UN Women: Policy Specialist, Human Rights and Data

Contract

This is a P-3 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 5 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 140,639 USD and 184,155 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. Guided by its new Strategic Plan 2022-2025, UN-Women leverages its unique triple mandate, encompassing normative support, UN system coordination and operational activities to reach these goals. At a time when COVID-19 has compounded all aspects of gender inequality, UN Women is taking bold action at headquarters and across the globe to rebuild better and equal, to address the needs of all women and girls and leave no one behind.

The Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division develops and implements UN Women’s work on programming, analysis, research and knowledge management to provide an evidence base for advice and guidance to intergovernmental processes, the UN system, member states and to UN Women staff working at country and regional levels on issues of gender equality and women's empowerment. It delivers results in support of UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and internationally agreed goals on gender equality and women’s empowerment, including the Beijing Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Division identifies emerging issues and trends and develops and proposes new strategies for achieving the agreed goals through innovative approaches and lessons learned on what works in practice.

The Governance and Participation Section is one of four thematic sections within the Division. UN Women strives to drive impact in area by this ensuring that all women and girls can fully and equally participate in decision-making and can benefit from gender responsive laws, policies, budgets, services and accountable institutions.

Ensuring that women and girls have full access to their rights is a key priority for UN Women and the UN system. Human rights are a requirement for realizing the transformative ambitions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and critical to the implementation of specific commitments of States enshrined in relevant international conventions, United Nations standards and norms. Human Rights promotion, and more specifically ending gender discriminatory laws, was defined in 2021 as a priority by the UN Secretary General for the UN system in his Call to Action for Human Rights and Our Common Agenda key proposals to accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) achievement.

Under Outcome 1 of Strategic Plan 2022–2025, UN Women strives to strengthen global normative frameworks and gender-responsive laws, policies and institutions, including by supporting normative advances and reporting to intergovernmental and UN processes. It seeks to help reach SDG Target 5.1 to “End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.” Indicator 5.1.1 “Whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex” monitors progress towards this Target.

UN Women, as a co-custodian with the World Bank Group and the OECD Development Center, collects and tracks data on indicator 5.1.1 as a contribution to the global monitoring process and to support member states achieve the 2030 Agenda. Data is collected based on a questionnaire covering legal frameworks to promote, enforce and monitor gender equality and non-discrimination. The data is reported every two years. SDG indicator 5.1.1 has also been included as part of UN Women, UNICEF, UNDP and UNFPA common and complementary indicators that contribute to UN inter-agency results and highlight a more joined-up approach to the achievement of global goals.

Under the supervision of the Global Policy Advisor - Human Rights, and in close collaboration with the Research and Data Section, the Policy Specialist, Human Rights and Data is responsible for advancing the Section’s research, analysis and dissemination work on human rights and legal frameworks in particular in relation to SDG indicator 5.1.1 specifically through: overseeing UN Women’s research, data compilation, analysis and dissemination of knowledge on legal frameworks and non-discrimination on the basis of sex; providing assistance to capacity development to national partners and country offices through the sharing of good practices; contributing to UN Women’s platforms on legal frameworks; and supporting monitoring and reporting of UN Women’s results on data on legal frameworks .

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide technical support to UN Women’s research, data compilation and methodological work on legal frameworks

• Oversee the data compilation on legal frameworks that promote gender equality, including research and analysis of surveys on legal frameworks, coordination with SDG indicator co-custodians, and direct follow up and engagement with national partners, including Ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Gender Machineries, National Statistical Offices, line ministries, and Permanent Missions to the UN;
• Conduct research on international standards in relation to legal frameworks that promote gender equality and advise on the application to survey results;
• Conduct research and analysis on good practices and lessons learned on legal frameworks that promote gender equality;
• Manage and update UN Women’s platforms relating to data on legal frameworks.

2. Provide technical support on SDG reporting and dissemination

• Prepare relevant documents, data, trends and storylines required for SDG monitoring in coordination with SDG indicator co-custodians and liaise with the UN Statistics Division;
• Provide technical support in preparing all necessary documentation for upgrading SDG Indicator 5.1.1 to tier 1, including those requested by the Inter-Agency Expert Group (IAEG) on SDGs, when criteria for upgrading to tier 1 is met;
• Manage the presentation, visualization and communication strategy for SDG Indicator 5.1.1 data and statistics in reports and knowledge products;
• Keep well-informed of updates, activities and directives of the IAEG on SDGs and brief colleagues in the Governance and Participation section;
• Participate in and/or represent the Unit as needed in internal and external meetings related to the advancement of the SDGs;
• Liaise regularly with the Research and Data Section and UN Women colleagues responsible for monitoring SDGs and IAEG developments.

3. Provide technical contributions to corporate planning monitoring and reporting

• Produce draft briefs, talking points, speeches, inputs to reports, publications and web content as required.

4. Provide technical and knowledge management support

• Collect and disseminate good practices and lessons learned;
• Provide direct technical support and knowledge, and coordinate with UN Women regional and country offices and stakeholders;
• Participate and share information in Communities of Practice.

5. Provide other support as requested by the supervisor

Key Performance Indicators:

• Timely and Quality research methods and data collection and analysis which strengthen UN Women’s ability to measure whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex;
• Timely and Quality technical support to ensure SDG Indicator 5.1.1 results are measured, analyzed and shared;
• Timely and Quality technical support and assistance to national partners and UN country offices that lead to enhance data collection and reporting;
• Quality and timely inputs to briefings, talking points, speeches, inputs to reports and, publications and web content;
• Quality representation, coordination and inputs to intergovernmental/interagency fora and SDG indicator co-custodian partnership.

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

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES

• Strong knowledge of gender related issues and human rights, including laws that promote gender equality;
• Strong knowledge of qualitative and quantitative data collection, research methods and statistical analysis; as well as database applications for statistical analysis, particularly in relation to gender and/or human rights;
• Ability to organize and complete multiple tasks by establishing priorities;
• Ability to handle a large volume of work possibly under time constraints;
• Strong written and oral communication skills;
• Ability to establish, build and sustain effective relationships with partners, including representatives of member states, UN agencies, SDG indicator co-custodians and UN Women field offices.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in law, human rights, development, gender, political science and/or international development;
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience in policy research/data analysis on gender equality at the international level, at least 2 of which should be directly related to Human Rights;
• At least two years experience in quantitative and statistical analysis, including developing data sets, research papers and web content;
• Experience working with laws that promote gender equality is a distinct advantage;
• Experience working with inter-governmental bodies and international human rights processes is an asset.

Languages:

• Written and oral proficiency in English is required;
• Knowledge of another UN language is desirable.

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/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form.doc. 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.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

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.)