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UN Women: Policy Specialist - Governance and National Planning

Jun 6, 2019 | UN Women
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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 brings together technical experts to undertake issues-based research; analyze data on country, regional and global trends; build an evidence base on policy commitments and their implementation, including through knowledge and exchange platforms/communities of practice. It provides advice and guidance to support UN-Women’s contribution to intergovernmental processes, the UN system and to UN-Women staff working at country and regional level. The Policy Division identifies emerging issues and trends and proposes new strategies for achieving gender equality goals through innovative approaches and lessons learned about what works in practice.

The Governance and National Planning (GNP) Unit leads UN-Women’s work on gender responsive planning and budgeting. This area of work is guided by UN-Women’s 2018-2021 Strategic Plan and its corporate theory of change for Output 5 “more national and local plans and budgets are gender responsive.” UN-Women’s GNP portfolio focuses on advancing global norms and standards on gender responsive planning and budgeting, strengthening capacities of national partners, improving multi-stakeholder coordination and developing and monitoring international and national policy standards. This work is done through partnerships with governments, UN agencies, International Financial Institutions, civil society and academia.

Under the guidance and supervision of the Policy Advisor, Governance and National Planning, the Policy Specialist contributes to the development, implementation, monitoring and reporting of UN-Women’s GNP portfolio. The Policy Specialist is responsible for leading research and analysis; providing high-quality technical advice services; identifying policy and programmatic trends; collating and codifying country, regional and global knowledge. She/he will manage the development of policy-focused guidance, tools and knowledge products and support inter-agency and intergovernmental coordination, in close collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Lead research and analysis on gender responsive Governance and National Planning (GNP)

  • Identify policy gaps, emerging issues and cutting-edge knowledge on gender responsive GNP, including in areas of public financial management reform and the assessment of outcomes/impacts of gender responsive budgeting;
  • Lead research initiatives and/or compilations and reviews of relevant evidence on gender responsive GNP;
  • Build new partnerships with research institutions, civil society organizations and/or think tanks, to bring learning and innovative practices into UN-Women’s work;
  • Develop short papers, policy briefs and guidance on emerging issues related to gender responsive GNP to build the global evidence base; and
  • Oversee internal flow of information on policy and technical issues related to the gender responsive GNP, including alerting the Policy Advisor and other Technical Advisors to new and emerging research and data trends.

Manage policy advice and technical support on gender responsive GNP:

  • Provide timely and quality technical and advisory services to UN-Women regional, multi-country and country offices to develop strategies and programmes on gender responsive GNP;
  • Lead implementation of peer-learning strategy to increase collaboration and capacity strengthening among countries and regions;
  • Develop and disseminate policy guidance on gender responsive GNP for UN-Women country and regional offices, the UN system, and other partners;
  • Convene and/or support trainings and thematic webinars, facilitate learning exchange and promote a coordinated approach to GNP implementation;
  • Provide thematic inputs and guidance through substantive inputs in global project assessment committees (PACs) and annual peer review of regional and/or country office Strategic Notes and annual work plans; and
  • Participate in and/or represent the team as needed in internal and external meetings related to global reporting and corporate processes on GNP.

Lead knowledge management and learning in gender responsive GNP:

  • Lead identification and synthesis of promising practices and lessons learned on gender responsive planning and budgeting, in collaboration with UN-Women country and regional offices, and implement strategies for broad dissemination and exchange;
  • Oversee implementation of UN-Women’s Knowledge Strategy in relation to gender responsive GNP, including support to development of Centers of Excellence and management of Communities of Practice;
  • Manage quality country and consistent updating of the gender financing external web portal to ensure it includes current knowledge and research;
  • Share learning from programming and policy developments in gender responsive GNP, including through corporate websites, newsletters, blogs, articles and other avenues, in collaboration with Communications team; and
  • Ensure timely contributions to corporate documents, briefs and other strategic papers/ materials for development and presentation of policy and programmatic positions and donor proposals.

Provide substantive support to interagency and intergovernmental processes:

  • Provide technical support for the development and monitoring of global normative and intergovernmental standards on gender responsive GNP;
  • Provide substantive advice on gender mainstreaming in inter-agency processes, including the Inter-Agency Task Force on Financing for Development follow-up;
  • Provide technical advice on gender responsive GNP into UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks at country level; 
  • Lead and participate in international meetings and conferences and brining UN-Women expertise into global debates and discussions; and
  • Draft background papers and briefings, for UN-Women senior management for engagement in intergovernmental bodies such as the Commission on the Status of Women, Economic and Social Council, the General Assembly and other policy-making organs, and prepare analytical summaries of debates, supporting negotiations and outcomes.

Key Performance Indicators:

  • Relevant research, analysis and writing on governance and national planning, particularly gender responsive planning and budgeting;
  • Quality technical support to UN-Women country, multi-country and regional offices on governance and national planning;
  • Quality monitoring, tracking and reporting of UN-Women programming and results, strengthening corporate results reporting on governance and national planning;
  • Quality and timely inputs to briefings, knowledge products, publications and other documents which contribute to positioning UN-Women as a knowledge leader and repository on governance and national planning;
  • Quality representation, coordination and input to intergovernmental/interagency fora.

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:?http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf.

Functional Competencies:

  • Ability to provide policy advice and technical leadership;
  • Ability to work effectively and harmoniously with people from varied cultures and professional backgrounds;
  • Ability to produce high quality programme documents and knowledge products demonstrating analytical ability.
  • Ability to manage for results, translate strategy into achievable plans, with established priorities, and monitor them, making periodic adjustments as necessary;
  • Excellent knowledge and programmatic experience in gender responsive planning and budgeting and financing for gender equality;
  • Ability to establish, build and sustain effective relationships with partners;
  • Excellent communication and public speaking skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Advanced university degree in Social Sciences, Economics, Political Science, Gender/Women’s Studies or related field. 

Experience:

  • A minimum of 7 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in gender programming, policy research, gender analysis at international level, including at least 4 years focused on financing for gender equality and/or gender responsive planning and budgeting;
  • At least 7 years of experience at the national or international level in design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluating development programmes and projects, including on gender equality;
  • Sound knowledge of international standards on human rights, women’s rights and related instruments;
  • Experience with UN Inter-agency and Intergovernmental processes including those related to women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming and financing for development;
  • Proven advocacy, analytical and writing skills.

Languages:

  • Fluency in English is required;
  • Knowledge of the other UN official 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 http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment.