Planning and Coordination Specialist

Volunteering

Overview

Support strategic planning and coordination within UN Women.

You have:

• Minimum 3 years of relevant professional experience in strategic planning, coordination, programme support, research, or policy analysis, preferably within the United Nations (UN) system or similar international organizations.
• Demonstrated experience supporting inter-agency processes, coordination mechanisms, or corporate planning functions.
• Strong analytical, drafting, and organizational skills; ability to synthesize complex information clearly.

Contract

This is a UNV contract. More about UNV contracts.

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. UN Women’s UN System Coordination Division (UNSCD), leads and supports UN Women’s Coordination Mandate across the UN system, including UN Women internal coordination, to ensure that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are central to the UN’s policies, programs, and results.

Its role amplifies impact and increases efficiency by positioning gender equality as a catalyst for sustainable development, peace, humanitarian action and human rights, following the principles of non-discrimination and intersectionality and helping to translate global commitments into action across UN entities and at country level.

Through this role, the Division supports country and regional offices, UNCTs, and UN agencies in aligning their efforts with gender equality and women’s empowerment priorities, by providing standards, technical guidance, capacity-development, tools and data, promoting accountability and convening multistakeholder partnerships that bring together governments, civil society, the private sector, and the UN system to co-create solutions and drive collective action.

Under the direct supervision of the Director a.i., the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: 1. Strategic Planning and Corporate Coordination Support • Provide substantive support to the development, consolidation, and monitoring of the United Nations System Coordination Division (UNSCD ) annual and biannual workplans, results frameworks, and strategic planning documents; • Contribute analytical inputs to strategic notes, concept notes, background papers, and internal briefs prepared for the Deputy Director and UNSCD senior management; • Support the integration of gender equality and women’s empowerment priorities into United Nations (UN) system-wide planning instruments, corporate strategies, and inter-agency frameworks; • Monitor progress against agreed deliverables and timelines, flagging risks, gaps, and emerging issues, and supporting follow-up actions as required. 2. Inter-Agency and UN System Coordination • Support UNSCD’s engagement with UN system coordination mechanisms, including the compilation, analysis, and maintenance of up-to-date information on inter-agency processes, technical bodies, and coordination platforms; • Provide substantive and organizational support to accountability processes, reporting, and related capacity-building activities across the UN system; • Provide technical support to the Secretariat of the Gender Equality Acceleration Plan (GEAP); • Assist in preparing briefing materials, talking points, and background documentation for inter-agency meetings, consultations, and global policy processes (e.g., Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)-related coordination, UN system dialogues); • Support follow-up and documentation of inter-agency meetings, including summaries, action points, and tracking of commitments. 3. Coordination, Partnerships and Stakeholder Engagement • Support UNSCD’s coordination with internal UN Women divisions, regional offices, and other UN entities to ensure coherence and alignment around UNSCD priorities and deliverables; • Contribute to the preparation of analytical notes and background materials to support UNSCD engagement with Member States, civil society, academia, and other strategic partners; • Assist in organizing coordination meetings, consultations, and briefings, including agenda preparation, logistical coordination, and documentation of outcomes. 4. Knowledge Management, Learning and Innovation • Contribute to the identification, documentation, and dissemination of good practices, lessons learned, and institutional knowledge related to UN system coordination and gender equality; • Support the development of knowledge products, briefs, and internal learning materials, including synthesis of complex information for diverse audiences; • Assist in the design and delivery of learning and capacity-building initiatives (e.g., webinars, guidance notes, presentations) for UN Women and UN system colleagues; • Support innovative approaches to knowledge sharing, including digital tools and collaborative platforms, as relevant. 5. Cross-Cutting Support and UN Volunteer (UNV ) Contributions • Perform other duties as required to support the effective functioning of UNSCD and the delivery of its coordination, planning, and partnership mandates; • Promote the values and principles of UN Volunteerism through engagement in UNV activities, knowledge sharing, and collaboration with colleagues and partners; • Contribute to reflection, documentation, and reporting on volunteerism, learning, and professional development during the assignment. Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to: • Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and actively participate in UNV activities (for instance, in events that mark International Volunteer Day); • Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country; • Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities; • Contribute articles and write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications, websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.; • Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers; • Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible. Results/Expected Outputs • Timely and high-quality analytical inputs to UNSCD planning, coordination, and reporting processes; • Effective support to inter-agency coordination meetings and accountability-related deliverables; • Well-structured briefing notes, background papers, and internal documentation for senior leadership; • Strengthened knowledge management and learning products supporting UNSCD mandates; • Demonstrated integration of gender equality, inclusion, and accountability across all assigned tasks; • The development of capacity through coaching, mentoring, and formal on-the-job training when working with (including supervising) national staff or (non-) governmental counterparts, including Implementing Partners (IPs); • Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspectives are 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 • Client Orientation • Commitment and Motivation • Commitment to Continuous Learning • Communication • Ethics and Values • Integrity • Judgement and Decision-making • Knowledge Sharing • Managing Performance • Planning and Organizing • Professionalism • Respect for Diversity • Self-Management • Technological Awareness • Working in Teams

