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.

One of the key areas of concern is the economic empowerment of women. It is expressed in targets and indicators of SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) and SDG 8 (Promote inclusive and sustainable development, decent work and employment for all). Progress toward it depends not only on the adoption of a set of public policies by governments, but also on the existence of an enabling environment and active engagement of the corporate sector. This is also relevant to the achievement of SDG 17 (Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development).

About 90 per cent of jobs in the world are in the private sector. This represents a huge potential to implement transformative actions in the world of work and social responsibility in favor of women, benefiting the whole society. There is an increasing consciousness, interest and commitment of private and public-sector companies on the value and benefits of gender equality and the economic empowerment of women and its role to achieve it.

In this context, the project Women´s Economic Empowerment in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador aims to capitalize and expand the wealth of experiences, tools, methodologies, and lessons learned accumulated in the member states of the Central American Integration System (SICA) through the MYDEL multi-bilateral program of Italian Cooperation and UN Women, promoter of the Service Centers for Women Entrepreneurship (CSEM). The project seeks to emphasize the responsiveness developed through this MYDEL program, focused on women and based on the place, to the present challenges such as the increasing inequalities, the generalized unemployment and the pressure on the natural resources of Central America, especially the climate that impacts on the economy. The initiative will focus on improving the economic governance for gender equity and the empowerment of women based on partnership processes at the local, national and Central American level.

Under the  overall supervision of the Country Representative in El Salvador and in close coordination and guidance of the Regional Economic Empowerment Specialist of UN WOMEN LAC Regional Office, the Programme Coordinator will be in charge of the overall project management, and implementation of activities, managing the development of competitive grant financing, knowledge products and the communication strategy to support advocacy, resource mobilization, learning, reporting and accountability.

The Programme Coordinator is also responsible for monitoring and evaluation and knowledge management activities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Lead the coordination of the Women Economic Empowerment Programme in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador:

  • Coordinate the overall Programme work plan development and implementation according to Strategic Note and programme document;
  • Liaise with the Programme Boards, national counterparts, donors, UN Women and partners to ensure the Programme results are achieved and resources are managed;
  • Prepare and present work-plans, periodic narrative progress reports and expenditures status reports to the Programme Board and UN Women and other stakeholders as necessary;
  • Establish systems for project planning, implementation and monitoring in collaboration with partners;
  • Record and maintain documents on relevant Programme activities, issues, and risks.

Manage coordination with national partners and other stakeholders:

  • Manage relationships with national implementing partners to support implementation of the Women Economic Empowerment Programme in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, raise potential problems and provide solutions;
  • Provide substantial guidance to partners on establishment of performance indicators, and monitoring achievement of results;
  • Identify capacity building needs and support partners through technical assistance, mentoring, training, and cross partner learning and sharing, and capacity development initiatives; develop training materials and workshops, as necessary.

Oversee the monitoring and reporting on the Women Economic Empowerment Programme in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador:

  • Gather and compile all information necessary for monitoring and reporting on programmes and projects from the planning to the evaluation stages;
  • Monitor the implementation of activities and the expenditure of funds by partners; oversee regular monitoring visits;
  • Finalize annual and quarterly reports; finalize the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports;
  • Provide inputs from Women Economic Empowerment programme activities and results achieved in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador for reporting by El Salvador Country Office;
  • Ensure the delivery of baseline, monitoring, evaluation plans and reports (flash, progress and final) based on information compiled from colleagues and stakeholders.

Manage financial resources and supervise staff:?

  • Supervise and manage a team of professional and administrative staff, review performance and mentor/ coach staff;
  • Develop and prepare of financial resources of the programme including budgeting and budget revisions, and expenditure tracking and reporting;
  • Oversee and monitor the allocation and disbursement of funds to participating partners;
  • Ensure appropriate actions are taken to optimize use of programme funds.

Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies:

  • Coordinate the development of partnerships and resource mobilization strategies;
  • Determine programmatic areas of cooperation, based on strategic goals of UN Women, country needs and donors’ priorities and develop the relevant partnerships;
  • Participate in on-going coordination mechanisms to ensure coherence of the programme with other country-level processes.

Advocate and facilitate knowledge building and management and communication:

  • Finalize briefs on programme achievements;
  • Ensure documentation of the programme implementation process and products produced are in accordance with UN Women guidelines;
  • Coordinate exchange of information and knowledge products internally and externally of the programme;
  • Organize major advocacy campaigns, events, trainings, workshops and knowledge products.

Key Performance Indicators:

  • Timely and quality implementation of Programme/Portfolio/Project activities against set workplans, timelines and budgets, in line with the Strategic Note;
  • Quality and timely reporting;
  • Excellent relations with partners and stakeholders;
  • Regular and timely monitoring of activities;
  • Enhanced best practices and lessons learned documented and circulated;
  • Increase in resources mobilized;
  • Performance of Staff members;
  • Increase awareness of UN Women in the Country.

Competencies

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 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 programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
  • Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management;
  • Ability to lead the development of detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them for development results;
  • Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making;
  • Excellent analytical skills;
  • Strong knowledge of UN programme management systems.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master’s degree or equivalent in public administration, law, human rights, gender equality, management, social sciences or other related areas 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 7 years of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in managing complex and multi-component programme interventions with national partners, preferably related to Economic Empowerment;
  • Experience in coordinating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating development programmes and projects; specifically, with different UN agencies;
  • Previous experience working in the UN system is an advantage.

Languages:

  • Fluency in English and Spanish is required;
  • Working knowledge of another official UN 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.