Gender Specialist

Volunteering

Overview

Support gender programming initiatives and capacity-building efforts in UNICEF Angola.

You have:

• At least three years of progressively responsible professional work experience in the UN or other international development organization, national government or the private sector; especially experience with gender programming, monitoring and evaluation in international development.
• Strong substantive, technical, programmatic and research skills in gender along with sectoral expertise in at least one of the following sectors: Health, Education, WASH, HIV/AIDS, Protection, Social Policy, Social Behavior Change, ECD, or combined expertise in Adolescents.
• Knowledge and understanding of gender equality issues, specifically relating to children and women, and the current trends, methods and approaches of analysis.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots community members, religious and youth organizations, and authorities at different levels; familiarity with tools and approaches of communications for development.
• Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging environment; ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel.
• Proficiency in standard MS Office applications; familiarity with database management; familiarity with office technology equipment.
• Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision; ability to work with tight deadlines.
• Have affinity with or interest in UNICEF’s mandate and volunteerism as a mechanism for durable development, and the UN System.

Contract

This is a UNV contract. More about UNV contracts.

For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, safe drinking water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

UNICEF’s commitment to gender quality and the empowerment of women and girls is central to many of its policy and programme documents and the results are realized in its implementation reports as well as organizational practices. UNICEF’s mission statement also expresses that the organization aims, through its country programmes, to promote the rights of children, women, and girls as well as to support their full participation in the political, social, and economic development of their communities.

In the same light, the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is fundamental to the mandate of UNICEF emanating from various global instruments such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action among others. To realize this, the UNICEF Gender Policy (2021-2030), and Gender Action Plan (GAP III 2022 - 2025) are key documents that elaborate the organizational mandate and commitment to gender equality and facilitate the strengthening of gender mainstreaming in all areas of UNICEF's work.

UNICEF’s Gender Action Plan (GAP) 2022–2025 considers gender equality as both an organizational priority and a cross-cutting core value that guides programmatic work across its five Goal Areas. The GAP 2022–2025 outlines the gender dimensions of programmatic results that apply to development, humanitarian, peacebuilding, and high-income contexts. The GAP also establishes benchmarks that promote and track gender equality within UNICEF’s institutional policies across the organization, to ensure accountability.

This UNV assignment is part of UNICEF Angola’s gender programming agenda, which has been recently redefined through the GPR review process in 2022. The Gender UNV will support the implementation of the Country Office-defined annual Gender Action Plan, and provide critical advice, guidance and capacity to gender-related activities within the work plan, including but not limited to qualitative and quantitative analysis and reporting, youth network events, communicating with a gender lens, advocacy and support to gender monitoring.

The Gender UNV will support the Gender Specialist Consultant in organizing and coordinating the Gender Working Group (GWG), including minuting the quarterly meetings, providing ad-hoc support to activities being led or monitored by the GWG, supporting gender monitoring of GWG activities, coordinating and providing support to Communications and Partnerships in regards to new partners, especially youth and women’s networks, and contribute to providing a gender-lens to CO writing pieces (reports, press releases, human-interest stories, etc.).

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Chief of Child Protection or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UNV Gender Officer will:

(I) Support the generation of evidence and scale-up of gender-responsive and gender-transformative programming across UNICEF’s Country Programme. (ii) Strengthen the capacity of the Country Programme to effectively engage on Gender Equality, including through technical assistance, development of guidance documents, and training. (iii) Organize and support inter-agency coordination and partnership with civil society organizations

(I) Support the generation of evidence and scale-up of gender-responsive and gender-transformative programming across UNICEF’s Country Programme • Carry out project planning, data analysis and publication reviews with a gender lens. • Contribute to research and analysis and ensure findings are widely known/ adopted and integrated within country programming. • Support monitoring and evaluation of cross-sectoral programming increasing protection and agency of adolescent girls and young women and addressing gender discriminatory social norms. • Ensure funding proposals and regional advocacy include intentional focus on gender equality.

