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Afghanistan: Information Management Specialist, Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA)

Feb 15, 2024 | United Nations Women
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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.

Afghanistan is one of the world’s most complex emergencies, and the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Afghan people are grappling with the impact of conflict, poverty, economic decline, and natural disasters. In this context, Afghan women and girls face unique vulnerabilities and require urgent support as gender inequality is interwoven with conflict dynamics and humanitarian needs. It is essential that Afghan women and girls can continue to shape the development of their country, and that their gains are protected. UN Women remains fully committed to supporting Afghan women and girls and to putting them at the center of the global response to the crisis in Afghanistan. UN Women has been in Afghanistan for two decades. UN Women’s programming approach is informed by analysis of the political, economic and humanitarian situation, risks to and capacities of partner organizations, and needs of Afghan women and girls. UN Women Afghanistan currently has four key programme priorities: (1) Gender in Humanitarian Action, (2) Ending Violence Against Women, (3) Women’s Economic Empowerment, and (4) Women, Peace and Security (WPS).

The crisis dynamics in the country are multi-layered, and Afghanistan’s people are facing the devastating effects of successive decades of conflict, increasing poverty, economic decline and natural disasters, all of which are amplified by the ongoing Taliban restrictions on women and girls. As per the Humanitarian Response Plan 2022, 28.3 million Afghans – more than half of the country’s estimated population of 42 million – are projected to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2023. [EZ1] In Afghanistan, to ensure a gendered response to a worsening humanitarian situation, the UN Women Afghanistan Country Office is working actively to provide strategic leadership and technical support to ensure the humanitarian response fully responds to the specific needs and priorities of women in girls through elevating support the humanitarian response architecture as well develop targeted programming. Within the worsening humanitarian context in Afghanistan and multiple restrictions on women’s rights and movement, additional emphasis is being placed on the gendered impacts of the crisis, such as gender targeted security incidents further impacting space for women humanitarian workers or the impact on women’s access to humanitarian services, amongst others.  

Under the Gender in Humanitarian Action mandate, UN Women provides UN system wide leadership on gender responsive humanitarian action, through its presence in the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT). UN Women is the permanent co-lead of the Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group (GiHA WG) and works closely with its co-chair, CARE International, to provide technical, advisory and programmatic support to the HCT and the Inter Cluster Coordination Team (ICCT). The GiHA WG is accountable to and reports to the HCT and provides close collaboration, communication and coordination across clusters and technical working groups to ensure gender analysis and advocacy is adequately coordinated, disseminated, and utilized, through the ICCT coordinated by OCHA, including for strategic planning purposes such as Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) and Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). 

Under the overall guidance of the GiHA Programme Manager, the IM Specialist works with and provides support to the UN Women GiHA team and the GiHA working group. The IM Specialist works in close collaboration with the GiHA Coordination Specialist as well as other members of the GiHA team, to ensure timely information management support.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Information Management Officer will continue to sustain information management and data collection systems to enable UN Women and the GiHA WG to inform the overall humanitarian response and decision-making with tailored gender-disaggregated data. The position will contribute to continued tracking of the impact of the restrictions on women and girls and enhancing overall gender outcomes in the humanitarian response in Afghanistan.The Information Management Officer will perform the following functions:

Through GiHA Working Group, provide information management support to the Afghanistan humanitarian system (including the HCT, ICCT and all humanitarian actors):

  • Lead the collection of data on gender issues in the response including the impact of the bans on women humanitarian workers
  • Analyze perception surveys conducted by GiHA WG partners and lead collection of data, dissemination and visualization for various surveys conducted by GiHA, including with other working groups;
  • Coordinate the processing and analysis of data and present it in the format most useful for analysis (e.g. reports, maps) and lead on the compilation and provision of inputs into various monitoring reports, including linked to the Humanitarian Response Plan
  • Together with OCHA, provide support and training to the ICCT, specific clusters, UN agencies, I/NGOs and other humanitarian partners in reporting information, including on gender related data;
  • Participate in the IM working group and other coordination platforms related to information management and assessments

Provide overall information management support to the activities of the working group and UN Women

  • Develop visualization, collection and quality assurance of primary data and information elements (e.g., maps, dashboards, infographics and financial/resource analysis) for GiHA WG and other UN Women units.
  •  Identify secondary data and information resources relevant to gender in humanitarian action
  • Liaise wth GiHA WG members and civil societ. to gather and share information on gender in humanitarian action
  • Assist in structured development and dissemination of GiHA information products and services (e.g. reports, data and maps)
  • Work in close collaboration with the communication team to provide update contents on GiHA products;
  • Carry out regular information sharing and consultations with stakeholders, including GiHA WG members, local civil society, and humanitarian actors at Kabul and field level.
  • Carry out trainings for partners on the use of Sex and Age Disaggregated Data (SADD).
  • Build tools for data collection and undertake field missions when emergencies or crises occur, to collect primary data on the specific needs of women and girls affected by crises, to inform the development of GiHA WG products and UN Women gender alerts.
  • Develop and maintain information products highlighting the needs, response and gaps in gender inclusion in humanitarian action
  • Contribute to ensuring that the GiHA WG web page https://response.reliefweb.int/afghanistan/gender-humanitarian-action-giha is up to date.

Support UN Women GiHA Unit planning and monitoring

  • Support and coordinate consultations, surveys and other data collection exercises with key stakeholders at the national and sub-national levels under the GiHA portfolio.
  •  Support preparation of technical reports, data snapshots and provide inputs for documentation ensuring accuracy, timeliness and relevancy of information and results.
  • Document programmatic evidence from the field to illustrate programmes’ good practices and results.
  • Collate beneficiary data from partners and in the context of cash distribution, as per the ICCT information sharing protocol, and share aggregated results through the design of snapshots and reports.

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

  • Ability to provide support administrative processes and transactions;
  • Ability to create, edit and present information in clear and presentable formats;
  • Ability to manage data, documents, correspondence and reports information and workflow;
  • Strong financial and budgeting skills;
  • Strong IT skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

  • Master’s degree or equivalent in computer science or data management, is required.
  • 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 5 year’s experience in information management, results-based management, planning, costing, management and results reporting/M&E/, humanitarian action, and related areas at the international level is required.
  • Experience in data analysis, development of data collection tools and data bases is required 
  • Experience working on gender issues is desirable.
  • Experience working in a humanitarian response is desirable.
  • Experience working with diverse stakeholder groups or multi-stakeholder partnerships is highly desirable.

Language Requirements:

  • Working knowledge of English
  • Knowledge of another UN official working language is desirable (French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish)

Application:

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.

Inclusion Statement:

UN Women committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits employ, 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.)