Project Officer

Contract

This is a SC-9 contract. This kind of contract is known as Service Board / Service Contract. It is normally only for nationals. More about SC-9 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.

UN Women is committed to the achievement of equality between women, men, boys and girls as partners and beneficiaries of humanitarian action and resilience. In May 2015, UN Women engaged in Gender in Humanitarian Action and in 2017 created the Humanitarian Action and crisis Response Office to consolidate its advocacy, coordination and capacity development role for the integration of gender equality across humanitarian action. UN Women Humanitarian response includes three areas of work, namely disaster risk reduction and mitigation, humanitarian response and early recovery dealing with Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Participation (LEAP) and Resilience. The impact of conflict is often measured by casualties: Women and girls face heightened risks due to displacement and the breakdown of normal protection structures and support, gender-based violence.

As part of its Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience work(DRR), the UN Women Regional Office for West and Central Africa, focusses on prevention and resilience building by ensuring that new and existing disaster risks are mitigated by putting women’s agency and voice at the center of disaster risk reduction efforts. UN Women facilitates and promotes the integration of gender equality and women's empowerment through Coordination and Leadership; Capacity Development; Mainstreaming Gender into Data, Analysis, and Advocacy and Targeted programming.

UNWOMEN collaborates closely with UN system partners, national institutions and civil society organisations to ensure accountability and coherence in addressing gender equality in humanitarian action and DRR. UN Women works with gender equality institutions and organizations, from grassroots to intergovernmental bodies, to strengthen their position and capacity as champions for gender equality in humanitarian action, resilience and beyond.

In Sierra Leone key strides have been made in the promulgation of laws and policies relating to Sexual and Gender Based violence, women’s leadership and women’s peace and security. Implementation of this Laws and Policies is a Challenge. This project will be implemented closely with Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs and it’s partners on implementation and enactments of the policies and laws. It will include lobbying and advocacy for the Enactment of the GEWE Bill, for review of 2nd generation Sierra Leone National Action Plan (SiLNAP) on UNSCR 1325 and development the 3rd Generation SiLNAP. Focusing on women’s leadership issues and issues of Violence Against Women in Elections/Politics the project will work closely with Community leaders to sensitise and raise awareness them on this issues.T he project will also target survivors of Gender-Based violence in four One Stop Centres which are housed in Government Hospitals which were established with UN Women support.

Reporting to the Head of Office, and working closely with POWER Salone’s Manager , the Project Officer will provide support to the Sierra Leone Country Office and contribute to the effective implementation of the project by providing substantive inputs to programme design, formulation, implementation and evaluation. S/he guides and facilitates the delivery of UN Women programmes by monitoring results achieved during implementation and ensuring appropriate application of systems and procedures and develops enhancements if necessary. She/he works in close collaboration with the programme and operations team, UN Women Regional and HQ staff, Government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society ensuring successful UN Women programme implementation under portfolio.

Duties and Responsibilities

Oversee and guide project management

• Coordinate and facilitate the development, implementation, and monitoring of the project workplan, including budget and results framework.
• Coordinate delivery of the day-to-day project activities to ensure prompt and adequate delivery of results;
• Monitor effective use of resources and compliance with UN Women rules, policies, and procedures as well as donor/fund requirements.

Provide technical support and capacity development to project Implementing partners

• Provide technical support to the project team in the area of gender responsive governance ending violence against women and peace and security ;
• Facilitate and maintain relationships with national partners to support implementation of the project.
• Coordinate capacity building opportunities and initiatives of key institutions and mechanisms;
• Provide partners and the local government with assistance, training, and capacity development initiatives as needed.

Provide technical inputs to monitoring and reporting of project activities

• Provide technical inputs to the establishment an effective monitoring system for the delivery of project results;
• Draft quarterly and annual progress reports and donor reports and organize progress reviews, as necessary;
• Attend field missions and draft reports on monitoring missions.

Provide substantive technical inputs to people and financial management of the project

• Monitor budget implementation and make budget re-alignments/ revisions, as necessary;
• Provide substantive inputs to financial reports;
• Provide substantive inputs to terms of reference for new staff, consultants and contractors, as necessary.

Provide substantive inputs to building partnerships and resource mobilization strategies

• Provide substantive inputs to resource mobilization strategies, analyzing and maintaining information and databases on donors;
• Prepare relevant documentation such as project summaries, conference papers, speeches, donor profiles;
• Participating in donor meetings and public information events as delegated.

Provide substantive inputs to knowledge building and sharing and communications and advocacy

• Provide substantive inputs to knowledge management strategies and activities;
• Identify best practices and lessons learned that are directly linked to the implementation of the project and disseminate information.

• Provide the office with storylines for publication and advocacy campaig

  Key Performance Indicators

• Timely and quality inputs to project design

• Timely and quality inputs to workplans and budgets
• Adherence to UN Women standards and rules
• Timely monitoring and tracking of project results and finances
• Timely organization of events
• Number of knowledge products developed

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

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Shares knowledge and experience;
• Focuses on tasks/activities which have a strategic impact on project and capacity development activities;
• Promotes a supportive environment to enhance partnerships, leverages resources and build support for UN Women strategic initiatives;

• Collaborates with regional, national and local partners to create and apply knowledge and concepts that will help partners achieve UN Women development objectives within the country and regional context;

• Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;

• Understands more advanced aspects of promoting women in leadership as the fundamental concepts related to gender equality;
• Serves as internal consultant in the area of expertise and shares knowledge with staff;
• Continues to seek new and improved methods and systems for accomplishing the work of the unit;

Development and Operational Effectiveness

• Ability to perform a variety of specialized tasks related to Results-Based Management, including support to design, planning and implementation of Project, managing data, reporting.
• Ability to provide input to business processes, re-engineering, implementation of new system, including new IT based systems.
• Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
• Ability to engage with various partners and stakeholders at different levels, to establish and maintain contacts with senior-level officials of the host government and represent UN Women in national and regional fora.
• Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing;
• Strong analytical skills and ability to obtain, evaluate and interpret factual data and to prepare accurate and complete reports and other documents.
• Proven performance in organizing and coordinating major initiatives, events or challenging inter-organizational activities;
• Adapts flexibly to changing situations, overcomes obstacles and recovers quickly from setbacks.

Leadership and Self-Management

• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback.
• Ability to achieve results and meet strict deadlines in an effective manner, maintaining a high-quality standard throughout.
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
• Demonstrated ability to manage a team and to foster team spirit and synergy.

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Political or Social Science, Economics, International Development Studies, Gender/Women's Studies 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.
• At least 5 years of experience at the national and/or international level in program or project management, with full oversight and direction of design, planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating projects or programs in the domains
• related to POWER Salone’s thematics (Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, Women in Peace and Security; Women’s leadership).
• Result-oriented experiences
• Experience in establishing inter-relationships among international organization and national governments.
• Experience in the in the field of gender and human rights of women and gender responsive governance is an asset;
• Experience in administrative systems and UN system norms is an asset;
• Experience in working independently with minimal supervision;
• Computer literate with a full command of MSOffice, especially MSWord, Excel, PowerPoint.