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.

 

As the UN Agency for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, UN Women is mandated to ensure that humanitarian response efforts adequately address the needs and rights of crisis affected women and girls, in all contexts. At the global level and in countries, UN Women supports UN and other humanitarian actors, as well as Member States engaged in humanitarian action, to ensure that their crisis response meets both the immediate life-saving and longer-term recovery needs of women and girls. UN Women is also mandated by the General Assembly to lead, promote and coordinate efforts to advance the full realization of women’s rights and opportunities within the UN system.

 

As part of the Rohingya humanitarian response in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, UN Women is establishing a “Gender Hub’ with the objective of strengthening accountability of all humanitarian actors for gender equality and empowerment of Rohingya refugee and host community women and girls in line with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Policy on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Humanitarian Action and its Accountability Framework. The Gender hub will be part of the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) secretariat and support humanitarian actors in Cox’s Bazar more effectively integrate gender equality and women’s empowerment including prevention, mitigation and response to gender-based violence and sexual exploitation and abuse into their programmes through systematic gender mainstreaming for better service delivery and empowerment outcomes for the Rohingya refugees and host community women and girls.

 

The Hub will build on ongoing efforts and expertise of the different gender and protection related coordination groups (Protection Working Group, Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group, Gender-Based Violence sub-sector, Preventing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse network). It will offer integrated technical advisory support to sectors, humanitarian agencies, government and local partners to help them translate policies and commitments and various assessments and study recommendations on gender and women’s empowerment into tangible actions. It will be a training hub and deliver training for humanitarian workers and local counterparts engaged in the refugee response on gender awareness, sensitivity and gender equality, gender and diversity, gender and GBV mainstreaming that is contextualized to the local situation. The gender hub will also act as a knowledge management hub of assessments and research that will contribute to strengthening the knowledge and evidence-base for designing interventions that will have impact.

 

Reporting to the Country Representative as the primary supervisor and the Senior Coordinator for the Rohingya humanitarian response as the matrix manager, and working closely with Protection Working Group, Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Working Group, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) sub-sector, Preventing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) network of the ISCG, the Gender Hub Manager will set up and manage the Gender Hub which will have a small team of staff, provide technical support to humanitarian partners, establish a capacity building programme, strengthen partnerships, and facilitate knowledge management on effective approached to gender in humanitarian action.

Duties and Responsibilities

1.  Lead the management of the Gender Hub

  • Coordinate the overall Gender Hub workplan development and implementation;
  • Liaise with the Advisory Board, national counterparts, donors, UN Women and partners to ensure the expected results are achieved and resources are managed;
  • Prepare and present workplans, budgets and periodic progress reports to UN Women and the Advisory Board;
  • Establish systems for project planning, implementation and monitoring;

 

2.  Provide technical and policy advice and support to the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) Sectors, humanitarian partners and national counterparts

  • Provide technical and policy advice to ISCG Sectors, humanitarian partners and national counterparts to strengthen gender mainstreaming in the humanitarian response
  • Provide technical support to sectors during major planning and review processes.
  • Provide technical assistance to sectors in strengthening the gender-responsiveness of their monitoring mechanisms, including providing guidance on identifying gender-sensitive indicator development and collecting sex and age disaggregated data.
  • Provide advice on gender concerns in strategic discussions of SEG and ISCG in close collaboration with Protection Working Group, GiHA Working Group, GBV sub-sector, PSEA network.

 

3.  Lead capacity building initiatives to support ISCG Sectors, humanitarian partners and national counterparts

  • Lead the development and implementation of context specific gender awareness and gender/GBV mainstreaming training and training on the use of gender-analysis tools, gender-sensitive monitoring and reporting and others in close collaboration with Protection Working Group, GiHA Working Group, GBV sub-sector, PSEA network
  • Develop a pool of trainers from among gender advocates from sectors and humanitarian partners, national and local women’s organisations, government officials.
  • Facilitate training on gender in humanitarian action for partners including sector focal points, NGOs, relevant government officials

 

4.  Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with stakeholders and development partners for advocacy

  • Build and maintain alliances with Protection Working Group, GiHA Working Group, GBV sub-sector, PSEA network to enhance gender/GBV mainstreaming for the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment in humanitarian action;
  • Build strategic alliances with other key actors internally and externally to advocate for gender-responsive programming and ensure continuity of advocacy efforts including to bridge the humanitarian development divide.
  • Build and maintain close liaisons with relevant donors and other actors supporting gender equality and women’s empowerment efforts in humanitarian action;

 

5.  Oversee advocacy and communication, knowledge building and sharing for humanitarian action

  • Support ISCG and sectors develop and implement communication and advocacy messages and strategies on key gender concerns;
  • Support consolidation of gender and protection-related inputs to situation reports, briefing notes, alerts and documents prepared by the ISCG.
  • Lead the development and dissemination of knowledge and communication products that capture good practices and lessons learned, key issues and concerns, and advocacy messages on gender mainstreaming in humanitarian action

 

6.  Manage financial resources and supervise staff

  • Supervise and manage a team of professional and administrative staff, review performance and mentor/ coach staff;
  • Oversee management of financial resources for Gender Hub, including supervision of budgeting and budget revisions, and expenditure tracking and reporting;
  • Ensure appropriate actions are taken to optimize use of programme funds.

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

 

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; 
  • Strong knowledge of the region
  • 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;
  • Strong knowledge of programme development, implementation, results-based management and reporting
  • Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them

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.
  • A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
  • A project/programme management certification would be an added advantage

Work Experience:

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

Language Requirements:

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