UN Women: Policy Specialist - Gender and Peacebuilding

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 Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division develops and implements the UN Women program of work on analysis, research and knowledge management that provides the evidence base for the advice and guidance UN Women provides to the intergovernmental process, the UN system, and to UN Women staff working at country and regional level on issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The Peace and Security Section of the Policy Division supports UN Women to fulfill its coordination mandate in the area of peace and security, UN system efforts to promote improved implementation, and monitoring and reporting of global commitments on women and peace and security, including as set out in the Beijing Platform for Action and in Security Council resolutions on Women, Peace and Security, on peacebuilding and sustaining peace, relevant Statements by the President of the Security Council, as well as related accountability frameworks established by the UN system.

To further this work UN Women has entered into a partnership with the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) of the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) to support the implementation of the Secretary-General’s Report on Women’s Participation in Peacebuilding and the Women, Peace and Security agenda more broadly. 

Under the commitment on post-conflict financing, the Secretary-General committed the UN to allocate at least 15 per cent of UN-managed funds in support of peacebuilding to projects that address women’s specific needs, advance gender equality and/or empower women as their principle objective.  The Gender Promotion Initiative is a special call for proposals that enables UN Country Team members and civil society organizations in select countries to access the Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) for gender-responsive peacebuilding projects. The 2020-2024 Investment Plan of the Peacebuilding Fund further commits to allocating up to 30 per cent to projects that promote gender equality. Lessons learned and good practice from PBSO’s experience must be documented and disseminated to inform practice and system reform processes at HQ and at the country level. Implementation of the Peacebuilding Commission Gender Strategy and Action Plan, as well as the elaboration of the Secretary-General’s report on sustaining peace, mandated by Security Council resolution 2282 (2016) and implementation of the revised SG’s Seven-Point Action Plan are important and strategic policy areas of partnership.

Under the supervision of the Policy Specialist - Sustaining Peace,  and in close collaboration with the front office of PBSO/DPPA, where this position is based, the Policy Specialist - Gender and Peacebuilding will provide policy and programmatic expertise to UN entities and country teams working on peacebuilding and policy support on gender and peacebuilding overall.

Duties and Responsibilities

Develop policy and research  at the normative and programmatic levels:

• Conceptualize, develop and execute policy on gender mainstreaming in the area of gender-responsive peacebuilding;
• Identify emerging trends and cutting edge themes that require policy and programmatic response from PBSO and its partners;
• Take a lead role in intergovernmental coordination and implementation of gender-responsive peacebuilding through the Peacebuilding Commission, Commission on the Status of Women, Security Council and other Member State bodies;
• Conceptualize and manage commission research projects to contribute to global evidence base on gender-responsive peacebuilding;
• Lead the organization of Peacebuilding Commission meetings to operationalize the PBC Gender Strategy and Action Plan, ensure participation of women civil society briefers and experts;
• Develop background materials and briefs on gender-responsive peacebuilding and contribute to ongoing policy discussions around peacebuilding and sustaining peace;
• Provide technical input to the Chair of PBC in reviewing  and implementing the PBC Gender Strategy;
• Lead the coordination of UN organizations on the finalization, launch and implementation of Secretary-General’s Seven Point Action Plan on Gender-Responsive Peacebuilding.

Provide advisory services and technical assistance related to gender-responsive peacebuilding:

• Provide technical leadership to PBF team to ensure gender mainstreaming in conflict analysis, eligibility requests and peacebuilding project design, implementation and M&E of PBF projects and promote accountability within the office to gender equality commitments;
• Lead technical assistance to UN Women’s Country Offices engaged with PBF in project design, implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation and support their gender mainstreaming role within the United Nations Country Teams;
• Conduct joint monitoring with the DPPA/PBSO and provide technical inputs to mid-term and final reviews and evaluations of PBF projects;
• Manage and oversee the roll out and implementation of the annual Gender and Youth Promotion Indicative;
• Develop programme tools and resources to improve standardization of good practice;
• Represent PBSO in inter-agency coordination mechanisms, such as the UN Standing Committee on WPS, UN Action, inter alia;
• Develop background materials and briefs on gender and peacebuilding issues and contribute to related positioning and messaging of DPPA/PBSO.

Lead knowledge management and capacity building:

• Develop and implement knowledge management strategies to capture and disseminate good practice;
• Play a lead role in the  PBF Gender Thematic Review 2021 and ensure a follow up plan for implementation of its recommendations;
• Develop training and capacity building tools for DPPA and PBSO team members in gender and peacebuilding;
• Oversee the implementation of the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) Women, Peace and Security Policy as related to PBSO;
• Develop the capacity of UN Women Country Offices and UN Country Team members engaged with the PBF as well as staff members of Peacebuilding Fund Secretariats in-country.

Key Performance Indicators: 

• Timely and accurate technical support to country offices and partners.
• Provision of quality policy support and reporting in the area of gender-responsive peacebuilding.
• Relationship with stakeholders is maintained and further strengthened.
• Quality of knowledge products.
• Quality of capacity development initiatives.

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 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:

• Strong knowledge of gender related issues including in peacebuilding, statebuilding and transitions;
• Ability to lead policy research and prepare quantitative studies, utilizing statistical methodologies, knowledge of database applications for statistical analysis;
• Excellent analytical skills;
• Strong knowledge of results-based management;
• Excellent programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
• Ability to develop detailed plans, budgets, and deliver on them;
• Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships with clients, demonstrating understanding of client’s perspective;
• Ability to draft policy papers, speeches, briefings, etc;
• Ability to develop and maintain roster of experts, and a databank of research institutes, academics, civil society experts, etc. of direct relevance to the Focus Area.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: 

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in development related disciplines, gender issues, conflict studies, economics, political science, human rights, law or other social science fields, of direct relevance to women, peace and security.
• 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: 

• A minimum of 7 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in gender and peacebuilding/statebuilding, programme management, policy research and gender/conflict analysis with field experience.
• Experience working on gender equality programming in the framework of the Peacebuilding Support Office/Peacebuilding Fund is highly desirable.
• Experience leading implementation of gender-responsive peacebuilding initiatives at the country level is highly desirable.

Languages: 

• Fluency in English 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 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.