(ii) Strengthen the capacity of the Country Programme to effectively engage on Gender Equality, including through technical assistance, development of guidance documents, and training • Support knowledge sharing, communication, and networking of the Gender Focal Points. • Participate in cross-sectoral collaboration and coordination on key programmatic results on gender, ensuring coherence, maximization of synergies and efficiency in utilization of resources and delivery of results on gender and girls’ empowerment. Notably, support the implementation of the CO gender action plan and the key activities to be implemented and monitored using the Gender Working Group (GWG), with particular attention to the multisectoral flagship activity. • Support gender mainstreaming within capacity-building initiatives. • Facilitate the effective implementation of the UNICEF GAP III, guidelines, and tools in on-going programmes, support the development of strategies, evidence-based arguments in the area of gender and inclusion to strengthen UNICEF’s work.

(iii) Organize and support inter-agency coordination and partnership with civil society organizations • Collaborate with other UN agencies and partners to enhance robust gender results in sectoral programmes at the country level; participate in external meetings on gender integration into sectoral and cross-sectoral results. • Strengthen and expand inter-agency meetings/ events on gender programming to collaborate with inter-agency partners on gender programmes/ projects. Identify and synthesize global and regional best practices and lessons learned for knowledge development, innovative methods to advance gender results. • Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.

• Professionalism: demonstrated understanding of operations relevant to UNICEF; technical capabilities or knowledge relevant or transferrable to UNICEF 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 procedures; ability to manage information objectively, accurately and confidentially; responsive and client-oriented;

• Integrity: demonstrate the values and ethical standards of the UN and in daily activities and behaviors while acting without consideration of personal gains; resist undue political pressure in decision-making; stand by decisions that are in the organization’s interest even if they are unpopular; take prompt action in cases of unprofessional or unethical behavior; does not abuse power or authority;

• Teamwork and respect for diversity: ability to operate effectively across organizational boundaries; excellent interpersonal skills; ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and harmonious working relations in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, mixed-gender environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity; sensitivity and adaptability to culture, gender, religion, nationality and age; commitment to implementing the goal of gender equality by ensuring the equal participation and full involvement of women and men in all aspects of UN operations; ability to achieve common goals and provide guidance or training to colleagues;

• 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 environment;

• Planning and organizing effective organizational and problem-solving skills and ability to manage 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, including ability to prepare clear and concise reports; ability to conduct presentations, articulate options and positions concisely; ability to make and defend recommendations; ability to communicate and empathize with staff (including national staff), military personnel, volunteers, counterparts and local interlocutors coming from very diverse backgrounds; capacity to transfer information and knowledge to a wide range of different target groups;

• Flexibility: adaptability and ability to live and work in potentially hazardous and remote conditions, involving physical hardship and little comfort; to operate independently in austere environments 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;

• Genuine commitment towards the principles of voluntary engagement, which includes solidarity, compassion, reciprocity and self-reliance; and commitment towards UNICEF’s mission and vision, as well as to the UN Core Values.

• At least three years of progressively responsible professional work experience in the UN or other international development organization, national government or the private sector; especially experience with gender programming, monitoring and evaluation in international development.

• Strong substantive, technical, programmatic and research skills in gender along with sectoral expertise in at least one of the following sectors: Health, Education, WASH, HIV/AIDS, Protection, Social Policy, Social Behavior Change, ECD, or combined expertise in Adolescents.

• Knowledge and understanding of gender equality issues, specifically relating to children and women, and the current trends, methods and approaches of analysis.

• Proven ability to connect sectoral issues and programmatic approaches on gender; experience developing case studies, documenting lessons learned,

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots community members, religious and youth organizations, and authorities at different levels; familiarity with tools and approaches of communications for development.

• Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging environment; ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel.

• Proficiency in standard MS Office applications; familiarity with database management; familiarity with office technology equipment.

• Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision; ability to work with tight deadlines.

• Have affinity with or interest in UNICEF’s mandate and volunteerism as a mechanism for durable development, and the UN System.

Angola is classified as a “B“ Duty Station. This is a scale that assesses the difficulty of working and living conditions, with A being the least and E, the most difficult. Categories are arrived at through an assessment of the overall quality of life. In determining the degree of hardship, consideration is given to local conditions of safety and security, health care, housing, climate, isolation and level of amenities/conveniences of life.

The UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials, as well as their transportation to and from work. While on mission outside Luanda they will be entitled to usual UN DSA. UN Volunteers are part of the health insurance plan.

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Potential interview questions

Added 1 day ago - Updated 8 hours ago - Source: unv.org