Back Re-Advertisement: Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Sub-Cluster Coordinator, Kabul, Afghanistan, P4

NOTE: This is a re-advertisement of a previous recruitment attempt. Candidates who have previously applied are invited to re-apply if they wish to do so and meet the position requirements.

The Position:

Under the overall guidance of the UNFPA CO Representative and the direct supervision of the Humanitarian Coordinator, the incumbent facilitates and coordinates the rapid implementation of multi-sectoral, interagency GBV interventions in a humanitarian emergency. Comprehensive GBV prevention and response programming in humanitarian emergencies requires skilled coordination of a range of organizations and actors from the displaced and host communities, NGOs, government partners, UN agencies, and other national and international organizations. The GBV Sub Cluster (GBV-SC) Coordinator’s duties include ensuring implementation of the cluster core coordination functions and key deliverables by the GBV-SC; building and sustaining partnerships, strategic planning, capacity development, advocacy, and ensuring there is safe and ethical information management. The GBV-SC Coordinator will use the IASC’s Guidelines for Integrating Gender-based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action: Reducing Risk, Promoting Resilience, and Aiding Recovery, the GBV Area of Responsibility’s Handbook for Coordination of GBV Interventions in Emergencies (2019), UNFPA’s Managing GBV Programmes in Emergencies Guide and The Inter-agency Minimum Standards for GBV in Emergencies Programming (2019) to facilitate planning, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of inter-agency GBV initiatives.

The GBV-SC Coordinator will be expected to meet the GBV in Emergencies competencies outlined in the GBV AoR’s Core Competencies for GBV Program Managers and Coordinators in Humanitarian Settings (2014).

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Job Purpose:

Afghanistan is affected by one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the world, emanating from almost 40 years of protracted, armed conflict and frequent natural disasters. When the Taliban de facto administration (DFA) came to power in August 2021, development assistance halted abruptly, and Afghan foreign assets were frozen. Afghanistan consistently ranks globally within the top 10 countries facing the worst humanitarian disasters. It is the country with the highest level of risk in the Asia Pacific region, according to the Inform Risk Index for humanitarian disasters. These humanitarian challenges must be addressed through service adaptation as well as increased support and resources dedicated to humanitarian coordination of the response.

Since 2012, the GBV-SC in Afghanistan has played a critical role as part of the humanitarian response. It is a core component of the Protection Cluster, ensuring there is a multi-sector prevention and response to GBV, while providing technical support to other sectors and the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) for integrating GBV into all aspects of the humanitarian response in line with the HCT Protection Strategy.

Therefore, Afghanistan CO is seeking a dedicated full time GBV-SC Coordinator.

You would be responsible for:

A. Building and Sustaining Partnerships
• Facilitate inter-agency, multi-sectoral GBV-SC at national and sub-national levels. Promote, respect and ensure that the Principles of Partnership are reflected in the day-to-day work of the GBV-SC. Establish result-oriented, two-way communication channels between national and sub-national GBV-SC to ensure a standardized response to GBV.
• Proactively engage with all relevant stakeholders to ensure coordination bodies reflect the range of actors addressing GBV, including across multiple sectors (health, psychosocial, legal, security, etc.) and categories of actors (UN, NGO, civil society, government, etc.). As feasible, engage UN missions who may be active in addressing GBV, including but not limited to ensuring inter-agency inputs related to GBV service provision to the annual Secretary General’s report on conflict-related sexual violence.
• Regularly represent the GBV-SC in Protection Cluster meetings, ICCT, OCHA-led meetings (e.g. around development of the Strategic Response Plan or for Inter-Cluster Coordination), and other relevant meetings, including those called by the Humanitarian Coordinator.
• Coordinate and collaborate with other clusters/working groups such as the Adolescent and Youth Working Group, Reproductive Maternal Neonatal Child Adolescent Health in Emergency Working Group, Health Cluster, Child Protection sub-cluster, Shelter Cluster, Food Security Cluster, Education Cluster, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Working Group, etc. to ensure integration of GBV-related action in their Cluster plans and to advocate for joint awareness-raising for non-GBV specialists.
• Advocate with donors and mobilize resources for inter-agency GBV prevention and response in line with GBV-SC work plan; the Strategic Response Plan for the Afghanistan Humanitarian Response Plan and the GBV Accountability Framework. As necessary, leverage resources within UNFPA to support inter-agency GBV activities under the sub-cluster.
• In consultation with non-governmental GBV actors and national civil society, identify appropriate mechanisms for working with and collaborating with national authorities on GBV issues in emergencies, in line with humanitarian principles.

B. Support service delivery
• In collaboration with national and international GBV actors, map current institutional response capacities, including facilitating mapping of GBV-specific 3Ws.
• Facilitate rapid establishment and dissemination of referral pathways and Standard Operating Procedures, where needed and applicable. Regularly review existing SOPs at strategic points throughout the crisis response, recommending revisions and dissemination activities as required.

