Programme Specialist - Gender and Resilience

Contract

This is a P-4 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 7 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 133,180 USD and 171,708 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

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 Pacific Multi-Country Office is based in Suva, Fiji and works alongside over 20 other UN agencies in the region and in 14 countries: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Under its Strategic Note 2018-2022, UN Women Fiji MCO focuses on delivering on four interlinked programme areas underpinned by support for intergovernmental and normative processes:

• Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership
• Women’s Economic Empowerment
• Ending Violence against Women
• Gender and Protection in Humanitarian Action and Disaster Risk Reduction

UN Women implements the Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) Programme at the global, regional and national levels. The WRD programme has a strong focus on the Pacific with three programme countries: Fiji, Vanuatu and Kiribati. In the Pacific, disaster risks converge with critical socio-economic vulnerabilities, environmental degradation and climate change. Disasters and climate change are widening inequalities and undermining poverty reduction in the region. Threats such as COVID-19 are further exacerbating the inequalities and hardships faced by women and girls including those with disabilities. Women and girls face greater vulnerability and exposure to disasters, yet women remain largely ignored and their capacities unleveraged in conventional resilience building processes. As a result, women are generally absent in the development of resilience strategies and decision-making processes for prevention, preparedness and recovery. This is compounded by significant gaps at the global, regional and country level in relation to the availability and use of sex, age and disability disaggregated data (SADDD), knowledge sharing on women’s resilience; an enabling environment for building women’s resilience (including capacities, leadership and funding); translation of commitments into action; coordination and private sector partnership; and a need for transformative change to tackle the underlying drivers of disproportionate risk.

Un Women’s WRD programme proposes a comprehensive package for building women’s resilience to disasters, climate change and threats (including COVID-19). The aim of the WRD Programme will be to render women’s and girls’ lives and livelihoods disaster-resilient, contributing to sustainable and secure communities, by promoting gender responsive prevention, preparedness and recovery systems, plans and tools; and by enabling targeted action to help women and girls withstand hazards and threats, recover fully from disasters and increase their resilience to future risks. The expected end-of-programme outcomes are:

1. Prevention, preparedness and recovery systems, plans and tools are gender-responsive through women’s leadership in DRR, women’s enhanced influence in DRR decision-making, enhanced gender capacity of DRR and climate resilience stakeholders, increased access to knowledge, guidance and expertise on gender-responsive disaster resilience, and strategic partnerships and networks for women’s agency and leadership in DRR; and
2. Women and girls are prepared to withstand natural hazards, climate change and COVID-19, recover from disasters and increase their resilience to future risks, through gender-responsive early warning systems, gender targeted and mainstreamed services for women’s resilience, women’s informal and formal climate and disaster resilient businesses, women’s increased access to climate and disaster resilient livelihoods and strategic partnerships for resilient livelihoods.

In close coordination with the WRD Global Coordinator as matrix manager and under direct supervision by the Deputy Representative, the WRD Regional Gender and Resilience Specialist is responsible for the provision of programme development advisory support to the Pacific component of the WRD Programme, oversight of the the implementation and management of the regional WRD programme component, management of technical assistance and capacity development to WRD partners, leading advocacy, policy, knowledge building and communication efforts, building partnerships for the WRD programme and develop resource mobilization strategies in complementary areas to WRD.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide programme development advisory support to the Pacific component of the Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) Programme:

• Provide oversight, quality assurance, risk management, safeguarding oversight, and close guidance and direction;
• Organize periodic consultations with key stakeholders, women leaders, human rights experts and UN partners to gather inputs on programme design, as necessary;
• Finalize country strategy documents, programme/ project proposals, briefs, policy dialogue and other documents related to WRD in close cooperation with relevant WRD personnel.

