Strategic Partnerships Assistant

Contract

This is a UNV International Youth contract. This kind of contract is known as International UN Volunteer. It is normally internationally recruited only. More about UNV International Youth contracts.

UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. It works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men and the third gender as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

The UN Women Sri Lanka office is aligned to the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand. It focuses on six priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; enhancing women’s economic empowerment; making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting; and supporting inter-governmental processes, such as the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and CEDAW review processes.

The office presently leads the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda in Sri Lanka. With regard to the WPS Agenda, UN Women recognizes that ongoing and emerging conflicts have devastating consequences, including the widening of development gaps between women and men. Women frequently make up the bulk of displaced and refugee populations and are disproportionately targeted for sexual violence. Despite being at the forefront of peace movements, women are rarely part of formal peace negotiations.

UN Women acts to build women’s participation and influence in decision-making to prevent and resolve conflicts and works towards more inclusive and peaceful societies. UN Women’s programmes on women, peace and security are guided by a series of commitments to women’s rights. These include the historic UN Security Council Resolution 1325, and seven supporting resolutions—1820, 1888, 1889, 1960, 2106, 2122 and 2242. Other key reference po

Under the direct supervision of the UN Women Country Focal Point / Programme Analyst, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

Strategic partnerships and resource mobilisation:

Assist the UN Women team in the development and strengthening of partnerships with UN agencies, government institutions, civil society, development partners and other stakeholders on advancing GEWE in Sri Lanka;
Participate and provide support in managing activities and other promotional events to engage the abovementioned stakeholders to expand interest and commitment to GEWE through UN Women programmes and joint UN system programmes;
Contribute to the preparation of background documents and analysis to forge and implement strategic partnerships to increase outreach on UN Women’s work in country;
Support in resource mobilisation efforts to further UN Women’s efforts initiated in the country.

Advocacy and knowledge management:

Contribute to advocacy and outreach initiatives/campaigns together with key stakeholders on gender equality and women’s empowerment in Sri Lanka, including the Generation Equality Campaign, Women’s Empowerment Principles, 16 Days of Activism, amongst others.
Contribute to communication related aspects of the office by creating content for internal and external audiences to showcase UN Women’s work and expertise;
Support in developing advocacy products (videos, infographics, etc.) and documentation of good practices and case studies related to UN Women’s portfolio;
Support the UN Women team in disseminating and sharing resources, good practices and lessons learnt from UN Women’s work;
Any other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

, Accountability, Adaptability and Flexibility, Building Trust, Client Orientation, Commitment and Motivation, Commitment to Continuous Learning, Communication, Creativity, Empowering Others, Ethics and Values, Integrity, Judgement and Decision-making, Knowledge Sharing, Leadership, Managing Performance, Planning and Organizing, Professionalism, Respect for Diversity, Self-Management, Technological Awareness, Vision, Working in Teams

Gender/women’s studies, development studies, international relations, human rights, business management, communications, or any other related field in social sciences.

Sri Lanka is an island nation located off the south coast of India. It’s home to an estimated population of over 21 million people. It is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious country. Colombo is situated in the Western Province of Sri Lanka and is the commercial capital of the country. The city is located on the west coast of the island, adjacent to the administrative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte. Bandaranaike International Airport is located 35km from Colombo and is served by the main international airlines.

Sri Lanka is a tropical country with moderate temperate and high humidity all throughout the year. Average temperature in Colombo ranges between 27 and 30 degrees Celsius. The island experiences two main monsoon seasons, where heavy rainfalls occur, from May to August and October to January.

Sri Lankan food is characterized by fragrant spices, all forms of coconut, and rice. Rice and curry are the main dishes. Sri Lankan cuisine tends to be quite spicy.

There are hotels and other types of accommodation options available in Colombo. Supermarkets, banking and medical facilities are present within the city. Telephone and Internet service is widely available. Phone plans and data are inexpensive; however, you should not expect internet service to work consistently or at high speed.

At present the main health advisories are related COVID 19 and lockdown are expected on short notice. Dengue is also prevalent in Sri Lanka, especially after the rainy seasons. Mosquito repellant is available in all local drug stores.