Program Officer, LEAP program

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.

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (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 operationalizes this through Flagship Programming Initiatives (FPIs) developed to achieve transformative results for gender equality and women empowerment. The FPIs respond to the expanded agenda for Beijing+20 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The main objective of UN Women’s support to Government under Humanitarian Action is to ensure protection, as well as equitable and safe access to and benefit from the humanitarian and development assistance to the most vulnerable, and marginalized refugee and host community women and girls. The programme also promotes women’s participation and leadership in the camps and host community, and women’s active role in maintaining peace and social cohesion.

At national level, UN Women operates based on the UN Cooperation Framework (2021 -2025), working closely with other UN Agencies and Government to achieve i) Transformative and inclusive governance, peace and justice, ii) Shared prosperity in a healthy environment; and iii) Human wellbeing and resilience with positive cultural norms, in terms of gender and human rights. The above focus aligns with Uganda’s National Development Plan (NDP 3), the SDGs as well as UN Women’s Global Strategic Plan. In the specific area of Humanitarian Action, UN Women and partners implement the Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection (LEAP) in the South Sudanese Refugee Response to empower women and girl refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and their communities to mitigate the impact of multiple crises on their livelihoods, exposure to gender-based violence, and their decision-making capacities.

A gender perspective in humanitarian action is vital to understanding the different needs of women, girls, boys and men in order to generate positive and sustainable outcomes. In times of crisis, gender roles and dynamics change, women often resort to negative coping mechanisms and GBV becomes more prevalent. It is essential to capture these issues in Uganda’s humanitarian response, both at the individual programming level in project design and in programme analysis and development.

In recent months there has been a sudden increase in the humanitarian crisis in Uganda. The Covid 19 Pandemic and insecurity in neighboring countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, has led to an increase of refugees to Uganda. In addition, food insecurity and malnutrition has risen. The aim of the project is to Response to empower women and girl refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and their communities to mitigate the impact of multiple crises on their livelihoods, exposure to gender-based violence, and their decision-making capacities.

Reporting to the Programme Specialist Gender in Humanitarian Action, the Programme Officer, works with and provides support to the members of the Programme Team in the development and implementation of effective programmes consistent with UN Women rules and regulations.

The Programme Officer contributes to research, financial management, and Programme implementation including providing necessary operational, administrative and programmatic support aligned to gender statistics, the UN Women Strategic Note (SN 2021-2025) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF 2021-2025). The Programme Officer works in close collaboration with the operations, Programme and projects’ staff in the country office and UN Women Head Quarters as required for resolving gender data and complex finance-related issues and exchange of information.

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Deputy Representative and the direct supervision of the Programme Specialist Gender in Humanitarian Action, She/he will be responsible for the technical support to the management of the UN Women LEAP Japan programme in Kyegegwa district; She/he will directly support strengthening of the Justice, Law and Order Sector to compile quality VAWG data to inform interventions, policy and planning and reporting Violence against Women and Girls. She/he will support the implementation of the Country Office (CO) Programme and support in the processing data reports, evidence based and result based – monitoring and reporting, incorporating Gender data into Programme formulation as well tracking against Strategic Plan targets and the reporting of results to internal and external audiences.

Functions:

1. Contribute technically to the development of programme strategies in the area of Gender in Humanitarian action. • Provide substantive inputs to the design and formulation of programme/ project proposals and initiatives. • Identify areas for support and intervention related to the programme.

2. Provide technical support to the design and formulation, implementation and management of the Gender in Humanitarian action. • Provide technical inputs to the annual workplan and budget as required. • Coordinate and monitor the implementation of programme activities. • Coordinate the call/request for proposals, including the organization of technical review committees, and capacity assessment of partners. • Review, coordinate and monitor the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports. • Train partners on Results Based Management.

3. Provide technical assistance and capacity development support to project/programme partners • Provide technical support to and technically oversee the implementation of the programme activities with partners • Maintain relationships with national partners to support implementation & expansion of the GIHA programme. • Identify opportunities for capacity building of partners and coordinate and facilitate technical/programming support and trainings to partners as needed.

4. Provide technical inputs to the monitoring and reporting of the programme/ project. • Monitor progress of implementation of activities and finances using Results-Based Management tools • Monitor and document progress on programme activity, results and indicators. • Monitor the implementation of proposals by responsible partners. • Provide inputs to quarterly reports, donor reports and other reports on outputs, results outputs and outcomes

5. Contribute to building partnerships and resource mobilization strategies. • Provide inputs to resource mobilization strategies; analyze and maintain information and databases. • Prepare and provide inputs to relevant documentation such as project summaries, conference papers, briefing notes, speeches, and donor profiles.

6. Provide technical inputs to the management of people and finances of the GIHA programme. • Monitor budget implementation and make budgets re-alignments as necessary. • Provide substantive inputs to financial reports.

7. Provide technical support to inter-agency coordination on the LEAP Programme to achieve coherence and alignment of UN Women programmes with other partners in Uganda. • Provide substantive technical support to the Program Management Specialist and the team on inter-agency coordination related activities by providing inputs to background reports and briefs.

8. Provide inputs to advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts. • Develop background documents, briefs and presentations related to GiHA.
   • Coordinate and organize advocacy campaigns, events, trainings, workshops, and knowledge products. • Coordinate the development of knowledge management methodologies, and products on the LEAP.

Key Performance Indicators

• Timely and quality substantive inputs to programme strategies and activities • Timely and quality substantive inputs to workplans and budgets. • Adherence to UN Women standards and rules. • Timely monitoring and tracking of programme results and finances. • Relationship with partners and stakeholders. • Timely organization of events. • Quality of knowledge and advocacy products.

Core Values / Guiding Principles:

• Ethics and Integrity: Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct. • Professionalism: Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work. • Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity: Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity. • Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgement. • Development and Innovation: Take charge of self-development and take initiative. • Work in teams: Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multiethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds. • Effective Communicating and Information Sharing: Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication. • Inclusive Collaboration • Stakeholder Engagement • Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Functional Competencies

• Good programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills. • Good knowledge of Results Based Management • Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions, and present findings and recommendations. • Good analytical skills • Good knowledge of IASC Guidelines on Gender in Humanitarian Action, Gender and Age Markers, UN SCR 1325, Sendai Framework on DRR, and CEDAW
• Ability to identify and analyze trends, opportunities, and threats to fundraising. • Ability to maintain networks and partnerships with UN agencies and other international partners to promote partnership and build alliances to advance organizational interests and competencies · Demonstrated good oral and written communication skills

development programme/project implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, donor reporting and capacity building. Demonstrated experience in research, data analysis, documentation and report writing; Experience in partnership engagement, coordinating and liaising with government agencies and/or donors is an asset Experience in online publishing is an added advantage

Mbarara is about 290 kilometres (180 mi), by road, southwest of Uganda's capital Kampala. Mbarara is the second-largest city in Uganda after Kampala and also second to Kampala in importance, industry and infrastructure. Based on the general threat assessment through the United Nations Security Risk Management (SRM) process, Mbarara is considered as a “moderate” Security Level area.