Associate Gender Affairs Officer

Contract

This is a UNV International Youth contract. This kind of contract is known as International UN Volunteer. It is normally internationally recruited only. More about UNV International Youth contracts.

This post will be in the Office of the Director-General (ODG) of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), the only UN Headquarters in Africa, and indeed in the Global South. The Di-rector-General of UNON, as representative of the Secretary-General in Kenya, and UN Desig-nated Official, has overall responsibility for the safety and security of all UN staff and depend-ents in Kenya. The Director-General of UNON also leads the Network of Women Leaders in the UN in Kenya and is a strong proponent of women’s empowerment and gender main-streaming. UNON supports programme implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and the Resident Coordination System (RCS) globally, as well as other UN offices in Kenya, by provid-ing administrative, security, conference and information services (www.unon.org).

The UN Volunteer will have the opportunity to work in a dynamic and close-knit professional setting, in the Office and under the close mentorship of the Under-Secretary-General and Di-rector-General of UNON, Zainab Hawa Bangura, a civil society, human and women’s rights campaigner and democracy activist, who was previously the UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, and previous-ly served in her Government as Minister of Health and Sanitation, and Minister of Foreign Af-fairs, and was instrumental in developing national programmes on affordable health, advocat-ing for the elimination of genital mutilation, managing the country’s Peace-Building Commis-sion and contributing to multilateral and bilateral relations with the international community, with deep experience engaging with State and non-State actors on issues relevant to sexual violence, including engaging with rebel groups.

Under the supervision of the Chief of Staff, Office of the Director-General of UNON, and work-ing directly with the Special Assistant of the Director-General and the UNON Gender Focal Point Team, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

• Supports coordination of the activities of the Network of Women Leaders in the UN in Kenya; • Supports the timely implementation of UNON’s Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Action Plan including supporting capacity-building of UNON staff on PSEA; • Contributes to knowledge-building on gender related issues at UNON and partici-pates in mainstreaming gender equality into UNON Divisions; • Contributes to supporting the Director-General on gender-related processes, such as the International Gender Champions; • Assists the work of the UNON Gender Focal Point Team; • Supports the Director-General’s gender specific special COVID-19 initiatives; • Participates in UNON and other inter-agency spaces and fora related to gender equality issues; • Supports the Director-General’s engagements with key partners and provides tech-nical inputs to senior management’s efforts to develop new and innovative partner-ships related to women’s empowerment and gender equality; • Assists in contributing to sub-regional, regional and inter-agency initiatives related to gender issues; • Learns to engage strategic partnerships to build network and support resource mo-bilization for the Director-General’s gender initiatives.

Accountability Adaptability and Flexibility Building Trust Client Orientation Commitment and Motivation Commitment to Continuous Learning Communication Ethics and Values Integrity Planning and Organizing Professionalism Respect for Diversity Self-Management Technological Awareness Working in Teams

gender and/or women’s empowerment issues. Upto to 2 years experience level is preffered

Previous experience as a volunteer and/or experience of another culture, (i.e. studies, volunteer work, internship) would be highly regarded.

The Republic of Kenya is an equatorial nation on the coast of East Africa, neighboring Soma-lia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Indian Ocean. Kenya has two levels of Gov-ernment; National Government and 47 sub-national Governments called Counties. Kenya is a multi-party state with Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. Kenya’s population of more than 40 million is growing at an annual rate of 2.2%. The country’s GNP per capita estimated at purchasing power parity (PPP) is $975, and the GNP is growing at an average rate of 0.1% annually. More than 26% of Kenya’s people live below the international poverty line of $1 per day. Kenya’s main food crops are “maize, wheat, pulses, roots and tubers.” (FAO).

Nairobi is a modern metropolitan city where basic goods and services, health facilities, public transport, telecommunication and banking services and educational facilities are readily avail-able. The city is widely connected through its main airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, and the smaller Wilson Airport. Air transport is also available to many up-country destinations. The city is home to over 4,500 UN personnel, most of whom operate from offices within the UN complex in Gigiri, including two United Nations programmes, UN-HABITAT and UNEP, which have their global headquarters in Kenya.

The socio-economic and cultural background of the immediate society the UNV would be living and working in is diverse and prevailing security conditions at the place of assignment is mod-est. The topographic and climatic features of the assignment location is highland cool and warm tropical climate.