UN Women: Programme Specialist, Africa

Contract

This is a P-4 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 7 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 171,387 USD and 220,969 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.

The Policy, Programme, and Intergovernmental Division (PPID) provides global support to UN Women offices in all field locations and at Headquarters to deliver 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 provides intellectual and strategic leadership on normative support and delivery of integrated policy and programme advice, including through policy analysis and gender mainstreaming. The Division leverages innovation, knowledge management, and cutting-edge technical expertise to support UN Women’s operational work to build the capacity of partners to deliver results on gender equality and women’s empowerment at the country level and coordinate the contribution of the UN system.

The Political Analysis and Programme Development Unit (PAPDU) is a unit within PPID focused on providing regional and country analysis and field support, and developing approaches and guidance on cross- cutting programming priorities and principles. PAPDU is also engaged in the development of political analysis, support to senior management in participation in high level meetings and is engaged in corporate support and quality assurance processes.

Under the supervision of the Chief of PAPDU, the Programme Specialist is responsible for providing political and regional analysis, and supporting programme planning at field levels.

The position will support the work in the continent of Africa, working in close collaboration with regional and country offices in East and Southern Africa and West and Central Africa.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Lead political analysis, forecasting and horizon scanning on strategic, emerging and/or topical issues in Africa to inform UN Women w****ork and positioning in inter-agency initiatives and processes

• Monitor and analyze development trends, political developments, gender equality issues (GE Issues) across the region to offer substantive recommendations to inform corporate decisions;
• Conduct desk research, track, and analyze emerging and evolving crisis and complex development situations, identify critical issues for UN Women programming and offer substantive recommendations to the PPID and UN Women Senior Management on corporate advice to country and regional offices in the development of strategies for positioning of UN Women
• Contribute to crisis situation rooms for the African countries and region including with pollical analysis and development of key messages.
• Stay abreast of the work and priorities of regional inter-governmental organizations such as the African Union and regional strategies such as Agenda 2063 and the UN Integrated strategy for the Sahel (UNISS).
• Act as the focal point for Africa in HQ and respond to information requests and representation of UN Women in inter-agency meeting and processes when required.
• Participate in relevant external meetings, partnerships and advocacy activities with UN partners, Permanent Missions, and external stakeholders.

2. Support effective representation of UN Women leadership on issues pertaining to Africa - liaising and coordinating with CO/ROs and units across the organization

• Prepare background analysis and briefing documents for UN Women senior management participation in the SG’s Executive Committee and other high level meetings as relevant for Africa in close coordination with regional offices.
• Support political analysis in crisis contexts to support UN Women’s response, as well as the UN preventative mechanisms, such as the Regional Monthly Reviews (RMRs) for Africa.

3****. Support country a****nd regional SN planning, p****roject development and oversight with a focus on Africa

• Support the implementation of the UN Women Strategic Plan 2022-2025 in Africa through and technical support to offices in the CCA/UNSDCF and Strategic Note (SN) planning process.
• Support quality assurance processes for Strategic Notes and the projects from the region reviewed at HQ level and annual results reporting. Support CO/ROs integrate cross cutting programmatic principles such as leave no one behind and a human rights-based approach in its strategy and projects.
• Provide technical support to COs/ROs on the integration of normative and inter-governmental commitments (Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Agreed Conclusions, Universal Periodic Review (UPR) General Assembly (GA) resolutions, High Level Political Forum (HLPF) voluntary reports) in field-level programming and advocacy to ensure an effective flow of information between HQ and field offices;
• Support the alignment of SNs and projects with Gender Equality Accelerators;
• Provide technical support along with UN Women’s UN System Coordination Division, to facilitate COs/ROs in carrying out their coordination function, to ensure their full contribution through the UN System Development Group (UNSDG) Regional Directors teams.

4. Support partnerships, knowledge management and interagency collaboration with a focus on Africa

• Support the implementation of key recommendations from corporate evaluation linked to strategic programme development;
• Prepare synthesis of UN Women’s programmes and results in Africa for internal and external communication and reporting
• Support cross regional analysis and sharing of lessons learnt in different areas to support programme development
• Strengthen and maintain partnerships with Permanent Missions and UN partners.

5. The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

• Support corporate functions in line with the implementation of the UN Women Strategic Plan and mandate.
• Support to UN Women’s engagement in inter-agency work such as the UNSDG and related to development of guidance on UN reform and country level programming around the CCA/UNSDCF and related monitoring aspects.

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 Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Excellent programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Knowledge in the thematic areas covered by the UN Women Strategic Plan 2022-2025
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them
• Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Ability to lead formulation of strategies and their implementation
• Strong networking and coordination skills

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in political science, women studies, law, economics or a related field 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.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of progressively responsible work experience in political analysis, programmatic work in the area of gender equality and coordination is required.
• Experience in both field office and headquarters is required.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems is required.
• Experience working on emerging and/or topical issues in Africa is desirable.
• Experience in managerial roles is desirable.
• Experience in the UN System is desirable.
• Experience in the use of a modern web-based ERP System, preferably Oracle Cloud, is desirable.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Fluency in French 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.)