Senior Gender Specialist

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Application deadline 1 year ago: Friday 11 Nov 2022 at 23:59 UTC

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Background

Through the General Assembly Resolutions 75/233 on the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR) and 72/279 on UN repositioning, the United Nations Development System (UNDS) is presented with a mandate to transform in order to respond to the ambition of the 2030 Agenda. Indeed, the 2020 QCPR places strong emphasis on the fundamental importance of promoting gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls, noting the multiplier effect for achieving sustained and inclusive economic growth, poverty eradication and sustainable development.

Led by an International Senior Gender Adviser who was deployed by UN WOMEN to Ghana for three months from August – November 2022, UN WOMEN has identified 4 priority areas in which to engage, in alignment with CCA and CF implementation process in Ghana.

Women’s Leadership and Participation: (1) Action needs to be taken to address the decline or the under representation of women in political and public life, ahead of the 2024 elections: in ministerial positions, in parliament, at district and regional levels, as well as on the boards of major Ghanaian companies. (2) The strengthening the leadership, as well as institutional capacity of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to provide technical expertise, policy development and gender mainstreaming. (3) The passage of the Affirmative Action (Gender Equality) Bill is a critical and urgent area to engage.

Women’s Economic Empowerment: (1) Strengthening Women’s active participation in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Women in Trade Protocol drafting process. The process also opens opportunities to strengthen Women Business Associations (WBA) and protect vulnerable categories of women traders. (2) Supporting the activation of Ministry of Finance’s policy on Women in Procurement: this 2021 policy aims to have 20 % of procurement awarded to women. (3) Developing actions to support rural women farmers affected by climate crisis.

Women Peace and Security: Northern Ghana’s proximity with Burkina Faso poses a need to prevent potential extremist groups there from rallying and launching terrorism in the country. Security actors must collaborate with traditional leaders, opinion leaders, CSOs, religious groups, youth groups and women groups to sensitize the population and ensure terrorism is prevented and countered in Northern Ghana.

Ending Violence Against Women: UN WOMEN is exploring opportunities with the EU Delegation (EUD) to launch a UN WOMEN project inspired by the Spotlight initiative on Ending Violence Against Women in Ghana.

The Senior Gender Adviser launched several donor engagement initiatives during her mission, with the support of the RCO and UN WOMEN Regional Office for West Africa. These include concept notes to the HC of Canada on WLP and the EUD on EVAW, and other consultations and introductions of UN WOMEN to the Netherlands, GIZ, France, Switzerland, Norway, Spain, ACFTA and AFBD to determine mutual priority areas.

In order to effectively build on the avenues explored for our portfolio in Ghana, a mid/senior national will be recruited in early January. Over a period of 6 months, the Senior Gender Specialist will build on and deepen the work of the Senior Gender Advisor. The Senior Gender Specialist will support coherent gender mainstreaming efforts and progress on gender equality across the SDGs, in alignment with national priorities nexus. Additionally, the position will involve advancing programming opportunities and in building the case to establish a UN Women presence in Ghana to support the advancement of Gender Equality and women's empowerment goals within the country programme.

The Senior Gender Specialist will support inclusive resource mobilization efforts that promote gender interventions in the country. Additionally, they will support efforts to ensure effective leadership and engagement of women’s Civil Society Organizations in the implementation of interventions, under the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2023-2025, to ensure that they are gender responsive and reflect the diverse priorities and needs of women and girls. The position will support the Resident Coordinator (RC), UN Country Team (UNCT) and UN Gender Team (UNGT) in key areas of UNCT’s work and will play a catalytic role in supporting UN Women’s mandate of GEWE in the country.

Reporting to the UN WOMEN’s Deputy Regional Director and under the direct matrix supervision of the RC, the Senior Gender Specialist will support the development and strengthening of a strategic vision for gender mainstreaming for UN joint programming, as well as provide coordination and technical and policy advisory support on women’s rights and gender equality to the RC and the UNCT. The Senior Gender Advisor works in close collaboration with UN staff and UN agencies, government officials, technical advisors and experts, multi- and bi-lateral donors, private sector and civil society.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide guidance and coordinate with gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE) as a guiding principle during the implementation of the UNSDCF.

