Programs Support Officer / Coordinator

UN Women in Liberia
UN Women has worked strategically in Liberia since 2004 and currently holds one of the biggest offices in West Africa. It works closely with the Liberian Government and other UN Agencies through joint development programmes and the “Delivering as One” UNDAF model. Some key initiatives include the establishment of the Liberia Women Empowerment Network, an association of women living with HIV, and the establishment of the Association of Women in Cross Border Trade. In addition, UN Women leads the Liberia Joint Programme for Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment and implements economic empowerment projects and training for Liberia’s Joint Programmes on Food Security and Nutrition, Adolescent Girls, and the Prevention and Response to SGBV.

UN Women Liberia has built networks of male advocates and community leaders committed to “zero tolerance” for violence against women, and has built and replicated the peace hut model, empowering community women to take action to combat violence and resolve disputes independently and with the support of the Police. UN Women supported Liberia in the development of its National Action Plan for the implementation of UN SCR 1325 and is supporting its implementation through ongoing support to the Ministries of Justice and Gender and Development. UN Women also supported Liberia in the development of a gender-mainstreamed Poverty Reduction Strategy, the development and presentation of its 1st to 6thCEDAW report and development of its first national gender policy.

Ongoing Programmes :
Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting
Engaging Women in Building Peace and Security
Women’s Economic Empowerment

UN Women’s goal in Liberia is to promote women’s human rights and gender equality which are key in sustaining and furthering achievements in stability and development. In this regard, UN Women has a triple mandate namely normative, programmatic and coordination. UN Women’s programming in Liberia is connected to five corporate priority areas: women’s leadership and political participation; enhancing women’s economic empowerment (WEE); engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes (WPS) and advancing women’s rights to live free from violence (EVAW) and Gender Responsive Governance. UN Women under its coordination mandate lead interagency gender coordination with UNCT and is supporting the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in setting up of a multi-stakeholder's gender coordination mechanism at all levels (national and county level). United Nations Country Team (UNCT) Liberia also promotes coordinated approach among the UN systems through joint work that aims at advancing gender equality. In 2024 the UNCT has endorsed a regional hub in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh to strengthen the coordination between UN agencies, development partners and other partners on a local level to accelerate development. The regional hub presents an opportunity for UN women to bring its programmatic mandate closer to the field. To this end, UN Women seeks to deploy a national UNV to serve as Programs Support Officer and Coordinator in the hub to closely collaborate and support local partners on gender equality and the empowerment.

Under the day-to-day supervision of the Deputy Country Representative, with strategic reporting to the Country Representative, the National Specialist UN Volunteer will undertake the following functions:

Programme Coordination, implementation, monitoring and reporting:
• Support planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of UN Women supported interventions within 5 counties namely: Grand Gedeh, Maryland, Rivergee, Sinoe and Grand Kru;
• Work closely with Pillar Leads (PLs) with respect to all activities which will be organized, carried out, and implemented and in relation to numerous assignments within precise counties;
• Research, collect and synthesize qualitative and quantitative information and data to support the establishment of comprehensive and evidence-based information for developing annual work-plans;
• Conduct field missions to monitor implementation of UN women activities by CSOs and report on the progress, challenges and areas of improvement;
• Provide administrative and substantive support to the Liberia Country Office (LCO) in view of consultative and other meetings, workshops, conferences, etc. including proposing agenda topics, identifying and proposing participants, preparing background documents and presentations, handling logistics, etc.

Stakeholder Coordination, Representation, and Inter-agency collaboration:
• Coordinate and collaborate with relevant stakeholders within the counties in close collaboration with PLs at CO level, to ensure aligned and coherent planning and implementation processes;
• Support the UN Women CO to establish and build relationships with local stakeholders for the purposes of facilitating activities and improving the quality and relevance of programme implementation;
• Participate in, contribute to and report on the relevant inter-agency, UN mission, donor and inter-governmental coordination meetings in consultation with relevant programme technical experts when required;
• Prepare written summaries of meetings/visits and ensure relevant team members implement follow-up actions, as appropriate; research and prepare analytical, and sometimes sensitive documents for the management team.

Communications:
• Liaise with country office communications team to increase UN Women’s visibility, advocacy, and media relations engagement efforts at community and local levels by properly gathering contents, informing and disseminating awareness materials, and sharing of briefs/reports, photos with communications team in Monrovia for wider dissemination; relate to and monitor local media to keep abreast of issues including about UNW.

Knowledge Management and Document Management and Innovation:
• Maintain records of programme files and other necessary programme documents such as documentation of decisions and actions taken on programme issue;
• Implement relevant standards, tools and templates to effectively manage programme and project development and implementation;
• Identify, contribute to, record and share the ongoing development and implementation of best practice, lessons identified, and innovative approaches to improve overall programme performance;
• Contribute to the management and upkeep of risk management and issue management logs and processes.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:

• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• Provide annual and end of assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities.
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers;
• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Results/expected outputs:

• Provide well-researched and sound analysis of issues and developments affecting programme/project development, administration, and implementation within counties of supervision
• Provide substantive and administrative support to activities implemented under UN Women Liberia programme in the counties (state the counties), especially as these relate to procurement, and travel in line with UN financial rules and regulations
• Provide quarterly summary report on the overall progress of the UN Women key interventions in the Hub as well and challenges, opportunities and areas of improvement.