UN WOMEN - POLICY ADVISOR (PEACEBUILDING AND ACCOUNTABILITY), New York

UN WOMEN: POLICY ADVISOR (PEACEBUILDING AND ACCOUNTABILITY) - RE-ADVERTISEMENT

Location : New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Application Deadline : 09-Dec-13

Type of Contract : FTA International

Post Level : P-5

Languages Required : English

Duration of Initial Contract : 1 year

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 Division develops and implements the UN Women program of work on analysis, research and knowledge management that provides the evidence base for the advice and guidance UN Women provides to the intergovernmental process, the UN system, and to UN Women staff working at country and regional level on issues of gender equality and women's empowerment. It identifies emerging issues and trends, and develops and proposes new strategies for achieving the agreed goals through innovative approaches and lessons learned about what works in practice. It also designs and oversees the training and capacity development programs of UN Women, working closely with the UN Women training facility in Santo Domingo. The Policy Division staff is organized in Thematic Clusters, bringing together technical experts who: undertake issues-based research; analyze data on country, regional or global trends; build a knowledge base on policy commitments and their implementation; propose evidence-based options for global policy, norms and standards and for UN Women global programme strategies; and contribute substantive inputs to policy advocacy and technical cooperation programmes. Under the supervision of the Section Chief the Policy Advisor is responsible for developing and implementing the organization policies in his/her thematic area of expertise to achieve gender equality and advancement of women. He/she provides technical and policy advice at country and regional levels, through strategy development, thematic reviews, tools for capabilities building and channels for knowledge sharing and prepare documentation for UN normative intergovernmental processes; prepare studies, reports and content for policy advocacy.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions:

• Practice management functions;
• Substantive intergovernmental support and policy development;
• Advisory services, technical guidance and programme support;
• Representation and advocacy;
• Knowledge generation and capacity building.

Practice management functions:

• Under the guidance and supervision of the Section Chief, maintain oversight of core and cost-sharing Peace and Security Section budgets and report periodically to the Section Chief. This includes monitoring incoming funds and ensuring their timely disbursal to agreed programme activities as well as thematic activities and project lines, to ensure timely and effective delivery against budgets;
• Maintain oversight of human resources management in the Section including planning for consistent coverage of key work areas, reporting periodically to the Section Chief;
• Monitor and evaluate progress towards overall peace and Security Section policy and programme outputs, including through overseeing the production of realistic timelines, setting critical milestones, and programming field missions as needed. Contribute to the drafting, approvals process, budgeting, and regular review of the WPS Workplan and ensure its coherence with the overall UN Women SP;
• Supervise learning, monitoring and evaluation: ensure that WPS programme activities make appropriate provision financially and technically for regular monitoring and assessments or evaluations. Ensure coherence in monitoring frameworks. Ensure learning from evaluation processes and adaptation of evaluation insights to future programming;
• Act as Officer-in-charge for Chief in Policy Division Management processes or in external representative functions as needed, particularly to support implementation of overall strategies and intra and inter-divisional policies and procedures;
• Lead the Peace and Security Section's contribution to selected corporate management functions as requested by the Section Chief.

Substantive support to Inter-governmental processes and policy development:

• Manage UN Women's role as lead of UN System coordination and coherence on Women Peace and Security, including chairing the Inter Agency Standing Committee on Women Peace and Security (SC of the Interagency Network on gender Equality and Women's Empowerment);
• Lead strategic thinking and direct the substantive work of the section on peacebuilding in general and accountability in particular. The accountability work includes monitoring the work of the Section on reporting on SC resolutions and direct supervision of the P 4 charged with annual production of the SG report to the Security Council on Women Peace and Security as well as related reports. The peacebuilding work involves supervision of P 4 on Peacebuilding and, if necessary, secondary supervision of other staff who fall under the supervision of the Section Chief;
• Support implementation of the UN System-Wide Strategic Results Framework on WPS, including through ensuring development of baselines, targets, and regular monitoring; in order to build system accountability for implementation;
• Oversee the refinement and development of UN indicators on the implementation of UNSCR 1325 through management of data inputs from UN entities, processing and analysis of data, commissioning additional inputs, preparation of templates for consistent reporting, and training partners in reporting;
• Coordinate preparation and production of annual SG reports on women peace and security and other issues, including via managing data inputs and maintaining a watching brief over progress in advancing the WPS agenda over time;
• Convene or represent UN Women in UN interagency working groups or international forums to enhance coordination and coherence and/or ensure increased attention to gender equality issues in sectoral areas;
• Ensure consistency and coherence in UN Women's work in specific sub-components of the women, peace and security agenda notably the design and implementation of National Action or other domestic plans on women peace and security;
• Review and build up UN Women's capacity to provide policy leadership and direct technical advice in core areas of women peace and security work, notably through the identification, development and deployment of pools of expertise;
• Support substantive expansion of UN Women's work on peacebuilding and accountability through engagement with interagency processes in this area.

