Coordination Assistant (Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group)

Contract

This is a UNV National Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as National UN Volunteer. It is normally only for nationals. More about UNV National Specialist contracts.

On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation launched an illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, causing widespread death, destruction, displacement and suffering. The war in Ukraine is impacting women and men, girls and boys, in their diversities, in different ways and threatening progress made in recent years towards greater gender equality, disability inclusion and reinforced human rights. In 2024, approximately 14.6 million people, or 40% of those living in Ukraine, will require humanitarian aid due to the ongoing war. Out of the 14.6 million people in need of assistance, 56 per cent are women and girls, and 15 per cent are people with disabilities, of which women make up the largest proportion. Women account for 58 per cent of those displaced and 60 per cent of people aged 60 and above. The need is most critical in the eastern and southern regions, where intense conflicts have led to extreme and catastrophic conditions for communities on the front lines. Over 3.3 million people in these areas need assistance, facing challenges in accessing basic rights and services like water, food, shelter, and healthcare. Additionally, nearly 4 million internally displaced persons across Ukraine, including around 111,500 in collective sites, are nearing a breaking point due to prolonged displacement, loss of income, and increased risk of exploitation. Moreover, the war is increasing gender and intersectional vulnerabilities and inequalities. Across the country, marginalized groups including LGBTIQ+, minorities, people with disabilities and people living with HIV/AIDS are at heightened risk of exclusion, sexual and economic exploitation, violence, and abuse. UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that the commitments to gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action in humanitarian response plans.

In Ukraine, UN Women is the co-lead of the Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Working Group, providing technical, advisory, and programmatic support to the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) and the Inter Cluster Coordination Group (ICCG). The GIHA working group is comprised of gender focal persons from the clusters and sub clusters and provide critical support to ensure gender analysis, and advocacy is adequately coordinated, disseminated, and utilized, through the ICCG, including for strategic planning purposes such as Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) and Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP).

UN Women aims to enhance humanitarian coordination and address the specific needs of women and girls in eastern Ukraine, particularly in the Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, and Kharkiv oblasts. These regions, being closer to conflict zones, face unique challenges with high levels of intersectoral needs, particularly affecting women and girls. This necessitates close cooperation among stakeholders to better respond to their needs. To this end, UN Women has collaborated with women-led/rights CSOs to establish gender in humanitarian action working groups (GiHA WGs) in Poltava and Zaporizhzhia and to provide advocacy support in Kharkiv and Dnipro.

Under the overall guidance of the Gender in Humanitarian Action Programme Specialist and direct supervision of Dnipro Head of Office, who is based in Dnipro, the Coordination Assistant will provide administrative and logistical support for the effective functioning working groups in the regions/cities in eastern Ukraine including in Poltava and Zaporizhzhia. In addition, the Coordination Assistant will support to tasks related to programme, advocacy, research and capacity building initiatives in eastern Ukraine to ensure that gender related concerns are mainstreamed at the regional level through clusters system and government coordination mechanisms.

Under the overall guidance of the Gender in Humanitarian Action Programme Specialist and direct supervision of Dnipro Head of Office, the UNV Coordination Assistant will undertake the following tasks:

Support the functionality and operations of the GiHA working groups in eastern Ukraine:

· Provide administrative support to the secretariats of the working groups in the regions/cities in eastern Ukraine including in Poltava and Zaporizhzhia · Coordinate with internal and external stakeholders to schedule meetings, manage, and regularly update calendars for the working groups. · Assist in preparing meeting agendas in consultation with senior team members, distributing them ahead of time, and arranging any required materials. · Attend meetings to take minutes and distribute them promptly afterwards. · Track and remind stakeholders of upcoming deadlines and action items generated during meetings. · Provide support to develop and update workplans and budgets, ensuring proper implementation of activities, monitoring, evaluation, and documentation of learning in consultation with the co-chairs.