C. Strategic Planning
• Lead a process to develop a realistic, evidence-based multi-sectoral and inter-agency prevention and response plan. Promote engagement of a range of sectors and ensure realistic benchmarks and timelines for achieving set objectives. Regularly monitor progress against plan during coordination meetings. Allow space for new actors to engage with plan over the course of the crisis response.
• Work with partners to continually identify and prioritize response gaps in line with proposed work plan (including geographic coverage and programmatic scope) and seek solutions to fill gaps. Advocate with UNFPA as sub-cluster lead to address gaps not yet filled by partners.
• Contribute GBV-related inputs to inter-agency contingency plans.

D. Capacity Development
• Work with partners to develop an inter-agency GBV capacity development strategy that meets the needs and priorities of key national and local stakeholders to facilitate implementation of the agreed work plan and preparedness.
• Revise existing training materials according to local context and ensure partners’ access to relevant training sessions.
• Support efforts to strengthen the capacity of sub-cluster members on planning and responding to GBV in emergencies and on safe and ethical GBV information management.
• Ensure all GBV-SC partners and others are aware of relevant policy guidelines, technical standards, and other resource materials (go to www.gbvaor.net for the latest information).
• Facilitate the establishment and capacity strengthening of sub-national GBV-SC where possible or integrate GBV focal points into existing humanitarian working groups.

E. Advocacy
• Ensure the advocacy “key deliverables” for cluster coordination of the GBV-SC are in place and regularly updated.
• Provide technical support to the development of relevant advocacy and policy documents to address GBV in emergencies, in the context of broader gender inequality issues.
• Promote awareness of national laws and policies that inform action to address GBV.

F. Information Management
In line with WHO’s Ethical and Safety Recommendations for Researching, Documenting and Monitoring Sexual Violence in Emergencies and the GBV AoR Information Management tools and resources:

• Development relevant monitoring and evaluation indicators and tools in line with the requirements for the Humanitarian Response Plan and for evaluating the sub-cluster’s performance.
• Ensure partners regularly and accurately contribute to the 3/4/5Ws and FTS, and other required cluster data collection mechanisms.
• Engage in robust analyses of available secondary data to ensure readily-available information on known trends and patterns on GBV for inclusion at relevant points along the Humanitarian Programme Cycle, including the MIRA.
• Consolidate existing assessments on the GBV situation and/or work with relevant agencies, the displaced and host populations to conduct relevant, safe participatory analyses of GBV.
• Undertake new assessment missions as necessary/appropriate to identify strategic inter-sectoral approaches for addressing it.
• Work with the GBV-SC to adopt a standardized GBV incident report/intake form and other relevant forms as necessary. Train partner organizations and other sectors in the use of this form with particular emphasis to the Guiding Principles for Working with GBV Survivors and in line with the GBV Information Management System (GBVIMS), where applicable.
• If necessary, develop monthly report formats that capture relevant and safe information and that support the analysis and evaluation of program progress and outcomes.
• Document best practices and approaches for responding to issues of GBV in order to deepen the knowledge base among relevant partners.
• Prepare regular analytical reports on emerging issues.
• Set standards for inter-agency safe and ethical use of GBV data, and monitor the implementation of these standards by sub-cluster members to ensure compliance.
• Identify and mobilize resources required to implement the sub-cluster Information Management functions, including support recruitment and management of qualified IM staff.

G. Monitoring
• Facilitate and, where possible, participate in regular inter-agency joint field monitoring missions in support of GBV-SC Coordination and provision of GBV services in emergencies (GBViE);
• Coordinate with OCHA for country-based pool funds (CBPF) funded projects monitoring, review and reporting and provide expert actions
Administrative and Miscellaneous Duties
• Write monthly reports documenting progress against work plan outputs.

H. Programme Management and Monitoring
• Manage implementation of GBV-SC related programming, involve in the planning, monitoring and reporting of relevant GBV projects.

Qualifications and Experience:

Education:

Advanced university degree in social work or other social sciences, public health, community health, international relations, international law, gender studies, human rights or related field.

Knowledge and Experience:

● 7 years of experience working on gender-based violence, of which 5 are at the international level, preferably in a humanitarian context.
● Experience leading inter-agency coordination mechanisms with a wide range of stakeholders, preferably on prevention and response to GBV. Demonstrable knowledge of the critical components to facilitate effective inter-agency coordination.
● Awareness and demonstrable knowledge of how GBV manifests in humanitarian settings and ability to describe context-specific prevention and response actions.
● Demonstrable knowledge of humanitarian emergency operations, including the Cluster System and HPC, and roles/responsibilities of key humanitarian actors.
● Experience designing and managing GBV programmes (recommended).

Languages:

Fluency in English is required; Working knowledge of another official UN language is desirable.

Required Competencies:

Values:

Core Competencies:

Functional Competencies:

• Strategically positioning UNFPA programmes
• Providing conceptual innovation to support programme effectiveness
• Generating, managing and promoting the use of knowledge and information
• Providing a technical support system
• Strengthening the programming capacity of Country Offices
• Facilitating quality programmatic results
• Internal and External communication and advocacy for results mobilization

Compensation and Benefits:

This position offers an attractive remuneration package including a competitive net salary plus health insurance and other benefits as applicable.

UNFPA Work Environment:
UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce - click here to learn more.

Disclaimer:
Selection and appointment may be subject to background and reference checks, medical clearance, visa issuance and other administrative requirements.
UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process and does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts.
Applicants for positions in the international Professional and higher categories, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.

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