Women Economic Empowerment Programme Assistant

Details

Mission and objectives

Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women will work 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. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women is leading and coordinating United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. UN Women’s vision is a world in which societies are free of gender-based discrimination, where women and men have equal opportunities, where women and girls are empowered to lead the change that they want to see, and where women’s rights are upheld in all efforts to further development, human rights, peace and security.

Context

Kenya is a lower-middle-income country in the Horn of Africa, with a population of 47.6 million as of 2019 and a multi-party parliamentary system. Kenya’s score on the Human Development Index has risen steadily from 2019 to 2022, positioning it at 143 out of 189 countries and territories in 2022. Kenya is a lower-middle-income country and is the third largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and South Africa. The economy has since recovered from the effects of COVID-19, with growth projected at 5 percent in 2022 despite facing global food price increases and drought conditions. Inequality persists, including gender inequality, exacerbated by climate change leading to inter-communal violence. COVID-19 has caused job losses and other sources of livelihood for women more so than men. At the same time, there are increasing risks of sexual exploitation, physical violence, harassment, and child marriages due to prolonged drought. Over the past decade, Kenya has made important governance and structural reforms that have contributed to impressive political gains, economic growth, and social development. Kenya has impressive legal frameworks and policies on gender equality, and entities such as the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) have been established to promote and protect the rights of Kenyan people. While Kenya’s rank and score on the Gender Inequality Index (GII) has consistently improved since 1995, the country’s most recent ranking of 126 out of 189 countries indicates that gender inequality continues to be an overarching concern in security, reproductive health, empowerment and labor market participation. Harmful gender norms and stereotypes continue to hinder progress toward achieving greater gender equality. These include limited access to resources, lack of support for women’s economic empowerment, persistent patriarchal practices and unequal access to decision-making positions in political life. In addition, there is slow implementation of gender equality legal frameworks and existing policies and low budget allocation to gender equality, with only 0.3 percent of the national budget allocated to gender and 13 out of 47 counties having no budget allocation for gender.

Task description

Under the direct supervision of the WEE Team Lead, a shared workplan will be developed together with the UN Volunteer to induct, mentor, and coach the UN Volunteer to understand UN Women work and specifically WEE and its different thematic areas, and to play his/her role effectively. They will be expected to support the following: 1.Programme Management Support •Provide programme and administrative support to the programme team in the preparation of various programme documents, such as work plans, budgets, reports and proposals on programme implementation arrangements. •Assist the programme team in reviewing and preparing documentation on the procurement of goods and services, and support contract tracking. •Help the team in providing guidance to the country and project offices on routine implementation of the project, tracking use of financial resources. •Review of contributions agreement, managing contributions in quantum. 2.Financial Management Support •Support the programme team in review of spending plan and delivery. •Organize, compile and process information from the donor as well as from the pro-gramme team and keep track of the information through databases and e-filing. •Support the programme team in the tracking of and reporting on mobilized resources. 3.Administrative Support to the Programme Unit •Provide administrative support including correspondence, to the programme team in preparation of events, meetings and workshops, etc. •Support with travel arrangements for the programme team and project staff, including preparation of travel requisitions and claims via Quantum ERP system. •Maintain and organize up-to-date hard and electronic files for easy access and retrieve-al. Ensure safekeeping of confidential materials. 4.Knowledge Management, Monitoring and Evaluation Support •Assist developing and maintaining programme information and knowledge management file (both soft and hard copies) at country project level to manage consultancy re-ports, assessments and other reports. •Support knowledge sharing processes and systems by, among others, strengthening development and integration of practices and procedures for information and knowledge capturing, packaging, sharing, and learning. •Assist regular sharing of experiences across programmes and divisions; facilitate seamless sharing of ideas, knowledge, and experiences among staff and partners •Participate in the trainings for the operations/ projects staff on programme management support and other internal capacity building trainings for staff.