UNWOMEN - Re-advertisement: Deputy Special Representative - International - (Those who previously applied do not need to re-apply)

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. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, the UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women’s triple mandate, along with its global network and deep policy and programming expertise, continues to endow the Entity with a unique capacity to: (i) support Member States to strengthen global norms and standards for gender equality and women’s empowerment, and mainstream gender perspectives in other thematic areas; (ii) promote coordination and coherence across the UN system to enhance accountability and results for gender equality and women’s empowerment; and (iii) undertake operational activities to support Member States, upon their request, in translating global norms and standards into legislation, policies and strategies at country level.

UN Women has played an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997 (as UNIFEM). In line with the national priorities, the work of UN Women for the period 2023-2025 is aligned with three of the Palestine United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework’s (UNSDCF) outcomes:

Palestinians have greater access to economic opportunities that are inclusive, resilient, and sustainable, including decent employment and livelihood opportunities in an empowered private sector;
Palestinians, including the most vulnerable, have equal access to sustainable, inclusive, gender-responsive, and quality social services, social protection, and affordable utilities;
Palestinian governance institutions, processes, and mechanisms at all levels are more democratic, rights-based, inclusive, and accountable.
Its three-year Strategic Note supports the efforts to achieve measurable results in the country in terms of four UN Women global Strategic Plan impacts (2022-2025):

(SP Impact 1). Governance and participation in public life;

(SP Impact 2). Women’s Economic Empowerment;

(SP Impact 3). Ending Violence Against Women and Girls and; SP Impact 4. Women peace and security, Humanitarian & Disaster Risk Reduction.

Reporting directly to the Special Representative, the Deputy Special Representative is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Palestine Country Office (CO). The incumbent is responsible for substantially contributing to the design, implementation, management and oversight of the country portfolio and to the operations supporting its implementation to ensure effective and efficient delivery of results as planned in UN Women’s Strategic Plan and the CO plans.

Description of Responsibilities :

Manage the country strategy implementation

• Manage the day-to-day work of the programming  and work in close collaboration with operations, including finalizing the team’s annual (or biennial) work plan;
• Manage the process of country portfolio conceptualization, planning, implementing, and monitoring; and the management of material and financial resources;
• Lead the process of preparing implementation progress reports and identifying areas for UN Women Special Representative’s action and/or decision;
• Technically support the development and updating of the Office security strategy and plan, as required.

Provide advisory and specialized technical support on the strategic direction of the office

• Advise and guide the Special Representative on strategic areas;
• Provide specialized technical and strategic support in managing all aspects of the country portfolio design and related activities and for ensuring compliance and accountability in monitoring, reporting, and evaluation;
• Develop policy documents, briefs, and other strategic papers/materials for use in the development and presentation of innovative and coherent policy and programmatic positions;
• Serve as a senior member of the management team.

Represent UN Women in UN system coordination,

• As delegated by the UN Women Special Representative, represent UN Women in the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) and the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) to collaborate with the Resident Coordinator and UN system on interagency coherence, collaboration, cooperation, resource mobilization, advocacy, common services, and operations;
• Ensure UN Women’s participation in the UN system thematic and other working groups to advance UN Women’s mandate;
• Provide guidance and support to the Special Representative in interacting with UNCT on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Provide technical support in the creation of strategic partnerships and resource mobilization strategies

• Provide substantive research and inputs in the formulation and implementation of the country resource mobilization strategy;
• Establish and maintain relations with government, partners, stakeholders, and donors to achieve active collaboration, cooperation, and alliances on country portfolio development and implementation and resource mobilization;
• Support the creation of a conducive and optimal environment, capacities, and systems within the country office, to allow the business and public sectors to be engaged appropriately for achieving results.

Represent UN Women and support advocacy strategies

• Represent and advocate for UN Women in organizational, national, regional, global, and public information/ relations events and key meetings, as delegated;
• Provide inputs to advocacy and public communication strategies.

Facilitate knowledge management, innovation, and capacity building

• Manage the process of collecting and sharing lessons learned on gender equality and women’s empowerment to build knowledge and capacity of partners and stakeholders;
• Oversee the design and implementation of capacity-building training activities to enhance skills and knowledge;
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of knowledge networks and practices and the development of knowledge products;
• Advise the Special Representative and other internal colleagues in the CO on the conceptualization, development, and implementation of policies and procedures, use of the latest information technology, and introduction of innovation and best practices in the CO to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy across the country.

Oversee people resources

• Manage the performance of personnel under supervision; provide guidance, leadership, and coaching
  Provide support to organizational development initiatives;
• Create an enabling work environment;
• Oversee learning and development opportunities in collaboration with team members.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities

The incumbent leads a team that includes NOC/SB4 as well as affiliate personnel (consultants, interns, etc.).

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: 

Functional Competencies:

• Strong programming formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation skills;
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, and budgets, and deliver them;
• Ability to provide policy advice and support to partners;
• Ability to synthesize programme and operations performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making;
• Strong leadership skills, ability to create and enable work environment;
• Strong analytical skills;
• Excellent knowledge of Results Based Management;
• Strong knowledge of the local country context;
• Strong knowledge of security planning;
• Strong negotiation skills.

Qualifications :

Education and certification:

• A Master’s degree in international development, public administration, public policy, or other relevant social science fields is required;
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree;
• A project/program management certification (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of progressively responsible professional experience that combines strategic and managerial leadership in development programming with a strong focus in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment at the national and/or international level, preferably in developing countries;
• Experience working in the field with multicultural teams is required;
• Experience in leading and coaching a team is required;
• Experience working with INGOs, UN systems, or other relevant organizations is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Knowledge of Arabic is desirable; 
• Knowledge of another UN working language is desirable.

Statements :

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.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are 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 you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your 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.)