• Minimum 3 years of relevant professional experience in strategic planning, coordination, programme support, research, or policy analysis, preferably within the United Nations (UN ) system or similar international organizations. • Demonstrated experience supporting inter-agency processes, coordination mechanisms, or corporate planning functions. • Strong analytical, drafting, and organizational skills; ability to synthesize complex information clearly.

The Republic of Kenya is an equatorial nation on the coast of East Africa, neighboring Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Indian Ocean. Kenya is a multi-party state with Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. In 2010, the Constitution of Kenya, created a decentralized system of government wherein the Legislature and the Executive are devolved to the 47 Political and Administrative Counties. Kenya’s population of more than 51 million is growing at an annual rate of 2.3%. The country’s GNP per capita estimated at purchasing power parity (PPP) is $2,010, and the GNP is growing at a rate of 1.81% annually. More than 36.1% 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) The normal “lean season” is in June and July. Severe drought in 1999-2000 led to decreased agricultural production, and according to FAO, “seriously undermined the food security of 4.4 million people, particularly in pastoral areas. Kenya.

Nairobi is a modern metropolitan city where most basic goods and services are available locally at cost. 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 some 5,000 UN personnel mainly attributed to the fact that is serves as the headquarters for both the UN HABITAT and UN Environment, and host other global offices like UNFPA or UN Women. The contract lasts for the period indicated above with possibility of extensions subject to availability of funding, operational necessity and satisfactory performance. However, there is no expectation of renewal of the assignment.

A UN Volunteer receives a Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA) per month and is paid at the end of each month to cover housing, utilities, transportation, communications and other basic needs. The VLA can be computed by applying the Post-Adjustment Multiplier (PAM) to the VLA base rate of US$1,602. The VLA base rate is a global rate, while the PAM is country-specific and fluctuates on a monthly basis according to the cost of living. This method ensures that international UN Volunteers have comparable purchasing power at all duty stations irrespective of varying costs of living. The PAM is established by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) and is published at the be-ginning of every month on the ICSC website http://icsc.un.org. For example, kindly enter the link Calculator.

In non-family duty stations that belong to hardship categories D or E, as classified by the ICSC, in-ternational UN Volunteers receive a Well-Being Differential (WBD) on a monthly basis. Furthermore, UN Volunteers are provided a settling-in-grant (SIG) at the start of the assignment (if the volunteer did not reside in the duty station for at least 6 months prior to taking up the assign-ment) and also in the event of a permanent reassignment to another duty station.

UNV provides life, health, permanent disability insurances as well as assignment travel, annual leave, full integration in the UN security framework (including residential security reimburse-ments). UN Volunteers are paid Daily Subsistence Allowance at the UN rate for official travels, flight tickets for the final repatriation travel (if applicable). A resettlement allowance is paid for satisfactory ser-vice at the end of the assignment.

UNV will provide, together with the offer of assignment, a copy of the Conditions of Service, in-cluding Code of conduct, to the successful candidate.

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Potential interview questions

Added 1 month ago - Updated 22 days ago - Source: unv.org