Administrative and logistical support:

· Provide administrative and logistical support for monthly working group meetings, public events, missions, conferences, workshops, and other ad-hoc gatherings by setting up venue arrangements, preparing materials, and coordinating with vendors. · Ensure that travel arrangements and authorizations, passport and visa requests, flight bookings, and other travel-related matters are properly and timely processed. · Support the Buyer in preparing Purchase Orders (POs) by submitting a full set of necessary supporting documents. · Monitor the timely submission of deliverables and processing of payments under project special service agreements (SSA) and institutional contracts. · Compile and maintain necessary documents for hiring new consultants or amending contracts of current consultants or companies. · Gather necessary documents for the creation/amendment of Vendor Profiles, e-requisitions, Purchase Orders, micro-canvass forms, and vouchers. · Assist in updating the projects' procurement and spending plans and budgets.

Effective coordination, communication, and advocacy-related activities:

· Support effective communication and coordination of working groups in eastern Ukraine including in Poltava and Zaporizhzhia. · Share relevant information effectively, including dissemination of knowledge products and advocacy materials. · Assist in designing and distributing communication materials, such as newsletters, social media posts, and press releases. · Document key and emerging issues that need the attention of the working groups, chairs, and co-chairs, including clusters. · Support the creation of a communication platform for the working group members and share relevant information as needed. · Regularly update data and information for the working groups to ensure members have access to current information.

Research assistance and knowledge management:

· Assist in collecting relevant data using various methods, including surveys, databases, and interviews. · Perform initial literature reviews, summarizing key findings and outlining gaps in current research. · Develop and maintain a specialized database that houses documents, knowledge artifacts, and publications pertinent to gender in humanitarian action working groups in eastern Ukraine. · Participate in the collection and analysis of project-related data, ensuring meticulous maintenance of all files.

Results/expected outputs:

· As an active UN Women team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly, and high-quality support rendered to UN Women and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including: · Support to administrative services ensuring high quality of work provided. · Accurate, timely and properly recorded/documented service delivery ensured, including registry and basic administrative services. · Effective management of working groups’ activities · Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated, and documented 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.

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

the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.). · Experience in handling web-based management systems would be a strong asset. · Experience in knowledge management and research · Experience in supporting program implementation and communication

The contract lasts for the period indicated in the vacancy with the possibility of extensions subject to availability of funding, operational necessity, and satisfactory performance. However, there is no expectation of renewal of the assignment. This is a full-time contract.

Allowances: • Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA): A Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA) USD 1587 (equivalent in UAH) is provided monthly to cover housing, utilities, and normal cost of living expenses. This includes Well-Being Differentials for the period while the ICSC applies hardship classification to duty stations in Ukraine as “E”. • USD 400 entry lump sum, one-time payment.

Medical and life insurance: • Medical insurance: The UN Volunteer and eligible PFU dependents will receive UNV provided medical insurance coverage. Coverage for UN Volunteers begins from the Commencement of Service and normally ceases one month after the last day of the UN Volunteer Contract date. • Life Insurance: UN Volunteers are covered by life insurance for the duration of the UN Volunteer assignment. If a UN Volunteer dies during the UN Volunteer assignment, the eligible designated beneficiaries will be entitled to receive a life insurance lump sum.

Leave entitlements: • Annual leave:  UN Volunteers accrue an entitlement to 2.5 days of Annual Leave per completed month of the UN Volunteer assignment. Unused accrued Annual Leave up to a maximum of 30 days is carried over in case of a contract extension within the same UN Volunteer assignment. Unused accrued Annual Leave may not be carried over in case of reassignment or a new assignment. • Learning leave: Subject to supervisor approval and exigencies of service, UN Volunteers may request up to ten working days of Learning Leave per consecutive 12 months of the UN Volunteer assignment, starting with the Commencement of Service date, provided the Learning Leave is used within the contract period. • Certified Sick Leave: UN Volunteers are entitled to up to 30 days of certified sick leave based on a 12-month cycle. This amount is reset every 12-month cycle. • Uncertified Sick Leave: UN Volunteers receive seven days of uncertified sick leave working days in a calendar year. This amount will be reset at the established interval period.