UN Women: Programme Officer on Ending Violence against Women and Children

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.

The work of UN Women in Moldova is guided by its new Country Strategic Note for 2018-2022, aligned with the Republic of Moldova–United Nations Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development 2018–2022, the Global Strategic Plan of UN Women for 2018-2021, the National Strategy on Gender Equality for 2017-2021 (NSGE), the National Strategy for Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence for the Period 2018-2023, and aims to contribute to the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Strategic Note focuses on three main areas: 1/strengthening women’s participation in politics and decision making, 2/economic empowerment of women and 3/ending violence against women and girls. To achieve progress under these areas, UN Women works with a variety of national and international partners and as part of different national and regional initiatives. 

Starting in January 2020 UN Women will implement in Moldova a EU-funded Programme Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts with the short title: “EVA”.

The programme will contribute to the consolidation and fortification of gender mainstreaming at the local level, in line with the provisions of the National Strategy to Ensure Equality between women and men in the Republic of Moldova for the years 2017-2021 and the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men role in Local Life . The proposed intervention will contribute to capacity development and to gender mainstream policies, programmes and institutional structures at local level, in order to redress existing inequalities and to preserve equality between women and men as well as to ensure that the specific needs and priorities of women and men, either separately or together, are adopted in local decision-making.   The Programme will tackle domestic violence against women and children, particularly on improving the capacity and assessment tools of multi-disciplinary specialist response and services, including sexual forms of violence in domestic violence.

The programme is aimed at achieving the following results: Gender equality is promoted and mainstreamed in local policymaking and decision taking and Victims of domestic, including sexual, violence have greater access to effective survivor-focused multi-disciplinary services and violence prevention is piloted in local schools and communities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Programme Manager, the Programme Officer contributes to the effective and efficient implementation of the Programme. The incumbent applies and promotes the principles of results-based management (RBM), as well as a client-oriented approach consistent with UN Women rules and regulations.

The EVAWC Programme Officer works in close collaboration with the Gender Mainstreaming, Child Protection, Communications and Knowledge Management and Research Officers, and the rest of the programme team, and other programme teams in the Country Office (CO) for effective achievement of results, anticipating and resolving complex programme-related issues and information delivery.

The incumbent is expected to exercise full compliance with UN Women programming, financial, procurement and administrative rules, regulations, policies and strategies, as well as implementation of the effective internal control systems.

Summary of Key Functions:

The Programme Officer will be part of the Programme Management Team (PMT) and will, under the overall supervision of the Programme Manager, be responsible for managing the successful implementation of EVAWC Programme component. The Programme Officer will lead the team of short-term experts.

The incumbent will ensure the provision of development services and products (commensurate with the scope of the programme) of the highest quality and standards to national counterparts and clients. More specifically:

1. Programme Implementation and Technical Support:

• Oversee the implementation of the EVAWC component to ensure delivery of results as planned and in line with UN Women guidelines and strategies and accountability frameworks;
• In close coordination with the Programme Manager, assume full responsibility for and manage effectively and efficiently all programme activities and resources (human, financial, physical / material assets, etc) under the EVAWC components of the programme in order to meet expected results;
• Assist the Programme Manager in the development of annual activity and procurement work plans as well as budgets based on expected year-end outputs and assist in developing periodical programme and other reports and close monitoring of activities and disbursements.
• Prepare work-plans reflecting the scope of activities, timing, sequencing, cost and other inputs for the implementation of the activities;
• Be responsible for the implementation of the EVAWC work plan according to indicators for achieving planned results;
• Provide regular reports to the Programme manager and flag any deviations from the work plans immediately.
• Liaise with the national counterparts, donors and the UN Women office colleagues to ensure that results are achieved, and resources are managed efficiently and effectively;
• Monitor implementation and activities versus set targets and indicators;
• Identify key performance indicators as well as develop and maintain a monitoring system to ensure effective information sharing, provision of feedback and elaboration of top-quality progress reports;
• Draft and provide inputs to annual and quarterly reports, in line with UN Women, joint UN and donor reporting requirements;
• Manage efficiently the financial resources of the EVAWC component, including budgeting and budget revisions, as well as expenditure tracking and reporting, in close collaboration with other programme, administrative and financial staff;
• Assist NGO partners working in EVAWC area to link their practical work with the global/national normative area.
• Perform any other duties connected directly with the implementation of the Programme as required.

2. Capacity development to programme staff and partners:

• Coordinate and lead all capacity development activities within the EVAWC component as per the project document;
• Assist the Programme Manager (PM) in identifying promising practice, technical expertise and strategic opportunities for eliminating EVAWC and gender issues, including through innovative approaches;
• Assist programme team in making use of the recommendations of UPR, CEDAW, the special procedures and other mechanisms and subsidiary bodies in programming in EVAW area;
• Build, motivate and lead a high performing team consisting of short-term experts;
• Undertake personnel performance appraisals for the experts supervised/coordinated;
• Support mechanisms for exchange of information, experience and lessons learned at the local and national levels;
• Provide capacity development on EVAWC and women’s empowerment to joint programme personnel and key partners through face to face gender trainings and learning sessions.

