Programme Coordinator for Wau - Women and Youths Economic Empowerment

Programme & Policy

Overview

Lead project implementation for women's and youths economic empowerment in Wau

You have:

• University/Master’s degree in social sciences, international relations, Agriculture economics/marketing, business management, or public administration, gender and/or human rights studies or related field.
• At least 9 years of relevant work experience in MSEs, economic empowerment project management.
• Proven communication and advocacy skills.
• At least 3 years of experience of building partnerships and working with multiple stakeholders including government representatives, academia, media, civil society, donors and other stakeholders.
• Experience with UN or/and international organization/Embassy is an asset.
• Fluency in English with proven writing and presentation skills.

Contract

This is a SB-4 contract. This kind of contract is known as Service Board / Service Contract. It is normally only for nationals. More about SB-4 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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other actors.

UN Women South Sudan Country Programme is implemented in the framework of national development priorities and supports the implementation of the international commitments on women’s human rights, which South Sudan is a signatory to. The Country Office prioritizes the mitigation of the consequences of COVID-19 pandemic on South Sudanese women making it a cross-cutting perspective to all outcome areas and considering race, ethnic and regional perspectives. The three key areas of work of UN Women in South Sudan support the achievement of the following three results:

1. Increase women's leadership and participation;
2. Increase women's access to economic empowerment and opportunities;
3. Prevent VAWG and expand access to services; and
4. Increase women’s leadership in peace, security and humanitarian response.

Women’s economic security is critical for the eradication of poverty and achieving sustainable development because when women have ownership and control over productive resources and access to productive work, they can ensure a better livelihood for their families and communities. Furthermore, when women are economically empowered, they are more likely to attain political and social empowerment. To achieve this, UN Women works through actions and partnerships with government institutions, civil society, and the private sector to support the development of gender-responsive policies, strategies, and solutions and to ensure women's equal rights to economic resources and opportunities so that they can have income security, decent work, and economic autonomy. One of the key areas of work for UN Women country office for South Sudan is supporting Women and Youths access to financial services and skills for their economic empowerment as stipulated in the UN Women 2022 Annual Work Plan. The overall goal of this intervention is to increase employment opportunities, market access and incomes for marginalised women and youths in South Sudan. The specific objectives will be to (i) Support the growth of SMEs and link them to MFIs & Markets and (ii) Strengthening institutional capacities of the government and private sector institutions to promote the growth of SMEs and the economic empowerment of women and youths.

Under the guidance of the Deputy Country Representative, and direct supervision of the WEE Specialist, the Programme Coordinator will be responsible for overall project implementation in accordance with the donor, agency-to-agency agreements, notes verbal, project documents, budgets, and approved work plans and prepare relevant reports. Based in one of the project sites namely in Western Bahr-el-ghazal (Wau), the Programme Coordinator is also responsible for the visibility of the projects, as well as to closely cooperating with projects counterparts and other partners of UN Women, including but not limited by the Ministry of Youths and Sports, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare and Office of the Vice President, Gender and Youths Cluster, Ministry of Finance and Planning, Foreign Affairs, national human rights institutions, media professionals, civil society organizations, UN agencies, local authorities, international organizations and other relevant parties

Duties and Responsibilities

The Programme Coordinator will lead the implementation of the project to meet its objectives. S/He is responsible for the following:

1. Provide technical support in the establishment and sustainability of Village Savings and Loans and youths and women-led Medium and Small Enterprises, Value chains and market development.

• Provide technical inputs to the establishment and sustainability of the Village Savings and Loans Associations and Medium and Small Enterprises in partnership with local partners and UN Agencies such as UNDP;
• Lead to the development of sustainable women and youth-led Medium and Small Enterprises in partnership with the Ministry of Youths and Sports and local partners;
• Design and formulation of programme/ project proposals and initiatives related to Women’s Economic Empowerment, with a special focus on access to credit and loans and MSEs;
• Designs and develop work plans for field operations in the microfinance and VSL sectors in association with linkages to MSEs and sustainable markets. Ensures that implementation of field programs proceeds according to approved plans and that timely corrective actions are taken.

****2. Provide technical support to the implementation and management of the Women’s Economic Empowerment portfolio, with a special focus on** **youths and women-led VSLA and MSEs.****

• Provide inputs to the annual work plan 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 and coordinate the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports;
• Train partners on Results-Based Management;
• Oversees the scheduling and delivery of training to local Village Savings and Loan Associations to build local-level capacity in microfinance for development;
• Coordinate partners including private enterprises, Producer and Marketing Groups and VSL groups working on value chain and market development interventions;
• Provide technical support for the formation of producer groups/cooperatives and other associations along the key value chains.

