UN Women Programme Specialist

Job ID/Title :UN Women Programme Specialist
Brand :UNWOMEN
Application Deadline :26-Sep-12
Duty Station :     Ramallah/Jerusalem with travel to other WB
Type of Contract :Service Contract
Languages Required :Arabic, English,
Starting Date:15-Oct-12
Duration of Initial Contract:12 months
Expected Duration of Assignment :12 months

 

Background:
The UN Women (UNW), 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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) since its inception in 1997. UN Women oPt focuses its activities on one overarching goal, namely to support the implementation at the national level of existing international commitments to advance gender equality in line with the national priorities. In support of this goal, and thoroughly taking into consideration the specificities of the oPt context, UN Women concentrates its efforts and interventions toward the realisation of following strategic goals: Engendering governance, peace and security; Supporting women's economic security and rights; and Promoting women’s rights and protection against violence.
The PA Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA) is the principle national mechanism for coordinating gender policy development and for monitoring and reporting. In that regard, UN Women has been supporting MoWA since its establishment in 2003 to fulfill its mandate in providing support to other government institutions for gender mainstreaming, including capacity building of and technical assistance to state institutions for the promotion of gender mainstreaming. Particularly, UN Women has provided the national machinery for the advancement of women with technical assistance and financial support since MoWA was tasked by the Palestinian Cabinet, together with the Ministry of Planning and Administrative Development (MoPAD), to develop a Cross-Sectoral National Gender Strategy (CSNGS) 2011-2013 in August 2009  with the purpose of placing gender equality and women’s empowerment at the core of the Palestinian National Plan 2011-2013.
UN Women in collaboration with the Local Aid Coordination Secretariat  (LACS) have organized a Gender Survey of the aid coordination structure in the oPt to explore possibilities to include gender mainstreaming in the aid coordination. Following this assignment that was conducted in a very participative manner, recommendations have been developed.

Description of Responsibilities:
Under the overall guidance of the oPt’s Special Representative of UN Women and the direct supervision of the UN Women Gender Mainstreaming Officer, the consultant will undertake the following duties and responsibilities:
The objectives of the assignment are to develop a functional coordination unit at MoWA that can support the dissemination and follow up on the implementation of the National Gender Strategy and coordinate between different partners (donors, PA, CSO, UN …) and to lead the discussions and implementation of the recommendations stemming from the survey on gender in the aid coordination structure.
-Perform as liaison person between UN Women, LACS and the Ministry of Women's Affairs on all issues related to coordination and aid effectiveness on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GE/WE) between the members of the aid coordination structure: donors, UN Agencies, MoPAD, PA line ministries, LACS and  and other relevant stakeholders;
-Organize needs assessment for the Ministry of Women Affairs on coordination issues with donors and partners.
-Support the Ministry of Women's Affairs in developing an strategy to coordinate and implement the national gender strategy, as well as developing yearly working plans for the effective development of this strategy.
-Present the National Strategy objectives and priorities to the relevant SWGs, outreach to PA and Donor Co-Chairs of the same groups, and seek opportunities to involve groups’ members in planning, reviews and implementation for selected sectors;
-Support Ministry of Women’s Affairs for the mid-term review of the Cross-Sectoral National Gender Strategy 2011-2013.
-Support Ministry of Women’s Affairs to develop the next National Gender Strategy 2014-2016.
-Closely coordinate and ensure flow of information with the other UN Women staff and LACS working on coordination, gender mainstreaming and aid effectiveness
-Ensure sharing of information with UN Women programme staff related to coordination on GE/WE and implementation of national gender strategy;   
-Support LACS (secretariat) on technical matters regarding GE/W, and lead the process of  enhancing gender mainstreaming in the aid coordination structure in close cooperation with LACS  (including the potential establishment of a gender marker system, indicators and a possible gender expert platform, make the case for gender mainstreaming in specific sectors and strategies, development of a gender charter, review membership of MoWA in certain groups);
-Ensure transfer of knowledge to the Ministry of Women's Affairs staff working on issues related to coordination and aid effectiveness;
-Establish an effective and regularly implemented mechanism for transferring knowledge – including coaching mechanisms -  to the Ministry of Women's Affairs staff working on issues related to coordination and aid effectiveness;
-Liaise, also throughout the phase of supporting the Ministry of Women's Affairs in drafting the strategy and developing and implementing the action plans, with key stakeholders in GE/WE, including Ministries, donors, International Organizations, non-governmental organizations and service providers;
-Support Ministry of Women's Affairs staff in preparing and conducting meetings with key stakeholders and civil society’s organizations to strengthen their role and to build consensus among governmental and non-governmental organizations, within specific reference to the national gender strategy;
-Contribute to reinforce partnership between PA, donors and civil society in the implementation of the strategic plan;
-Provide recommendations aiming to make the plan broadly supported, applicable and sustainable;
-Support Ministry of Women's Affairs staff in the work with the National Committee related to GE/WE and more specifically for the implementation of the National Gender Strategy;
-Participate to UN Women staff meetings, as requested;
-Prepare written reports, as requested;
-Perform other duties as required.

Time frame:
The assignment is expected to start in 15th of October  2012 and to be finalized by 14th of October 2013.

Competencies :
CORE VALUES / GUIDING PRINCIPLES:
-Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
-Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

CORE COMPETENCIES:
-Ethics and Values: Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity;
-Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
-Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring: Initiative-taking; coaching and mentoring ability;
-Working in Teams: Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
-Communicating Information and Ideas: Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
-Self-management and Emotional intelligence: Creating synergies through self-control.
-Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements: Managing conflict;
-Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning: Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of other.

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:
-Ability to lead strategic planning, change processes.
-Ability to lead formulation, oversight of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects. Strong organizational skills.
-Ability to coordinate the work of others, work on tight deadlines and handle multiple concurrent projects/activities. Strong analytical and organizational skills and attention to detail
-Substantive knowledge and experience in the provision of coordinated support to advance gender equality.
-Ability to think conceptually, strategically and analytically.
-Excellent leadership, networking and interpersonal skills, including ability to operate effectively across organizational boundaries.
-Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills.
-Ability to lead effectively, strong facilitation skills as well as conflict resolution skills.
-Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
-Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
-Ability to make decisions under pressure and to deal with matters that are politically and cultural sensitive.
-Sound understanding of issues related to development in crisis and post-crisis situations;
-Results oriented, flexible and problem solving skills.
-Good interpersonal and diplomacy skills.

Qualifications :
Education:
-Minimum master’s degree in social sciences and/or development studies, or equivalent of 7 years of experience in relevant field of work.

Experience:
-A minimum of 6 years of working experience in the field of GE/WE, preferably with a strong background in Gender Mainstreaming.
-A minimum of 5 years of working experience working in coordination (preferable with government officials and/or donors).
-Proven experience in programme planning and management.
-Strong familiarity working with UN agencies or other agencies in the development sector.
-Proven advocacy, analytical and writing skills.
-Experience in training (on the job coaching) and ability to organize and implement training sessions is an asset.

Language Requirements:
-Fluency in Arabic and Working Knowledge of English.
Important message to all applicants!
-You will get the opportunity to upload the P-11 at when you apply for the position.

UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest.