Deputy Country Representative (Indian national only)

Contract

This is a NO-D contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 7 years of experience, depending on education. More about NO-D contracts.

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.

The UN Women Country Office (CO), located in New Delhi, India, oversees programming in India. The CO plays a strategic role ensuring close communication and cooperation in partnership with the UN Women Regional Office in Bangkok. India has a population of 1.4billion people. If India meets the SDG targets, it will be enough to meet global climate change targets. It is the worlds largest democracy with a long history of social support for the poorest people. India has achieved astonishing economic growth over the last decades, but this has slowed recently. The COVID-19 pandemic has added to the economic slowdown and pushed back development for many million of people in the country. Despite progressive laws and policies, women still experience challenges due to discriminatory social norms, asymmetries in markets that privilege men, historic disadvantages due to ethnicity, class, caste, tribe and location.

Reporting to the Country Representative, India, the Deputy Country Representative is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Country Office (CO). The incumbent is responsible for substantially contributing to the design, implementation, management, and oversight of the country programme and to the operations supporting its implementation to ensure effective and efficient delivery of results as planned in UN Women’s Strategic Plan and the CO plans.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Manage the programme team

• Manage the day-to-day work of the programme and operations teams, including finalizing the team’s annual workplan;
• Manage the process of programme conceptualization, planning, implementing and monitoring; and the management of material and financial resources;
• Lead the process of preparing programme implementation progress reports and identifying areas for UN Women Country Representative’s action and/or decision;
• Technically support the development of the Office security strategy and plan, as required.

2. Provide advisory and specialized technical support on the strategic direction of the office

• Advise and guide the Country Representative on strategic areas;
• Provide specialized technical and strategic support in managing all aspects of the programme design and related activities and for ensuring compliance and accountability in programme monitoring, reporting and evaluation;
• Develop policy documents, briefs and other strategic papers/materials for use in the development and presentation of innovative and coherent policy and programmatic positions;
• Serve as a senior member of the management team.

3. Represent UN Women in UN system coordination, with a focus on programming

• As delegated by the UN Women Country Representative, represent UN Women in the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) to collaborate with the Resident Coordinator and UN system on interagency coherence, collaboration, cooperation, resource mobilization, advocacy, common services, and operations;
• Ensure UN Women’s participation in UN system thematic and other working groups to advance UN Women’s mandate.

4. Provide technical support in creation of strategic partnerships and resource mobilization strategies

• Provide substantive research and inputs in the formulation and implementation of the country resource mobilization strategy;
• Establish and maintain relations with government, partners, stakeholders and donors to achieve active collaboration, cooperation and alliances on programme development and implementation and resource mobilization.

5. Represent UN Women and support advocacy strategies

• Represent and advocate for UN Women in organizational, regional, global, public information/ relations events and key meetings, as delegated;
• Develop and implement advocacy and public communication strategies.

6. Facilitate knowledge management, innovation and capacity building

• Manage the process of collecting and sharing lessons learned on gender equality and women’s empowerment to build knowledge and capacity of partners and stakeholders;
• Oversee the design and implementation of capacity building training activities to enhance skills and knowledge.

7. Manage personnel under supervision

• Manage the performance of personnel under supervision; provide managerial direction, guidance and leadership to staff and provide performance feedback and coaching to personnel supervision, ensure performance assessment are implemented on time and ensure personnel are fully aware of UN Women workplace relations policies;
• Create an enabling work environment;
• Identify learning and development opportunities

Key Performance Indicators:

• Timely and quality provision of strategic support and advise to the Country Representative
• Timely and quality delivery of the programme teams
• Regular interaction and establishment of joint activities and programmes with other agencies and partners
• Quality of inputs provided in formulation and implementation of the country resource mobilization strategy
• Quality and number of knowledge management and advocacy initiatives undertaken
• Quality mentoring, training, coaching which affects performance of personnel, inclusive workplace environment
• UN Women is seen as a reliable and trustworthy partner, providing substantial inputs to progress UN women’s mandate

Competencies

Core values

• Integrity
• Professionalism
• Respect for Diversity

Core Competencies

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them
• Ability to provide policy advice and support to partners
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Strong leadership skills, ability to create and enabling work environment
• Strong analytical skills
• Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management
• Strong knowledge of the UN system
• Strong knowledge of local country context
• Strong negotiation skills

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree in international development, public administration, public policy or other relevant social science fields is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A project/programme management certification (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of progressively responsible professional experience that combines strategic and managerial leadership in development programmes with a strong focus in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment at the national or international level, preferably in developing countries within the UN system, Agencies, Funds or Programmes;
• Field based experience working with multi-cultural teams;
• Experience in leading a team.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Hindi is required;
• Knowledge of another UN working language and/or another Indian language will be an asset.

Application:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=3539 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. Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

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.