Job: PROGRAMME SPECIALIST

Location New York 
Deadline: Friday, 27 September 2013 

Description

UN WOMEN: PROGRAMME SPECIALIST

Location : New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Application Deadline : 27-Sep-13

Type of Contract : FTA International

Post Level : P-3

Languages Required : English

Duration of Initial Contract : 1 year

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.

UN Women thematic clusters will bring together specialists supporting the normative and operational aspects of UN Women's mandate. The thematic section on Leadership and Governance includes the Political Participation team established to support UN Women's fulfillment of the thematic priority to expand women's voice, leadership and participation through:

• Promote normative and legal frameworks that embody principles of inclusion and participation of women;
• Provide support UN Women programing across all regions on leadership and political participation;
• Support adherence to gender equality measures across the UN System in relation to women's leadership and political participation.

The section currently implements a Global Initiative on Women's Political Participation, which includes areas of work on electoral assistance, constitutional reform, local governance, ending violence against women in politics, political parties and women's movements. Under direct supervision of the Political Participation Advisor and in close collaboration with colleagues in the Leadership and Governance section, the programme specialist will support the implementation of the Global Initiative. S/he will be tasked with:

• Programme management, including allocation of resources, reporting and monitoring;
• Technical advisory and operational guidance to country offices;
• Supporting the communications and knowledge management strategies;
• Advocacy and partnership building at global level;
• Liaison with other HQ Units to ensure synergy and collaboration with other programmes and corporate initiatives.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions:

• Programme management, operational support and coordination;
• Advisory support, knowledge building and communication.

Description of Functions:

Programme management, operational support and coordination:

• Provide overall management and financial oversight of the Global Initiative on Women's Political Participation.
• Ensure compliance with UN Women's development goals through results-based monitoring to ensure progress, technical support and proactive oversight;
• Oversee the roster of experts on women's participation, deployment in the field as needed;
• Prepare project cooperation agreements with implementing partners and service providers;
• Provide support for the implementation of activities under the Global Initiative;
• Prepare donor and other reports on programme implementation;
• Track budget performance and monitoring in close collaboration with the finance section, country offices and geographic sections;
• Assists in resource mobilization efforts.

Advisory support, knowledge building and communication:

• Support the knowledge management and communications strategies on electoral assistance and constitutional reform, for learning, advocacy, and resource mobilization;
• Provide advice and technical assistance to country offices as requested;
• Identify and document best practices and lessons learn and ensure internal dissemination and close collaboration.
• Ensure adequate knowledge sharing and communication through the UN Women website & intranet, and iKNOW Politics;

Participate in internal corporate programme and policy development, including task forces/working groups, Programme Appraisal Committee and any others as requested:

• Ensure provision of appropriate background and analytical material to colleagues – build effective and timely communications systems internally.
• Contribute to thematic working groups.
• Represent UN Women in interagency working groups such as the Post-2015 UN-Task Team and other such venues as requested by the Chief of the Research and Data Section.
• Assist in short-term contracting for commissioned papers.
• Support the work of the communications department in messaging UN Women's' positions on the post 2015 agenda.

Impact of Results:

The key results directly impact on the overall quality of the Division's contributions related to the attainment of Goal One of the Strategic Plan and will lead to enhanced visibility and image of UN Women as an effective leader on political participation, gender equality and women's rights and empowerment.

Competencies

Core values and guiding principles:

• Integrity: Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
• Professionalism: Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work;
• Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core competencies:

• Ethics and Values: Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity;
• Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
• Development and Innovation: Take charge of self-development and take initiative;
• Work in teams: Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Communicating and Information Sharing: Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication;
• Self-management and Emotional Intelligence: Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others;
• Conflict Management: Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution;
• Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing: Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge;
• Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to interact and coordinate with diverse partners and stakeholders at national, regional and global levels;
• Demonstrate networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills;
• Ability to deal with multiple constituencies;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities as well as conflict resolution skills.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet strict deadlines;
• Ability to communicate effectively with and relate to people of different cultures;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master's degree or equivalent in Political Science, International Development Studies, Gender and Development Studies, Sociology or related fields.

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of relevant national and/or international experience in development;
• Experience with women's rights, economic and political empowerment is highly desirable;
• Experience in programme management, monitoring, and implementing results-based and rights-based national, regional programmes is required;
• A range of experience working in civil society, bilateral UN System and/or other multilateral organizations is highly desirable.

Languages:

• Fluency in written and spoken English;
• Fluency in another UN language is an asset;

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.

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.

Click here for important information for US Permanent Residents ('Green Card' holders).

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

More Info and Application