  • Review and provide technical guidance and inputs to each step of the UNSDCF to ensure the integration of gender equality considerations, specifically with a view to: strategic prioritization, results matrix, joint programmes, monitoring and evaluation;
  • Provide strategic guidance and coordinate the UNCT to strengthen monitoring and reporting arrangements on GEWE, in the context of the UNSDCF;
  • Support the analysis of Joint Work Plans and their translation into UN INFO;
  • Ensure coherent UN advisory support to the RC and UNCT with a view to national GEWE policy and implementation.

Foster coherent inter-agency planning, analysis and action for enhanced accountability to GEWE:

  • Coordinate with the UNCT on improved accountability tools to ensure the UN’s commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment are tracked and up-scaled as opportunities arise
  • Coordinate and lead the UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard exercise and implementation of its Action Plan, and provide coordination and technical advisory support to the application of the UNCT Gender Equality Marker;
  • Provide strategic guidance to facilitating, managing, developing and providing oversight to joint programmes related to gender equality and empowerment of women and girls priorities highlighted in the UNSDCF, such as Spotlight, Africa Women Leadership Network (AWLN), Affirmative Action Bill programmes and UN Gender Commemorative Days, including International Women’s Day where relevant;
  • Serve as member of the UNCT;
  • Serve as member of the Inter-Agency Work Group on Gender and Gender Equality Sector Team Group, and other relevant groups.

Coordinate technical support to strategic partnerships building and resource mobilization:

  • Working closely with the RCO and UN WOMEN West Africa Regional Office (WCARO) through its policy and coordination experts, support in the provision of technical and substantive inputs to partnerships, as well as joint resource mobilization strategies related to GEWE and UNSDCF;

Coordinate and advise the RC and UNCT in the analysis and monitoring of trends, opportunities and challenges around gender equality and women’s empowerment:

  • Support the development of Country Gender Equality Briefs/Profiles and in policy dialogues around gender equality and the empowerment of women;
  • Support on entry points for new initiatives for the UN Systems to strengthen capacities for gender equality and to support the advancement of women’s empowerment and gender equality.

Key Performance Indicators:

  • Timely and quality contribution and leadership to the UNCT and DPG working groups and other coordination meetings;
  • Quality advice to RC, UNCT, and Senior Management;
  • Quality advice provided to the government officials and UN agencies at regional level;
  • Increased communication and collaboration on GEWE between agencies;
  • Increased RCO’s leadership and results in gender equality space;
  • Increased joint programming on GEWE;
  • Increased knowledge and strategic inputs provided to DCO RO;

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

Functional Competencies:

  • Excellent knowledge of general gender equality and women’s empowerment issues;
  • Excellent knowledge of UN system and understanding of inter-agency coordination and UNSDCF processes;
  • Ability to advocate and provide policy advice and interact with high level decision makers;
  • Ability to envision, conceptualize and communicate strategic vision;
  • Strong gender-focused results-based management, programme implementation and monitoring and evaluation skills;
  • Excellent analytical and conceptual thinking skills;
  • Excellent negotiating, cultural sensitivity and diplomatic skills;
  • Strong planning, goal-setting and prioritization and organizational skills;
  • Familiarity with the region and women's rights organizations and networks in the region considered an asset.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Advanced university degree in the social sciences (i.e. sociology, demography, psychology, political science and economics), public policy or international development. A specialization in gender is a strong asset.
  • A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

  • At least ten years of progressively responsible relevant work experience/ demonstrated track record that combines intellectual, strategic and managerial leadership in development programs. The majority of which should include having undertaken and led substantive programming and research/analysis on gender and development in key issue areas;
  • Experience in working in emergency and crisis/conflict contexts is desired;
  • Experience with UN joint programming development and implementation in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment;
  • Experience in UN coordination and joint advocacy and/or programming is required;
  • Experience in building and maintaining effective relationships with government institutions, CSOs and donors is required.

Languages:

English, French, Spanish or Arabic are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of French is desirable. Knowledge of another official UN language is an advantage.

UN Women Personal History Form (P11) must be completed and attached as part of the online application - https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558

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).

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