3. Provide technical assistance and capacity development support to project/programme partners.

• Provide technical support to and technically oversee the implementation of programme activities with partners;
• Identify opportunities for capacity building of partners and coordinate and facilitate technical/ programming support and training to partners as needed;
• Develops capacity of project staff on the operation of Village Savings and Loan Associations and MSEs;
• Orients staff on VSL methodology and conducts TOT on VSL methodology for project volunteers;
• Coordinate capacity development activities in the areas of organizational development, agribusiness, value chain and marketing development including the development of training modules;
• Identifies and proposes technical process improvements to the project team;
• Acts on improvement areas within the local internal organisation and processes and give feedback;
• Ensures lessons learned are applied in daily practice;
• Reviews project evaluation reports, compiles and shares lessons for future project design considerations;
• Participate in rapid assessment or pre-testing of ideas as part of program development.

4. Provide technical inputs to the monitoring and reporting of the programme/ project.

• Monitor 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, and outcomes;
• Compile and submit monthly VSL project summary reports including VSL MIS, to Programme Specialist;
• Provide technical input into VSL monitoring and evaluation (M&E) issues such as the development of M&E tools.

5. Provide technical inputs to the management of people and finances of Women’s Economic Empowerment initiatives and projects.

• Monitor budget implementation and programme activity expenditures and perform budget revisions when required;
• Coaches local partners Project Field Officers and associated partners both professionally as well as operationally on quality of context within projects;
• Provide inputs to financial reports;
• Acts as a direct supervisor to the Project Field volunteers in VSL and Market Development and applies process improvements in projects.

6. Contribute to building partnerships and resource mobilization strategies.

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

7. Provide technical inputs to inter-agency coordination on Women’s Economic Empowerment, with a special focus on youths and women-led MSEs****, to achieve coherence and alignment of UN Women programmes with other partners in South Sudan.

• Provide technical support to the Representative and Programme Manager on inter-agency coordination related activities by providing inputs to background reports and briefs.

8. Provide inputs to advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts.

• Provide technical inputs to background documents, briefs and presentations related to Women’s Economic Empowerment area, with a special focus on youths and women-led MSEs;
• Coordinate and support the organization of advocacy activities and campaigns events, training, workshops, and knowledge products;
• Provide inputs to the development of knowledge management products on Women’s Economic Empowerment area, with a special focus on youths and women-led MSEs.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Timely and quality inputs to programme design;
• Timely and quality inputs to work plans and budgets;
• Adherence to UN Women standards and rules;
• Timely monitoring and tracking of programme results and finances;
• Timely organization of events;
• Number of knowledge products developed;
• Facilitates VSL and Producer Groups linkages with MFIs;
• Serve as the technical lead for designing, implementing, and monitoring value chain and marketing activities;
• Support Market-based SME development and establish linkages with business development services;
• Strengthen market linkages (local and international) through the concerted value chain and market analysis/review of producer and marketing organizations;
• Facilitate public, private and producer partnership forums (value chain actors, implementing partners) to address key value chain issues.

Competencies

Core values:

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modeling UN values and ethical standards;
• Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Core competencies:

• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to convey complex concepts and recommendations, both orally and in writing, in a clear and persuasive style tailored to match different audiences;
• Ability to interact, establish and maintain effective working relations with a culturally diverse team, as a team member, to build trust, and to manage in a deliberate, transparent and predictable way;
• Ability to establish and maintain productive partnerships with national partners and stakeholders and pro-activeness in identifying of beneficiaries and partners’ needs and matching them to appropriate solutions.

?Managerial competencies:

• Ability to develop clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies;
• Ability to identify priority activities and tasks and allocate appropriate time and resources for effective and efficient work completion;
• Ability to monitor progress against milestones and deadlines;
• Ability to handle effectively multiple tasks without compromising quality, team spirit and positive working relationships;
• Ability to foresee risks and develop mitigation strategies.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University/ Master’s degree in social sciences, international relations, Agriculture economics/marketing, business management or public administration, gender and/or human rights studies or related field.

Experience:

• At least 9 years of relevant work experience in MSEs, economic empowerment project management (Master degree plus 8 years of relevant work experience);
• Experience in the area of human rights, gender equality and the empowerment of women is an asset;
• Proven communication and advocacy skills;
• At least 3 years of experience of building partnerships and working with multiple stakeholders including government representatives, academia, media, civil society, donors and other stakeholders;
• Experience with UN or/and international organization/Embassy is an asset;
• Experience with ERP systems (ATLAS, ORACLE, SAP) is an asset;
• Excellent interpersonal, negotiation and team-leading skills.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English with proven writing and presentation skills.

Application Procedures:

Please note, that the system will only allow one attachment, and, hence please combine the multiple files while uploading the attachment.

• Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. Personal History Form P11 that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment

Qualified women candidates are highly encouraged to apply.

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.

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Potential interview questions

Added 4 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: jobs.undp.org