3. Facilitate EVAW into all programme components and activities:

• Regularly review planned activities, and make necessary modifications/ratifications when needed in response to any emerging circumstances;
• Preparation of inputs for reporting, including donor and audit reporting; inputs for the Annual Reports as per donors’ requirements;
• Provide substantive technical support to EVAWC into all four components of the programme including the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, as well as reporting.
• Facilitate collection and analysis of sex-desegregated data through programme implementation;
• Support personnel with applying gender analysis for programme planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation to understand why and how issues affect women and men differently and unequally within particular context and what options exist to address them;
• Lead programme personnel with a day-today including by providing reviews and comments to the relevant programme documents;
• Ensure integrating result indicators for gender equality and women’s empowerment in joint programme monitoring and evaluation plan (to be developed); and make sure all indicators are disaggregated by sex;
• Ensure monitoring and analysis of the extent to which international commitments and national legal and policy document on gender equality and women’s rights are implemented at the community levels;
• Ensure availability of an up-to-date information on all critical issues related to implementation of gender equality commitments on regional and local levels;
• Ensure that progress reports from responsible parties are properly monitored in line with project outputs and timeline before approving;
• Communicate and cooperate closely with the Local Coordinators from the target regions;
• Undertake regular monitoring missions to the two target regions to ensure timely delivery and quality of results;
• Prepare terms of reference for consultants and services, responsible party agreements with local stakeholders and institutions and/or civil society organizations; prepare relevant package of documents for submission to Local Programme Appraisal Committee (LPAC);
• Supervise and evaluate consultants and other contractors’ performance in delivering required outputs;
• Manage project files and support information collection and dissemination; ensure proper project documentation (filing) & communication and tracking system for effective project closure.

4. Building strategic partnerships

• Provide substantive inputs to UN Women and other participating UN agencies of the joint programme in engagement with relevant local authorities to support the EVAWC throughout the programme implementation;
• Build strategic partnerships and maintain close liaison with local partners, ensuring optimum participation of all relevant stakeholders;
• Develop the professional platform for networking and partnership building with the local and regional authorities, CSOs, private sector and international development organizations or programmes;
• Facilitate the exchange of experiences among partners and stakeholders on “what works” in EVAWC area, based on the identified positive experiences;
• Ensure coordination with relevant working groups and information sharing;
• Create and coordinate partnership with local authorities, service providers, developmental actors, women’s organizations and other stakeholders in target regions.

5. Advocacy, knowledge building and communication

• Provide substantial contribution to EVAWC into the programme’s communications and visibility plan and its implementation phase;
• Provide guidance for collecting data and undertaking analysis of principal concerns in EVAWC component, including through non-traditional data sources;
• Provide proactive and substantive technical support to the organization of awareness raising and advocacy events, trainings, workshops and drafting knowledge products;
• Based on the analysis of the lessons learned, evaluations, best practices provide analytical support to the programme management in applying the knowledge for planning;
• Proactively contribute to knowledge networks and communities of practice on gender equality;
• Provide inputs to the development of knowledge management products related to gender equality and women’s rights in the programme areas;
• Apply UN Women programming tools and policies as explained in the Results Management Guide. Keep abreast of UN Women programming practices and maintain an optimum level of knowledge by continuous learning.

MEASURABLE OUTPUTS OF THE WORK ASSIGNMENT:

• Substantive input to the programme implementation is provided;
• Programme initiatives are designed and formulated for translating UN Women’s priorities into local interventions;
• High-quality inputs to reporting and monitoring activities are provided on time.

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

• Strong programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills;
• Ability to develop detailed operational plans, budgets, and deliver on them;
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports to inform management and strategic decision-making;
• Strong analytical skills;
• Strong knowledge of Results Based Management;
• Good knowledge of UN programme management systems.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master degree or equivalent in Human Rights, Gender Equality, Law, Social Sciences, Public Administration or other development related sciences;
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree;
• Additional training and certification in programme/project management would be an advantage

Experience:

• At least two (2) years of experience is required at the national or international level in managing complex programme interventions preferable related to protecting and promoting women’s human rights;
• Strong concept development, presentation and reporting skills;
• Experience in the UN system, agencies and international organizations is an asset;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.

Language Requirements:

• Proficiency in oral and written English and Romanian.
• Advanced knowledge of Russian is an advantage;
• Working knowledge of one or more additional languages relevant for Moldova, including Bulgarian, Gagauzian, Romani, Ukrainian or sign language would be an asset.