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 provides global programming and policy support to allow UN Women offices at Headquarters and in all field locations to deliver effective and efficient initiatives to support the implementation of UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2018-2021 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 the delivery of integrated policy advice, including through policy analysis and gender mainstreaming. The Division leverages innovation, knowledge management, and cutting-edge technical expertise to support UN Women programmes and to build the capacity of partners to deliver results on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The work of UN Women’s Ending Violence against Women (EVAW) Section is focused on a comprehensive approach to ending violence against women that addresses legislation and policies, prevention, services for survivors, research and data, in public and private spaces. Prevention is an integral part of UN Women’s approach to ending violence against women and it has been growing as a thematic and progrmmatic area of work for the organization.
Under the supervision of the Chief of the Section, the Policy Specialist is responsible for providing technical advice and support to the UN Women country and regional offices working on EVAW, and especially in the area of prevention, leveraging the work of existing EVAW intitatives to build the EVAW evidence and knowledge base, and identifying new strategic partnerships to support evidence-based policies and programming on EVAW and prevention.
Duties and Responsibilities
Provide policy advice and technical support to UN Women country and regional offices and partners in the area of ending violence against women, and particularly in the area of prevention:
- Lead the development of tools and guidelines on EVAW for use by UN Women field offices, the UN system, and other partners;
- Identify and catalyze work in new/cutting edge areas in the area of VAW prevention and identify funding sources;
- Provide technical support, including through technical inputs and support to intergovernmental processes, to the development of new global normative and intergovernmental standards;
- Provide technical guidance and advice on programme documents, country strategies, and knowledge products;
- Provide thematic inputs and guidance to corporate strategic planning and positioning;
- Provide policy advice and technical support to UN Women field offices.
Provide capacity building support to country offices/ multi country offices in close collaboration with regional teams and external partners:
- Provide capacity building and technical advice to country offices and multi-country offices in developing and strengthening policies and programmes on EVAW and VAW prevention wih impact indicators and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in place;
- Manage the identification of knowledge and implementation gaps and possible solutions;
- Develop, implement and monitor capacity building initiatives;
- Identify spaces for mutual learning and sharing across offices, regions and divisions.
Research, analyze and manage knowledge on ending violence against women, particularly in the area of prevention:
- Conduct on-going research and analysis of global, regional and national trends and promising strategies related to VAW prevention to support the development of policies and innovative programming;
- Establish global communities of practice that promote collaboration, innovation and exchange of good practices;
- Oversees the EVAW Global Knowledge Platform, including the Virtual Knowledge Centre, to strengthen the knowledge and evidence base on EVAW;
- Engage in global research and multi-sectoral networks to strengthen the linkages between research findings and EVAW policies and programmes within and outside UN Women.
Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with stakeholders, regional/ international actors in the area of EVAW, and particularly in the area of prevention:
- Build and strengthen strategic partnerships for the advancement of innovative prevention strategies and programmes;
- Identify strategic opportunities to link and strengthen EVAW programming, especially in the area of prevention, with existing EVAW initiatives and UN wide priorities (including but not limited to: Action Coalitions, Spotlight, SDGs, etc);
- Build and strengthen close liaisons with relevant donors and other actors, including the private sector, supporting efforts towards EVAW and VAW prevention.
Perform any other duties as requested by the supervisor.
Key Performance Indicators:
- Timely and quality technical advice and support;
- Leadership in the area of EVAW;
- Quality reports and other strategic documents drafted and submitted in a timely manner;
- Strong relationships with various partners and stakeholders;
- UN Women is well represented in important meetings on topics related to EVAW;
- Contributions to resource mobilization;
- Timely and quality knowledge products.
Competencies
Core values:
- Integrity;
- Professionalism;
- Respect for Diversity.
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/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637
Functional Competencies:
- Srong and proven knowledge of gender issues and violence against women and girls;
- Excellent networking skills;
- Ability to interact with donors, identify and analyse trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising;
- Ability to perform qualitative and quantitative policy research;
- Ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
- Excellent analytical skills;
- Ability to write policy papers, speeches, briefings;
- Strong knowledge of programme development, implementation, results based management and reporting.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Master degree (or equivalent) in international development, social sciences, gender/women’s studies, public policy, human rights or other related social science field;
- 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 experience in designing and managing programmes and doing policy research and advocacy for the elimination of violence against women, especially in the area of prevention, ideally with some experience in developing countries;
- Experience working with and building partnerships with governments, donors and civil society organizations internationally and in the field;
- Experience working with the UN is an asset.
Languages:
- Written and oral proficiency in English is required;
- Knowledge of another UN working language is an asset.
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/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558. 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.