Job Vacancies UN Women, February 2012

Job Vacancies UN Women
Position: Programme Specialist
Location: United States of America ( The ), New York
Closing Date: Monday, 06 February 2012

UN WOMEN: PROGRAMME SPECIALIST
Location : New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Application Deadline : 06-Feb-12 Type of Contract : FTA International Post Level : P-3 Languages Required :
English   Duration of Initial Contract : 1 year  

Background
Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women will work 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 centre 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.
Women’s participation in governance is a critical element for achieving gender equality. Only when women have full access to decision-making positions will laws, policies, and budgets reflect the needs of all citizens and support women’s rights. World leaders meeting at the World Social Summit (2005) agreed that promoting increased women’s representation in government decision-making bodies is essential to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
Within the Cluster on Leadership and Governance, the Leadership and Political Participation Section (LPP) was established to support UN Women’s fulfillment of the thematic priority to expand women’s voice, leadership and participation. UN Women’s Strategic Plan includes this as one of its six primary development goals.  The Section focuses on three main areas of work:
Promote normative and legal frameworks that embody principles of inclusion and participation of women;
Provide support to UN Women programming across all five geographic 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.

Recent developments in political situations around the world, even in the past year, have brought the spotlight even more closely on the importance of supporting women in leadership and political processes. This includes important requests to respond to demands from the Arab States region following the Arab Spring as well as ongoing need for support on elections and constitutional reform in all regions in which UN Women works: Americas and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the CIS.
The LPP Section’s Programme Specialist supports the Section to provide technical advising on programming related to leadership and political participation, including projects funded through the Fund for Gender Equality, as well as across the UN system and with external partners. The Programme Specialist is responsible for overseeing the portfolio of UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF)-funded projects which link women’s participation in democratic processes. The Specialist supports the overall operation of the Section, its team and UN Women’s communication and outreach regarding issues of leadership and political participation.
The Programme Specialist reports to the Policy Advisor on Leadership and Political Participation.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the Policy Advisor of the LPP Section, the Programme Specialist will be responsible for the following duties:
Programme, Technical Support and Coordination:
Support the Policy Advisor in providing technical support to regional and thematic programmes on women’s political participation and leadership including south-south and south-north exchanges and other opportunities;
Manage the UNDEF-UN Women portfolio of grants from Round II, III, IV, V and Round VI projects. Liaise with UNDEF-HQ to ensure proper and timely submission of proposals, other required documentation, project reports including project evaluations;
Support the Policy Advisor in developing and implementing a workplan for the section (identify key deliverables, develop implementation time line, etc.);
Identify potential synergies, key inputs and contributions among other sections in UN Women;
Facilitate the effective planning and exchange of materials and knowledge products on political participation with UN Women Thematic and Geographic Sections, related Funds, especially the Fund for Gender Equality;
Organize internal meetings and events with UN Women Thematic and Geographic Sections and related Funds, especially the Fund for Gender Equality);
Participate in and/or represent the Section in internal and external committees, inter-agency task forces (such as ICMEA), PACs and other functions;
Support exchange, coordination and participation around joint activities with various stakeholders to work collaboratively in pursuit of the shared goal of increasing women’s political participation, such as: UN agencies (UNDP, UNFPA DPA/EAD, DPKO), Women’s National Machineries, civil society (e.g. IDEA, iKNOW Politics, IPU, Nobel Women’s Initiative, League of Women Voters, Salzburg Seminar, and CIWIL) and inter-governmental organizations and women’s networks;
Provide additional programmatic and operational support to the Policy Advisor as required.

Management and Capacity Development:
Support the monitoring and reporting of Section’s work on targets and outcomes as mandated by UN Women’s Strategic Plan, specifically related to DRF Goal 1;
Draft TORs for new positions related to the LPP Section’s team;
Oversee the hiring process as well as work products of any additional outside consultants brought on to support the LPP Section during its phase of establishment;
Liaise with UNW colleagues and others, as relevant, to ensure coordination with intergovernmental initiatives related to women’s political participation and leadership.

Research, Reporting and Communication:
Coordinate research, as needed, on women’s political participation figures and references;
Support timely and substantive inputs to UN agency-wide policy papers and guidelines, including relevant reports of the Secretary General;
Prepare select written contributions and knowledge products for various purposes, i.e. case studies, short topical papers, briefings to leadership, speeches, and related products for wider dissemination;
Contribute to the preparation of advisory notes, briefings, talking points and speeches for UN Women senior management;
Draft correspondence for key partners, donors, and constituencies, on an as-needed basis;
Establish and implement quality control processes for all external products, including reports, briefings, and speeches.

Competencies
Core Values / Guiding Principles:
Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Corporate Competencies:
Demonstrates integrity by upholding the United Nations’ values and ethical standards;
Promotes UN Women’s vision, mission and strategic goals;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age-based sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Skills:
Technical and Programme Management:
Knowledge of women’s organizations and governmental agencies working on women’s political empowerment and gender equality globally;
Experience working with a range of women’s organizations at local and international levels;
Experience in projects and programmes related to women’s political empowerment is desirable;
Experience in project management, preferably with UN Women projects;
Familiarity with UN Women structures, staff (HQ and SRO/COs) and guiding documents and philosophy.
Ability to evaluate international political issues;
Ability to produce concise and easy to understand text on complex issues;
Demonstrated ability to interact with high-level-decision-makers and to develop productive partnerships.
Excellent networking skills;
Previous experience with UN processes is desirable.

Management and Leadership:
Ability to manage for results: translate strategy into achievable plans, with established priorities, monitor them, making periodic adjustments as required;
Outstanding organizational and communication skills;
Capacity to work with diverse partners including governments, civil society and women’s groups;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
Ability to work under pressure and meet strict deadlines.

Communication:
Good interpersonal and diplomacy skills that allow for working productively as part of a larger team;
Ability to use critical thinking, conceptualize ideas, and articulate relevant subject matter in a clear and concise way.
Excellent oral and written communication skills in English;
Ability to communicate effectively with and relate to people of different cultures, demonstrating an ability to see issues from other perspectives;
Maturity, ability to make decisions under pressure and ability to deal with matters that is politically or culturally sensitive.

Computer Skills:
Proficiency in Microsoft Office software;
Proficiency with Online communication, including Skype, etc.

Required Skills and Experience
Education:
Master`s degree or equivalent in Political Science, International Development Studies, Gender/Women’s Studies, Economics or Sociology.

Experience:
At least 5 years of relevant national/international working experience in international development;
In-depth knowledge of programming on gender equality;
Knowledge and experience working on women’s economic and political empowerment and women’s rights is highly desirable;
Technical and practical expertise on UN Women programming work, especially with creating Prodocs, and other programming and planning materials and documents is desirable;
A range of experience in the United Nations, a governmental, other multilateral and/or civil society organization in a developed or developing country highly desirable.

Language Requirements:
Has an excellent command of English (oral and written);
Working knowledge of 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.
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.

UN Women 304 East 45th Street, 15th Floor New York, United States Tel: +1 212 906-6400, Fax: +1 212 906-6705




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