Programme Support Officer - Women’s Economic Empowerment

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.

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 Bangladesh focuses its interventions on women’s economic empowerment and addresses women’s economic empowerment, an issue which is central to the priorities of the Government of Bangladesh (GoB). UN Women follows a whole-of-society approach rooted in feminist values to ensure that women have income security, decent work, and are economically empowered. As such, UN Women Bangladesh works with the most vulnerable groups of women – which include women migrant workers, women with disabilities, gender diverse groups, ethnic minorities, and home-based workers, among others – to enhance their voices and economic leadership. UN Women Bangladesh’s WEE programme is aligned with the national priorities reflected in Bangladesh’s 8FYP (2020-2025), UNSDCF (2022-2026), and UN Women’s Global Strategic Plan (2022-2025).

UN Women is implementing a joint programme entitled Women’s Empowerment for Inclusive Growth (WING) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) since 2020 funded by the Government of Netherlands. WING supports women’s participation in the local economy as employees and entrepreneurs by developing their skills, facilitating access to financing and breaking entrenched discriminatory attitudes, norms and stereotypes that work against women’s participation in the social, political and economic spheres. UN Women acts as the Convening Agent (CA) and Administrative Agent (AA) of the Joint Programme for overall coordination of the Participating UN Organizations (PUNOs) and administration of funds.

Against this background, UN Women Bangladesh is seeking to recruit a Programme Sup-port officer to provide the required support to the Women’s Economic Empowerment Pro-gramme with a major focus on the implementation of the Women’s Empowerment for Inclusive Growth (WING) project in line with UN Women's rules and regulations.

The UNV will work under the direct supervision of the Programme Manager, Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE), UN Women Bangladesh, in close consultation with the WEE and WING Programme team at UN Women and relevant Government, CSOs partner and UN agencies:

Further details of the expected roles and responsibilities of the UNV are found below:

a) Provide knowledge management support on WEE. b) Provide inputs to policy briefs, letters, reports and briefing papers on WEE. c) Provide inputs to various tasks such as workshops, research, guidelines, strategies, analyses, and publications. d) Maintain liaison with and assist in the onboarding of private sector enterprises, business associations, local government and other stakeholders for WEE, with a focus on WEE partners. e) Provide inputs to the development of training or capacity-building materials on WEE. f) Prepare briefing notes and speaking points, stories, reports, feature articles, etc. g) Support for the development and dissemination of knowledge products and communications products. h) Translate and/or review the translation of required key programme-related documents, and knowledge products from English to Bangla, and from Bangla to English i) Maintain a database of projects-related documentation on the shared platforms j) Organize and coordinate events and campaigns through the organization of media and events. k) Support the WEE unit in the conceptualization, organization and coordination of key advocacy / awareness-raising events and trainings/capacity development workshops in close cooperation with the programme staff. l) Work closely with the communications analyst to enhance the visibility of BCO’s efforts on WEE through social media and digital platforms. m) Provide inputs to the development of ToRs, concept notes, MoUs and budgets. n) Participate at internal and external meetings as required and prepare minutes, including preparation of background documents for the meetings. o) Communicate requirements with consultants, consulting firms and vendors. p) Conduct field visits as required, especially in WING project districts i.e. Manikganj, Thakurgaon, Jashore, Cox’s Bazar, and Kurigram.
q) Perform other duties as may be directed by the supervisor and other team members as and when required.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to: • Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and taking an active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark IVD); • 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 that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities; • Contribute articles/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. • Networking and building relationships with local organizations, groups or individuals and supporting and/or participating in local volunteering initiatives.

Results/Expected Outputs: • Effective functioning of the WEE Unit with a specific focus on WING intervention areas to achieve expected results. • Knowledge and communications products are properly developed and documented.
• Increased visibility of UN Women’s country and programme activities, especially that of WING. • A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for development during the assignment, such as reporting on activities participated in and capacities developed.

• Integrity Accountability • Adaptability and Flexibility • Commitment and Motivation • Commitment to Continuous Learning • Working with teams • Communication • Integrity • Judgement and Decision-making • Planning and Organizing • Professionalism • Respect for Diversity

: • Relevant work experience in programme and knowledge management support • Relevant experience in the development sector (preferably in women’s economic empowerment or gender in private sector development or local economic development). • Experience in communications would be considered as an added advantage. • Fluency in both written and spoken English and Bangla. Excellent English language skills are required.
• Efficient in preparing and managing project documents. • Excellent communication and presentation skills. Writing skills in English) • Proficient in computer applications (MS Word, MS PowerPoint and MS Excel)

Dhaka is located in central Bangladesh along the Buriganga River. Not only is it the capital city, but it is also the largest in the country. It is the centre of political, cultural, and economic life in Bangladesh. The official language is Bengali, while English is the working language of UN Agencies. In recent decades, Dhaka has seen the modernization of services, communications, and public works. The city is attracting large foreign investments and greater volumes of commerce and trade. It is also experiencing an increasing influx of people from across the nation; this has reportedly made Dhaka one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Good English-speaking medical, dental services, and educational centres are available for internationals. Dhaka is connected to other cities by rail, road, and by air and internationals can move easily from one city to another.

Dhaka has venerable green spaces, including many gardens and parks, historical places, and nice restaurants. The weather is tropical - hot and very humid during the summer monsoon season (April-September) and drier and cooler in the winter (October-March).

Historically, Bangladesh has been a safe country for internationals so far. While Dhaka is not categorized as a hardship station, the volunteer should be prepared for limitations in freedom of movement on foot, by public transport, and to certain locations.