Humanitarian Programme Specialist

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 gender equality, considering women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.  Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system’s 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.

The war in Ukraine has become a regional crisis, demanding a regional response. As the humanitarian crises become more complex and challenging, it places bilateral and multilateral (UN) partners/organizations in a position to prioritize humanitarian assistance to meet the immediate needs of those impacted, and therefore a well-coordinated gender-responsive humanitarian response is critical more than ever. It is of paramount importance that international efforts have robust gender-expertise and capacities to better represent gender, age, disabilities, and other vulnerable groups in humanitarian response through improved collection of disaggregated data.

In line with this triple mandate, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system’s efforts to ensure that the commitments to gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action in humanitarian response plans.  With the new realities and challenges posed by the war against Ukraine, UN Women engagement in the humanitarian and refugee response space is more critical than ever in the Ukraine response to ensure that humanitarian response prioritizes women and girls’ voices and needs so that no woman or girl is left behind. 

UN Women’s Regional Office (based in Istanbul, Türkiye) works across the regional humanitarian and refugee response to ensure a gender-transformative response framework.

Serving governments, CSOs, UN Country Teams/Humanitarian Country Teams (UNCTs/HCTs), and UN Women country offices, UN Women provides policy advisory services, creates, and disseminates knowledge, evidence and data on gender equality, and advances coherence for gender in humanitarian action/refugee response, including through gender mainstreaming and the coordination of humanitarian/refugee response spaces/structures/platforms on gender equality at regional and country level.  UN Women Regional Office for Europe Central Asia is a leading agency through the Regional Gender Task Force (RGTF) on Gender in Humanitarian Action across the Regional Refugee Response, with a particular focus on Ukraine and neighboring countries, to mitigate the impact of the Ukraine crises on women and girls in the immediate and short-term response by placing them at the center of the response.

Reporting to the Regional Humanitarian Specialist, the Humanitarian Programme Specialist will:

• Provide technical support on Gender in Humanitarian Action to promote gender mainstreaming across regional and country level humanitarian and refugee coordination structures.
• Provide capacity building support, establish, and strengthen partnerships, and develop relevant knowledge products on regional/COs humanitarian action interventions.
• Support ongoing initiatives and advance advocacy efforts on GiHA, identifying areas where further support is required.
• Support UN Women humanitarian/refugee response teams on the implementation and reporting of GiHA related programming, conducting short missions to country offices in the region as needed.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Manage the development of programmes on Humanitarian to Country Office/ Programme Presence teams

• Manage the development and implementation of regional programme documents on humanitarian action;
• Provide technical inputs to programme proposals from country offices;
• Provide technical support on contextualizing/ localizing programme documents, country strategies, and knowledge products;
• Coordinate proper monitoring and reporting for humanitarian action in collaboration with programme teams.

2. Provide capacity building support to Country Office/Programme Presence teams and partners in response to the Ukraine refugee and humanitarian response

• Provide technical and policy support to country office, programme presence programme teams in developing and strengthening projects/ programmes;
• Implement and monitor capacity building initiatives;
• Provide technical support to partners on implementation of humanitarian action.

3. Manage the resource mobilization strategy for humanitarian action in the region

• Participate in the implementation, monitoring and periodic updating of the resource mobilization strategy on humanitarian action in the region;
• Provide technical support to field-based presences in the region in mobilizing resources for the implementation of humanitarian action;
• Research and analyze information on donors.

4. Manage the design of humanitarian action in the region and the development of relevant knowledge products

• Provide inputs to policy recommendations and guidance to strategic planning and positioning on humanitarian action;
• Research and develop analytical reports, research papers, briefing notes, background papers, summaries, correspondence, and knowledge products on humanitarian action; 
• Identify promising practices, technical expertise in humanitarian action.

5. Manage the advocacy of humanitarian action through inter-agency coordination

• Work closely with and provide advice to regional/ national bodies and interagency groups that influence national policies related to humanitarian action;
• Participate, contribute and serve as an alternate co-lead to the Regional Gender Task Force and other relevant interagency mechanisms under the umbrella of the Refugee Response to the war in Ukraine;
• Coordinate specific efforts in mainstreaming gender and protection in humanitarian/refugee response and recovery efforts of other clusters and relevant working groups;
• Advocate for the engagement and participation of local organizations and civil society networks in humanitarian coordination mechanisms.

6. Manage knowledge building and sharing for humanitarian action

• Identify and disseminate lessons learnt and good practices in collaboration with country offices;
• Ensure technical skills and knowledge are shared within and among country offices.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Timely and quality technical advice and support
• Quality reports and other strategic documents drafted and submitted in a timely manner
• Strong relationships with various partners and stakeholders
• Contributions to resource mobilization
• Timely and quality knowledge products

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

Functional Competencies

• Strong knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in the fields of gender equality, protection and humanitarian action, including humanitarian coordination; 
• Strong knowledge of the region
• Strong networking skills
• Ability to interact with donors, identify and analyze trends, opportunities and threats to fundraising
• Ability to perform qualitative and quantitative policy research
• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice
• Strong analytical 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, gender, international relations, international development, international law or other social science fields 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 (such as PMP®, PRINCE2®, or MSP®) would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience, with a particular focus on gender and protection in emergencies;
• Technical experience in humanitarian/refugee response inter-agency coordination
• Experience in humanitarian programme management;
• 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; and
• Experience working in the region is an asset

Language Requirements:

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

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, colour, 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.)