UN Women: Policy Specialist - Women Economic Empowerment

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.

The country’s economy is mainly agro-pas­toral, with 60% of the working population in employment, mostly in the informal sector. Mali did poorly with respect to achieve­ment of the MDGs, and is classified as one of the poorest countries in the world, ranking 176th out of 187 countries7. More than half of the population live on less than US$1.25 per day.

The gender inequality index, which mea­sures reproductive health, access to labor market and participation in governance, stood at 67.3% for Mali in 2013, ranking the country as 148th in the world. The maternal mortality rate is close to 10% (with 80 deaths per 1,000 births). There is nutritional inse­curity, with 16.9% for underweight, 27.5% for stunted growth, and 8.9% for emaciation (National nutritional survey in 2014).

UN Women is present in Mali since 2008 and has its main office in Bamako and one sub-office in Gao (about 950 km NE of Bamako). A second sub-office will be open in Sikasso (about 300 km SE of Bamako) in the coming years.

Total number of personnel is about 50, including 6 international staff. The programme staff is divided into 4 teams in line with the three main areas of intervention, with a strong support team (including M&E and Communications). The office is relatively well equipped with adequate facilities and material: IT, Internet, Cars (including 2 armored vehicles in the two offices). The programme portfolio (budgeted at about $50m for the next 3 years) is also well funded with historic and new donors such as the UN, Sweden, The Netherlands, Spain, Japan, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark.

The women economies empowerment programme consist of several programmes in the areas of women entrepreneurship and climate-resilient agriculture. It has both field and advocacy objectives with the overall objective of ensuring that Women, especially the poorest and most excluded, are economically empowered and benefit from development. This involves strong advocacy for sustainable policy change (employment, fiscal, capacity development, public procurement, climate change adaptation, etc.).

Reporting to the Representative, the WEE Policy Specialist exercises overall responsibility for planning, implementing, and managing UN Women policy and programme quality assurance work under his/her portfolio.  She/he works in close collaboration with the programme and operations team in country, UN Women HQ staff, Government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society ensuring successful UN Women programme implementation under portfolio.    

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide programme development advisory services and develop programmes in Women Economic Empowerment:

• Oversee and manage the design and formulation of programme proposals and initiatives; Identify programmatic areas for support and interventions within the Women Economic Empowerment areas;
• Finalize country strategy documents, programme/ project proposals, briefs, policy dialogue and other documents related to Women Economic Empowerment;
• Organize periodic consultations with key stakeholders, women leaders, human rights experts and UN partners to gather inputs on programme design, as necessary.

Provide technical and policy support in the implementation and management of the Women Economic Empowerment programmes:

• Advise on the annual workplan and budgets as appropriate;
• Provide programme advisory support to the Office Management within the Women Economic Empowerment area;
• Provide technical advice; ensure synergies with other teams;
• Provide guidance to staff and partners on Results Based Management tools and performance indicators;
• Participate in Project Steering Committee, project review and/or evaluation meetings.

Oversee technical assistance and capacity development to project/programme partners:

• Provide technical advice to partners;
• Build, manage, and expand relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the Women Economic Empowerment programmes; respond to any potential problems particularly regarding policy issues;
• Serve as an expert resource to partners on Women Economic Empowerment;
• Implement and oversee capacity building opportunities and initiatives;
• Provide partners with advanced technical assistance, training and capacity development initiatives.

Provide technical and policy support in the implementation of programme activities through monitoring and reporting:

• Provide expertise for the process of monitoring the programme/ project implementation of activities and finances using results based management tools;
• Contribute to reviewing the quality of quarterly reports and donor reports, focusing on results, output and outcomes in Women Economic Empowerment;
• Provide quality assurance for donor and UN Women reports.

Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies:

• Develop and implement partnerships and resource mobilization strategies;
• Finalize relevant documentation on donors and develop potential opportunities for resource mobilization;
• Analyze and research information on donors, finalize substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost sharing.

Manage inter-agency coordination to achieve a coherent and aligned presence for Women Economic Empowerment in Mali:

• Provide substantive technical support to the Representative and Deputy Representative on inter-agency coordination related activities by attending meetings, events, and participating in groups and committees;
• Coordinate with other UN agencies, government departments, donors and NGOs to ensure the projects’ capacity development programme is harmonized and aligned with other in-country efforts;
• Take part in country level Common Country Assessment (CCA)/ United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) processes and similar exercises related to the RC system;
• Prepare substantive inputs to CCA/ UNDAF and other documents, as necessary.

Lead advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts:

• Represent UN Women in meetings and policy dialogues on issues related to Women Economic Empowerment;
• Manage advocacy strategies and their implementation, particularly in the areas of Gender Responsive Budgeting, Gender Responsive Procurement, Inclusive local development, decent work, unpaid care, etc.;
• Lead the development of knowledge management strategies and methodologies and products on Women Economic Empowerment.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Timely and quality programme strategies and contributions to Strategic Note;
• Timely and quality of programme delivery in line with budget, workplans and the Strategic Note;
• Strong and clear leadership/ supervision of team;
• Partners and other stakeholder provide positive feedback on advisory and technical services;
• Timely and quality of reports;
• Quality of advocacy, communication and knowledge management initiatives;
• Resources mobilized;
• Strong relationships with donors, partners and other stakeholders.

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:

• High level technical knowledge in the areas of Women entrepreneurship (miro-meso-macro) and climate resilient agriculture (adaptation, energy, infrastructure);
• 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;
• Knowledge of and experience with the concepts of Gender Responsive Budgeting, Gender Responsive Procurement, etc.;
• Connection to knowledge hubs in Women Economic Empowerment;
• Inter-institutional negotiations and partnerships;
• Ability to generate and share knowledge in the context of UN Delivery as One.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/women's studies, international development, or a related field is required.

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
• Technical experience in women economic empowerment;
• Experience coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors is an asset;
• Experience working in the UN System is an asset;
• Experience in leading/managing a team is an asset. 

Languages:

• Fluency in English and French is required;
• Knowledge of the other UN official working 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.