2. Lead and oversee the implementation and management of the regional WRD programme component:

• Finalize annual workplans and budgets and implementation process;
• Finalize programme reports; and manage the preparation of donor and UN Women reports;
• Ensure compliance to standard UN Women procedures in planning and implementation of programmes/projects;
• Ensure synergies within and with other programme/project teams;
• Manage the technical implementation and conceptualization of the programme;
• Provide guidance to programme staff and partners on Results Based Management tools and performance indicators;
• Act as Regional DFAT WRD focal point and liaise with Australian Representations in the Pacific to ensure optimal coordination and communication with Australia of WRD implementation;
• Ensure regional and country level risk management and take corrective measures as needed;

3. Manage technical assistance and capacity development to WRD partners:

• Identify priority partners and programmes in the Pacific to increase focus on women leadership and gender equality in the regions’ work on disaster risk reduction and resilience;
• Build, manage, and expand relationships with regional and national partners to support implementation of the programme;
• Develop, implement and manage capacity building opportunities and initiatives;
• Provide substantive technical and policy support to programme countries in the areas of disaster risk reduction and resilience;
• Advise, support, guide and provide substantive inputs to ensure the formulation of gender- and protection-sensitive disaster risk reduction;
• Advocate for the collection and use of disaggregated data and for gender and protection analysis to be undertaken during preparedness, response and recovery phases;

4. Lead advocacy, policy, knowledge building and communication efforts:

• Provide policy recommendations and guidance to strategic planning and positioning on disaster risk reduction and resilience;
• Research, develop and present analytical reports, research papers, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, correspondence, and knowledge products on disaster risk reduction;
• Ensure technical skills and knowledge are shared within and among the MCO and Country Offices.
• Work closely with and provide advice to regional/ national bodies and interagency groups that influence national policies and legislation related to disaster risk reduction and resilience building;
• Oversee implementation and management of the knowledge management strategy including the development of knowledge products;
• Manage the process of collecting and sharing lessons learned on women’s resilience to disasters, gender equality and women's empowerment to build knowledge and capacity of partners and stakeholders;

5. Provide monitoring and Reporting support

• Provide technical support and quality assurance towards all information and monitoring processes including gathering information and preparing reports on progress of programme implementation;
• Oversee the implementation and management of the WRD Programme’s monitoring and evaluation framework to track progress on program results and indicators;

6. Build partnerships for the WRD programme and develop resource mobilization strategies in complementary areas to WRD

• Develop and implement partnerships and resource mobilization strategies;
• Finalize relevant documentation on donors and develop potential opportunities for resource mobilization;
• Analyze and research information on donors, finalize substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for cost sharing;
• Determine programmatic areas of cooperation, based on strategic goals of UN Women, country needs and donors’ priorities and develop;

7. Oversee work of the humanitarian and DRR team:

• Manage budget and operations of team;
• Provide supervision, direction and support to the country coordinators and other regional staff / specialists as required.
• Finalize financial reports in accordance with UN Women procedures as necessary;
• Supervise and coach staff and manage performance and ensure compliance to the performance management cycle;
• Ensure that security policies and procedures are followed by the team.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Timely and quality technical advice and support;
• Leadership in area of expertise in the region;
• Quality reports and other strategic documents drafted and submitted in a timely manner;
• Strong relationships with various partners and stakeholders;
• UN Women is well represented in important meetings on topics related to expertise;
• Contributions to resource mobilization;
• Timely and quality knowledge products.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

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

Functional Competencies

• Substantive knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in the fields of gender equality, women resilience to disaster
• Excellent progamme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them
• Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Ability to lead formulation of strategies and their implementation
• Strong networking skills
• Ability to negotiate and interact with donors, identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in human rights, gender, international relations, international development, climate change, international law or other 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 progressively responsible experience in designing and managing disaster risk reduction, climate change or humanitarian programmes in diverse cultural settings, with a particular focus on countries at high climate and/or disaster risk;
• Experience in gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and climate change;
• Experience in interagency coordination processed pertaining to disaster risk reduction and resilience;
• Experience in policy analysis and strategic planning;
• Experience working with, and building partnerships with governments, donors and civil society organizations internationally and in the field;
• Experience working with the UN is an asset; and
• Experience working in the region is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required; and
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language is 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.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)