Organizational Context
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.
In the Americas and the Caribbean region, UN Women has a Regional Office based in Panama City, 10 Country Offices, one Multi-Country Office, and programmatic presence in 8 countries in the region, including the programme for Panama. In addition, the Regional Office provides support to governments, civil society, and the United Nations system as a non-resident agency in countries where UN Women does not have a presence.
The priorities that guide the programmatic interventions in the Americas and the Caribbean Regional Office are aligned with the organization’s triple mandate—normative, programmatic, and coordination activities—to mobilize urgent and sustained action toward achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, while also supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These priorities ensure that interventions are effective and aligned with the organization’s strategic objectives.
Reporting to the Deputy Regional Director, the Country Programme Coordinator will be responsible for the planning, implementing, and managing UN Women interventions in the Americas and Caribbean Regional Office. The Country Programme Coordinator works in close collaboration with the programme and operations team at the regional office, UN Women HQ staff, Government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society ensuring successful UN Women programme implementation under portfolio.
Key Functions and Accountabilities
1. Oversee and guide country programme management
- Coordinate and facilitate the development, implementation, and monitoring of the country programme annual workplan, including budget and results framework;
- Coordinate delivery of the day-to-day programme activities to ensure prompt and adequate delivery of results;
- Monitor effective use of resources and compliance with UN Women rules, policies, and procedures as well as donor/fund requirements;
- Facilitate the preparation of audits and to the implementation of its recommendations
2. Provide technical support and capacity development to project/programme partners
- Provide technical support to the programme/team in the areas of women, peace and security, economic empowerment, women’s political participation, care systems, data analysis, and ending violence against women.
- Facilitate and maintain relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the country programme;
- Coordinate capacity building opportunities and initiatives of key institutions and mechanisms;
- Provide partners and the local government with assistance, training, and capacity development initiatives as needed.
3. Provide technical inputs to monitoring and reporting of programme/ project activities
- Provide technical inputs to the establishment an effective monitoring system for the delivery of programme results;
- Draft quarterly and annual progress reports and donor reports and organize progress reviews, as necessary;
- Attend field missions and draft reports on monitoring missions.
4. Provide substantive technical inputs to people and financial management
- Monitor budget implementation and make budget re-alignments/ revisions, as necessary;
- Provide substantive inputs to financial reports;
- Manage the office operations, as necessary;
- Provide substantive inputs to terms of reference for new staff, consultants and contractors, as necessary.
5. Provide substantive inputs to inter-agency and country coordination
- Provide substantive inputs to the country level Comprehensive Country Assessment (CCA)/United Nations Cooperation Framework processes and similar exercises related to the Resident Coordinator system;
- Provide guidance to the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in supporting enhanced response to national partners in advancing gender equality and women's empowerment, as necessary;
- Provide substantive inputs to progress reports on UN Women’s programme experiences in support of UN Women inter-agency coordination role;
- Inform the RO of joint programming opportunities and participate in the development of UN joint programmes, as necessary.
6. Provide substantive inputs to building partnerships and resource mobilization strategies
- Provide substantive inputs to resource mobilization strategies, analyzing and maintaining information and databases on donors and developing database of project profiles for presentation to donors;
- Prepare relevant documentation such as project summaries, conference papers, speeches, donor profiles, and participating in donor meetings and public information events.
7. Provide substantive inputs to knowledge building and sharing and communications and advocacy
- Provide substantive inputs to knowledge management strategies and activities;
- Identify best practices and lessons learned that are directly linked to the implementation of the programme and disseminate information;
- Provide the MCO, RO or HQ with storylines for publication and advocacy campaigns.
8. The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.
Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:
Incumbent leads a team of 5 to 6 personnel working on thematic areas, programme and operational support.
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
Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework.
https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values
Functional Competencies:
- Good programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
- Good budget and finance skills;
- Good knowledge of Results Based Management;
- Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings and recommendations
- Good knowledge of gender equality and women's empowerment
- Good knowledge of local country context;
- Ability to work with little to no supervision;
- Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising
Recruitment Qualifications
Education and Certification:
- Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/ women’s studies, international development, or a related 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.
- A project/programme management certification (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.
Experience
- At least 2 years of progressively responsible experience at the national and/or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects is required.
- Experience in establishing inter-relationships among international organization and national governments is required.
- Experience in the in the field of gender and human rights of women is desirable.
- Experience in administrative systems and technical support in the UN system norms is desirable.
- Experience in working independently with minimal supervision
- Experience leading and coaching staff in international settings is required.
- Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required.
- Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.
Languages
- Fluency in English and Spanish is required.
Statements:
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.
Diversity and inclusion:
At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.
If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.
UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)
Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.