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Humanitarian Specialist – Asia and Pacific region

Bangkok

  • Organization: UNWOMEN - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
  • Location: Bangkok
  • Grade: Mid level - P-4, International Professional - Internationally recruited position
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Women's Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
    • Humanitarian Aid and Coordination
    • Crisis Response
  • Closing Date: Closed

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.

UN Women's Humanitarian Unit consolidates and supports the entity's existing humanitarian work, including disaster risk reduction, through its headquarters, regional and country offices, working closely with other divisions within the organisation. The aim of UN Women's engagement in humanitarian action is to ensure consistency and sustainability in addressing gender equality concerns across the humanitarian-development continuum as well as to improve awareness and commitment, enhance capacity and strengthen partnerships with national entities, civil society, regional institutions and the international humanitarian system. UN Women supports coordination and accountability efforts in line with the IASC Policy and standards and collaborates with humanitarian partners to ensure determined and consistent response to women's needs in humanitarian emergencies. Likewise, UN Women also actively engages in supporting regional and national governments in meeting the Sendai Commitments on DRR through regional partnerships including the UN, Government and CSOs.

Reporting to the Deputy Regional Director, the Humanitarian Specialist will oversee the development of humanitarian programmes, provide capacity building and technical assistance to Country Offices (CO) and Multi Country Offices (MCO), establish and strengthen partnerships, and develop relevant knowledge products on humanitarian action across the Asia-Pacific region. The specialist will also be responsible for overall management of the regional portfolio on humanitarian response and DRR, including  through regional programme development and implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

1.  Provide technical leadership and strategic planning support on Gender Equality and Humanitarian Response, including in the area of recovery and resilience

  • Provide technical leadership and policy support to UN Women Offices in Asia and the Pacific on gender mainstreaming in humanitarian action;
  • Provide technical guidance and support to the Inter-agency standing committee (IASC) regional network for Asia and the Pacific through the formulation of high-quality gender equality programmes for capacity development and knowledge generation;
  • Provide technical support through gender mainstreaming into inter-agency sector coordination mechanisms, governmental mechanisms and other relevant sectoral level processes focusing on humanitarian action, such as relevant Inter Sector Working Group, sector coordination mechanisms and working groups, cross cutting thematic working groups, UNDAF processes, and similar exercises related to the R/HC system ensuring that gender perspectives are clearly reflected and mainstreamed in process;
  • Advise, support, guide and provide substantive inputs to ensure the formulation of high-quality gender responsive country level humanitarian programmes and projects from an inter-agency perspective;
  • Provide substantive inputs to the interagency coordination mechanisms on humanitarian action and other strategic humanitarian financing mechanisms –Emergency Response Fund (ERF), Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), Consolidated Appeals Processes (CAP)- thoroughly analyzing and researching the contextual issues at county and national levels through the Working Group on Gender and Humanitarian Action;
  • Provide technical support to GenCap, RedR and other gender advisers, gender focal points, and GBV managers/focal points in other agencies and organisations (including governments, UN, INGOs, local NGOs, community and women’s groups), and other key actors at country and regional level as needed;
  • Provide technical guidance to country humanitarian clusters in setting up or adapting existing systems to monitor the progress in gender mainstreaming by using inter alia the framework and checklists in the IASC Gender Handbook and other resources;
  • In close collaboration with priority UN Women country offices and/or programme presences, particularly in crisis/disaster-affected countries in the region, provide technical assistance and oversight support to the development and expansion of UN Women’s humanitarian portfolio, including for programme and partnerships development as needed.

2.  Oversee the advocacy of humanitarian action through inter-agency coordination

  • Coordinate the design and implementation of strategies for the Working Group on Gender in Humanitarian Action including ensuring proper linkages with disaster risk reduction, relief, and recovery and development efforts;
  • Coordinate the strategic thinking and policy decisions on mainstreaming gender into humanitarian response and influence agenda and priority setting in relevant UN system-wide inter-agency task forces and governmental coordination mechanisms;
  • Coordinate and provide technical support for the delivery of training activities for UN Country teams as needed;
  • Work closely with and provide advice to regional/ national bodies and interagency groups that influence national policies related to humanitarian action and where necessary represent UN Women;
  • Lead specific efforts in mainstreaming gender and protection in disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts of other clusters and relevant working groups, including inclusion and participation of under-represented groups in accordance with Commitments on Accountability to Affected Populations;
  • Advocate for the engagement and participation of local organizations and civil society networks in humanitarian coordination mechanisms;
  • Coordinate and mobilize partnership for engendering the DRR in the region, including through IAP Gender Stakeholder Group and other intergovernmental processes.

