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Egypt: Women, Peace, Security and Humanitarian Advisor

Sep 17, 2023 | United Nations Women

Background

 Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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.

UN Women’s Regional Office for the Arab States (ROAS) has recently adopted its new Strategic Note (2022-25). Its vision is to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and the full enjoyment of their human rights in the Arab States, propelling peace, economic prosperity, and sustainable development for all. Its goal is to accelerate achievements for the largest possible numbers of women and girls in the region, including the most vulnerable, in the next 4 years. To accomplish this, UN Women work with its partners and offices across 17 countries to implement targeted programmes that support women’s economic empowerment, women’s leadership and participation, women, peace and security, and humanitarian (WPS-HA) issues, as well as ending violence against women.

The scope of work of the Women, Peace, Security, and Humanitarian Advisor is to deepen results in the area of WPS-HA, where possible bringing regional coordination and programmatic synergies to these areas for greater impact in the lives of women and girls.

Under the supervision of the Regional Director, and in close collaboration with the Chief, Peace, Security, Humanitarian, and Resilience (PSHR) and the team in HQ, the advisor is expected to engage proactively with local and regional women leaders, UN Entities (including relevant Divisions, Sections, and Country Offices within UN Women) and regional and sub-regional bodies. The position requires experience and an in-depth understanding of gender equality, peace and security, and humanitarian issues to translate UN Women's strategic plan and regional strategic notes into effective programmes and results. It also requires the provision of solid WPS-Humanitarian programming support to country offices, developing mutually reinforcing partnerships with relevant Government counterparts, UN organizations, and CSOs in the region, as to develop programmes that enhance the synergies between peace processes at the national and community level and peace dividends on community level (including social services and economic opportunities). The identification of partnerships on regional and national levels, as well as donors and resource mobilization opportunities, is critical for the post.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide Policy Advice to Regional and Country Offices: 

  • Provide policy recommendations, strategic advice, and proposed courses of action to the region's senior leadership team, Regional Director, Deputy Regional Director, and Country Representatives;
  • Establish and maintain up-to-date knowledge of regional developments in peace and security, humanitarian, and DRR issues and integrate information in support of policy and programme development, analysis, outreach, and advocacy;
  • Provide advice on the setting up/functioning of Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Groups in countries in crisis with UN-led humanitarian response mechanisms in place;
  • Prepare analytical reports, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, talking points, and others as required by senior management;
  • Represent UN Women at inter-governmental and regional meetings on peace, security, and humanitarian issues in the region, as requested by the Deputy Regional Director;
  • Work closely with colleagues of the UN Women's Peace, Security, Humanitarian, and Resilience section, as well as Regional Advisers in other regions and other Policy Sections, to identify promising practices, technical expertise, and strategic opportunities for addressing women’s empowerment and gender issues in the area of peace and security and humanitarian action;
  • Develop and implement tools in the region with the guidance of the Gender and Humanitarian Action Advisor and capacity-building training activities to enhance staff’s skill and knowledge of the humanitarian system on gender mainstreaming in disaster preparedness, humanitarian action, and recovery. 

Support the development of programmes/projects and mobilization of resources for women, peace and security, and humanitarian response:

  • Work closely with UN Women country offices in the region and provide programme guidance and support to develop and implement programmes at the local, national, and regional levels in the area of peace and security, including conflict prevention, mediation, transitional justice, justice, and security sector reform, peacekeeping, conflict-related sexual violence, national action plans on SCR 1325 and citizen security in the context of humanitarian assistance;
  • Strengthen COs’ technical capacities to develop programming in WPS and humanitarian action based on the regional Strategic Notes’ focus to enhance women’s influence in relevant WPS and humanitarian processes;
  • Contribute to fund-raising including contributing to the development of new project proposals including in emergency response for use in resource generation for the region. 

Coordination - Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, regional and international actors, and development partners:

  • Support the building of strategic alliances and partnerships with regional and other actors to develop regional strategies and initiatives in the area of women, peace, and security;
  • Support the leadership and engagement of UN-Women in regional humanitarian coordination platforms;
  • Maintain close contact with relevant staff in UN Women HQ;
  • Work with gender advisers, gender focal points, GBV Programme Specialists of the Arab States region, and GBV managers/focal points in other agencies and organizations (including governments, UN, INGOs, local NGOs, community and women’s groups), and other key actors at country and regional level;
  • Support the efforts of the IASC Regional Members to develop and implement the regional accountability framework on gender equality and the empowerment of women in Humanitarian Action.

Knowledge management, reporting, and results-based management:

  • Manage the process of compiling and analyzing reports and lessons learned on Women, Peace and Security, and Humanitarian Action and contribute to UN Women's knowledge management efforts;
  • Collect information at the regional level to input to the annual Secretary-General’s report on Women and Peace and Security, as well as other relevant thematic SG reports pertaining to Humanitarian Coordination, Refugees, Disaster Risk Reduction, Peacebuilding, etc.;
  • Provide strategic information to input into briefings by the UN Women’s Executive Director to the Security Council, as requested, as well as ongoing provision of relevant information to HQ in relation to Security Council debates and resolutions;
  • Contribute to the development of the regional knowledge hub;
  • Support the development and implementation of specific flagship technical projects in the region as appropriate to the UN Women's Humanitarian Strategy.

 Impact of Results: 

This post should be able to help ensure that gender issues are addressed within the Region which relates to all areas of peace, security, and humanitarian action and recovery. An effective incumbent should help UN Women to translate their strategic plans in the area of Peace and Security and humanitarian action into effective programmes and results within the Region. The overarching impact would be to help ensure the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, and a future where women and girls would enjoy identical human rights, humanitarian action, and peace and security as men.

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 knowledge and record of accomplishment in the area of women, peace and security, and humanitarian action;
  • Provide the ability to translate normative commitments on gender equality, women, peace and security, and gender in humanitarian action into guidance, policy, and programming;
  • Demonstrated people management skills;
  • Familiarity with the Arab States region. Familiarity with other regions in which UN Women operates is an advantage;
  • Good knowledge of UN Women and the UN system;
  • Proven ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
  • Ability to lead strategic planning, programme development, and implementation, results-based management, and reporting;
  • Ability to develop and maintain strong partnerships and mobilize resources;
  • Good understanding of coordination mechanisms.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master’s Degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, International Development studies, Gender, Peace & Women studies or related 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:

  • Minimum of 10 years progressively responsible experience in the area of women, peace and security;
  • Significant knowledge and experience from humanitarian action including on nexus approach to programming, with country level experience in a crisis context in one or more of the regions in which UN Women operates and preferably from the Arab States region;
  • Significant experience in strategic planning, policy development, programme elaboration and implementation, results-based management and reporting;
  • Experience in developing and maintaining strong partnerships and in mobilizing resources;
  • Experience working in large multicultural development agencies is a distinct advantage. 

Languages:

  • Fluency in written and oral English;
  • Fluency in Arabic is highly desirable for this position;
  • French is an asset;
  • Fluency in one other UN language is desirable.

Application Information

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

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.

UN Women is 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 an applicant needs any reasonable accommodation to support their participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in their 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).