Advisory services, technical guidance and programme support:

• Support to ROs/MCOs/COs through technical advice and direct missions to provide hands-on support for programming and advocacy as appropriate, notably in the arenas linked to accountability such as monitoring comparative learning, and use of evidence to support advocacy, as well as offering technical support on peacebuilding (including specific elements of peacebuilding such as governance, rule of law, security, economic recovery, planning etc.);
• Supervise, provide guidance and coordinate staff involved in programme management with a view to ensuring activities are engaged in a timely fashion, financial and donor reporting is conducted on time, and implementation problems are detected at early stages;
• Provide technical inputs on peacebuilding and accountability to program documents, country strategies, strategic decisions such as Policy Committee submissions, and knowledge products;
• Develop and mobilize resources for catalytic global programmes with normative and universal content with can add value to UN Women's leadership in innovation, knowledge, and technical areas;
• Develop gender expertise for targeted women peace and security technical functions across UN Women, the UN system, and UNCTs, including via initiation and management of a roster system.

Representation, advocacy and partnerships building:

• Represent UN Women at policy making in inter-agency, inter-governmental and international technical and advocacy forums;
• Participate in international, regional or national meetings and provide programmatic/substantive expertise on WPS issues with a particular expertise in coordination, monitoring and frameworks for implementation, and hold programmatic/substantive and organizational discussions with representatives of other institutions;
• Contribute to pro-active and strategic positioning and planning for the public appearances and trips of the Executive Director of UN Women and its other top managers;
• Develop productive partnerships for the Peace and Security Section and for UN Women that further section and corporate goals, enable action in gap areas, and engage non-traditional partners to amplify impact in neglected areas.

Evidence-based knowledge generation with a focus on quantitative analysis:

• Conceive the research component of evidence-based advocacy work at headquarters, particularly in the form of designing, commissioning, reviewing, and adapting studies aimed at generating evidence for advocacy projects, with particular attention to empirical and quantitative evidence in the policy Advisor's core areas of technical competence;
• Research, develop and/or present policy papers, guidance and practice notes and other knowledge based-tools for discussion in global and regional forums to help influence/advance policy dialogue in the area of peace and security;
• Establish and nurture relationship with academia, research institutes, civil society and experts to expand and share knowledge, exchange views on latest findings, incorporate cutting-edge thinking in UN work, with particular attention to quantitative analytical work in the area of peace and security;
• Contribute to the knowledge management of the peace and security team, particularly by incorporating quantitative approaches;
• Contribute to the development of capacity building of UN Women Programme staff including through training in women peace and security, in collaboration with the Santo Domingo office;
• Ensure information flow on crosscutting themes within the section and between Peace and Security Section and other relevant parts of UN Women such as the Programme Division, Operations, Intergovernmental, and other thematic sections;
• Supervise and coordinate relevant staff in design and production of relevant knowledge products as well as programming tools.

Impact of Results:

UN Women demonstrates global leadership and advances women's participation in policy fields of peace and security, and also supports provision of adequate provision of gender expertise to these fields. The key results from expected from this post should impact on the effective internal management and responsiveness of the Section and its contributions to the strategic actions and practical results by ROs/MCOs/COs in the area of Peace and Security.

Competencies

Core values and Guiding principles:

Integrity:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

• Demonstrate and promote ethics and integrity by creating organizational precedents.

Organizational Awareness:

• Build support for the organization and ensure political acumen.

Development and Innovation:

• Support staff competence development, and contribute to an environment of creativity and innovation.

Work in teams:

• Build and promote effective teams.
• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communication and Information Sharing:

• Create and promote an environment for open and effective communication;

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

• Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management:

• Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Share knowledge across the organization and build a culture of knowledge sharing and learning.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

• Ensure fair and transparent decision making processes and manage risk.

Functional Competencies:

• Substantive knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in women peace and security, with specific reference to peacebuilding (and at least some of the substantive components of peacebuilding such as governance, rule of law, security, economic recovery, planning, etc.), and accountability issues.
• Substantive knowledge of intergovernmental processes and politics related to women peace and security.
• Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of development experience.
• Strong communications skills, with proven expertise in writing cogent and convincing policy and programme documents for development practitioners.
• Proven record of conducting research, with excellent analytical skills, including empirical and quantitative analysis, to support programming and policy.
• Ability to leverage information technology, executive information systems, statistical data, management techniques and tools for optimal office performance.
• Good planning, goal-setting and prioritization skills.
• A record of managerial competence including budgetary oversight.
• Strong skills in strategic management and supporting staff development.
• Effectiveness in establishing and fostering good relations with government counterparts, UN agencies, donors, and NGO partners.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master's degree (or equivalent) in development related disciplines, gender issues, economics, political science, international relations, public policy, law or other social science fields directly related to the thematic area of the post.

Experience:

• 10 years of extensive development or peace and security experience that combines intellectual, strategic and managerial leadership in development, planning, policy analysis, data processing and analysis, sociological/gender equality at least seven of which is in the field of peace and security.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of another UN official language is an asset.

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. All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment. 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.

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UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.