Coordination and Strategic Planning Officer

Contract

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

Gender equality is not only a basic human right, but its achievement has enormous socio-economic ramifications. Empowering women fuels thriving economies, spurring productivity and growth. Yet gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society. Women lack access to decent work and face occupational segregation and gender wage gaps. They are too often denied access to basic education and health care. Women in all parts of the world suffer violence and discrimination. They are under-represented in political and economic decision-making processes. UN Women was created to address such challenges. It is a dynamic and strong champion for women and girls, providing them with a powerful voice at the global, regional and local levels. Grounded in the vision of equality en-shrined in the UN Charter, UN Women, among other issues, 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, peace, and security.

UN Women is also committed to ensuring equality between women and men as partners and benefi-ciaries of humanitarian action. When crisis occurs, people’s lives change in an instant. Death, injury, displacement, and the destruction of infrastructure and institutions impact entire communities as a result. Crises impact women, girls, boys and men of all ages differently. As a result, their needs and interests differ, as do their resources, capacities and coping strategies. Women are often the first responders to a crisis, and they play a significant role in the survival and resilience of families and communities. Women and girls are not helpless victims. Humanitarian efforts must recognize the fact that women and girls—like men and boys—have much to contribute to preparing for, and responding to, crises. Women must be included in decision-making about the forms of assistance and protection they need. Humanitarian action can also present opportunities for new and more progressive gender roles and relationships to emerge.

Through its inter-agency leadership and coordination role, UN Women supports other UN organiza-tions in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in their humanitarian efforts. We assist Member States in implementing policies and commitments to gender equality and women’s empower-ment in humanitarian action. We also promote the voices, agency and capacity of women’s civil socie-ty organizations and national women’s machineries in humanitarian efforts. UN Women fulfils its hu-manitarian role by providing coordination and leadership, technical expertise, capacity-building, and evidence-based response and advocacy to the global humanitarian system.

Reporting to the Coordination and Strategic Planning Specialist, the Coordination and Strategic Plan-ning Officer, assists the Regional Office (RO) and the C&SP Specialist in strategic programme plan-ning, inter-agency coordination and partnership building for UN Women in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region (LAC). She/he works in close collaboration with the programme and operations team at RO, COs and MCO, UN Women HQ and other Agencies, Funds and Programmes staff.

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Coordination and Strategic Planning Specialist or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the Coordination and Strategic Planning Officer will:

Coordination: Assist inter-agency and regional coordination work for UN Women in LAC. • Participate in regional level interagency processes and mechanisms, and similar exercises re-lated to the Regional Collaborative Platform (RCP), as necessary, especially regarding the Regional Interagency Gender Group and the Regional Peer Support Group. • Collaborate with UN Women RO and COs/MCO, providing coordination support and substan-tive technical assistance to position and promote gender equality and women’s empowerment activities in LAC. • Provide guidance to UN Women and the United Nations Country Teams (UNCT) in LAC in advancing gender equality and women's empowerment: Gender Mainstreaming in UNDCFs processes, gender accountability frameworks (UNCT SWAP, UNCT GEM), gender-sensitive M&E, etc. • Provide technical support and participate in interagency processes in countries where UN Women is a Non-Resident Agency (NRA) to advance and promote gender equality and wom-en’s empowerment. • Manage capacity building opportunities and initiatives of key partners and mechanisms; and provide substantive technical assistance, training, and capacity development as needed. • Build relationships with regional and national partners to support implementation and expan-sion of UN Women’s coordination mandate; respond to any potential problems. • Collaborate with UN Women HQ, specifically the Coordination Division (UNSCD), participating in the meetings, following up on their requests and reporting on progress in LAC, as request-ed. • Provide timely inputs and suggestions on regional and interagency coordination issues. • Write reports on UN Women’s experiences in support of UN women inter-agency coordination role; as necessary.

Planning: Coordinate regional and national planning and reporting work for UN Women in LAC. • Provide guidance and technical support to the RO, COs and MCO in strategic planning, moni-toring and reporting. • Provide coordination, quality assurance and ensure compliance by COs, MCO and RO with corporate strategic planning, monitoring and reporting requirements. • Provide assistance for regional programming processes and products, including the annual-biannual workplan, strategic note, as well as programme/ project documents, and other UN system joint programming documents. • Provide support for the elaboration of the RO and COs/MCOs biannual workplan and budget. • Coordinate and follow up the implementation of the regional Strategic Note 2023 – 2025. • Support and provide technical assistance for the elaboration of COs/MCOs Strategic Notes. • Develop the capacity of staff at the regional and country level to apply Results Based Man-agement (RBM) concepts and techniques; and provide guidance to personnel and partners on RBM tools and performance indicators. • Provide support for the monitoring and reporting exercises of the Regional Office. • Facilitate knowledge building and sharing, including capacity building exercises.

Others: Support the implementation of the LAC Coordination and Strategic Planning project: • Develop, implement, and monitor the workplan, including budget and results framework. • Manage day-to-day programme/operations activities to ensure prompt and adequate delivery of results. • Manage the implementation of the Coordination and Planning project activities through moni-toring and reporting. • Prepare quarterly and annual progress reports and organize progress reviews as necessary. • Manage consultants and trainees supporting the coordination and planning area. • Write terms of reference for new staff, and consultants and oversee the recruitment process, as necessary. • Develop knowledge management strategies and methodologies. • Identify and synthesize of best practices and lessons learned to dissemination information. • Attend field missions and write reports regarding any coordination and/or planning issue, as needed.

