skills;
- Ability to interact with donors, identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising;
- Ability to perform qualitative and quantitative policy research;
- Ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
- Excellent analytical skills;
- Ability to write policy papers, speeches, briefings;
- Ability to lead strategic planning, programme development, implementation, results based management and reporting.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Master’s degree or equivalent in International Development Studies, Gender, Peace & Women Studies, human rights, international relations or other related social science 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.
Experience:
- At least 10 years progressively responsible experience in designing and managing programmes and advocating for women, peace and security, preferably with 5 years field experience in one or more of the regions in which UN Women operates;
- Experience in programme, results-based management and reporting, 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 system is an asset;
- Experience working in large multicultural development agencies is a distinct advantage.
Languages:
- Fluency in English and Spanish is required;
- Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset;
- Working Knowledge of French 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.