UN Women: Programme Specialist, Africa

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 (PPID) sets the programmatic standards, assures the quality of program design, and provides guidance to country level programme work of UN Women, as well as supports the coordination role of UN Women at regional and country level. The division has global policy expertise in the areas identified in UN Women Strategic Plan for 2022-2025.  It also manages global Trust Funds, and Global Programmes, and it provides technical capacity to countries on request, including a humanitarian response capacity.

The Political Analysis and Programme Development Unit (PAPDU) provides political analysis and programme development within a regional context to enable UN Women to better support localization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) and high quality programme development and mobilization of non-core resources. The PAPDU also bridges UN Women’s field level initiatives with headquarters, particularly with the Office of the Executive Director (EDO) and the strategic partnership, UN coordination and planning divisions. PAPDU specifically supports the EDO with regional political analysis, and correspondence to position UN Women’s mandate. The PAPDU also ensures that UN Women promotes South-South cooperation and cross-regional coordination.

Under the supervision of the Chief - Political Analysis and Programme Development Unit the Programme Specialist is responsible for providing political and regional analysis, programme development at field levels, link the normative processes in New York to field operations, resource mobilization and knowledge management.

The position will cover work in the whole continent of Africa under the two UN Women Regional Offices of East and Southern Africa (ESARO) and West and Central Africa (WCARO) Under the overall guidance of the Chief - Political Analysis and Programme Development Unit and direct supervision of the Programme Specialist (P4), the Programme Specialist will be responsible for improving the donor reporting process and oversee timely reporting by the Country Offices, including the provision support to the Programme Specialist on political and regional analysis, programmatic support and inter-agency collaboration.

Duties and Responsibilities

1.     Monitor the donor reporting process and oversee timely reporting by the Country Offices (COs)

• Global focal point for narrative donor reporting and responsible to oversee status of timely and quality reporting for projects;
• Ensure ongoing coordination with regional donor reporting focal points and coordination with financial reporting;
• Stay abreast of the mechanism and systems in place for narrative donor reporting and recommend any changes based on needs;
• Provide capacity building and develop training material on narrative donor reporting for UN Women colleagues.

2.     Support the provision of substantive political and regional analysis for Africa

• Support the provision of regional context, and political insights to strategic analysis process in processes such as Common Country Analysis (CCA) and UN System Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) and UN Women Strategic Notes development;
• Support political analysis in crisis contexts to support UN Women’s response, as well as the UN preventative mechanisms, such as the Regional Monthly Reviews (RMRs)
• Support knowledge production and sharing to deepen the work in UN Women on political analysis; Stay abreast of regional political developments, gender equality issues (GE Issues), and cross-regional trends.
• Support the development of inputs to UN Women senior management participation in the SG’s Executive Committee as relevant for Africa.
• Support political analysis in conflict countries.

3.     Support substantive programme development support to Country Offices (COs) and Regional Offices (ROs) with a focus on Africa

• Support the operationalization and monitoring of the UN Women Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and programmatic quality assurance processes;
• Provide technical support to field offices in their programming on localization of the SDGs;
• Support the provision of technical support to COs/ROs on the integration of normative and inter-governmental commitments (Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Agreed Conclusions, Universal Periodic Review (UPR) General Assembly (GA) resolutions, High Level Political Forum (HLPF) voluntary reports) in field-level programming and advocacy to ensure an effective flow of information between HQ and field offices;
• Support the provision of technical support along with UN Women’s UN System Coordination Division, to facilitate COs/ROs in carrying out their coordination function, to ensure their full contribution through the UN System Development Group (UNSDG) Regional Directors teams.

4.     Support partnerships and establish and maintain and interagency collaboration

• Support the engagement with HQ based inter-agency task forces, committees and initiatives to ensure that UN Women issues are considered in development planning and formulation;
• Support the engagement to position UN Women’s programmes in Inter-Agency Task Forces (IATFs),  HQ-based inter-agency coordination and crisis mechanisms thematic trends, from the respective of regions/countries so that policy direction and guidelines respond appropriately to demand from the countries;
• Support the engage with Permanent Missions within the region to disseminate information on UN Women’s programming and to discuss partnerships.

5.     Support  cross-regional collaboration and knowledge management

• Collect and disseminate best practices on programming at regional and country levels, and contribute to UN Women’s knowledge management efforts;

• Support the development and dissemination of gender-sensitive tools and methodologies for efficient and effective development programmes;
• Develop and maintain global, regional and national knowledge networks and practices on innovative programming and approaches at field level;
• Support  intra and cross-regional programme collaboration and knowledge management;;
• Share appropriate tools, mechanisms and practices in support of enhanced coordination efforts and linkages with regional staff.

Key Performance Indicators 

The key results directly impact on the overall effectiveness of UN Women’s Senior Management to position UN Women’s mandate and our work and to accelerate resource mobilization and programme development:

• Quality analysis and support as the global focal point on narrative donor reporting;
• Quality inputs to talking points, programme development, quality assurance processes, and other high quality materials;
• Quality inputs into trainings and tools to increase programme capacity of field offices;
• Quality support which leads to increased resources mobilized and partnerships;
• Timely and quality collection of information which  contributes to the UN HQ processes, for example, RMRs, EC/DC and IAFTs.

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:

https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES

• Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them
• Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Excellent knowledge in thematic area
• Ability to lead formulation of strategies and their implementation
• Strong networking skills
• Ability to negotiate and interact with donors, identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master`s degree (or equivalent) in development related disciplines, economics or public policy or other social science fields.
• A combination of relevant academic qualifications and two years of experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

 Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of extensive experience in development programme, including in gender equality and women’s rights at the international level, preferably in developing countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds or Programs.
• Country level experience from Africa is an asset.
• Experience of inter-agency coordination and joint planning and programming is an asset.
• Experience of political analysis in the context of Africa is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of French  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/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc. 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.

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.)