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UN Women: Programme Specialist (Portfolio Management)

New York City

  • Organization: UNWOMEN - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
  • Location: New York City
  • Grade: Mid level - P-3, International Professional - Internationally recruited position
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Women's Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
    • Project and Programme Management
  • Closing Date: Closed

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations System efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) was established through the UN General Assembly Resolution 50/166 in 1996 with UN Women as its Administrator on behalf of the UN system. The UN Trust Fund (UNTF) is a global multi-lateral grant making mechanism supporting national efforts to prevent and end violence against women and girls, one of the most widespread human rights violations in the world. The UN Trust Fund provides technical assistance and funding to advance the development of innovative models and strategic interventions in the area of ending violence against women and girls. To date, the UN Trust Fund has awarded US $175 million to 572 initiatives in 140 countries and territories.

Under the overall guidance of the Chief and the direct supervision of the Grants Manager, the Programme Specialist will be responsible for coordinating and monitoring a specific portfolio of grants for the UN Trust Fund.

Duties and Responsibilities

Lead the Monitoring and Grant-management processes of 20-25 projects across the UNTF grants portfolio:

  • Manage and oversee all operational and project management processes related to the grants life-cycle, including, processing of project modifications and no-cost extensions, budget revisions and disbursements and processing grant closure in close collaboration with the Operations Manager and Finance colleagues. This includes keeping information on internal and external Focal Points up-to-date for each active grant.
  • Lead the coordination on all aspects related to the assigned grants portfolio with the Grants, Operations and M&E teams, UN Women Regional, Country Offices and others as necessary to ensure the efficient oversight of the portfolio. This includes liaising with external stakeholders to ensure required documentation is received according to timeline agreed upon and the same files are stored in the UNTF SharePoint. This also involves consolidating UNTF feedback to the grantee in all aspects of the project.
  • Provide technical assistance to grantees including in the design of their Results and Resources Frameworks (RRFs), in collaboration with the M&E team. Assist grantees in clarifying proposed project outcomes, outputs, indicators of success, activities and budgets;
  • Provide tailored technical support throughout the project life-cycle, review progress reports and provide feedback to grantees as needed to ensure results-based reports and analysis and capturing of data;
  • Perform a basic review of financial reports and flag inconsistencies between financial spending and project implementation in collaboration with relevant finance staff before final approval for grants and subsequent disbursements;
  • Monitor and assess progress towards overall results based on results framework and monitoring schedules;
  • Review and provide technical feedback to grantees to ensure results-based analysis and capturing of data, with the effective use of Grants Management System.
  • Monitor Audit Recommendations and update Action Plans in the system, in coordination with the Operations team, where applicable.

Provide technical support in Grant-making:

  • Participate in annual grantee selection processes including through review and substantive analysis of concept notes and full-fledged proposals, accompanying budgets and monitoring and evaluation frameworks submitted to the UN Trust Fund.
  • Prepare application feedback letters and summaries for all shortlisted applicants and grantees for the region and systematically update these summaries based on progress reports and monitoring missions;
  • Provide guidance to COs and grantees to ensure adherence to UN WOMEN policies, administrative and financial procedures.
  • Review and lead finalization of project documents and Results Resources Frameworks through dialogue with grantees on submitted documents;
  • Review implementing partner assessment forms and grant agreements prior to grantee selection and signature.

Provide technical inputs into Reporting and Knowledge Management:

  • Maintain centralized portfolio matrix of grants, and provide quarterly portfolio updates to the Grants Manager;
  • Prepare written contributions for various purposes, including inputs for the report for the Commission on Status of Women, UNTF annual donor reports, newsletters, fund raising efforts and other reporting needs;
  • Contribute to tracking and synthesizing, on an ongoing basis, developments, tools, emerging or good practices in the field of ending violence against women and girls, including capturing findings and lessons learned from evaluations;
  • Update and maintain UNTF Grants Management Tracking database and Partner Portfolio assessment with relevant grantee information.
  • Support the Fund’s communications efforts through direct engagement with grant recipients to gather information about the achievements and impact of the grant, knowledge products, media, etc. and ensure communications accurately reflect grant programmes;
  • Keep systematic track of noteworthy grantee achievements and communicate to colleagues for possible visibility, such as special features on the website.
  • Support and organize knowledge sharing events and identify good and promising models that can be shared widely across grantees and other key stakeholders;
  • Identify challenges and lessons learned across the grants, and contribute to a process of institutional learning through documenting lessons learned and contribution to modification of strategies and programmes.
  • Support, organize and participate in knowledge sharing and capacity development events and trainings for grantees.

Support other activities as required by the Supervisor or UN Trust Fund Chief.

Key Performance Indicators: 

  • Accurate analysis, monitoring and oversight of grants.
  • Timely coordination of grants management with UNTF Operations team.
  • Issue are raised in a timely manner to appropriate stakeholders.
  • Grants portfolio well maintained and information easily retrievable.
  • Quality of communication and training materials.

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 Values and Competencies Framework: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies:

  • Knowledge of women’s organizations and governmental agencies working on women’s empowerment and gender equality;
  • Familiarity with UN Women procedures, particularly with regard to project management and more specifically in relation to the development of work plans, budgets, monitoring and reporting plans, purchasing plans and the identification of indicators.
  • Able to effectively represent UN Women in, and contribute to, United Nations inter-agency programming initiatives related to ending violence against women;
  • Builds strong relationships with, and focuses on results for clients and partners, responds positively to feedback;
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
  • Experienced in working in a global multi-cultural setting respecting gender equality and an ability to contribute to team work and provide conceptual leadership;
  • Ability to work under pressure and meet strict deadlines;
  • Ability to use critical thinking, conceptualize ideas, and articulate relevant subject matter in a clear and concise way.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: 

  • Advanced University degree or equivalent in Political Science, International Development Studies, Gender/Women’s Studies or other relevant field.
  • 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: 

  • 5 years of relevant experience in managing complex and multi-component interventions with various partners and multi-stakeholders;
  • Knowledge and experience in working on addressing issues related to violence against women and girls;
  • Experience in grants and project management is required;
  • Experience with databases and data management a plus;
  • Experience in the United Nations, a governmental, other multilateral or civil society organization in a developed or developing country is highly desirable. 

Languages: 

  • Fluency in English is required.
  • Fluency in Spanish is required.

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558. 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.

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