Results/expected outputs:

As an active UN Women team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly and high-quality support are rendered to UN Women and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including: Timely and quality support and technical assistance in the coordination and strategic planning areas Strong relations with UN Women staff, the UNS and other partners and stakeholders Timely and quality monitoring and reporting Increased awareness in gender mainstreaming and accountability within the UNS and with other partnersIncreased awareness of UN Women’s work Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and document-ed in all activities throughout the assignment A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.

• Professionalism: demonstrated understanding of operations relevant to UN Women; technical capa-bilities or knowledge relevant or transferrable to UN Women procedures and rules; discretion, political sensitivity, diplomacy and tact to deal with clients; ability to apply good judgement; ability to liaise and coordinate with a range of different actors, especially in senior positions; where appropriate, high degree of autonomy, personal initiative and ability to take ownership; resourcefulness and willingness to accept wide responsibilities and ability to work independently under established pro-cedures; • Integrity: demonstrate the values and ethical standards of the UN and UN Women in daily activities and behaviours while acting without consideration of personal gains; resist undue political pres-sure in decision-making; stand by decisions that are in the organization’s interest even if they are unpopular; • Accountability: Takes ownership of all responsibilities and honours commitments; delivers out-puts for which one has responsibility within prescribed time, cost and quality standards; operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules; supports subordinates, provides oversight and takes responsibility for delegated assignments; • Teamwork and respect for diversity: ability to operate effectively across organizational bounda-ries; excellent interpersonal skills; ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and har-monious working relations in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, mixed-gender environment with sensi-tivity and respect for diversity; sensitivity and adaptability to culture, gender, religion, nationality and age; • Commitment to continuous learning: initiative and willingness to learn new skills and stay abreast of new developments in area of expertise; ability to adapt to changes in work environ-ment. • Planning and organizing effective organizational and problem-solving skills and ability to man-age a large volume of work in an efficient and timely manner; ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor (own) work; ability to work under pressure, with conflicting deadlines, and to handle multiple concurrent projects/activities. • Communication: proven interpersonal skills; good spoken and written communication skills, in-cluding ability to prepare clear and concise reports; ability to conduct presentations, articulate op-tions and positions concisely; ability to make and defend recommendations; ability to communi-cate and empathize with staff (including national staff), military personnel, volunteers, counter-parts and local interlocutors coming from very diverse backgrounds; • Flexibility: adaptability and ability to live and work in potentially hazardous and remote condi-tions, involving physical hardship and little comfort; to operate independently in austere environ-ments for protracted periods; willingness to travel within the area of operations and to transfer to other duty stations within the area of operations as necessary. • Leadership: Serves as a role model that other people want to follow; empowers others to trans-late vision into results; is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives; establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions;

the international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting of development projects, as well as, in in-teragency coordination work. Experience in establishing inter-relationships among international organizations. The incumbent must be a dynamic, multi-functional person, who supports UN Women with profes-sionalism, dedication and client orientation, and who must be willing both to work on programmatic/substantive aspects and to provide operational/logistical services. The following competencies are required: Strong programme implementation, monitoring and reporting skills. Coordination skills. Knowledge of Results Based Management. Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform man-agement and strategic decision-making. Knowledge of gender equality and women's empowerment. Strong knowledge of country and/or region. Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats for UN Women to advance on gender equality and women empowerment integration and mainstreaming.

The Republic of Panama is the southernmost country in Central America. It is an “Isthmus”, which means a narrow strip of land with sea on either side, forming a link between two larger areas of land.

Panama has an east to west running orientation. It shares a border with Costa Rica to the west and Colombia to the east side. The Pacific Ocean forms the coastline along the southern edge of the country and the Caribbean Sea is to the north.

Panama City, the capital of Panama and the largest city in the country is in about the center of the country.

Living in Panama can be a truly wonderful experience! You can enjoy amazing weather & spectacular scenery without having to give up all the comforts you are used to from home. Panama has a stable, democratic political environment and first-world highways, medical care, banking and telecommunica-tions services. Visa to enter the country is easy to obtain.

Weather and Natural Beauty The weather in Panama is nice & warm year-round. It never snows and the temperature rarely goes above 90°F / 32°C for very long. Extreme weather & natural disasters are also rare. The weather tends to be hotter near the ocean in places like Panama City, Coronado, and Bocas del Toro – and cooler spring-like weather exists in mountain towns such as Boquete, El Valle de Anton, and Volcan.

Panama has truly amazing scenery with lush vegetation, miles of coastline, white sandy beaches, rugged mountains, dense jungles and a seemingly endless variety of plants and animals.

Security Panama is a family duty station and considered to be a safe place to live. Main threat is common crime, although Panama has a lower crime rate than many other countries in the region. Reportedly, the high-crime areas in the Panama City are San Miguelito, Rio Abajo, El Chorrillo, Curundu, Veracruz Beach, Panama Viejo, and Tocumen. The city of Colon has a significantly higher crime rate than Pan-ama City. Media have also reported the expansion of gang violence to provincial towns such as Chor-rera and Arraiján. Police checkpoints are common, mainly on weekends in and around the main cit-ies. Politically motivated violence is rare but protests against the administration have on a few occa-sions turned violent, prompting the immediate deployment of riot police and the use of tear gas. Several smaller earth-quakes – ranging from levels 4-5.2 (Richter) have been registered in the western province of Chiriquí, without causing damage.