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UN WOMEN: CHIEF, LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE SECTION

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 centre of all its efforts, UN Women (UNW) will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The Policy Division develops and implements the UNW program of work on analysis, research and knowledge management that provides the evidence base for the advice and guidance UNW brings to the intergovernmental process, the UN system, and to UNW staff working at country and regional levels on issues of gender equality and women's empowerment. The Division identifies emerging issues and trends, and develops and proposes new strategies for achieving the agreed goals through innovative approaches and lessons learned about what works in practice. It also designs and oversees the training and capacity development programs of UNW, working closely with the UNW training facility in Santa Domingo.

Based on UN legislative mandates and the UNW Strategic Program Plan, the Policy Division undertakes and/or coordinates global or substantive area research and data analysis; advises on norms, policies and strategies for achieving the internationally agreed goals related to gender equality and women's empowerment issues. It acts as a knowledge hub, collecting evidence on progress and emerging issues, identifying trends in implementation of global commitments; and sharing knowledge on innovative approaches and lessons learned in implementation. It designs tools for inter-regional capabilities building and institutional development programs and fosters strategic substantive partnerships with academia and other UN partners, in close collaboration with the Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnership Bureau, the Program Division and UNW Training Center (Santo Domingo).

To successfully perform its mission/mandate, the Policy Division is organized into Thematic Sections, bringing together technical experts who undertake issues-based research; analyze data on country, regional or global trends; build a knowledge base on policy commitments and their implementation; propose evidence-based options for global policy, norms and standards and for UNW global program strategies; and contribute substantive inputs to policy advocacy and technical cooperation program.

The Leadership and Governance Section in the Policy Division is responsible for supporting an enabling environment for gender equality and women's empowerment in governance systems and processes related to legal frameworks, political participation and public sector planning and budgeting, working on gender rights as human rights and providing technical advice at country and regional levels (on request) through strategy development, thematic reviews, development of tools for capacity building, establishing mechanisms for knowledge sharing and preparing documentation for UN normative intergovernmental processes, e.g. preparing studies, reports and content for policy advocacy.

The Chief, Leadership and Governance Section reports to the Director, Policy Division for strategic guidance and direction, and is responsible for leading the strategic development and planning of thematic work on leadership and governance and for managing the implementation and delivery of results according to work plans, objectives, timelines and standards of performance and accountability framework in UNW.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions:

Support to intergovernmental processes and key events:

  • Provide input in international fora to help shape development of global and regional policies, norms and standards and implementation strategies.
  • Produce studies, reports, and background papers on a wide range of gender equality issues in accordance with mandates provided by relevant intergovernmental bodies and report on progress and challenges in critical areas and emerging issues. Submit recommendations and options for action.
  • Provide technical, advisory and administrative support on gender equality issues to intergovernmental bodies (General Assembly, Economic and Social Council, Commission on the Status of Women, Security Council and UN Women Executive Board), preparing analytical summaries of debates, supporting negotiations and analyzing/compiling outcomes.
  • Plan, organize and direct services provided to ad hoc expert group meetings, seminars, conferences, workshops and key events, identify issues for discussion, select key participants and develop discussion documentation/materials. Submit reports on the outcome and recommendations resulting from these events.


Advisory services for program support:

  • Provide advice to the Executive Director and the Directorate on institutional initiatives related to governance and leadership.
  • Provide thematic policy advice and technical guidance to and collaborate substantively with Member States, UNCTs, UN Theme Groups and staff of UNW country programs to ensure the integration of gender perspectives and attention to global commitments in all policies and programs.
  • Contribute to strategic discussions on program design, oversight and evaluation to support implementation and to capture best practices and lessons learned for policy development and adjustment.
  • Disseminate policy and provide technical advice on leadership and governance for UNW's programs at country level to enhance operational performance from program development to delivery.
  • Facilitate and/or advise on engagement of governments, country offices and regional programs with civil society, participatory approach, capacity development and establishment of an enabling environment for gender issues.


Policy, analysis and content development:

  • Lead the development of policy agenda on the linkages between global commitment in leadership and governance, gender equality and women's empowerment and monitor their implementation at global, regional or national levels.
  • Develop proposals and/or manage projects/studies on global/thematic gender equality policies and programs or other interventions.
  • Lead the preparation of UNW's flagship reports on women's status and empowerment on major areas/issues.
  • Conduct and/or lead the analysis of data and provide evidence to build the case for policies and interventions on gender equality and distill relevant lessons.
  • Lead and manage the research, development and/or presentation of policy papers, practice notes/concepts and other knowledge based-tools for consideration in global and regional forums to help influence/advance policy dialogue.


