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PROGRAMME SPECIALIST - KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND AFRICA PORTFOLIO (UN TRUST FUND)

The 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, the UN Women 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 UN Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women ("UN Trust Fund") was established through UN General Assembly Resolution 50/166 with UN Women as its Administrator on behalf of the UN system. The UN Trust Fund is a leading global multi-lateral mechanism supporting national efforts to end one of the most widespread human rights violations in the world.
The UN Trust Fund provides technical assistance and funding to advance the development of innovative models and strategic interventions in the area of violence against women. It focuses on supporting the implementation of national laws and plans of action on violence against women, calling for greater attention to implementation of existing human rights standards; multi-sector approaches; strengthened partnerships among national governments, civil society and women's groups; UN agencies and other key stakeholders; stronger institutional mechanisms at the national and sub national levels; and strengthened efforts for upscaling and sustainability. The current active portfolio of the UN Trust Fund is USD 61 million for 96 organizations in the 86 Countries. This is the single largest portfolio managed by UN Women. Consistent with the current responsibility and accountability Mechanism of UN Trust Fund, and the need to track for results and fulfill accountability requirements, the UN Trust Fund secretariat is structured to include regional portfolio management.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the UN Trust Fund Chief and in close collaboration with UN Women colleagues from the field, the Programme Specialist will be responsible for the management of the Fund's Africa portfolio of active grants, including full substantive, financial, and administrative support in accordance with UN Trust Fund and UN Women procedures. The UN Trust Fund's Africa portfolio comprises of 32 active grants across 30 countries amounting to almost US$ 20 million. The Programme Specialist will also be responsible for report writing and knowledge management related to the Fund.

SUMMARY OF KEY FUNCTIONS:

1) Report Writing
2) Knowledge Management
3) Oversight of UN Trust Fund Africa Regional Portfolio, with a Focus on Monitoring and Evaluation.

Report Writing
  • Prepare the UN Trust Fund's Annual Donor Report, which includes conceptualizing the thematic structure; reviewing grant progress and final reports and evaluations in order to identify the strongest examples of impact of UN Trust Fund support in the field; conducting research and analysis of data, issues and programmes, including quantitative data and metrics; requesting and collecting data, information, documents, success stories, testimonies, and pictures from UN Trust Fund staff, focal points and grantees; drafting the content; coordinating review of drafts and incorporating feedback of reviewers; designing and implementing a promotional strategy that includes different languages and media - audiovisual, online, and print;
  • Write the Annual Report to the Commission on the Status of Women and the Human Rights Council, which includes drafting content in a manner to suit an audience of UN Member States and Agencies, ensuring consistency with UN style; coordinating review of drafts and incorporating feedback of reviewers; ensuring additional research and fact-checking; and drafting talking points for delivery of report for Senior Management.
Knowledge Management:
  • Provide other writing and editing support to the UN Trust Fund, including drafting the Inventory of UN system activities to prevent and eliminate violence against women; drafting and editing UN Trust Fund knowledge products; and providing other research, drafting and editing support, including data analysis, fact-checking, talking points, blurbs, speeches, power point presentations, press and media releases and other materials on demand, or in response to internal and external requests;
  • Develop guidance around Eliminating Violence against Women programming and how to develop associated knowledge products; analyze types of products being produced against knowledge needs; provide support in the development of strategic knowledge products;
  • Undertake research on good practices of existing and emerging KM approaches and tools; participate in UN wide community of practice on knowledge-sharing;
  • Contribute to the section's Knowledge management efforts, including review of evaluation and technical reports to document lessons learned and recommendations for knowledge-sharing in the area of violence against women;
  • Contribute to systematic identification of human stories, case studies, and good practices that have the potential to capture the attention of wide range of audiences and partners.
Oversight of UN Trust Fund Africa Regional Portfolio, with a Focus on Monitoring and Evaluation:
  • Manage grantee reporting system for the Africa region, including via regular process monitoring based on grantee progress reports by liaising with and guiding UN Trust Fund focal points in Sub Regional Offices (SRO) in report review and provision of feedback to grantees;
  • Maintain centralized regional portfolio matrix of active grants, and provide quarterly portfolio updates to the UN Trust Fund Chief;
  • Oversee monitoring and evaluation of active grantees, including project management, supporting implementation, and monitoring and evaluation plans in collaboration with the UN Trust Fund's M&E Specialist;
  • Coordinate and monitor the regional portfolio of active UN Trust Fund grants in Africa, including through monitoring missions, conducted together with UN Women sub-regional focal points or Ending Violence against Women (EVAW) Specialists (where applicable);
  • Support and organize knowledge sharing and capacity development events for grantees, including annual regional capacity development workshop on evidence-based monitoring and evaluation, in liaison with SROs and Country Offices (COs);
  • Prepare application feedback letters and summaries of all new grantees for the Africa region and systematically update these summaries based on progress reports (and monitoring missions), in liaison with UN Trust Fund Communications Specialist;
  • Take the lead in ensuring availability of up-to-date Africa portfolio related information that is accessible on shared UN Trust Fund and UN Women platforms;
  • Support the Fund's Communication Specialist and Report Writer through direct engagement with grant recipients to gather knowledge products, media, etc. and ensure communications accurately reflect grant programmes;
  • Keep systematic track of noteworthy grantee achievements and communicate to colleagues for possible visibility, such as special features on the website;
  • Extract critical lessons learned and good practices from monitoring reports and identifying potential areas for further research, communication strategies and/or resource mobilization campaigns;
  • Provide administrative support to SROs and grantees to ensure adherence to UNDP/UN WOMEN policies, administrative and financial procedures.
IMPACT OF RESULTS

The key results have an impact on the overall efficiency and effectiveness in implementation of programme strategies. Accurate analysis and presentation of information enhances UN Women position as a strong development partner and the information provided facilitates decision-making of Management.

Competencies

CORE VALUES / 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.

Corporate Competencies:
  • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards;
  • Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the UN;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
Professionalism:
  • Substantive knowledge of gender equality issues and of programming in the field of Violence against Women and Girls;
    Ability to assimilate and analyze complex information and derive programme relevant findings;
  • Ability to integrate knowledge into strategic, policy and operational frameworks;
  • Good problem solving skills with the ability to design and implement innovative solutions;
  • Ability to work independently and exercise good judgment in a stressful environment.
Strategic Planning and organizing:
  • Proven ability to establish priorities and to plan, organize, coordinate and monitor own work plans and provide advice and guidance to others;
  • In-depth understanding of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women's strategic direction and resourcefulness;
  • Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting.
Creativity, Judgment and Decision-Making:
  • Demonstrated sound judgment in resolving issues/problems;
  • Ability to actively seek to improve programmes/services, offer new and different options to solve problems.
Communication:
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills.
Teamwork:
  • Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary environment;
  • Ability to handle difficult/sensitive situations with a high degree of tact, diplomacy and firmness;
  • Ability to work collaboratively and operate effectively across organizational boundaries.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Master's degree or equivalent in International Development, or in the field of social science or other relevant field.
Experience:
  • 5 years of relevant experience in international development work, preferably focused on or strongly involving gender equality at national, regional and international levels;
  • Knowledge and/or experience of the scope of VAW, the legislation and EVAW work, in the specific region desirable;
  • Familiarity and understanding of baseline data collection, monitoring and evaluation methodologies; familiarity specifically in the field of violence against women highly desirable;
  • Experience in the United Nations, other multilateral, governmental, or civil society organization highly desirable.
Language Requirements:
  • Fluency in English required;
  • Working knowledge of another UN language is an asset.
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.
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.
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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.