3. Oversee Programme formulation and results-based management of the regional humanitarian and DRR portfolio

  • Guide the implementation of UN Women programmes in the region in disaster preparedness and humanitarian response and recovery context, analyze progress on achievement of the objectives and results, proposing adjustments and solutions where necessary;
  • Lead the formulation and development of UN Women’s humanitarian programme and projects in partnership with other implementing partners as necessary, including specific technical projects in line with global flagships;
  • Prepare technical guidelines, documents, briefs and other strategic papers and materials for use in the development and presentation of a coherent country level strategic plans;
  • Provide technical inputs to the conceptualization of the country-level annual work plan and strategic plans and ensure lessons learnt are captured to further guide recommendations and formulation of future humanitarian programme planning;
  • Coordinate proper monitoring and reporting for humanitarian action in collaboration with programme teams;
  • Supervise staff and manage performance; ensure compliance to the performance management cycle

4. Establish and strengthen strategic partnerships and resource mobilization for humanitarian action in the region

  • Build and maintain alliances and strategic partnerships for the advancement of humanitarian action;
  • Build and maintain close liaisons with relevant donors and other actors supporting efforts towards humanitarian action;
  • Produce periodic updates and briefs on regional/country development situation to be used by stakeholders, CO and HQ;
  • As designated, participate in and support relevant regional inter-agency and inter-governmental forums and UN system-wide inter-agency tasks forces in the region;
  • Implement, monitor and ensure periodic updating of  resource mobilization strategies to facilitate UN Women’s long-term engagement in humanitarian response and DRR in the region; maintain close contact with relevant staff in UN Women HQ;
  • Provide technical support to field-based presences in the region in mobilizing resources for the implementation of humanitarian action and DRR;
  • Research and analyze information on donors; prepare substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation.

5.  Oversee Advocacy and communication of humanitarian action and DRR 

  • Facilitate flow of information between the Country Offices, the Regional Office and UN Women headquarters by putting in place mechanisms to ensure the region and Country Offices know about humanitarian action related activities undertaken by UN bodies and major global and regional actors and that good practices and lessons learned from the field are shared with HQ and relevant UN system assessments and compilations (such as by CC: Learn, ISDR, and OCHA, etc.);
  • Promote the use and improvement of knowledge management mechanisms to share information about gender and humanitarian action and DRR related initiatives;
  • Identify relevant lessons learnt to be disseminated between countries and identify and develop linkages between countries in the region as appropriate;
  • Promote awareness and understanding of the UN Women mandate, mission and purpose and focus on Sustainable Development with special emphasis on gender and humanitarian and DRR.; Undertake research, develop and present analytical reports, research papers, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, correspondence, and knowledge products on gender equality and humanitarian action from across the AP region which could help present data and practice in a cohesive manner and strongly position UN Women in humanitarian work as needed;
  • Participate in community of practices and facilitate cross-regional exchange of best practices and lessons learned;
  • Contribute to the development of the UN Women regional and global knowledge hub. 

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%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

  • Excellent knowledge of gender in humanitarian action 
  • Strong knowledge of the Asia-Pacific region
  • Knowledge of the UN System, including relevant coordination mechanisms
  • Excellent networking and inter-personal skills
  • Ability to interact with partners and identify and analyze trends and opportunities to resource mobilization
  • Ability to perform qualitative and quantitative policy research
  • Ability to advocate and provide policy advice
  • Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
  • Ability to write policy papers, speeches, briefings
  • Strong knowledge of programme development, implementation, results-based management and reporting

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

  • Master’s degree or equivalent in human rights, international relations, international development, gender studies, international law or other related field 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.
  • A project/programme management certification would be an added advantage

Work experience:

  • At least 7 years’ progressively responsible experience in designing and managing programmes on humanitarian preparedness and response, gender and development, and/or related fields, ideally with experience in conflict or post conflict or disaster settings;
  • Substantive and technical experience in inter-agency coordination and response, including gender and protection related coordination, and/or ProCap/GenCap in humanitarian context;
  • Experience in policy analysis and strategic planning;
  • Experience working with, and building partnerships with governments, donors and civil society organizations internationally and in the field;
  • Experience working with the UN is an asset;
  • Experience working in Asia and the Pacific is a significant  asset.

Language requirement:

  • Fluency in English is required;
  • Knowledge of other UN official working languages 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. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

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.

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UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
This vacancy is now closed.
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