Inter-agency collaboration, partnerships and advocacy:

  • Convene or represent UNW in UN inter-agency working groups to enhance coordination and/or ensure increased attention/commitment to gender equality issues in thematic areas.
  • Establish relationships with academia, research institutes, civil society and experts in women's political participation to expand and share knowledge, exchange views on current issues/trends and to incorporate cutting-edge thinking in UN/UNW work on gender equality.
  • Develop strategic approaches to policy dialogue, resource mobilization, partnerships, and outreach.
  • Facilitate spaces for women's groups and organizations in policy spaces related to leadership and governance issues.

Knowledge management and capacity building:

  • Lead the development/expansion of knowledge management strategies and methodologies in leadership and governance.
  • Build and facilitate internal and external Communities of Practice in leadership and governance. Contribute to the development and maintenance of global and regional knowledge networks activities and practices.
  • Develop, test and roll out innovative tools, cutting edge practices and methodologies to establish standards and guidelines to enhance programming and management. Ensure that lessons learned are incorporated in innovation and the development of tools and materials.

Management of the Section:

  • Supervise and oversee the work the work of the team to ensure the delivery of quality results according to standards and goals established in the Section.
  • Promote teamwork and establish a working environment that is conducive to delivering results.
  • Monitor the appropriate use and management of financial resources and take responsibility for the integrity of financial systems and consistent application of the internal control framework and/or UNW/UN rules and regulations. Submit timely mandated reports.
  • Identify and integrate efficiency gains and cost reductions in all operations.
  • Build staff capacity through planned training, learning programs, mentoring and coaching. Use corporate monitoring and oversight tools such as the Balanced Score Card, Atlas Snapshot and Dashboard, Global Surveys, audits, evaluation and other corporate reports to identify areas for improvement.
  • Oversee the development and implementation of strategic evaluation plans, ensure that management responses to all evaluations are completed and followed up, and that learning from evaluations is fed back into UNW initiatives and operations.

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles:

  • Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
  • Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

  • Ethics and Values: Promoting Ethics and Integrity / Creating Organizational Precedents
  • Organizational Awareness: Building support and political acumen.
  • Planning and organizing: Proven ability to plan strategic direction and ability to organize and service intergovernmental bodies and international technical meetings
  • Developing and Empowering People / coaching and mentoring: Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation
  • Working in Teams: Proven record of building and managing teams and creating an enabling and collaborative work environment, including the ability to effectively lead, supervise, mentor, develop and evaluate staff.
  • Communicating Information and Ideas: Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication
  • Self-management and Emotional intelligence: Creating an emotionally intelligent organization
  • Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements: Leveraging conflict in the interests of the organization & setting standards. Ability to interact and negotiate with high-level government officials are required
  • Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning: Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning.
  • Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Fair and transparent decision-making; calculated risk-taking
  • Commitment to continuous learning: Willingness to keep abreast of new developments in the field of gender equality thematic areas Leadership - Proven track record of excellent management and technical leadership skills and ability to delegate appropriate responsibility, accountability and decision-making authority.


Functional Competencies:

  • Substantive knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in the field of leadership and governance.
  • Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of development experience.
  • Ability to conduct political and electoral analysis, and to work in the field providing guidance on political, parliamentarian, institutional and electoral issues.
  • Strong communications and public speaking skills, with proven expertise in writing cogent and strategic policy and program documents for development practitioners.
  • Proven analytical and problem solving skills.
  • Ability to leverage information technology, executive information systems, management techniques and tools for optimal office performance.
  • Good planning, goal-setting and prioritization skills.
  • Effectiveness in establishing and fostering good relations with government counterparts, UN agencies, donors, and NGO partners.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master degree (or equivalent) in development related disciplines, gender issues, political science, public policy, law or other social or political science fields.

Experience:

  • A minimum of 15 years of progressively responsible working experience that combines strategic and managerial leadership in social development and policy, law, political science, social/gender issues or related areas and/or leadership and governance; in a large international or governmental organization, preferably in the UN system and its organizations working in developing countries managing and implementing programs on gender issues.
  • Proven record of writing and/or publications on policy and programming and experience in conducting and directing research, data collection and publication on gender equality thematic areas.

Language Requirements:

  • Fluency in written and oral in English is required. Knowledge of another UN working language is desirable.

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