Programme Officer - BRIDGE

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, UN Women leads and coordinates 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 Philippines is jointly implementing the project BRIDGE - Bridging Recruitment to Reintegration in Migration Governance: Philippines (BRIDGE) with the International Organization for Migration and International Labour Organization seeking to support government of the Philippines in achieving Objectives 8 and 21 through the lens of the Global Compact for Migration Thematic Area 4: Facilitating regular migration, decent work and enhancing the positive development effects of human mobility.

This will be accomplished by ensuring a) Government initiatives to promote fair and ethical recruitment as well as reintegration services are evidence-based, gender-responsive and coordinated through a people-centered, whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach and b) the Government establishes mechanisms to translate evidence into policy and best practices pertaining to recruitment and reintegration through the migration cycle. Both results seek to ensure human mobility in the Philippines is fully utilized and facilitated in a regular, safe and orderly manner that contributes towards sustainable development effects for migrants, their families and even communities.

Recognizing the global impact of COVID-19’s devastating effect on the Philippines, large scale job losses have led to the mass return of OFWs. Many OFWs are stranded overseas with their savings exhausted. Cash remittances from overseas Filipinos (land-based and seabased) amounted to USD30.1 billion in 2019, However, the pandemic has caused remittances to contract for the first time in almost two decades. The local economy has been devastated by lockdowns and the immediate prospect of local and overseas jobs for returning OFWs are extremely limited. In this context, BRIDGE seeks to equip and strengthen the approach by Government and civil society towards effective reintegration frameworks and services that is tailored to the COVID-19 context, mindful of its gender differentiated implications on men and women migrants.

Further, noting the eventual surge of deployments by OFWs in the post-COVID environment, and the increased risk of exploitation as a result, BRIDGE’s focus on fair and ethical recruitment seeks to strengthen and align national standards of recruitment to international standards, while ensuring there is a more consistent and impactful approach from recruitment to reintegration.

UN Women Philippines will contribute to the project by engaging government actors and organizations to ensure gender responsive mechanisms specifically addressing gender differentiated needs of migrants as well as coordinate partnership meetings, policy and knowledge exchange to further learn and understand the plight of migrant women

To support the implementation of the programme, UN Women seeks a Programme Officer to work with the Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme Team and Regional Migration Team in the development and implementation of the BRIDGE programme as well as other gender and migration programmes being implemented by UN Women Philippines. The Programme Officer will ensure effective programme implementation in line with UN Women rules and regulations and in coordination with IOM and ILO.

The Programme Officer provides programme support to the effective management of UN Women WEE/Migration programme, particularly gender and migration in the Programme Presence by contributing to the BRIDGE programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The Programme Officer supports the delivery of UN Women programmes by analyzing results achieved during implementation and supporting appropriate application of systems and procedures. The Programme Officer works in close collaboration with the programme and operations team, UN Women ROAP staff, Government officials, multi and bi-lateral donors and civil society ensuring successful UN Women programme implementation under the portfolio.     

1. Provide technical support to the implementation and management of WEE - BRIDGE Programme

• Provide inputs to the annual workplan and budget as required;
• Coordinate and monitor the implementation of programme activities;
• Coordinate the call/request for proposals, including the organization of technical review committees, and capacity assessment of partners;
• Review and coordinate the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports;

2. Provide technical assistance and capacity development support to project/programme partners including on Results Based Management

• Provide technical support to and technically oversee the implementation of programme activities with partners;
• Identify opportunities for capacity building of partners and coordinate and facilitate technical/ programming support and trainings to partners as needed.

3. Provide technical leadership of monitoring and reporting of BRIDGE programming

• Monitor progress on programme activity, results and indicators;
• Monitor the implementation of proposals by responsible partners;
• Provide inputs to quarterly reports, donor reports and other reports on outputs, results outputs and outcomes.

4. Provide technical inputs to the management of people and finances of BRIDGE programming

• Monitor budget implementation and programme activity expenditures and perform budget revisions when required;
• Provide inputs to financial reports;
• Oversee the work of Programme Associates and Assistants as needed.

5. Provide technical inputs to inter-agency coordination on WEE-BRIDGE Programme to achieve coherence and alignment of UN Women programmes with other partners, including UN partners

• Provide technical support on inter-agency coordination related activities by participating in coordination mechanisms, and providing Migration analysis to technical materials.

6. Provide inputs to advocacy, knowledge building and communication efforts

• Provide technical inputs to background documents, briefs and presentations related to Migration;
• Coordinate and support the organization of advocacy activities and campaigns events, trainings, workshops and knowledge products;
• Provide inputs to the development of knowledge management products on Migration.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Timely and quality inputs to programme design
• Timely and quality inputs to workplans and budgets
• Adherence to UN Women standards and rules
• Timely monitoring and tracking of programme results and finances
• Timely organization of events
• Number of coordination mechanisms supported

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Good knowledge of Results Based Management
• Ability to gather and interpret data, reach logical conclusions and present findings
• Good analytical skills and strong report writing skills
• Good knowledge of Women, Peace and Security, peacebuilding and conflict prevention/resolution

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in social sciences, human rights, gender/ women’s studies, international development, or a 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.

Experience:

• At least 1 year of relevant work experience in development programme/project implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, donor reporting and capacity building.
• Experience in the area of Migration, Gender and/or Women’s Economic Empowerment is desirable.
• Experience coordinating and liaising with partners and stakeholders including civil society, government agencies and/or donors is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Tagalog is required.
• Knowledge of the other UN official working language is an asset.

UNDP is committed to gender equality in its mandate and its staffs and encourages. Further, UNDP is a United Nations organization whose staff are expected to uphold the highest standards of integrity, neutrality and impartiality. This includes respect for and commitment to human rights, diversity, and non-violent means of dealing with all kinds of conflict. UNDP staff are expected to uphold these values at all times, both at work and outside.

UNDP has zero tolerance of harassment, discrimination, sexual abuse, abuse of authority and exploitation.

Job adverts (Please remember to mark local positions as “Open for Filipino Nationals Only”

To start the application process, applicants are required to register at http://jobs.undp.org by creating a personal profile and completing UNDP Personal History Form. Please note that UNDP only accepts degrees from accredited educational institutions. Only applications received throughhttp://jobs.undp.org will be considered and applications received after closing date will not be considered. Due to the large number of applications received for UNDP Philippines vacancies, only applicants short-listed for written test and interview will be contacted.

General Information

UNDP is committed to gender equality in its mandate and its staffs and encourages applications from qualified candidates and persons with disabilities.

UNDP is a United Nations organization whose staff are expected to uphold the highest standards of integrity, neutrality and impartiality. This includes respect for and commitment to human rights, diversity, and non-violent means of dealing with all kinds of conflict. UNDP staff are expected to uphold these values at all times, both at work and outside. Only persons who fully and unconditionally commit to these values should consider applying for UNDP jobs.

UNDP has zero tolerance of sexual abuse, abuse of authority and exploitation.

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